Thread: .222 turning back the clock

Hi all , Just after some ideas really - Since October ive shot 15 red deer . All bar one were inside 150 m . The closest being about 10m . To be honest ive really enjoyed just going back to basics recently. Camp fires, Sleeping out , No real mod cons hunting wise apart from bino's . Watching nz hunter the other night got me fired up for some old school action of my own .
So I brought this 222 and am going to wage war on the deer with it.

Who reloads for 222? What is the maximum effective range ? Should I get a CDS turret for the scope ?

My experience has been that the .223 gets about 200fps more velocity out of the 50-55gr bullets, but the .222 has a slight edge in accuracy. Factory twist rate for heavier bullets favours the 223. But, the 222 can handle the 45gr WMR projectiles which can be a bit of fun on small game. Accuracy is best loaded down to Hornet velocities.
Back in the day when I had my 222 I was reloading a 52gr Hornady hollow point on goats. Was devastating on goat sized animals and outperformed any of the PSP or the very few polymer tipped projectiles that were available back then. Never shot a deer with it.

If you were shooting a .223 in your current hunting opportunities would you be dialling? Threat the .222 the same.
Personally, I would look at a FFP with illuminated reticle.

Being a crack shot you could get out to 350-450. I agree you need to order a CDS turret.

If you're not into mod cons now then you mustn't need the borrowed neo-air xtherm....?!

15 reds since October.... bloody show-off....

50 Gr Soft Point and 19 Gr 2207 - shoots like a lazer

If your last 14 deer were all inside 150y why even bother with cds?
You could go old school and zero at 200 and shoot anything out to 250

Originally Posted by Tikka7mm08

Being a crack shot you could get out to 350-450. I agree you need to order a CDS turret.

If you're not into mod cons now then you mustn't need the borrowed neo-air xtherm....?!

Borrowed ? Thats mine by default now. Trust me you dont want it back some of the places ive been sleeping

Good point.

I enjoyed the program and the old school aspect as well.
What I found interesting was how the 222 killed the first four hinds, no bang / flop action. Just a well placed lung shot into the area just behind the shoulder.
The deer never bolted but staggered a few mtrs then toppled over, that little 50 grainer did the business.
Cool calibre ...makes me want a 222 / 223 now as well...old school cool.

Originally Posted by Tikka7mm08

Good point.

Will make sure there is some way prime duck shooting for you in may

222,inch high at a hundy,all deer dead 220yds.No need to play around with scope again.

There are two ways to look at this.

1. Be properly old school and use a simple scope and know how to use it, and what the limitations are. Oftentimes this means faster reactions to the presentation of a shot.
2. Use a modern scope with ballistic turrets, potentially CDS, and squeeze out the absolute max from the cartridge by minimising POI variation at longer range as much as possible.

My preference for closer range point-and-shoot type hunting is to have a well matched BDC reticle over ballistic turrets. When you look at the flat-ish trajectory of a ~3,100 ft/sec 50gr bullet, by the time you're into significant drops that need careful compensation, you're probably outside the reliable range of the cartridge for red deer. Wind is the enemy, something I am regularly reminded of when long range varminting. When there's zero wind I can drop a 50gr bullet onto a rabbit at 400m no problem, but even a slight fickle breeze here and there will bugger that up easily if I'm not on top of my game.

Your definition of effective range will be different to the next guy. No need to argue that point as we just end up in a spat. Suffice to say I use my 3,400 ft/sec 50gr in .223 on goats and fallow well past 300m and have no qualms about that whatsoever.

It's an interesting dilemma. I really respect what you're doing @Nathan F, after a longish period of medium range sniper shooting I'm getting bored of it, and getting increasingly unfit. Back to basics is calling me too, and I just bought two lightweight rifles - .223 bolt and .308 lever, for the exact same reason.

Good luck and enjoy!

@Nathan F this might be interesting.

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....23-deer-64884/

Originally Posted by Tahr

@Nathan F this might be interesting.

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....23-deer-64884/

Thank you . Some interesting opinions too

Has anyone had any experience with the 53gn Barnes TSX?