222 Remington Magnum

Working with the 222 Remington Magnum is certainly a challenge. While it has been off the popularity lists for some time, this offspring has its advantages once you get the basics down. Granted, since it is a .22-caliber variant, bullets, primers, loading dies and powders interchange with no problems, but when I get into brass and available rifles, then it could take some time before I get to the first shot. Let me explain, albeit briefly.

Please note, I did not say impossible. What I am saying is that online, brass, both new from Nosler and custom sources, and used, through a number of private sources are available. Factory ammunition, not so much, as some are now relegated to “vintage” ammunition and yep, you guessed it, prices are into the collector’s category. Nosler again has it listed, but with a recent price drop of about 25 percent, I think they are trying to move it out. Still at $1.50 a round, it’s a bargain if you really need (want) 50 rounds.

When I came to rifles, I was surprised, as I personally have not seen a 222 magnum in the hands of any dealer for a while. Cooper Arms has seven varieties of rifles chambered for this round, as does E.R. Shaw with many combinations to choose from in actions and stocks. When it comes to used rifles, online choices range from the high-end Sako Vixen to Remington models including the XR-100, 722 and the famous Model 700 made in 1965. My choice for this article was the Shaw Mark X rifle. With a laminated stock, I put it in the custom category by virtue of its thousands of combinations of cartridges, stocks, barrels, finishes and other options placing it in the “how did I do without this gun” category, all with a down-to-earth price tag of around $1,400.

Because you have a choice in the rifle’s makeup, it then becomes a one-of-a-kind custom for you. I had the choice of the cartridge, action, barrel contour, the length and the overall satin finish. When it came to the bolt, I chose the polished bolt, but you can have a spiral design added to it if you want. The trigger is the famed AccuTrigger and it was adjusted to 2½ pounds at the factory and with the tang mounted 3-position safety; the rifle was ready to go.

The buyer gets to choose a laminated stock in two colors, selected walnut with an enhanced checkering pattern complete with a ribbon or an H-S Precision synthetic stock. Additionally, a cheekpiece is included as is a Pachmayr pad and sling swivel studs. Inside, you’ll find hand bedding, precision inletting with a smooth exterior finish to bring out the quality of the wood. With the machined Picatinny rail and a set of rings, I mounted a new Bushnell Elite 3200 scope to fill out the equipment list. The process of finding the right load for the 222 Remington Magnum started in earnest.

First, a bit of history. What started out as an experiment with the Armalite Corporation for an improved 222 Remington cartridge for the military, ended up as the 222 Special with a longer body and shorter neck. A short time later, it grew into the .224 Springfield from a design from the Springfield Armory that went nowhere. Following that, Remington put it to good use in 1958 naming it the 222 Remington Magnum, as at that time, the military seemed to have lost interest with the advent of the 223 Remington cartridge and the M16 rifle. Fighting competition from the 222 and 223 Remington, this magnum version (also necked down to .20 caliber and called the .204 Ruger) has a limited, but dedicated following with small-game and varmint hunters, especially when it comes to heavier bullets.

I had (the keyword here is HAD) a Remington Model 700 years back chambered for the 222 Remington Magnum, I did have a stash of 120 new brass cases ready and willing to be used. Before I did anything, I ran around 50-60 cases through the full-length-sizing die to square everything up, then loaded them with a charge of 23 grains of Vihtavuori N135 powder for an approximate velocity of 2,900 feet per second (fps). This accomplishes a number of things, including fireforming cases for serious loading with neck sizing only later and allows me to zero-in the rifle, saving time while keeping the barrel at reasonable temperatures during testing. Small rifle benchrest primers are used for consistency and accuracy.

When it comes to reloading the 222 Remington Magnum, nothing really is radically different from any other cartridge today. A good assortment of quality equipment like a press, case trimmer, powder measure, scale and loading dies will fill out the bill and for this session, I turned to RCBS for its standard grade die set under their product number 11001, adding the No. 10 shellholder to my purchase. This two-die set included the traditional full-length sizer with a decapping pin. Following that, the seater die has the bullet plug and built-in crimper to finish off the completed rounds.

As an option you could add a “neck-size” only die, or by marking the neck of your cases, adjust the die upward to where the neck and not the shoulder of the case is sized leaving the fireformed body of the case as it came out of the rifle. Once you get to this point, it’s a good idea to check all the cases for an overall length of 1.840 inches. Trim down if needed and chamfer both the inside and outside of the mouth.

