222 rem

[DGY]

Good day all, I have a BSA cf2 in 222 rem, the rifle is like new, supposedly low round count, but I’m having a hard time to find a proper load that group well( hard to find nodes), the bullet I have are 55gn fmj(Remington bulk) and some Speer 55gn varmint(I didn’t try loading those yet)
I tried a bunch of powders, cfe223, IMR 4198, h335(seems to be the best one so far velocity wise and groups wise).
Is it possible that that rifle doesn’t like fmj bullets? Those fmj bullets have a cannelure and I sit the bullet to it( I think that is all the magazine will allow)!
Any ideas? Anyone have one of those rifles and can chime in on what it likes.
Cheers

 

[Suther]

222s often have relatively slow twists, I wonder if 55gr is too heavy for your rifle?

 

[jamesharrison]

It's not that your barrel does not like FMJ bullets; just that it may not like THOSE fmj bullets.
Full Disclosure: I have never owned or shot a BSA CF2 rifle in any calibre.
But, I had owned 4 different Remington rifles [722, 700, 40XBBR] in the Deuce & ALL 6 of their barrels had 1:14" twist, which was the norm "Back in the Day". I used to shoot 50 & 52 gr. Berger, Euber, Fowler, Shilen, Watson, Stricker & McCracken bullets, which ALL shot the lights out of any bulk bullets, including Remington's 50 gr. PLHP & PSP. Bulk bullets of ANY kind are not going to give you the accuracy that a BR bullet, or even a good quality Varmint bullet [Hornady V-Max, Sierra Blitz King, &c.] will. Further, if your Remington bulk bullets are of the FMJBT persuasion, they are quite likely too long for the twist & velocity you can obtain in The Deuce.
If your Speer 55 grain bullets are shorter than the rem. 55 gr. FMJ's, you may have some success with those.
Remember, it's NOT the weight of the bullet, it's its length that will determine your success or otherwise in a slow twist barrel.
IMR4198 & H335 are good powders for that case / bore size. We used to use a case full of IMR4198 & H322 from a 6" drop tube under 52 gr. HPFB bullets back in the day.

 

[tracker]

l have had good results with Rem 700 and now a 700 with a 722 barrel 1 in 14 twist using 55 vmax, 55 Speer BTHP, 52 Euber and Sierra using mostly Benchmark, W748, H4895, IMR 3031 and H335. 55 FMJ did not shoot that good out of 722 barrel.

 

[Crashman]

My Sako 222 Vixen will not anything of 55gr variety at all. It loves 50 gr, and will do okay with 52 and 53 in certain loads. 55gr is a waste of time for me so I stick with the 50s.

 

[waldo54]

I had 2 rifles chambered in 222 way back 30 years ago, a Remington 788 and a Remington 700 adl neither of them would shoot 55gr bullet very good, 52hr HPBT just OK, my go to bullet back then was Winchester 50gr sp bulk bullets, I loaded and shot thousands of them in the gopher patch, unfortunately when I moved overseas in 1998 I sold off all my guns, I would love to have them both back now, easy to load and great shooters.

 

[Scott_N]

My Sako 222 Vixen will not anything of 55gr variety at all. It loves 50 gr, and will do okay with 52 and 53 in certain loads. 55gr is a waste of time for me so I stick with the 50s.

I have the same rifle and usually had the same results. Mine shot flat based 50gr bullets best, particularly Hornady SPSX. I haven't seen those bullets around for some time. OP, might be something to try, 50gr bullets.

 

[hammering hank]

Im loading 4198 behind 50gr z-max bulk I had, and spsx. Both shoot great in 3 different rifles.

 

[Old Ranger]

I still have the 788 that I bought more than 50 years ago although I haven't had it out of the house in more than 20 years. Got into collecting and shooting milsurps and lost interest in the little 222. I worked up a very accurate load and shot hundreds through it. 52 gr Hornady SP's and WW748 powder. I won't quote the exact load from memory but it was in the middle of the recommended powder weight. Won a lot of turkeys at the local turkey shoots that were popular at that time with the inexpensive and a little ugly Remington.

