[Steve02C5]

I nearly purchased a box of .222 thinking it was .223; luckily the kid behind the counter asked me if I "really" have a .222 --OOPS on my part.

I had never heard of .222 ammo or rifles. Are they popular, used to be popular, considered a varmint round, what??? Are they primarily semi-auto rifles, bolt action, or both???

I can't believe I've never known of this caliber.:dontknow:

 

[Bindernut]

Since the Wikipedia article on the .222 is kinda FUBAR with their info...
http://tripledeuce.net/ <--This place has a nice collection of info on the .222
http://www.reloadbench.com/cartridges/222.html

The .222 was introduced in 1950. It's pretty much the grandaddy to the .223 and before the .223 came on the scene it was the main commercially-available medium-range .22 centerfire along with the .219Zipper.
It was THE benchrest competition cartridge to beat for quite a few years, and quite honestly I still think it can hold it's own if someone would build it using the technology that folks are applying to the current cartridges that have eclipsed the .222.

Personally, I just like the little stinker.
I don't have any rifles in .222 right now, but I'm on the hunt for another just to say that I've still got one even if it's just a cheap ole Savage 340.

 

[Steve02C5]

Since the Wikipedia article on the .222 is kinda FUBAR with their info...
http://tripledeuce.net/ <--This place has a nice collection of info on the .222
http://www.reloadbench.com/cartridges/222.html

The .222 was introduced in 1950. It's pretty much the grandaddy to the .223 and before the .223 came on the scene it was the main commercially-available medium-range .22 centerfire along with the .219Zipper.
It was THE benchrest competition cartridge to beat for quite a few years, and quite honestly I still think it can hold it's own if someone would build it using the technology that folks are applying to the current cartridges that have eclipsed the .222.

Personally, I just like the little stinker.
I don't have any rifles in .222 right now, but I'm on the hunt for another just to say that I've still got one even if it's just a cheap ole Savage 340.

Thank you for responding. I went to wiki to begin with and couldn't really find the info I was looking for. Thanks for helping with the links.

 

[Twicepop]

I nearly purchased a box of .222 thinking it was .223; luckily the kid behind the counter asked me if I "really" have a .222 --OOPS on my part.

I had never heard of .222 ammo or rifles. Are they popular, used to be popular, considered a varmint round, what??? Are they primarily semi-auto rifles, bolt action, or both???

I can't believe I've never known of this caliber.:dontknow:

To expand a bit on the other posts. The .222 was indeed originated in 1950 by Mike Walker of Remington arms. He started with a clean slate with this round and it wasn't based on any pre-existing round. It was said to be a scaled down 30-06 cartridge, but the actual looks and dimensions are more like a miniature 7x57 round. The .222 was from the early fifties until the early eighties more popular than the .223. It was in its inception the darling of the bench rest crowd, and medium range varmit shooters. The .222 is loaded to lower standard pressure than the .223, as a plus its very hard to get an inaccurate load for the .222. The .222 has a shorter over all case length than the .223, but it has a longer neck to better and straighter grip the bullets loaded into it. The .223 has a slight velocity advantage over the .222, they both use the same .224" bullets and basicaly the same powders are good from one to the other. The .222 lost out to the .223 because of successful marketing and cheapness of ammo and once fired military brass. With the possible exception of full blown competition rifles, .223s are just as accurate as .222s, and cheaper to shoot as a rule.

 

[Guest]

222 everything the 223 wishes it could be.

My brother has a Sako L461 in 222. Talk about a tack driver. It will stack 52gr SMK's in one ragged hole all day long. We used it on CA ground squirrels when many of the bigger (220 Swift, 22-250) would be too loud for the area. My dad took a 300 yard shot on a squirrel in a palm tree and it blew the head clean off you could see little spurts of blood for a second or two.

The triple Duce is an outstanding cartridge and always will be. Like said above it is hard to find a bad load in a 222.

 

[3/2 STA SS]

I had a Sako 222 and a 222 Magnum...I sold both of them over the years just not a popular round although my friend had a Ruger Mini 14 in 222 and sold it for $700

 

[polishshooter]

The .222 was known as THE most accurate round ever made in the 50s and early 60s...it owned EVERY benchrest record from that time, and during the same time was the most popular Turkey rifle round in PA, which also doubled as a deer round for "one rifle hunters." Granted, it is a little light for deer but MANY deer in PA have been killed with it...in fact when I lived there one writer guessed that the only round that killed more deer in PA was the .30-30...because so MANY Pennsylvania hunters owned them, granted, mainly for TURKEY.

My Wife's Grandpa owned a Savage in .222 for his Turkey gun, and that was the rifle she carried when she hunted deer with him.

The .222 was the round the ORIGINAL AR-15 from Armalite was designed around...

