Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters What does the .222 Remington...

... offer other than nostalgia. I found a sweet little Savage 24 but i need a few kicks in the butt to convince me otherwise.

To answer your question, we would have to know what you intend to use it for. That would be a good start.

accurate, i had one in a 10'' contender it sure was a sweet little shooter, the jackrabbits hated it.

what it offers is accuracy, it gives up a couple hundred feet per second in velocity to the 223 Remington but properly hand loaded will out shoot the 223 any day of the week.
If you are not a hand loader and only shoot factory ammo then the 223 is a better choice. If you like to hand load and tinker with accuracy nothing will beat the 222 except the 6ppc

The 222 Remington is a pure fun, easy reloading, that is hell on varmints. I've got it in an old Steyr Mannlicher SL, that is such a dream to shoot. I don't think you be able to get the full benefit of the cartridges accuracy from a Savage 24 though. I have a Tikka 512S in 12ga/222 and it is a better shotgun than rifle.

Loaded with a 50-55 grain bullet it offers a peace of mind for predator hunting that is second to none, no tracking, and minimal sowing required. Loaded with a 60 grain Partition or Hornady SP it is a non-meat wrecking, antelope collecting dream of a cartridge. I've never needed anything more when it comes to coyotes and when I had something different, I wished I had the triple-deuce instead.

minimal reaping, too..... You Sow what you Reap.....

or is it the other way around?......

Biblically the other way round. Agriculturally it's both. But you knew that. 😈

Back before WWII a friend of my Dad's named Allen Hennessy from our Iowa home town moved to Alaska. He had many adventures and it is a shame he drank him self to death by the time he was 57. Him and his buddy, Seward born Harold Seater hunted seals for bounty and Hennessy used a .222 Rem. on them. He said one had to get used to shooting at their little heads out of a skiff that the waters tossed and around. Seater told me they sunk so after the head shot you had to get a hold of them in a hurry. He also said they were not always "life less" after the shot and they received a couple of bites over the years so if needed they would gaff and club them.

Seater also said Hennessy cut an octopus out of a seal and took it home to eat, yummy!

Hennessy shot many sheep, goats and black bears with the little .222 Rem. I don't know the load he was using. I do know it would not be my choice, especially for goats and bears. He did say most of his shots were well under 100 yards, hunting in the 50's is a bit different them hunting in Alaska today.

Hennessy also live trapped goats out of Seward with a pal named Martin Gorrison, it was done in the winter with nets and a beagle. They took them to Kodiak on a barge and he some times "housed" them in the basement of a 4-plex in Spenard and he said getting them down the stairs was harder then getting them up the stairs. I saw some slides long ago of some of these goats.

The triple deuce has a few things going for it, one being performance.

https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2016/7/27/the-222-remington-story/

0.009 inches @ 100 yards
Mac MacMillian
9/23/1973

The 222 has a longer neck, which I like - bullet seating and erosion.

The deuce is just sexy as hell.

Anybody here mess with a .222Rimmed, have a lead on brass?

Investment, range toy and back up meat gun, besides I just want one. The last one i saw was a 22/410 at $600. Without a doubt i have a soft spot for Combo guns and drilling's. They want $450 OTD. which to me is a steal but again it is a niche item.




Thanks to all that responded.

I have two triple deuces. H4198 19-20 grains and just about any 40-50 grain bullet. You'll be amazed at what it does.

Makes a good candidate to ream to .223, but it still leaves one handicapped with a excruciatingly slow twist rate.

I've had a number of 222's over the years and it is one of my goto cartridges for coyote hunting with Benchmark and the Speer 52gr Flatbase HP.

Now your selection of a rifle to house it really leaves a lot to be desired. As a combo gun the Sav 24 with the selector on the hammer face, having to cock it for each shot, heavy trigger and in many cases very poor regulation of the barrels make it a poor choice for a combo gun. There are a number of Valmets, Tikkas, American Arms/Marrochi , Biakal and other European combo guns in 222/223 Rem out there with much better ergonomics than the 24V. I owned a 24V in 223/20ga but not for long, Now I shoot a Combo gun with two triggers and a safety, no need to cock the gun before firing, instant selection of rifle or shotgun, able to mount the scope low to the receiver. The advantages are numerous and they are either regulated very well or regulation is adjustable.

I've had 2 .222's. The second was a Savage 340*(?), good riddance. The first was a Rem 700, I miss it. Accurate and deadly on a bunch of groundhogs, crows, black birds, about anything it was shot at.

Met one man who bear hunts with dogs. According to him it was the best bear caliber ever made.

for most accuracy needs the .222 isn't appreciably better than the .223.....I've owned two rifles in .222 (one a Sako L-461) and one in a Remington 788 and they were both superb shooters.....but I've since then gone to the .223 and won't go back because if there is an accuracy advantage, I've not been able to quantify it. The .223 is also superbly accurate.

I've never owned the Savage M 24 but would easily agree with other posts that it isn't the "caliber" as a decent bolt rifle in .222.

Further, if one winds up owning both the .222 and the .223, there is a real chance of getting the ammo mixed.....not good!

For as good as the .222 is.....I'd not own another one when the .223 is alive and very very well.....further, if I wanted a Savage m-24, it'd be in 22 LR over .410....and I've wanted one for a very long time.....but just too darn cheap to spend the going price.