 

[reb]

50 grs Barnes tsx H322

 

[DGY]

222s often have relatively slow twists, I wonder if 55gr is too heavy for your rifle?

Hmmmm could be, but lots of loading data even up to 60gn

 

[DGY]

Ok I will go look for some 50gn bullets and see if she likes it better!
Thanks for all the replies!

 

[Neo]

My Sako 222 Vixen will not anything of 55gr variety at all. It loves 50 gr, and will do okay with 52 and 53 in certain loads. 55gr is a waste of time for me so I stick with the 50s.

Another vote for lighter bullets in that rifle. I have the same gun, and the magic load for my purposes turned out to be a 40 grain Ballistic Tip driven by H335. Bug hole groups. And a very fur friendly coyote load.

 

[Crashman]

Another vote for lighter bullets in that rifle. I have the same gun, and the magic load for my purposes turned out to be a 40 grain Ballistic Tip driven by H335. Bug hole groups. And a very fur friendly coyote load.

I have not tried the 40s yet but I have a couple boxes here to load up and test soon. I was thinking they would be good for preserving pelts.

 

[Bad Bob]

I`ve shot an awful lot of .222 over the years. Maximum, or near maximum loads of IMR 4198 and H322 with a quality 50 grainer is the way too go.
As a bonus I found that the cheap axx Hornady 50 SPSX gave superb accuracy (1/4" 5 shot groups easily) launched gophers like you wouldn`t believe and was cost effective.

 

[jamesharrison]

Hmmmm could be, but lots of loading data even up to 60gn

Yes, but there's also lots of loading data for 55 grain bullets in a 1:16" twist .22 Hornet. Doesn't mean they're going to work, at least well. The manuals state that with a 1:16" twist, only bullets of 40-45 grain mass will be accurate.

The same goes for the Triple 2. Most loading manuals that still include data for the .222 Rem. include data for bullets up to & including 63 grain bullets, but state that with a 1:14" twist bullets of 40-53 grain work best.

Ok I will go look for some 50gn bullets and see if she likes it better!
Thanks for all the replies!

Maybe do some research on bullet lengths first, as some of the 40 grain bullets are longer than some 55 gr. bullets. Remember that twist is dependent on length, which only sometimes equates to weight, as this table shows.

Wgt.	Mfg.	Style	Length
45	Speer	SSSP	0.570
50	Speer	SP	0.630
50	Sierra	SP Semisp	0.640
50	Hornady	SX SP	0.644
50	Sierra	SP Blitz	0.660
50	Sierra	SP	0.676
55	Hornady	SX SP	0.684
50	Speer	HP TNT	0.690
55	Speer	SP	0.700
45	Barnes	TSX	0.705
55	Hornady	SP w/c	0.715
52	Speer	HP	0.715
52	Berger	M Varmint	0.718
50	Hornady	CX	0.769
50	Sierra	BlitzKing	0.786
55	Hornady	V-Max FB	0.787
35	Hornady	NTX	0.789
55	Hornady	SP	0.800
50	Barnes	TTSX	0.812
53	Hornady	V-Max BT	0.829

It also makes a difference with firing point temperatures; shooting varmints or paper at +25 C will result in a much more stable bullet than waiting on a coyote at -10 C.

 

[hunters home]

Had the same rifle as you have back in the late 80's ( BSA CF2). The 55's didn't shoot. The 40-50 grs done well. JME

 

[Hitzy]

All my 222 including the CF2 like a full case of 4064 and Hornady bulk 55gr SP, they all shoot that very well. 50gr Speer TNT were also right in there.

 

[9.3mauser]

Hmmmm could be, but lots of loading data even up to 60gn

My .223 doesn't like 60 gr'ers and it has 1-12"twist. They stablize ok, just won't group worth sh!t.

 

[Bad Bob]

Fire formed brass / polished / annealed / LEE collet neck sized / Fed 205 / 20.5 IMR 4198 / Hornady 50 SPSX / .010" off