Reloading for a Brno Fox .222

Morning all,

First off, I did try putting in .222 into the search function but came up with nothing. I would have thought there would be something in here for the .222...

I have a pretty mint Brno Fox in .222. Now when I got the rifle I was given a whole lot of handloaded ammunition of different sorts to use. Now all this has about gone. I also have a hundred so cases and some dies. I know you can get pretty cheap .222 ammo locally here at belmont but I thought I should have a go and load some up myself.

I only use this rifle for Fallow deer, no rabbits or varmints. So does anyone have any projectiles/loads that work well for them in their .222's that I could start with?

cheers.
Scott

50 g Sierra game king

50 Gr Hornady Soft point with 20Gr 2207 out of my Vixen will shoot clover leaf groups fairly consistently. Interestingly, group size doesnt change if I load up some 50Gr V-Max

Hornady's ELD-M's are popular in the larger calibres...Has anyone tried them in a .222??

When I first started meat hunting I used Sierra 52 grn match hollow point. Great cheap little bullet that behave a bit like the Barnes do.

Ive tried 55 gr Barnes and other 55 gr projectiles but in typical fashion, the older rifles with their twist rates seem to like the 50 grainers more so than anything heavier. Like Tahr, I used to load 52 gr Sierra hollow points which also shot pretty well from what I remember

I found the same thing in my Sako .222 where i didn't like the 55 gr variety. Ended up shooting 50 gr Hornady fine but only shot two deer with it. Powder... i use BM2 as that worked better in my rifle than AR2206H

As Tahr stated... go with the 52 Sierras :thumbsup:

52grn speer HP and the 50 grn hp will do the job nicely in your fox......if its anything like the one I used years back...that popped up on here forsale...it wont be fussy.

Now load 3 Vixens using 60gr Hornady. They love a heavy pill.

Hey mate.
As mentioned before the old man uses the Hornady 55gr SP over 21gr(i think) 2207. More than 100 deer shot with this load, mostly top of neck/headshots or behind the shoulder. (Fallow(mostly), sika, reds and even a sambar(not recommending that though:ORLY:)). Also shot foxes and grey Roos.
Hornady 55gr SP hold together better than 50gr HP and SP at .222 velocities(pretty slow compared to .223).
Never tried any new pills.

Sounds like there are a few powder options to try as well (Dammit!) with 2207, 2206 and BM2 mentioned.

A mate swears by AR2208 in his .222/.223’s

CFE223 might also be worth a look aswell

50gn Hornady SP and BM2

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Originally Posted by Kudu

Sounds like there are a few powder options to try as well (Dammit!) with 2207, 2206 and BM2 mentioned.

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Iv got 2206h and 2208 on hand locally if you dont have any and just want to trial some loads

I agree with Roarless20's old mans recipe.My vixen prefers that brew, but seems like other vixens out there run better with 50grn.All my kills on Reds

How about the Sierra 65gr game king boat tail. Need 1:10 twist or faster barrel.
I load this for my son in his 223 with a min range load so that's probably about a fast 222 load.
Shoots very nice. He shoots out to 300 mtrs for casual shooting. Has not taken a deer with it but the reputation is their that it can.
Z

As Outdoorlad said, 50gr Hornady SP & BM2. In the tread for thar, chamois & waps you'll see my Brno Fox in which my son shot a nice chamois. It was with this load and it accounted for red's and a hundred or so goats as well.

Greetings Kudu,
The go to load for the .222 R seems to have been 20.5 grains of IMR or H 4198 (AR 2207) behind a flat base 50 grain projectile just about forever. Well since 1950 anyway. The 14 inch twist prevents anything heavier than 50 grains being used. Any powder much slower takes up too much space. Some early Sako rifles had a 16 inch twist so may pay to check.
Grandpamac.

I have a BSA CF2, heavy old girl but total tack driver, at least by my humble standards. I've worked up loads in various powders all in 55gn. Hdy and Sierra SPs have given me best groups off a rest at 50m, tight and overlapping. But not far behind is the CMJ Frontier FMJ Flatpoint from Rusa, $155/1000 shipped. Cheaper on indent.They won't win any benchrest comps but they sure do a number on goats and rabbits out of both my 222 and 22-250. Last goats I shot were at measured 250m from the 22-250. The FP does plenty of damage at 3300 fps. In the 222 I'm running them at 2800 thereabouts. Last rabbit I got with this pill was 128m measured from the 22-250. Unfortunately a quartering shot and the hindquarters were absent from the kidneys back so hawk fodder unless your keen on soup. So for cheap pills and good kills they work for me and probably shoot more accurately than I can.

