222 RELOADING

duker33

HI DOSE ANYONE GOT ANY INFO ON 222 RELOADING I AM NEW TO IT I SHOOT COYOTES AND FOX AND JSUT TINKER I GOT A 222 SAKO WIT HA 1-14 TWIST WHAT WOULD WORK THE BEST FOR ME I LOVE TO SHOOT THIS GUN BUT I GOT TO START RELOADING OR I WILL GO BROKE ANY INPUT WOULD BE AWSOME

sandwarrior

My favorite load for this is 23.5 gr. of XMR2015 behind a 50 gr. Sierra spitzer. If you don't have that use 23.5 gr of 4895 behind the 50 gr. With a 1-14" twist 45 gr. bullets work well too.

I also forgot to mention reloading equipment. I got a rockchuker kit and have never regretted it. Lee makes some inexpensive presses as well as dies. Hornady's new custom dies are pretty good. RCBS and Redding are considered better quality dies but I have yet to be unhappy with a well made die from any comapny. Depending on how much you shoot is kind of how much you should spend on equipment. It doesn't make sense to go 'top-of-the-line' when all you do is plink and tinker. -good luck

temblor

duker33: Do yourself a favor. Before you get started reloading, buy a couple of good reloading manuals and read them thru before you buy any equipment. I'd reccomend the Lyman reloading manual to start. There is alot of good info printed that will really help you. The second book I'd buy would be for the type of bullets I decided I wanted to shoot (Sierra, Hornady, Nosler,etc.). You may have an idea of what weight and type shoot well in your gun from the factory ammo you've been shooting. It may also depend on what is availible locally and what type shooting you are going to do ( if you're a pelt hunter for example) and what your main goal is -- accuracy for paper, explosive expansion for rodents, etc. If your not sure, Sierra wouldn't be a bad place to start ( as noted by sandwarrior ). -- With the 1-14" twist you will most likely be limited to 55gr or less weight bullets for your gun. I always settled on 50-52gr bullets in my 222's and always got great results. My first really good varmit gun years ago was a heavy barreled Sako Vixen in 222 with the same 1-14" twist and I covered everything from small ground squirrels to coyotes with the 50-52gr bullets ( mainly sierras ). Nowdays there are alot more choices out there for componets. -- Both of the powders that sandwarrior reccomended are excellent choices in my experience. I always got the best results with 2015 powder with 50gr bullets and IMR4895 always loaded better for me with the heavier 52-55gr bullets ( but every gun is different). IMR4198 powder is a old time favorite for 222's for alot of people and was at one time the choice of benchrest shooters for this caliber. Between 19 and 20 grains of IMR4198 under a 50 or 52gr Sierra has been very accurate for me in several 222 rifles. BLC-2 powder also loads well with these bullets for accuracy. If you are more concerned with getting a little more velocity for hunting type loads either Reloader7 or Winchester 748 will get you about another 100fps with the light bullets, but you may lose a little accuracy in my experience ( but coyotes will never know the difference ). -- If I had to pick one powder for all around use in the 222, I would look around locally where I lived and see which componets I could get the best deal on and save the shipping hazmat fee for powder & primers which will greatly reduce your costs to get started. -- The beauty of the 222 is that it is inherently very accurate and responds well to alot of powders, primers & bullets. Just find a powder with the same approximate burn rate as these others ( if you're not sure about the application, that Lyman Manual has good info in it about alot of the different popular powders and what cartridges they work well in ). -- There are lots of sources for componets out there. A couple of good ones are: Midsouth Shooters Supply Company 1-800-272-3000(orders) or (931)-553-8651(questions or technical information) www.midsouthshooters.com -- and Natchez Shooters Supplies 1-800-251-7839 www.natchezss.com -- You are starting with a great caliber to begin reloading for. Good Luck...................[^]

duker33

thanks for the advise i got everything i will ever need for reloading presses dies scales and alot of bullets my father was a gunsmith but thats one thing he never tought me or my brother was reloading he said that was his job all we did was shoot it all up thanks i will look for a few books and i want to shoot the hornaday 55gr fmlbt it seems there are about 4 thousand of them in boxes in a ammo can so dad must have liked them thanks again duwayne (duker33)

temblor

From the Hornady #6 Reloading Manual for 222 Remington Caliber in a Remington 700 test gun with 24" barrel using Remington brass case and Remington 7 1/2 primers : Hornady 55gr FMJBT Bullets -- IMR4895 Powder starting load = 22.1gr(2700fps), 4895 Maximum load = 25.4gr(3100fps) -- IMR4198 powder starting load = 18.0gr(2700 fps),4198 maximum load = 20.6gr(3100 fps) -- Winchester 748 powder starting load = 24.1gr(2800 fps), 748 maximum load = 26.4gr(3100 fps)..................good luck..................[8D]

D.S.COLE

Do as suggested and read the Lyman manual all the way through twice.A lot more sinks in the second time.
Ive loaded the 222 for years and really its hard to make a bad load. The 222 is inherently so accurate, it has held the world record for smallest group, ever since I can remember.
Any good 50 gr bullet and IMR 3031,4895,N200, H322 or a dozen others can be used . Load by the book and it works .