I have a .222 Rem. with the barrel cut to about 17". Anyone know what kind of velocity she'll muster? Is this little shell greatly affected by barrel length?

I have a .222 Rem. with the barrel cut to about 17". Anyone know what kind of velocity she'll muster? Is this little shell greatly affected by barrel length?


If this is a rifle the first thing I would do is re=measure my barrel length and edit my post.
The .223 does very well in the tC Contnders so the .222 will do well also.

If this is a rifle the first thing I would do is re=measure my barrel length and edit my post.
The .223 does very well in the tC Contnders so the .222 will do well also.
Sir, you must be reffering to the lenght issue. I'm not sure how to actually measure a barrel, but I'm pretty sure this one is legal. It wasn't cut for criminal purposes, it had a bulged barrel when I acquired it. Doesn't ruger market rifles with 161/2" barrels. The Ruger compact series. Remington's 7615. My rifle isn't any shorter than these.

I just measured my rifle. judging by all my others, barrel lenght as advertised must be measured from the bore to the case head. If this is the case mine is 18" Fully legal. I'm usind speer T.N.T. 50 grainers and the load should be about 3100+. I wonder how much I lose from a 24" barrel, if any?

Doesn't ruger market rifles with 161/2" barrels. The Ruger compact series. Remington's 7615. My rifle isn't any shorter than these.

Yes, You are correct. I just get nervous as the barrel length gets close to the limit. All you need do is insert a cleaning rod in the barrel and place it against the closed bolt. Put your thmb nail on the rod and withdraw it. Measure from the tip to your thumb.

I am a fan of the .222 and have loaded quite a bit for it as have others on the board. I prefer to load Hornet equivilent loads - about 2,600 to 2,700 fps with 45-grain bullets as our Remington 700 does its best shooting at this level.
You will not loose much with a 17"barrel and the shorter barrel may be a bit stiffer and provide a little better accuracy.
The .222 is a pretty fair cast bullet cartridge - as centerfire .22's go - and it is great fun to try them in the .222.

I prefer lower power scopes on the .222 as it is a walking gun for me. I have often thought the 2-7X scope would probably be ideal. I currently use a fixed 4X scope but have had a straight 6X on this rifle too.
What power scope are you using?

I use a 3-9x. I also use the .222 for walking.

If I haven't done so welcome to the forum jsr76. Best I can say is this would be a good time to get a chrono. It's one of the best hundred buck loading tools I ever bought.

You can always guess at what your velocity is by taking published figures and doing the 25 to 50 fps per inch loss over a certain length barrel, but knowing is always better. I bought my little plastic Chrono at Cabela's for $99 bucks and it's going on its 5th year.

Yes, welcome to the Forum.
Since my summer is shaping up to be a .30 calber summer I'll be looking forward to your posts on the short barrel .222. If you gain acces to a chronograph I would enjoy trying to shoot similar loads to yours and comparing data.
My brother has a Savage 24 in .222 X .20ga. so we could through that one into the mix too.

Get some 4198 IMR or H don't seem to make much difference. Get some 50gn jacketed, I used to use nosler solid base. Load it up and don't look back. I used .222 rem in 200 yd bench rest matches for 3 yrs. One had a 24inch bbl the other 20inch don't think it will affect much as far as velocity is concerned. Velocity is determined by the amount of burn you have if your load is burned before 18" the bbl length is very moot. Use the faster burning powders and it will do it's job. I used to think you needed a longer bbl for velocity also, it is a myth, unless you are cramming a lot of slow burning powder in your case. So the longer bbl is a scenario not a necessity.

My 3cents worth-no charge. Try the Hornady SX bullets for dazzling performance. From all the sites I get to, noone seems to mention these. They are one excellent little bullet with the right load. Not for pelt hunters though.

Right now I use 50 grn. Speer TNT's. It will also shoot 40 grn. v-max bullets well but they are weaker in power due to the .222's modest velocity. I popped a few chucks with the 50's the other day and they were very effective.

http://www.accuratereloading.com/223sb.html

These guy's have some interesting information with a 223 in progressively shorter barrels, which is comparable to your 222

Also I just ordered a Shooting Chrony from a place called Budsgunshop.com for $66 plus 10 bucks shipping. It has the best price I could find.

I have had good success with IMR 4198 in the 223 but keep hearing H335 is good till I am going to go buy some and give it a try.

Thanks Marlinf, that is a good bit of info. It looks like 18" is handy and still has good speed with these small rounds. Accuracy seemed to be best right in the middle. Very helpful, thank you

50 FPS per inch of barrel length is a good GENERAL assumption. If you really want to know shoot five shots at 100 yards and 5 shots at 200 yards and measure their drop. Now consult your balistic tables in the back of a Nosler re-loading manual according to the bullet you were shooting and you'll have a close approximation of how fast you're shooting.

H335 is such as small ball powder that it meters VERY well in a good thrower and does not tend to powder foul very much so it's a handy powder in the 222 & 223. I tend to get better accuracy with Ball C and 4895 but 4895 is a bit slow for the lighter bullets. This post was for Marlin. Sorry I'm new to the board and havn't figured out how to quote a post yet.

H335 is such as small ball powder that it meters VERY well in a good thrower and does not tend to powder foul very much so it's a handy powder in the 222 & 223. I tend to get better accuracy with Ball C and 4895 but 4895 is a bit slow for the lighter bullets. This post was for Marlin. Sorry I'm new to the board and havn't figured out how to quote a post yet.

If you want to quote, click on the REPLY button on the lower right of the post you want to quote. Using the POST REPLY button to the left and below all the posts if you don't want to quote. This board has features I haven't figured out yet. :eek:

Bye
Jack