first handloads

deadeyes40

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these are my first ever handloads.they are my work up loads.the start load is row #1 and the charge increases by 2/10 of a grain with each row.now to get to the range and see how the 222 likes them.
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. Looks good. If they shoot half as good as they look you should be doin OK. make sure the board doesn't tip over in transit, or it will all be for nothing. I had a bunch mix up for my 7mm what a disaster.
 
I put our reload experiments in ziplock sandwich baggies with a sticky note inside indicating the load. It's not exactly classy, but it does the job! :p
 
the sandwich bags are where each group of 5 are now that was taken for display purposes.when i did the loads as i loaded each group of 5.they were filled with powder,the bullet seated and put right into the zip lock bags with slip of paper with load info.
 
the sandwich bags are where each group of 5 are now that was taken for display purposes.when i did the loads as i loaded each group of 5.they were filled with powder,the bullet seated and put right into the zip lock bags with slip of paper with load info.

Good to hear someone else does this! We always get weird looks when I arrange a bunch of little sandwich baggies of ammo on our table! :D

The thing is that you don't want to load too much of any one "experiment", so that system works good for me.
 
was at range today,ran all of my test loads.never had any show signs of over pressure.groupings could have been better but it just could have been shooter error.imight not have been allowing enough time for rifle to cool down between shots/groups.i was impressed by the fact they all went bang.here are a few pics of some of the best groupings.it was warming up pretty fast today,was getting quite a bit of mirage in the scope as well.
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this one is 22.8 grains.
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I write the charge on the side of the case with a "sharpie" pen. Helps if you ever decide to drop the tray or just tip over a few of your loads. (done it).
 
i had mine all done up in 5 round lots in ziplock bags with a piece of paper in each bag with load data.only had one bag open at a time,put empty brass right back into same bag.
 
"...increases by 2/10 of a grain..." Half a grain is good enough for the initial work up. What bullet weight?

Depends on what you're working up. On my .204, the range from starting load to max is often less than three grains. With 10 5-round strings on .2 increments, I can cover most of that -- and 50 rounds is a nice count for a workup set.

If I find a nice looking node, I'll load up 20 at the load, and 20 each at .1 above and below it. I shoot two 10-round groups (I think a 3-round group is useless for testing) of each load, which should give me a pretty good sense of its consistency.
 
"...increases by 2/10 of a grain..." Half a grain is good enough for the initial work up. What bullet weight?

:rolleyes: ½ grain is fine in big cases, but in a case the size of the 222, .2 is fine, since it takes very little powder to make a difference in that small case. Eagleye
 
Looks promising, my favorite powder for a 222 is H4198. I`ve been using a lot of H322 as well. I have an 8lb. jug that will last quite a while and is almost as good in my old 788. The 222 is a great cartridge to learn with, cheap to load and mild recoil. Your shooting will improve the more you practice. It takes time to get comfortable enough to be able to shoot small groups all the time. Keep it up and have fun.
 
The 222 Remington works well with a number of faster rifle powders;
With success, I have used the following: Reloder7, H or IMR 4198, Norma 200 & 201, Vihtavuori N133 & 135, H322, Benchmark, IMR 3031 & 4895, H4895, W748, BLC-2, Reloder 12,[obsolete now] Reloder 10X, Accurate 2230, 2460 & 2015BR.
Your rifle will determine what it likes best, but certain rifles are very cosmopolitan in their tastes, shooting many recipes well. My present 222, a 700 "Classic" tuned by Nobby Uno, shoots the 50 V-Max into ¼moa.
The load is: WW cases, CCI BR4 primers, 23.5 grains of Reloder 12.
Right on it's tail is 25 grains of W748 or 23 grains of H322, with 19.5 grains of H4198 and the 50 Ballistic Tip in the running.
Eagleye.
 
was at range with kids on saturday,while they were shooting the air rifle i was trying a few more reloads.i picked up another 222 a couple of weeks ago.wanted to try it.and made up some more for my first 222.let the kids fire some 3 shot groups at 50m.i shot some at 100m.

this 3 shot group is from my first 222.
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these group were shot by myself and the kids.would liked to have tried some of the 45 grain loads from above pics at 50,but i had only made up 3.there will be at least a box of them in bag for next trip.
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