When it comes to powders, cartridges in the 222 class are not hard to please. With a capacity of around 31.8 grains water (depending on the case used), a short list of powders started to make their appearance with a full list in the accompanying handloading table. It was interesting to note, and relying on prior experience with the 222 and .223 Remington, and now the magnum version, to reach a mean velocity reading, they all were only a full grain or less to reach 3,200 fps. Using Winchester W-748 powder for example, the 222 used 27.4 grains, the .223, 26.9 and the 222 Remington Magnum took only 26.1 to reach this velocity. Granted, there was some room here to go a bit higher, but for comparisons, I used this powder as my illustration.

When it came to choice, I had Hodgdon H-4895 on my mind in the beginning and testing proved it did very well in groups (first) and acceptable velocity (third) readings in my Shaw rifle. A favorite with 222 Remington Magnum shooters, Hodgdon H-335 proved the top contender in velocity with Vihtavuori second and Hodgdon H-4895 following. Regardless of the powder choice, all of the loads listed proved to be comfortable in my rifle with no pressure signs for my type of shooting. During loading, all were trickled into each case for the best chance of small groups downrange. If I was going to load dozens of rounds for prairie dog shooting for example, I’d stick with Hodgdon H-4895, H-335, Vihtavuori N135 or W-748 as they were easy to meter and I could get away with checking every tenth round for accuracy. The stick powders like IMR-3031 and IMR-4064 showed compression with the former right to the brim; and on the the latter, the contents filled most of the case neck, which turned out to be the third most accurate load tested.

Bullets always deserve a strong consideration when it comes to varmint shooting and most of the bullets now in modern production seem to do very well in this magnum variation with a good mix of weights and bullet designs. For chuck hunting here in New England, I favor the heavier  50- to 55-grain bullets, especially in late summer when the chucks have gained some weight. In the 50-grain category, Berger’s FB Varmint bullet proved outstanding with the best group coming in at .350 inch. From here, samples from Hornady, Nosler and Speer all proved their mettle with groups under an inch. The 52-grain match-grade bullets passed three-quarters of an inch by a slim margin, but to make up for this, the Berger FB had the highest velocity of the session.

Moving up to 55 grains, there was quite a range of information here when working with the 222 Remington Magnum. Again, the Berger bullet appeared with the best group in this weight range showing .410 inch at 100 yards for second place overall. The Speer full-metal jacket boat-tail hit .460 inch and third best on the list, followed by the Sierra boat-tail, both filled with the more conventional stick powders. With 26 grains of W-748, the Nosler Varmint came up with a good group at .840 inch, but I was disappointed with the Hornady and Remington samples of more than an inch. Both are usually good performers, so obviously they did not like the powder or the charge, so they will be fine-tuned later. Since I fired all rounds single shot in the rifle, only a slight crimp was employed.

Taking the averages of all the groups, I came up with .775 inch as the mean for the 222 Remington Magnum. With an overall velocity average of 3,274 fps, this cartridge is placed in the “must have” category. When loading the finished rounds to the factory specifications of 2.280 inches, the Shaw magazine seemed just a little short when it came to the finished overall length of the cartridge with each individual bullet owing to less than desirable feeding in this rifle by catching on the forward lip of the magazine. This, of course, is not a problem when using the rifle as a single shot, but when shooting from a fully-loaded magazine, consideration has to be made to modify the overall length by a small degree to fit your particular rifle to where my maximum overall length of 2.270 inches was the perfect comprise. In other words, check the gun with dummy rounds before committing to a long reloading run, which I did and all fed without any problems.

Discussing trajectory is always fun and the 222 Remington Magnum beats out both the 222 and 223 Remington by a good margin, especially at 300 yards. Pushing almost 3,400 fps, the drop of a 55-grain bullet is 10 inches at 300 yards; with the 222 at 3,100 fps, there will be a drop of 12.9 inches, with the 223 around 3,000 fps at 14.1 inches. Out in the field hunting, bullets in 55 grains add to the wind-bucking effect of the cartridge at longer ranges allowing for a higher percentage of hits with higher velocities than its siblings do.

Shooting the 222 Remington Magnum with this Shaw rifle was a pleasure. This laminated-stocked rifle has enough weight to soften the mild recoil of this cartridge, making shooting a pleasure on the bench, offhand or in the field. The gun loaded and ejected flawlessly and for single shot use, just dropping in a cartridge on top of the magazine allowed it to operate as such. The day in question was the best I could have with bright skies and no wind.

Comparing the 222, 223 and the 222 Remington Magnum, I think you have to be careful here of running after any small gains in velocity or accuracy. Sometimes, they may not be worth the money they could cost in a new rifle, scope and related accessories. In this case, I feel the 222 Remington Magnum was worth the total effort as you can see from the results on the targets downrange. In the end, there is a lot to say with the rifles and components we have to work with today. With the right technique, the results, compared to those of years past, are indeed impressive.

If you are interested in this rifle and cartridge, visit ShawCustomBarrels.com.