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Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings Kudu,
The go to load for the .222 R seems to have been 20.5 grains of IMR or H 4198 (AR 2207) behind a flat base 50 grain projectile just about forever. Well since 1950 anyway. The 14 inch twist prevents anything heavier than 50 grains being used. Any powder much slower takes up too much space. Some early Sako rifles had a 16 inch twist so may pay to check.
Grandpamac.

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IMR3031 worked for me.

Attachment 138181

And AR2207

Attachment 138182

Sako L461 and AII.

Accounted for hundreds of goats and a handful of head shot fallow.

I think the .222 tends to be one of those cartridges that is very easy to load for. Many different powders seem to work well in them, but its projectile range is narrowish.......... given that many have slow twists this narrows it down to the 50 to 55 grain projo range for most older rifles.
Of course you can muck about and dissect to the nnth degree to get hair splitting accuracy. But most seem to shoot MOA at a minmum with almost any 50 to 55 grain bullet filled up to the base of the neck with a suitable powder. ( thats a broad statement re the powder and take from it what you will )

I use the cheap 55 grain Hornady soft point with a cannelure and have used AR 2208 a lot, anywhere between 23 and 24 grains.
But many similar burn rate powders will do the same. Good 'ol W748 is good too ( and cheap to burn / practice with.)

Hi Kudu
How are you? I use 2207 in 222 Sako with 50 Bal tips, very accurate load and hits hard. I think all 222's are inherently accurate due to the longish neck, and I have used the Hornady SX 50 gn and the Hornady 50 gn SP with excellent accuracy as well. My sako doesn't like the 55 grain projectiles either. I run the 53 grain Sierra MK in my 223 and also in the 222 and they are a very versatile bullet and have taken a number of deer with them. Just to get to the range, with this lock down I am all loaded up with 223, 284 Win, and 30-06 to test on the range, level two can't come quick enough, and of course duck shooting as well, this bloody virus has a lot to answer for - a roar trip into Harkness abandoned as well. Take care

My first .222 (Sako L461) shot Hornady 50gr SP and Hornady 55gr SP w/c and Sierra 55gr Blitzkings with great accuracy (unfortunately I do not have photographic evidence). Foolishly, I traded it in for a younger, sexier Sako AII. As others @Seventenths et al have 'testified', the AII would not easily shoot 55gr projectiles. Go figure...

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Originally Posted by Pauli

My first .222 (Sako L461) shot Hornady 50gr SP and Hornady 55gr SP w/c and Sierra 55gr Blitzkings with great accuracy (unfortunately I do not have photographic evidence). Foolishly, I traded it in for a younger, sexier Sako AII. As others @Seventenths et al have 'testified', the AII would not easily shoot 55gr projectiles. Go figure...

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Any thoughts as to why the A II didn't shoot heavier projectiles well compared to the true 'Vixen'? Did the A II have a different twist rate?

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Originally Posted by Maxx

Any thoughts as to why the A II didn't shoot heavier projectiles well compared to the true 'Vixen'? Did the A II have a different twist rate?

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I have no idea. Twist rate is apparently the same.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pauli

My first .222 (Sako L461) shot Hornady 50gr SP and Hornady 55gr SP w/c and Sierra 55gr Blitzkings with great accuracy (unfortunately I do not have photographic evidence). Foolishly, I traded it in for a younger, sexier Sako AII. As others @Seventenths et al have 'testified', the AII would not easily shoot 55gr projectiles. Go figure...

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AI...duh!

Just for interestes sake:

Had Dad's .222 vixen out yesterday to shoot a fallow spiker and also tested some of my 6.5 loads (CM and PRC).

Put the magnetospeed on the vixen and fired 2 shots over it:

hornady 55gr SP over 21grs ar2207
1st 3185 fps
2nd 3184 fps.

Faster than we were expecting. Pretty fast for a .222rem! He had never chronied the load before but guessed it to be about 3000 fps max.

Round about 3000 - 3200 is pretty average,depending on the load