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222 rem thoughts

toad67toad67 Member Posts: 13,019 ✭✭✭✭
edited May 2015 in Ask the Experts
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

  • babunbabun Member Posts: 11,054 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Find your self a remington 788.
    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]
  • charliemeyer007charliemeyer007 Member Posts: 6,579 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have a 722 Remington in 222. Round count is very high. It was well used when dad acquired it back in the late 60's. I put upwards of 500 rounds a week 8 months out of the year for 4 years of high school. Most of my shooting was done with cast 45 gr bullets, however gun show bargain broken boxes from 40 to 55 grains were consumed as often as possible.

    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.
  • MG1890MG1890 Member Posts: 4,649
    edited November -1
    +1 on a 788 .222.
  • perry shooterperry shooter Member Posts: 17,390
    edited November -1
    ARE you interested in a 20Ga. 3inch mag over 222 Europeangun from the 1950 that can be made to either have a normal trigger on both barrels or Set trigger on the 222. [?] Just enough use to not be a safe queen.
  • dfletcherdfletcher Member Posts: 8,162 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have a Remington 788 and a Cooper 21 single shot in 222 Remington. The Remington 788 isn't quite as accurate, but it's certainly very close. With it I pretty much always hit what I'm shooting at, it shoots every kind of ammo & reloads well. For light and handy I have a T/C Contender with a light profile 18" barrel. Very compact, weighs about 5 lbs and accurate.

    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.
  • slumlord44slumlord44 Member Posts: 3,702 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Another vote on the 788 Remington. Have had one for years. My first centerfire rifle. Extremely accurate. Prices have gone up over the years but they are still a bargain.
  • AmbroseAmbrose Member Posts: 3,158 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have 9 rifles in .222! The first one was a Marlin model 322; the one built on the Sako detachable magazine action and with the multiple groove barrel. Rumor has it that those barrels lose accuracy in just a few hundred rounds but, if true, I haven't seen it yet.

    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!
  • 1KYDSTR1KYDSTR Member Posts: 2,361 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Liking the advice on the Remington 788, but would also throw in the Savage 340/840 series. I have both, and the savage is MUCH cheaper. Downside is unless you wanna get crazy with the drill press, the Savage uses a side mount scope. This has proved to be of little concer to me as of the 11 340's, 342's and 840's I own, exactly ONE of them is a dog, and that's because the previous owner thought pushing 69 gr bullets out of a one in fourteen twist barrel at something approaching 220 Swift velocities was an awesome idea. Gun LOOKS great but the barrel is roached. My personal 340 in triple deuce uses an original Savage side mount holding an old Unertyl Vulture and on any given day it will hold a Barnes 50 gr HP under 1 MOA at 200 yards. That's about as far as I shoot the deuce, and then I switch to the Deuce and a Quarter 340 V to 300 and then the .225 model 70's beyond that. Anyway, give the 340's a look; I have been super happy with mine.
  • 62fuelie62fuelie Member Posts: 1,069 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Like Ambrose I have been shooting a Marlin 322 for more than 40 years and the Micro-Groove barrel will still shoot better than I can. There are some rifles being made in .222 again. I think there is a CZ and possibly others. You might do a search for the caliber on the auction side and see what you can find. I have found that my 322 really likes the Hornady 55 grain SX with 19.5 grains of 4198 and a Federal small rifle magnum primer.
  • sandwarriorsandwarrior Member Posts: 5,453 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Any number of .222's out there have been absolute tack drivers. The best I ever shot, good luck finding one, is a Win 70 HB. My daughter, when she was four got a scope eye from it. Got up close and 'touched' the trigger before I could stop her. She still got the gopher.[:D][;)] I shot an "unofficial' .013" five shout group with it one -8F day in Montana.

    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!
  • MobuckMobuck Member Posts: 13,734 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    "Liking the advice on the Remington 788, but would also throw in the Savage 340/840 series."
    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.
  • Hawk CarseHawk Carse Member Posts: 4,365 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I think I would take the Model 70 and SHOOT.
    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.
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