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222 rem thoughts
toad67
Member Posts: 13,019 ✭✭✭✭
Always wanted a 222 to carry around just in case I found something that I needed to shoot at. Nothing heavy or fancy, but still in decent condition though. Awhile back I bought a really mint model 70, with a near 60K serial number (if I remember correctly). I'd guess the gun had less than a box of shells thru it and it is just perfect. My dilemma is that I really don't want to bang it up, but really don't know what else to consider. Thoughts?
Comments
Like this one...
http://www.GunBroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=484372141
It will out shoot the mod 70, will look good when you nick and scratch it {it was meant to be man-handled}, great bragging rights when you shoot against your friends gun that cost 5 times as much when it was new.[:D]
I have shot more than a dozen birds out of the air with the rifle. Last trip out (4+ years ago) before I got sick, clay birds at 350 yards off a picnic bench with my pack as rest. 45 grain Sisk bullet strike on a rock was just left/right of the crosshair. One click on the scope would change which side. A one eighth moa would have put it dead on.
Penny the wolf dog like the rifle better than the 7mm Rem Mag.
I have one of the spent 22 rimfire to jacketed .224 bullet swedge tools. Uncle Tang bought the set up in the 50's I think. I have made and shot some. Knocking the rims off is hard work. I want to build a hydraulic press for that purpose and a trimmer so the jackets will be more soft nosed.
added I still have some of those Sisk. They were old when I bought them for seventy five cents a sealed box of 100, I sold the empty boxes to a collector for a buck each.
I generally use 52 grain bullets, Sierra or Hornady. I've been using 19.8 grains of IMR 4198 with a 52 BTHP as a reliable load for about 45 years. I've found some loads that are better, but that one always does very well with every rifle.
Nice to see the 222 Remington still doing well.
Needless to say, I like the cartridge. Somewhere, I read that holding a 55 gr. bullet to just below 3,000 fps results in very good accuracy. 19.7 gr. of IMR4198 with a 55 gr. Sierra Blitz gets me there with most of my rifles and has become one of my favorite loads.
EDIT: And Charliemeyer007: Your mention of Sisk bullets dates you back quite a ways!
My dad has a Savage .340 in .222 and it always shot great. But, I suspect cycling about ten or so thousand rounds downrange wore out the extractor. I don't live there, but dad is too cheap to change it out. My nephew would do it, but can't find the extractor I sent there.
I also sported a Rem 700 .222 Rem with a * 1927 scope. It was sure and a half a .5 moa rifle. Sold it to a Rem/* collector for a decent price. Not sure if they stayed together or not, but it was no doubt a shooting combination.
In spite of the new "claim" of .007" out of a .30 Grendel (too much allowance for 'disturbance' IMO), the .222 Rem held the tightest group record for 41 years!
Dirt clods and BBguns forever!
Sorry to say both of those rifles have a generally crappy trigger and the 788 is far too expensive these days. Personally, I'd choose any of the lower priced bolt rifles in .223. Very similar results for far less outlay.
Where would you go that would beat it up?
A friend has a rifle that has been shot frequently on at least two continents, if not three, and it could pass for new.