About that same time Remington brought out the .222 Magnum, with a little more powder capacity, which the AR was then designed to shoot, but then they came out with a compromise, which became the .223....

The .22 Magnum NEVER caught on, and the only reason the .223 is more popular than the .222 is the many thousands more military cases made for it which made it cheaper to handload....and thus able to develop loads ALMOST as accurate as the .222, which is why more people shoot .223 NOW...but as late as the early 70s the .222 was the more ACCURATE round....

What somebody said, something like that EVERY .222 load is accurate, is right on...you have to WORK (or really screw up?) to load one that won't shoot under 1/2" or less....from just about any rifle, much less Grandpa's Savage...


Funny thing, though, I ALMOST bought a Sako .222 for a walking around varmint gun before I bought my Predator which would suit me better, (AND was a lot cheaper)...

...so I was looking for .222 components at the time...

...and noticed that during the recent ammo "crisis" EVERYBODY that sold new brass before the crisis still had new .222 Winchester or Remington cases available all during the crisis, at decent prices, (and also cases for my .220 Swift for that matter) while NOBODY had .223 cases....for what it is worth.



While I am happy with my .223 Predator, I STILL will own a .222 some day, even if just because my wife remembers that old Savage of her Grandpa so fondly....

 

[soundguy]

i have a rem 700 in 222 and love it. less kick than my rem 700 in 223.. and it eats the center hole out of the paper tragets just the same.

 

[gvw3]

I have always heard it is a very accurate round.

 

[soundguy]

i love mine. i shoot it and 218 bee when blowing away small targets past 100yds

i find it more accurate than my marlin 60 22lr

 

[polishshooter]

Funny, I fell in love with a Ruger #1 in .218 Bee last year I found used in a shop when I was looking for a walking around Varmint rifle and almost bought it...except $800 seemed a little steep...

I knew an old guy who owned a Winchester lever in .218 who used it on Groundhogs and told me how a local hardware store during the Depression used to sell him .218 Bee rounds from a box the round....he'd buy 3 rounds at a time for like fifteen cents and it would be enough for a day of groundhogging...

I LOVE the Hornet round and the Bee is supposed to be a more powerful Hornet for repeaters....

One of my buddies has a TCR 83 in ,22 Hornet bored to K and fireformed 100cases or so and the last two years in SD has been NAILING P-dogs out to 200+yds from a walking bipod with 45 gr Sierra Varminters that blows them up NICELY...

I own a .220 Swift, which is the SECOND oldest Varmint round, I want a .22 Hornet someday, would LOVE a .218 of I could find one cheap and WILL own a .222....I think I would pretty much have all the ORIGINAL varmint rounds covered at that point...

 

[soundguy]

yep.. 218bee and 222rem are my favorite plinker rounds for stuff that 22lr isn't good for

 

[Albtraum]

Interesting, never knew the history about this round.

 

[spottedpony]

With all the old timers here i'm surprised no one has mentioned the .222's nickname.
Triple deuce

 

[slayer]

The 222 sure is a great round. I hunted white tails for 20+ years with mine. One hell of a killing machine.

 

[Ledslnger]

Yep, the .222 is a better round than the .223 and I would take it in a second. Been looking for one to call my own...only found old Savage 340s lately. Would love one of the Sakos, but don't really want to drop a grand plus. It would be worth it, but have a lot of irons in the fire. Need a new custom barrel in .218 Bee for my Thompson Pro Hunter and a scope too I guess.

 

[soundguy]

i see federal has 222 out now. havn't seen it before. had only luck finding it in ppu/przi

 

[slayer]

i see federal has 222 out now. havn't seen it before. had only luck finding it in ppu/przi

Federal has has 222 ammo out for a while now. Prior to getting into reloading I shot Hornady and Federal ammo only. 5 years ago I took my son who was six at the time on a hog hunt. He shot a 250 pound bore at 75yds in the shoulder with a Federal vital shok, the hog didn't leave its tracks.

 

[slayer]

Yep, the .222 is a better round than the .223 and I would take it in a second. Been looking for one to call my own...only found old Savage 340s lately. Would love one of the Sakos, but don't really want to drop a grand plus. It would be worth it, but have a lot of irons in the fire. Need a new custom barrel in .218 Bee for my Thompson Pro Hunter and a scope too I guess.

The savage 340's are good guns. I have the Springfield 840 (same gun, cheaper price) that I have been shooting since I was 5. Almost 30 years later and it is still insanely accurate.

 

[Ledslnger]

The savage 340's are good guns. I have the Springfield 840 (same gun, cheaper price) that I have been shooting since I was 5. Almost 30 years later and it is still insanely accurate.

Yeah, I figured the 340s were okay. Have seen 3 of them now, all were pretty beat up though. If I find a mint one I will most likely jump on it. All had low powered scopes, think 2 of them were fixed power. I would like no scope or at least a 3-9 power.