Varmint bullet advice

Cleftwynd said:
Most 223's have a 1-12" twist, not the 1-14" of the 222, that plus the couple hundred FPS advantage gives the 223 the ability to stabilize longer bullets such as the Barnes, or 60 grain partitions. IN my limited experience anyway.

Just looking for input from those with experience with the slower twist and speed like the 222 has.
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The twist varies by maker, the velocity differences look good on paper, but not so different shooting them side by side, esp. with handloads.
My suggestion is to not worry about it and start shooting a bunch of light bullets and see what shoots well for you.

This, based on a six or so year stretch of shooting gophers off a hilltop outside Moose Jaw, next to Brutus, with his .222 (Remington 600, IIRC), and my .223 (14 twist Douglas barrel, 20 inches, IIRC).

If you are concerned about advantages that show up on a calculator, buy a .22-250 and get it over with. In real world use, we could not tell the difference between them, performance wise.

Missed gophers don't blow up worth a damn. Any 'varmint' bullet (light jacket construction) is gonna work fine.

Cheers
Trev
 
Lol trev, if I wanted a 22-250 I would have bought one instead of the 222. I tried two types of Barnes bullets, and some 60 grain bullets, all were horrible compared to the 50's or lighter. All I have left now is the 50 grain vmax, it doesn't do too bad with those, .75" on a bad day, but the heavier bullets I tried were 2"+.

I was just looking to see what bullets were the most frangible at lower speeds, this little rifle is fun for pest control!
 
I can't believe not more people have mentioned nosler ballistic tips. Unbelievable accuracy out of my .223, I know its not a 222 but comparable. Shoots great out of my remington with a 1-12" twist, don't think the lower grain bullets like a 50gn will shoot much differently. Makes gophers dance pretty well!!
 
nevanevan said:
I can't believe not more people have mentioned nosler ballistic tips. Unbelievable accuracy out of my .223, I know its not a 222 but comparable. Shoots great out of my remington with a 1-12" twist, don't think the lower grain bullets like a 50gn will shoot much differently. Makes gophers dance pretty well!!
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55gr Nosler BTs are the most accurate varmint bullet I've tried in my R700 1:9 twist so far. They work great on gophers, not as explosive as Blitzkings though. I'm not impressed with performance on coyotes, getting large exits on clean vitals hits. I think these bullets may need a tad bit more velocity to make one-hole shots on dogs. I think I'm going to try some FB Bergers or 53gr vmax next.
 
That's the sort of thing I am looking for, which bullets are most likely to vaporize at slower velocities, other than hornet bullets.

Although I did just pick up some more 40 g vmax's due to how well the 50's group.
 
Pick through any of the "Varmint" bullets and you will have effective 'exploders'.

I stocked up on Winchester brand bulk bag bullets, and I have helicoptered my fair share of gophers with them. Got 4 with one shot, one day, too. OK, it was a cluster of babies, but it was still 4 gophers! Messy!

But TNT's, V-Max's, Varmageddon's, lots of the 'classic' weight .224 bullets like the 52 gn JHP bullets, etc.

There IS a reason they call them Varmint bullets, eh.

Huge range of choices. They will all work. Look for the light jacket construction, and give 'em a try.

If you can find them, Calhoon Double Hollow Point bullets blow up pretty good too. I had some fouling issues switching between them and copper/brass jackets, though, so clean clean clean. I used to get mine at the Moose Jaw gun show, but with himself having moved south of the border, they are harder to find.

But of all the bullets I HAVE tried, all performed very well when they hit, and all killed gophers just as dead. I loaded for years using milquetoast loads with Lee scoops, and the gophers couldn't tell. Nor could they tell when I switched over to using a scale to measure the powder. Me neither.

Yer not gonna get to see the results until you get off the computer and load up some ammo eh. :D

Cheers
Trev
 
The last week I have sent approximately 100 centerfire down range, and 300 rimfire, per day. Probably more than you have trev, :p

I have never used a calhoon, if I ever see them I'll try them out!


thanks for the info!
 
I've have shot 40 grain nosler ballistic tips and also 50 grain Speer TNT's. I've shot some ground hogs with them and the performance was what you would want of a varmint bullet. Big enterence hole with no exit, on a fox that I shot at approximately 125 yards the bullet left an enterence hole of about 1.5-2.0" hole with no exit. Was a bit too destructive on fox for my needs but might be excellent for your needs. My load used BL(C) 2 for a little over 3000fps. Accuracy was excellent with groups from 0.5-0.75. The ballistic tips were also excellent in performance and accuracy with my velocity of over 3500+ fps. Hope that helps
 
I would love to use the Barnes, but I can't get them to group. Ideally I would like a 22 cal entrance hole and no exit to save the furs. Other than rodents or pests I keep and use what I shoot.
 
Cleftwynd said:
The last week I have sent approximately 100 centerfire down range, and 300 rimfire, per day. Probably more than you have trev, :p

I have never used a calhoon, if I ever see them I'll try them out!


thanks for the info!
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Yeah. I've been busy and only got about half a box of shotshells and a couple boxes of .22 downrange in the last week or so. And two or three shots with a .223. Not bad for not having been to a range!

Yeah. The Calhoons are pretty spectacular exploders, if they shoot for you.
They have a speed limit marked on the box, so they have a light jacket, which seems to be key to that.

One of these days, I'll get my swaging dies set up and try the 'rimfire' jacket bullets.

Cheers
Trev
 
Trev! I have been saving all the rimfire brass so one day I can try making my own 22 cal jacketed bullets! I don't know if I will be successful but I will have fun trying anyway, let me know how it works for you and maybe one day I'll pick your brain.

PS: since you are on a farm, don't you have your own range right outside your door?
 
Using 22LR casings to make your own jacketed bullets, cup and core style. Something that was done commonly during the war IIRC.
 
Cleftwynd said:
Using 22LR casings to make your own jacketed bullets, cup and core style. Something that was done commonly during the war IIRC.
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It's actually how the Speer company got started too, Vernon Speer was making the bullets in his garage.

But, jdman, what did you want to know "what" about them?

They are a chance to be somewhat self-sufficient, and recycle the otherwise not very useful empties.
They make a pretty light jacket, so they explode pretty good.
Accuracy depends, to a large part, on the care taken in making them.
The bullets are inexpensive, although the dies to make them may not be.

Just another potential shooting related offshoot hobby.

Castboolit has a swaging forum. Lots of .224 bullets from rimfire brass info there. The Corbin brothers each have their own websites selling their own dies and presses.
Lots of info out there if you want to learn about the stuff.

Cheers
Trev
 
Use rimfire brass for many reasons, first, it starts at near perfect size for swaging 22 cal jackets, second, thin head with no primer hole, etc....
 
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