Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Tell me about the .222Rem....

A local shop has a nice lightly used Howa in .222Rem. I think it could be picked up reasonably and has peaked my interest. I have heard how the .222 was the accuracy standard back in the day. Is that still so? Cartridge looks like it has a really long neck - is that a good or bad thing. What is your overall opinion of the .222?

I have owned several .223's (Tikka T3 Varmint currently) and have stuff to reload them. It looks like the .222 will use many of the same components so with a set of dies and some brass I could be up and shooting.

at one time set bench rest records. still capable of with as good of accuracy. very low recoil. H4198 with 50 grain nozzle ballistic tips as my favorite thing to stuff them with.. not quite as much umpph for bullet weight as a 223 but getting close. much more umphh than a 22 hornet with same....

something else I would add that I find interesting may just be me and my ears or my examples but the 222 seems a lot quieter than 223.

The first center fire I shot was dad’s 722 222 Remington. I was probably 5 years old at the time. I have had quite a few 223’s and only a couple 222’s. I really like the 222’s. I like their long neck better than the 223’s short neck. The 223 is loaded a little hotter than the 222.
I have enough brass for both cartridges to last my life time. So brass isn’t an issue for me. But 223 brass is easier to find. Quite a while back I made 222 brass out of 223 brass. The neck on my 222 was tight, so I had to turn the neck on the converted brass.
I believe I would rather have a 222 if I had to choose between the two if brass and ammo wasn’t an issue.

Very accurate, you can push a 40gr v max or 40nbt at 3400+ that will do most varmints...mb

Does a 40gr bullet base make it to the bottom of the case neck? - What is the point of the long case neck? Have always 'assumed' that the base of the bullet at or below the shoulder/case neck junction was preferred.

A 40 gr bullet base will be well above the shoulder.

What lead to that assumption?

If there's any preference in that matter, it's usually the opposite.

There are good reasons for a long neck. First one I can think of is less damage to the throat with a long neck.
Second is the bullet can be seated out further as the throat is worn.
Third is there is more room for adjusting the seating depth for maximizing accuracy.
Fourth (probably not a concern here) if you’re shooting cast bullets the neck can cover the grooves better.
There’s probably other things I can’t think of off-hand. But I don’t see any downside to a long neck.
I believe the reason many cartridges have short neck is to maximize powder capacity - which I suppose could be a ‘down side’.

The .222 is my favorite varmint cartridge for a lot of reasons. You would not regret trying that HOWA.

It was described to me as "well mannered". After owning one for a long time, I understand what was being described.

With mathman all the way on that

I agree

Not exactly sure where that 'assumption' came from? Maybe the donut in the case neck thing? You sure don't see any 'new' cartridges designed with long case necks.

They are asking $419 for the Howa .222Rem. I think if it sits for a month I can get it for substantially less. There is not a box of .222Rem ammo for sale in the 50K city that I live in. Darn little on line. Even brass is hard to come by. Could be the achilles heal of the .222Rem.

PPU 222 brass isn't too hard to come by. It's basically all I've shot out of mine since I got the rifle a few years ago, and it's been fine so far. Graf has it in stock more often than not.

https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/74480

Most accurate rifle I ever owned was a 788 Rem in 222 Rem. Something I noticed right away was that I could fire it and watch the bullet hit through the scope, pretty much zero recoil. Found the most accurate bullet with it was any 50 to 52 gr bullet. Didn't like 55gr bullet's, no big loss. As for the long neck, I haven't a clue what it was supposed to do. For load depth I seated the bullet's one cal depth. Read about it, tryed it and it worked fine.

I think that’s due to the craze of wanting maximum velocity in the smallest cases.
I own plenty of short neck cartridge rifles, but I prefer the longer necks of the Classic cartridges.

Avoiding the donut is exactly why you'd prefer the base of the bullet above the shoulder/neck junction.

only if you already have the brass

I consider the duce the "22lr" of varmint cartridges. Just load it for accuracy, not to see what kind of fps you can get, and it'll likely be your most accurate gun. So much fun to shoot a gun you know will drop a bullet into the spot you tell it to.

I have plenty of brass. I put some up for sale for the price of postage in classifieds. They were mostly made from military 223 brass. I didn’t form it but it was in a friend’s effects.