.222 loads, lead bullets?

[frumious]

Hi All,

I have a T/C contender (original) that was my dad's. It has a 10" or so .222 barrel with a 1.5x scope and .222 ammo is sort of hard to find these days. So I am considering reloading for it. This will be my first rifle cartridge to reload.

First question...if I go to order some bullets, I will ask for ".22 caliber rifle bullets, just like for a .223, although I will be loading .222 cases", right?

Next question, does anyone have any recipes for .222 loads using lead bullets? The Lee manual I have goes into some detail on lead bullets for reduced-power loads in rifles but it doesn't give any examples for .222. Are reduced-power loads the only thing lead bullets are good for in rifles?

Also, I don't even know where I'd get lead rifle bullets anyway. And in order to use them, I guess I'd have to lube them, huh? (I use moly-coated bullets for pistol and don't lube them.)

Is lead+rifle a bad idea? Should I just get jacketed rifle bullets like (I assume) most everyone else does and just be done with it?

-cls

[Shoney]

What you will be ordering are .224 bullets. Whenever you push lead bullets past about 1000fps, you will get heavy leading. The right alloy may give you a bit higher velocity. The minute the barrel starts to lead, accuracy starts to deteriorate.

You can find loads for lead in the Lyman #49 manual. You can also get molds from Lyman and cast your own. There are lead .224 bullets available commercially as well.

For the price per thousand, I wouldn't bother with lead. I have purchased the cheap bullets and found I couldn't get good accuracy. You had a 50-50 chance of hitting a prairie poodle at 100 yards. With good bullets, the groups were well under 1/2" at 100 yards.

[briandg]

My advice would be to just forget the lead. You can use any bullet in .224 designed for high velocity, and you can even use the hornet bullets. If you want to minimize your expense, military surplus 55 grain bullets work in that cartridge usually, unless the twist rate doesn't work. The 55 work in my 221 fireball...

[Buzzard Bait]

It's been a while but I worked up some cast bullet loads for my 222. I am away from my load bench and notes so this is from memory. I was using a Lyman #225415 flat nose bullet with a gas check. My goal was to approximate a 22 magnum round in terms of velocity but my bullet was a little heavier. I first tried loads using pistol powder I know one was unique powder accuracy was terrible. I later tried some loads using 4198 and they were pretty light compared to normal jacket bullet loads.I also hardened the bullets buy water quenching them. Some where in all this I got fair accuracy and what should be about a 2000 fps low noise, low cost round. I still shoot the load as sort of a plinker round but a few years ago I took a wild turkey with one. I did mention that I water quenched the bullets to harden them which helped a lot but I must tell any one thinking of doing this that water even in very small amounts plus molten lead is very dangerous and a good way to get burnt, blinded or all of the above, proper steps and protection is are a must if you don't know what the proper protection and procedures are ,don't try it.

BB

[K.W.]

I use 50gr SP Sako105G bullets and
VihtaVuori-pistol powde N-320 4,0gr.

[Tacoma]

Check out jamescalhoons online article on the "bee". A few grains of blue dot shotgun powder behind a 45 -55 gr bullet will give you tailored velocities in the 1000 to 2000 fps range. Blue dot works well in contenders as it burns up fast in short barrels. Noise is GREATLY reduced as well. I use BD loads in my .223 contender (and rifles).

if it were me, I'd shoot inexpensive plated bullets vs lead to keep leading down and give me more flexibility in choosing faster/more accurate laods.

[frumious]

Tacoma, plated like Berry's? What other plated bullets are there?

-cls

[colospgsAVID]

I have a bag of Winchester( think that's the brand, maybe Remington) .222 Remington new, unprimed brass. I bought these in a used buy of bulk .223 Remington cases. Some bags of new some various buckets. One of the bags was .222 Remington which I have no use for. Pm me if you want to make a deal on them. I'll let them go cheap.

[Scorch]

If you are going to shoot lead bullets out of a rifle, shoot gas checked bullets.