222 Remington cartridge, any good?

Hello everyone,


I don't have any experience with a .222 Remington, I would like your thoughts on the cartridge. Good, bad, or otherwise I've never shot one.

I have an old friend that has offered to sell me one of his old rifles in this cartridge. I'll probably buy the rifle either way, just because who doesn't love a rifle with history.


Thanks for your help,

Drew

If I remember right, one of my instructors has one or at least has experience with the cartridge. I think he likes it, I’ll ask him and see what he says. Then I’ll report back.

Love mine yote duster. 300 yrd. Bout max

Not sure, I bought one a year ago, haven't shot it yet. I was kind of in the same situation. I was offered to purchase a older savage chambered in 222 and figured why not. It is my understanding that it is very similar to 223, slightly less "powerful"

I’m a fan of the triple deuce for sure. Very accurate round. Was my Grandpas varmint round of choice. Old friends gun? What model? No matter, I’d buy it in a heartbeat.

Been shooting one or another for 50 years. The 722 Remington in this caliber was an affordable varmint rifle released in 1950-just in time for the bench rest craze. It would still be very popular if the military had not not adopted the 5.56. There was also a .222 Magnum very similar to the .223. Even some European firms chambered the .222.

One could call it the forerunner of the 223Rem and they have very similar ballistics. I think there is still a relatively good selection of factory ammo to be had off the shelf and it is easy to reload as well

Forgot to add, it is still a popular rifle for fox and co in europe these days

I think it's a good round just hard to find ammo for it.

yes it is slightly shorter parent case of 223rem

not many people who have them dislike them it will do most of what a 223 can but it will have a slower twist barrel and favor the 40-50 gr bullets which it will get cooking along 32-3400 for the 40s and 2800-3000 for the 50s

they were often very very handy light rifles that were chambered in 222

also called tripple duce

Thats what I feel too. I like a gun I can easily find ammo for.

I buy 95% of my ammo online and my two favorite sites usually have several options. I think it’s about .50 per round for FMJ.

Super round! Shoots flat and a real dog stopper. Ammo is available at most gunshops, Wal-Mart carries it, at least around here, and is easily available on-line. It is not anymore expensive to shoot than a .223 for hunting loads.

I have 2 and have taken coyotes with both ones a savage and ones a remington 700.Great round for sure It will shoot 40 thru 50 grain bullets very very accurate.I haven't had any problem finding ammo at sportsmans or cabela butI never buy ammo for them as i hand load.Nate's got it right on 300 max tho I did kill a yote at about 350 with a 50 grain nosler b.t. had to hold about 3" over his back.

if you reload you can form cases from 223 brass , lube well I like lanolin oil when making new cartridges from other cases but a little lanoline oil cheap isopropyl fuel line anti freeze gas additive in a plastic bag roll the cases around in the bag it puts a very thin coat on so you don't get case dimples from too much lube then run it into the sizing die. I run in and out 3-4 times as brass can have some spring back then trim and load , some times you have to neck ream but most of the time i can get away without it.

I'm not sure would matter how well it shoots or if its good for anything but being able to say you shoot "A Triple Deuce" is enough of a cool factor to make me want one!

yes loved my triple duce 300 about max wish I still had it was a real tack driver

I have a couple old Sako Vixens in .222 used them all the time for fox and groundhogs back in the day. Loaded 52 grain speer hollowpoints. Tack drivers. Also had a Savage O/U .222 over 20ga. mag. for fox back then too.

They are great got 3 of them. Roll my own for them

I found a Remington 722 in .222 20 years ago at a gun show. It was about perfect maybe never fired. Anyway, first three shots with it were 1/2" inch at 100 yards. Backed up to 200 yards and got 1/2" again. Hard to beat that. I've used it for coyotes with 52 grain sierra match kings. It's excellent for that but I mostly use it now for our mini prairie dogs/ground squirrels with the 40 grain V-max. It's one of a handful of guns I'll never sell. Might give it away to the right person some day though.

Lots used for hunting Turkey around here.

Hi buddy.

Back off my good friend 10bands Catch!

Thats true enough!

I've been shooting a .222 Rem for nearly 50 years. Mostly coyotes, but quite a few deer, pronghorns, and black bears. Accuracy and bullet placement are key, and the .222 Rem. is consistently about the most accurate gun I've ever run across. To each his own, however. I load my own, but I've never seen a shortage of .222 ammo at the stores. Seems like a common caliber.

I only know the rifle is an "old" Savage with iron sights, that's what the owner said. I haven't got to look at the rifle yet. He recently told me he had a rifle "he thought I needed". I noticed he seemed proud to talk of by gone coyote adventures while carrying this rifle, presumably in the '70's and 80's. Like I mentioned before I felt like buying this rifle just "because".

As for ammo availability this rifle includes brass and loading dies, so that is nice. I had looked to see some factory ammo was out there as well.

Thanks for everyone's input on the .222 Remington. I'll make plans to bring it home.

Suddenly feels like I just opened the bag of dog treats...

I think there's a 222 rem mag too, but it's really tough to get ammo for them.


Use my 222 for turkeys in the fall..

10bands, I have the same gun and I use the same bullet. I and my kids have shot hundreds of our ground squirrels with it. Good caliber to start youngsters with. I will pass that gun on.

I shot my first buck with a .222 Remington when I was 12. 14 inch 6 point through the heart. It was very accurate. I expect my nieces and nephew to shoot their first deer with it.

