222 Rem Magnum?

jpm

Joined
Jan 9, 2013
Messages
7,457
Likes
4,284
Feedback: 89 / 0 / 0
Anyone have any 222 Remington Magnum ammo they can spare? I can buy or trade for it. Don't need a lot.
 
That's the first time I've heard that anyone owns that caliber. It was developed after Remington brought out the .222. I read somewhere that it was offered in the Army trials when they were creating the M16, but the military went with the 5.56/.223. Looking at my Lyman reloading manual, the .222 Mag. has the same bolt face size and bore as the .222 and .223. Other case dimensions are a little smaller than the .223, and none are larger, so it would be a simple job to have a gunsmith cut the chamber to accept .223 ammo. I've seen .222 at Walmart, but never .222 Magnum. Lyman calls it "almost obsolete." Good luck.
 
@Woodstock Oh yeah its totally obsolete now but I happened across an upper chambered in it and want to try it out. It was setup for match shooting so hbar and scope, etc. I can get brass locally but I would need the dies so I'd rather just get some ammo first to see if I want to get into loading it or not.

@andrew1220 I'd be surprised if you saw this there, probably was regular 222 rem.

@JRT yeah its scarce, I found some at Midway for about $1.20 a round for a box of 50. Ouchie.

@mac1911 thanks, I'll give them a call!
 
In case you guys want to visualize this, 222 Magnum is actually bigger than 223/556. The bullet used is the same.

See the picture below for comparison, that is 222 Rem on the left, 223 in the center and 222 Rem Magnum on the right.

222_family.jpg
 
That's the first time I've heard that anyone owns that caliber. It was developed after Remington brought out the .222. I read somewhere that it was offered in the Army trials when they were creating the M16, but the military went with the 5.56/.223. Looking at my Lyman reloading manual, the .222 Mag. has the same bolt face size and bore as the .222 and .223. Other case dimensions are a little smaller than the .223, and none are larger, so it would be a simple job to have a gunsmith cut the chamber to accept .223 ammo. I've seen .222 at Walmart, but never .222 Magnum. Lyman calls it "almost obsolete." Good luck.

I did the same history lesson, I had never heard of 222 Magnum. I have a friend who used to hunt with 222, it was kind of an anemic round, it definitely needed a magnum caliber, it was one of those rounds that never got any traction. Its funny that Cooper is the only rifle company making a firearm in 222 Mag, I love my Cooper rifles but this is not a surprise. 25% of the calibers they list as build options I think, I have never heard of that round.
 
@Woodstock Oh yeah its totally obsolete now but I happened across an upper chambered in it and want to try it out. It was setup for match shooting so hbar and scope, etc. I can get brass locally but I would need the dies so I'd rather just get some ammo first to see if I want to get into loading it or not.

@andrew1220 I'd be surprised if you saw this there, probably was regular 222 rem.

@JRT yeah its scarce, I found some at Midway for about $1.20 a round for a box of 50. Ouchie.

@mac1911 thanks, I'll give them a call!
Ahh yes, reading comprehension fail 😂. Regular 222 Rem was it
 
Speaking of reading comprehension fails, I was wrong about rechambering the .222 Mag to .223. The shoulder angles are different, but the Mag case is longer, so no way.
The .222 was developed by Mike Walker at Remington in the early '50s as a target round, and he set a benchrest record for group size that stood for years, around .000x. It was a popular varmint round and is still chambered by gunmakers including Savage and CZ. Barrels are typically 1/12 or 1/14 twist, so heavy .22 bullets don't stabilize well.
 
Speaking of reading comprehension fails, I was wrong about rechambering the .222 Mag to .223. The shoulder angles are different, but the Mag case is longer, so no way.
The .222 was developed by Mike Walker at Remington in the early '50s as a target round, and he set a benchrest record for group size that stood for years, around .000x. It was a popular varmint round and is still chambered by gunmakers including Savage and CZ. Barrels are typically 1/12 or 1/14 twist, so heavy .22 bullets don't stabilize well.
It is actually slightly better than the .223, about 5% greater case capacity. I have a 40X chambered for it. The .204 Ruger is based on it necked down. I don't consider it "totally obsolete" in any way, shape, or form.
 
Last edited:
I understand you can rework .204 Ruger to fit. Last brass I got was from Duck Creek Sporting Goods but it is no longer available there. Found ammo @ Reed's but it was $1.50 a bang, so... It's a dandy caliber. I inherited a Rem 700 in this cal. and it is Very Accurate. Right now I am just looking for its favorite recipe. So far 52 gr Sierra hpbt, 26 gr 3130 w/ BR4 primers. One ragged hole @ 100 yds. Going for a smaller hole.

Stook
 
I understand you can rework .204 Ruger to fit. Last brass I got was from Duck Creek Sporting Goods but it is no longer available there. Found ammo @ Reed's but it was $1.50 a bang, so... It's a dandy caliber. I inherited a Rem 700 in this cal. and it is Very Accurate. Right now I am just looking for its favorite recipe. So far 52 gr Sierra hpbt, 26 gr 3130 w/ BR4 primers. One ragged hole @ 100 yds. Going for a smaller hole.

Stook
Got a smaller hole. same powder load and primer but with Berger 50 gr flat base target. Then they quit making the 50 gr so I'm using the same bullet in 52 gr. Still better than the Sierras.
 
222 rem mag has been obsolete for a long time. I’ve been shooting it since I was a kid. My dad gave me a Remington 700 chambered in it.
I have a few boxes but I don’t want to sell, sorry.
Last time I checked Remington had brass available, I bought a set of dies, but have yet to reload any. Good luck with your search, it’s a great round for shooting groundhogs.
 
You could make brass from 204 Ruger brass may be a bit short but would work. Haven't looked but the difference between 223 and 222 magnum can't be that much as it has been done in by the 223.
 
Handloaders Manual of Cartridge Conversions is showing fire form .223 to make the bass. I know op said he doesn't want to reload them, just continuing that conversation.

Another bonus to reloading is 222 rem mag dies are on the cheaper end of dies currently on eBay.

OP: you said you have an upper, are we talking AR upper?

20211023_115511.jpg
 
OP: you said you have an upper, are we talking AR upper?

Yup, AR upper that someone was using for some serious target shooting. Heavy barrel like 1" thick, looks like maybe it was a 223 barrel they had reamed to 222mag.

I found new brass at Glenn's in North Reading and some dies in the classifieds here for cheap so I went ahead with reloading it. Tried 10 or 20 rounds so far and it shoots good but I need to try it at more than 100yds to get a better idea.
 
Yup, AR upper that someone was using for some serious target shooting. Heavy barrel like 1" thick, looks like maybe it was a 223 barrel they had reamed to 222mag.

I found new brass at Glenn's in North Reading and some dies in the classifieds here for cheap so I went ahead with reloading it. Tried 10 or 20 rounds so far and it shoots good but I need to try it at more than 100yds to get a better idea.
Nice! That's definitely different. Any feeding issues with standard mags? I'm guessing not because they are so close.
 
Back
Top Bottom