Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints 2020 Dead Critters thread....

Ha! The story behind the 222Mag is a goofy one.

The When I worked in a gun shop a dude came in a sold off his deceased dad’s stuff. In it was a little Browning Sako 222Magnum. Cute little gun that had seen many miles. The bore looked like a sewer pipe and the stock was not only beat but had been “refinished” by sanding the piss out of it, including the checkering, and slathering polyurethane about 1/4” thick over the whole works without even taking the metal out of it. The real treasure was a set of RCBS dies, both the FL and Neck sizers plus a seater, 150pc of new unfired primed Rem brass, and 3 boxes of old green and white box ammo. As much as I liked the ugly little Sako it was going to be a mess to match the funky contour and then have to do something with the stock to boot. Plus it was a round top model that took some oddball bases that were long gone. But the brass, dies, and ammo could be bought for $50.

So I barreled up a crusty old SA 700 I’d traded a guy from a village for and stuck it in a first gen TI stock I had lying around. I used rented reamer to chamber a Shilen 9” twist to open up some options should I want to shoot heavier bullets though I don’t think I ever have. It shoots 50s and 55s really well and I usually don’t shoot anything but coyotes and pigs with it, the occasional elk notwithstanding....

I think I’m down to my last 8 of the old timey PowrLokts. Stuff is old enough that the primers are copper colored, I have no idea how old that makes them. But it shoots good and kills the heck out of the dogs, not so great on the pigs.