222 magnum AI

ilmo

ilmo

Member
Anybody ever had a 222 magnum AI??

I was thinking abut getting my 222 changed into a 223AI and thought why not a 222 magnum AI give even a little more oomph..... a little more case capacity...47 mm instead of 45mm like the 223

I know brass would cost more.... but could use the same boltface and barrel....

Thoughts?.... experiences?...

TIA
R
 
I'd suggest a 22-204, a better sellection of brass and no need for a custom dies or custom reamer. You can cut the chamber with a 204 reamer with a 224 pilot and cut the neck and throat seperately. You can use a Redding 204 Ruger Type "S" FL bushing die with the guts changed out to 224 and a little relieving in the neck openning of the die(I use the same die to load 22, 6mm and 25/204 ruger wildcats using the same die). The 204 case is an improved version of the 222 Rem Mag with the shoulder moved forward, changed to 30 degrees and the body slightly straightenned. Another nice thing there is no fireforming involved, just run your 204 brass through your FL die, trim, load and go shoot.

AWS
 
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I would have to agree with AWS on this one simply for the fact of easy to get 204 brass. I love the 222 mag but brass can be tricky to come by and will only get more scarce with time.
 
Originally Posted By: AWSI'd suggest a 22-204, a better sellection of brass and no need for a custom dies or custom reamer. You can cut the chamber with a 204 reamer with a 224 pilot and cut the neck and throat seperately. You can use a Redding 204 Ruger Type "S" FL bushing die with the guts changed out to 224 and a little relieving in the neck openning of the die(I use the same die to load 22, 6mm and 25/204 ruger wildcats using the same die). The 204 case is an improved version of the 222 Rem Mag with the shoulder moved forward, changed to 30 degrees and the body slightly straightenned. Another nice thing there is no fireforming involved, just run your 204 brass through your FL die, trim, load and go shoot.

AWS

I agree. The .22-204 makes a lot more sense for all those reasons. My seating die is a Redding Comp .223 with the slider reamed when the gun was chambered.
 
thanks for the replies....... 22-204 makes a lot of sense....
what kind of performance are you getting from the 22-204??

what are you loading it with?

Thanks
R
 
No flies on a standard 222 Mag. I have two of them, and accuracy is as good as it gets. Doubt that I'd ever "AI" either one of them. The 22-204 is essentially the same chambering as the 222 Mag.

Edit to add: Midway has 222 Mag loaded ammo made by Nosler. It is very accurate. I bought some and it shoots as well as any of my handloads for the 222 Mag. Also, Huntingtons.com has new 222 Mag brass. I bought a bag of 250 cases from them.
 
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Actually the 204 Rugger is a 222 Rem Mag with the Shoulder moved forward and changed to 30 degrees. So that would make a 22-204 a 222 Rem Mag Improved 30 degree. Kind of like a AI but the shoulder is moved forward so not a true AI and you can't fire form 222 Rem Mag brass to 22-204 because there is too much headspace for the 222 Rem Mag brass.

One nice thing is you don't have to set the barrel back or fire form brass. The 22-204 reamer takes out the whole old chamber, I use a 204 Ruger GO guage to set the headspace while chamberring. You just run your 204 brass through a 22-204 FL die, load and shoot. I Rechamberred an old 223 barrel and use a Redding 204 Ruger FL Type S Bushing die with the expander ball, spindle and bushing changed out to 224. I use the same die for my 6mm and 257 Cats on the 204 case. I relived the neck openning between the body and bushing to accomidate the large necks of my cats. I can load four different cartridges with the same die just by changing out the insides. I use a Hornady sliding sleave seater to seat as they are pretty much universal to the bullet diameter.

AWS
 
Originally Posted By: BearThe 204 is a 222 Mag necked to .204 so a 22-204 is just a 222 Mag.

No. Compare the two cases side by side and the difference is obvious.
 
https://www.bellmtcs.com/blog/222-rem-mag-improved/
Mike has changed all his sites... so you won't see his .222RMI data.
Sorry, but here's what it said:
226 JDJ vs. .222 Rem Mag Improved
Anything on the .225 Win case in a Contender works very well when the taper is blown out of the case, but you can get essentially the same velocities with the .222 Rem. Mag. Imp. case with less risk of damage to the frame when/if you let pressures get away from you, which can and will happen to all of us sooner or later.
Awhile back, we, my bud Howard in Missouri and I, did an experiment with .224 Weatherby in a Contender. The case is essentially the same diameter as the .225 Win, and both cases are quite strong, plus the Weatherby is about as straight sided as the JDJ case. Because of the diameter of the case, permissible velocities were not quite as high with the Weatherby case as they were from the .222 Rem. Mag. Imp. AND...... this was done in the SAME BARREL. It started out as a .222 Rem. Mag. Imp. for which Howard had good chronographed data to start with, so the results from the same barrel rechambered to the Weatherby were quite meaningful. It eliminated the variations found from barrel to barrel by using the same barrel for both tests.
Dies for the .222 Mag. Imp. are much easier to come by, circumventing the necessity of using just SSK as the source of chamber work and dies. Relatively common .223 Rem. Imp. dies work just fine for .222 Rem. Mag. Imp., and I now stock them.
While on the subject of large diameter cases and .22 cal. bores, Howard also had a .22 Bower, which is nothing more than the .22-250 Ackley Imp. This also was on a Contender, and he could get little better than .223 Rem. velocities from it, nowhere near what the .222 Rem. Mag. Imps. deliver. And I said Mags., plural, since he has I believe at least 3 of them I have done for him, plus the one that I rechambered to .224 Weatherby Mag. So we are not speaking of "me and Joe" anecdotal reports involving just a barrel or two.
Advertising hype & aura are hard to overcome when facts are less sensational, but the fact remains that large diameter cases and small bores are counterproductive in Contenders. The small diameter .222 Rem. Mag. Imp. case permits hot loads in the 55,000 psi range safely and holds about 33 gr. of powder, ample capacity to propel .22 cal. bullets at velocities pretty close to on par with the standard .22-250, which of course is too hot for the Contender.
The .222 Rem. Mag. Imp. is one of those gems that most people will trip over in favor of hype.
Mike
22s%20compared_1.jpg
 
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