I'm guessing his Savage is a 340. They're not pretty and have a not so good trigger and once you get past that, it'll be a shooter.
The .222 mag is a beast. You can occasionally find some old stock factory ammo. Brass is out there. Ya have to dig, but it's out there. I purchased a reamer several years ago. We've rechambered 12 or 15 triple deuces to mags.
55 gr nosler bts seem to sing the best in my 700.
Had a friend that shot a factory Sako Vixen with a mannlicher stock in 222 mag. Beautiful rifle!!

I've shot a lot of things from fox coyotes to deer and antelope with one the .222 is a scaled down version of a .30-06 top it off with a quality 6x scope and you will be very happy with it I done well with the 52 gr bthp Sierra match bullets.

I have 2 of them and they are both Remington 788s 😎

Good caliber. Have even shot deer with it.

Have a sako.222 and love it.

The .222 is one of the few calibers that nearly everybody that owns one has nothing negative to say about it.

No reason to make brass from .223 brass, new .222 brass is readily available. At one time the .222 dominated the bench rest game. The "bigger is better" philosophy caused it to be eclipsed by the .223 and .22-250 because of the greater range for killing varmints, but the .222 is a lot more fur friendly than the others. I have had a 788 in .222 for 50 years now.

At one time the .222 Rem did hold the world bench rest record. Anybody that owns one would be foolish to sell. They ALL shoot well.

Have one in 788. Very good shooter. Would like to find a spare magazine for mine. Planning on putting a Timney trigger in it eventually. Did a bedding job on it couple years ago.

most accurate rifle ive owned. had a 788 and loaded 6 different loads for it and all shot same place and under one inch!!! different bullets too. never had that happen ever

I have my grandfathers 222 given to me by Uncle. I have had it for 30 plus year. My grandfather used it for coyote in the canyons of Southern California. I have shot more whistle pigs than I can count with it.

Not that hard around here. Heck I even found some on the shelf in the local Wal Mart. I have an old Remington model 760 in that caliber with a 3-9 Leupold on it.

Great varmint gun. I have a Remington 700. Killed a lot of ground hogs with it.

Supposed to be in demand, old Remington 788 might be 400$ about 2x original price?

Years ago, I belonged to a bench rest range club, and the overwhelming majority of shooters shot a .222 Rem.

I wouldn't sell mine for that

Used to be the 222 and 222mag were the most accurate and popular caliber around for varmints

Excellent caliber for a trapper. As well as coyote and small game I have taken cougar and deer with a 222 Rem. Shot placement and accuracy is the key when using on big game. I also had a 222 cartridge you could insert a 22lr into and fire it for use on small game and dispatching trapped animals.

not only is brass available but Lapua brass is available!!

IMI brass is the best, but maybe they don't do the .222

I've heard that some 22-250's have the barrel shot out of them. Is this a concern with the triple deuce? I'm gonna be building a .223 Wylde, so I really don't need a .222, but I'd like to get one of those 788's.

Lets hear it twice for Lapua brass.

its inherant accuracy held ALL benchrest records from it's intro up until late 70's when the 6mm PPC took over accuracy.
got mine in '76
stopped counting eastern woodchucks at 1,000 bout 20 yrs ago
pile up Idaho yotes and gophers out to 300 yds
shot benchrest competition for over 25 yrs, placing often
likes 19.5 gr IMR4198 pushing a 52 gr BTHP for 1 hole--5 shot groups at 100 yds.

NOPE, they don't go but 3200 fps compared to the barrel burner 250 at 4000 fps with the same bullet

First rifle I owned deer, woodchucks, etc don't know how much I shot it used a 50 grain blitz for everything if I miss it's my fault

Thanks John. The reason I ask is if buying through some place like gunbroker, that will be one less thing to worry about. And, good shooting!

Won many of a turkey shoot with mine.

I’ve had a couple. One was a savage o/u. Liked it but it just let me down a few too many times. Great off the bench. Horrible in the field. Probably the horrible trigger. Had a savage 340. Attractive as a mud fence but it shot like a house on fire. But, as things go, if I’m not gonna use it, might as well get I to hands that will. Didn’t see where it shot any better than any 223 I’ve ever owned with hand loaded ammo. But, with factory stuff, it might be the best shooting rifle I’d ever owned.

My 700 BDL is a tack driver and would be the last rifle I would ever get rid of. I did not understand how accurate a rifle could be until I bought this one 30 years ago.

All I know is a lot of these comments are making me feel old! I bought my 788 in either 78 or 79 with money from fox pelts, and it only took a few of them to buy it!

I bought my first remington 788 in .222 for $99 somewhere around 1971.

I have had one for quite a few years bought it at a pawn shop rem mod 722 . I handload for it anything in 50 -55 is crazy accurate. For me the only bullet that my rifle didn't like was the hornady 40gn boattail could not get that one to group worth a darn. If you reload h322 powder with 50gn vmax is my main load. Other powders that shot well was Rel7 and IMR 4198. Average speed was 3100 fps with h322 ,4198 and with rel 7 I think was around 3250fps.
J

I brought home the rifle in question! A Savage model 340B in .222 Remington with a side mount 4x Weaver scope. I am real happy about the condition of the rifle, and the history that goes along with it as well. The best day for this rifle while calling for the previous owner was 4 coyotes and 1 Bobcat! That is a great day of calling!

I also lucked out and was given all reloading supplies he had for this cartridge as well. I am excited to shoot this rifle both scoped, and iron sights. It carries a very nice set of iron sights. I plan to try those out.

Congrats! You won't be disappointed!

the 340B was a real working mans rifle , not flashy , simple , but they sure did shoot

the 340B had the nicer bolt handle. some of the others like the 325 had what was referred to as the butter knife bolt