Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats 223AI or 222 rem mag

Starting to ponder on a 22 cf . which of these two chambers would be best?
My plans are to rechamber a stevens 200 223 w/1-9 barrel to one of these chambers, to be used for hunting in central Texas. critters will be Deer,hogs,coyotes,mainly. Plan to shoot the 70-75 grain bullets, at ranges to 300 yrds.

thanks in advance for the input

Billy

I'd go .223AI based on easily found .223 brass but have fun whatever you do. Might just verify the twist suitability depending on which bullet you choose. Not saying there is a problem but I have heard from others that 75ish might be pushing it with a 9 twist. Have no experience with that as I've not shot anything with my Stevens aside from 55 gr factory, 40 BT's, and 69 grain BTHP's. No issues with any of these.

I've thought frequently about having my smith set back my barrel a turn and go AI on mine.

Punch it. 9 may not stabilize 75's. Try it. If not , shoot 50vmaxes for fun and coyotes and 53TSX for deer and hogs.....
Have fun!!!!


George

223 AI, no question. Same performance, common brass, less bress stretchting hence less trimming.

I'd go AI, as you can just use standard 223 ammo for messing around/fireforming.

The 222 mag is a bit limited in the brass availability department.

The other one to consider is the 22-204, simply necking the as is 204 case up to 22 caliber. That is an easy modification and given the right magazine box and the stars aligned, will beat the 223AI by a smidgen.

Count me as a dissenter (prolly lone :D). I have two 222 Mags. My 1-9 will run the 75 A-Max and 77 Nosler CC's, but its something you need to try and try at longer ranges to be sure. The 222 Mag certainly was made for those long bullets.


Cases are available here:
http://www.shootersproshop.com/index.php?p=11&b=9&s=200&t=222%3Cbr%3ERem

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=149721043

Special runs are made and its really not an issue, as a project.

I was buying 222 Mag brass while 300 RUM and 17/221 FB brass were hard to locate. 204 Ruger cases re-sized work in a snap.

Fire forming is not an argument; all new cases should be fired. The 204 cases re-sized, however, will allow you to match headspace at the first firing.

I've never had case stretching issues and setting up your dies correctly and firing in one gun will cut down on the certainty.

The 204 Ruger with a 35 degree shoulder seems to stretch like anything else over time; perhaps the 40 degree doesn't?

A set back would not be needed for the Mag, but the smith may do it anyway.

Anyhow, I don't think you'd go wrong with either, since capacity is basically the same. Cost wise, dies for the AI may be more, but brass will obviously cost more for the Mag Deuce. The 22-204 or 222 Mag AI would certainly beat both by a smidge. That help?

Looks like I am reamer shopping now, most likly the 223 ai

thanks,
billy

If you can get the brass do a 23-40. 222Mag with the 40 deg shoulder and straightened case walls.
Butch

If you are doing a 223AI get Lapua brass, they will outlast your barrel.

i'm running 22-204 and am very satisfied with it. it is a rechamberred savage 11. one pass through the fl die ( slightly mod redding 204 ruger type s fl bushing die) and your ready go no fireforming needed. i built it to use heavies in it but it turned out dote on 40gr nbt's and they have proven to the perfect bullet for pelt hunting.

erich

Could you describe your pelt hunting experiences with the 40 NBT at high velocity?

How has it performed for you?

Re-chambers can be a real nightmare, huge factory chamber must match reamer of gunsmith...

If you have enough meat in the barrel, then I would cut off 1" of threads off, then re chamber to a 223 AI.

If you use Lapua brass, you can get some unreal velocities out of the AI, the 222Mag brass is soft...been there done that on two customs.

I would shoot the 53g Tripple shocks, 55g Speer Bear Claws, and the 60g Nosler Partitions.

Your gun will "speak" to you as to it's likes. N-135 will give you unreal velocities on the above bullets in the AI.

Your plan is a great one...do your homework...spend a little time with various bullets with Lapua brass, 7 1/2 primers, and N-135 powder. Those large hogs will drop with these great bullets.

DakotaDeer

I'm running the 40's at 3900fps out of a 22" barrel so far I've had no splashes or exits(except if I get close to the edges), also no runners. I've killed eight with it, not a great selection but so far great results. In the light weights I find the NBT is a better penetrator than the V-Max or BK. A couple of the dogs were shot from the front and they were DRT's also.


erich

Same here; 40 gr BT at over 3900 fps out of a 22" Stevens 1:9 twist factory barrel. Greydog on this board, did the rechambering job. 75 gr A-Max gets just at 3000 fps in the same rifle.

Lots of sub-minute, three-shot groups wit all bullet weights. Accuracy is more than enough to hit coyotes consistently to 400 yd with the 75 gr A-Max.

Ted

A 100 yard group shot with a Rem 722/222 Mag and Nosler factory ammo.

Hope you fellers don't mind me wanderin in out of the sage.. Sounds like a few are pretty impressed with this 223AI !! I just picked up a T/C Contender w/ a 14" 223AI T/C barrel, 2X scoped, seems to be in very good shape. Not sure of twist yet, have just lobbed a few off the back step to check out some Hornady brsss to see how it's going to stretch.
Was wondering if anyone had some recipes I could try to get er started. Will be neck sizing only.. Will be shooting mostly 55gr VMax. Was leaning toward Varget or one of the SCC powders, they run thru the progressive better. Good doggin around here.. I love my 204, the 22-250 is OK, costs a little more to load, hard to beat the little guy for performance at the 250-350yd ranges. Much more than that, I'll break out the 25-06... but we normally don't need to chase the doggies at 500-600 yds, tho it is fun.