.222 Remington Load Info

EMP3

New member
I've recently bought a Sauer 100 chambered for .222 Rem. Small game, varmints, & predator hunting is a new gig for me.

I known of the incredible inherent accuracy of the .222 Rem for many decades. I've been and remain a big game hunter, so until recently, I've not paid attention to another world of hunting.

I'm all accuracy. Since a hypersconic bullet is useless if it can't hit big game, I've hand loaded for accuracy. I've been lucky. My big game rifles shoot best groups at or near max velocities.

The other world is vast with lots of marketing schemes. Nosler & Sierra bullets have always worked for me. The 160 grain Partitions fired out of my 7MM Rem Mag will drop the largest of North American big game. Hornaday does manufacture very accurate bullets, too. The 130 grain GameKing fried from either of my .270 Win rifles will drop mule deer in their tracks. I'm hoping to find the same performance from my .222 Rem.

I had intended to buy Norma brass. But a poster in another thread mentioned LAPUA brass. I've checked it out. It does come in a match version. Which is best brass?

I've had excellent luck with Federal 210M & Federal 215M primers. Hence, I was thinking Federal 205M. Is there a better primer?

Buying powder used to be simple. There wasn't a huge selection. It seems that there's specialized powder for every conceivable application. The consensus seems to be H-332. Is there more accurate powder that I should consider?
 
For bullet weights in the 50's, H322 will be a top performer and will be more temp stable than most others. For the 35-40gr bullets, I think a lot like H4198. I generally shoot everything with Fed Match primers but my dad and the gunsmith I use, prefer CCI BR primers so in your triple deuce it'll be BR4's. You probably can't go wrong with either though.
 
I have loaded the 222 for around 30 years. I have settled on Sierra 40 grain Ballistic Tips and H4198 with a CCI 450 primer. Other combinations will surely work well also, it is an easy cartridge to load, Good luck.
 
My goto bullet in the 222 Rem for coyotes is the 52gr Speer FB HP Varminter, for me it puts down coyotes with little pelt damage, 748, 4320 and Benchmark have worked, load data abounds in loading manuals and there should be little difficulty finding a good load.
 
Hi AWS,

I use loading manuals for only reference. I like Ken Water's "Pet Loads" much better. The only problem with "Pet Loads" is it's dated.

I start with known accurate powder. I'll begin a few grains below max & examine results. If indicators are positive, I'll increase until I get best accuracy, which is where I'll stop. Then I'll chrono my loads for external ballistics.

My big game rifles shoot most accurately at max or near max powder charges. In reality, I don't know what max loads are for my rifles. For instance, some sources indicate 60 grains of H-4831 pushing a 130 grain bullet is max for the .270 Win. Other sources indicate a grain more or 2 less. I know that this load shoots ragged one-hole groups out of both of my .270 Win rifles with no indicators of excessive pressure.

Jack O'Connor wrote that a loader couldn't put enough H-4831 in a .270 Win case to cause it to become dangerous. I have no desire to find out if it's true. 60 grains gives me outstanding accuracy & it chronos at ~3030 FPS out of 22" barrels.
 
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Lapua brass
Rem 7 1/2 primer(thick cup)
IMR 4198, 322, LT32, LT30, N130, H335
50g Sierra, 52g Sierra BTHP, 53g sierra match
Touch the lands with the bullet if possible

19.5-20.5g of 4198 with a 7 1/2 primer with all of the above bullets will shine

Walt Berger sat many World Records with H335 with 52's in his 222 benchrest rifles, but I never shot this powder. H335 will probably yield the most velocity with accuracy according to Walt. Walt tried to sell me the last of his left over 20 lb keg of H335 after he had gone to the 6 PPC.
 
My .222 will eat just about any 50 grain PSP I put in it. Lately I've been using the Varmint Nightmare X-Treme from Midsouth Shooter supply. They pair well with IMR 4198. I've used both CCI and Winchester small rifle primers, and I haven't seen any noticeable difference between the two.
 
No doubt, Walts powder was H335 with a 52gr bullet. Spoke with him over the phone years ago about loads for the 222 and he liked H335! He actually gave me the load data he used and its over max, which he told me it was, but it shot awesome.

However, I settled on VV N133 which shot faster and very close to as accurate.
 
I bought 250 50 grain Hornady V-Max bullets, a thousand Fed 205M primers, & a pound of IMR 4198. That ought to get me started.

From what I'd read so far, there are as many powders that'll give excellent .222 Rem results as there are for the '06.
 
My best groups came with RL7, and 50g Hornady spsx or H322, and 50g Speer TNT. Both were loaded .010" from lands and @ 3200fps.

Mike
 
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Good Morning, nockhunter,

That is absolutely outstanding accuracy. Accuracy creates confidence. Confidence kills big game and, I'm hoping, small game, too.

My rifle is still in shipment to my FFL. Hence, I won't be able to experiment with loads for a couple weeks.

I choose 50 grain bullets based upon my rifle's 1:12 twist.

Hornady, like a few other bullet manufacturers, makes excellent bullets that are very accurate.
 
Good Morning, old cat,

Thanks for your help.

From what I've read so far, 40 grain bullets seem to be most popular for the .222 Rem. It seems to me that most .222 Rem rifles have a 1:14 twist. My rifle has a 1:12 twist. So I guesstimated that 50 grain bullets might produce better accuracy. I might've guesstimated wrong.
 
I push those 50grn Vmax's out of my Savage axis in 223 that I had cut and crowned at 20 inches. It sports a walnut stock with checkering from Boyds. It is by far one of my most accurate rifles. It usually shoots much much better than I can. 23.5 of H322 with a 2.245 COAL. They are right around 222 Rem velocites, I like to think of it as my poor mans 222 Rem. 50 grain Sierra Blitzkings work well also.
https://imgur.com/NFoco6I
https://imgur.com/5tu5hVq
https://imgur.com/hT7Fs2L
 
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