Looking at building a short, light, carry rifle in 221FB. Looking at 16"- 22" barrel length, 40 grain or lighter pills, H4198 or H322. Anyone running this kinda combo? what FPS are you getting for your barrel length. Will be used for a late summer, carry rifle for goundhogs. Posted this in the reloading section also
221 fireball in a short barrel
- Thread starter Sonic Crack
- Start date
I have a 20" contender barrel in 221. It shot real well but the extractor didn't work worth a flipso it fell into disuse. Nice caliber, cheaper to load for (I guess), less noise/recoil, don't give up a whole lot with a short barrel. I've often longed for one in a 16" AR. A 20 vartarg would be pretty good for your use too. No experience with it though. Sorry I never shot my fireball over a chrono
Ran one with a 16" and one with a 20" barrel. Loved them. Very handy and if you go with the lighter bullets - 40gn or less - you don't give up much for velocity. Reloader 7 worked great with the 40 gun bullets. IIRC I was getting 3200 fps with a 40gn vmax in the 20" gun...
Thanks for the input. I originally was toying with the idea of a 22 K Hornet but, knew I would run into problems getting it to feed from a BDL or AI mag. I also wanted to be able to run a temp stable powder like H4198. So the Hornet got replaced with the FB. I know theres good offerings in the 20 cal and even 17 cal realm but I just dont have any desire to go smaller than 22 cal. This rifle will also become my boys first CF rifle down the road.
I do have a CZ in 22 hornet that I do shoot quite a bit. Very fun! Got to take it pdog hunting one year and it worked great to about 250 yards. Shot a coyote at 200 yards and dropped it (it was a small one if I remember correctly). It now has a 16.5" 1:8 twist barrel that I shoot 70 grain cast bullets suppressed. Very quiet and good for vermin within 100 yards or so.
Ive checked out the CZ's and they do look nice but I'm gona stick with a Rem 700/clone action. I can make it just how I want then. Plus I've already got a barrel ordered
Very good you will have a nice rifle !! What I liked about the CZ is it has a 1-12" twist enabling one to shoot the 55gr pills if they wish (which I prefer for my purposes) and it seems easiert to get cheap 50-55gr pills over lighter ones I found.
I have an original Remington XP 100 221 Fireball with a Bushnell Variable IIRC 2-8X. It shoots 1" groups @ 100 yards bench rested. When I lived back east I use to chuck hunt with a 22-250 Remington 700 BDL Varminter but if the chucks were 150 yards or less I used the Fireball. It's a great caliber especially in a longer barreled rifle and cheap to reload. You'll enjoy the 221 Fireball.
They are on the list! Also looking at 700, Alpha 11, Kelblys and the ESP Ti action. Mostly looking at weight right now with the Ti definitely taking the lead there. Also looking at Kelblys, one model has a micro port with a short bolt throw that would be sweet.
221 Fireball and Rem .222 are my first real varmint calibers and both are stellar! Have had both cal in pistols and rifles---Contender, XP100, BDL, and Sako
I thought the shorter calibers in 700 remingtons had a different bolt than the 223's ? If you dig around at Saubier.com there's some info on this.
The difference was the position of the extractor. It threw the cases up into the bottom of the scope. They did it so the case would not ride through the bolt lug cut and have little to no ejector reach left to kick the case out.
I ran one of my 221s with a standard 223 bolt and had no issues. It didn't throw the cases very far, but it beat having cases hit the scope and drop back into the action.
FYI: If you use a 700 action make sure you use the 221 box, follower, and spring. It won't run reliably using a longer mag box.
I have a .221 Fireball built on a Remington mod. 7 w/ 20" 1-13twist Krieger brl listed here for sale. I prefer the Model 7 to the Mod 700 for that cartridge.
Sonic Crack
I'm having a 20" tubed custom built in .221. Don't have it yet, but expect to be around 3,000 FPS with a 40 grain bullet. 52's should yield about 2,850 FPS. Time and reality will tell...
Wes
I'm having a 20" tubed custom built in .221. Don't have it yet, but expect to be around 3,000 FPS with a 40 grain bullet. 52's should yield about 2,850 FPS. Time and reality will tell...
Wes
RonA,
Sorry, I was thinking about my XP-100 not the 20" Donnelly tube on my rifle. My bad.
That's pretty wicked performance from so small a cartridge! Makes me wonder why people mess with the .22 Hornet...
Wes
Sorry, I was thinking about my XP-100 not the 20" Donnelly tube on my rifle. My bad.
That's pretty wicked performance from so small a cartridge! Makes me wonder why people mess with the .22 Hornet...
Wes
I have not run any loads over a chronograph with this rifle, but my last .221 had a 1-12 twist barrel and would hit 3500 with hotter loads(40gr). I don't try to make a .221 into something it isn't. It isn't a .223, but it is very efficient and inherently accurate.
Same here... I've found that after almost 30 years my XP100 .221 is still a slick little combo and not a novelty.
Many guns have come and gone but this one still earns its keep.
I have thought often of redoing it with an 18" re-barrel and light carbine stock...
Good luck.
Gents,
My .221 is being built on a Sako 491 with a Donnelly barrel...as a full stock carbine. A "walkin' around" hunting rifle. It's going to be a peach and something to start conversations over. High grade walnut stock, of course.
Steve Nelson @ Nelson's Custom is doing the work. It gets started just after the first of the year...guess good things are worth waiting for...
Wes
My .221 is being built on a Sako 491 with a Donnelly barrel...as a full stock carbine. A "walkin' around" hunting rifle. It's going to be a peach and something to start conversations over. High grade walnut stock, of course.
Steve Nelson @ Nelson's Custom is doing the work. It gets started just after the first of the year...guess good things are worth waiting for...
Wes
Shoot one of the CZ 527 221 FB, mostly 50 gr. ballistic tips @ 3000 using Little gun around 13 gr. as I recall. Performs great out to 300 yards, shot it to 500 on calm days. Very nice light accurate package, set trigger is sweet. You can put what ever barrel you want on these rifles, had a 7.62X39 barreled 527 changed to 6 RAT, makes for a nice walking varminter that has some punch to it.
I cant remember the barrel length its way back in the safe . ( Edit its a 22" barrel ) I've carried this little rifle on many p-dog shoots , the round count has to be way up there. I bought the form dies and made 500 pieces of brass. I almost empty them every year out there. The scope is a Nikon 6-20x44 monarch maybe a little large but with the low recoil hits can be seen in the scope. I have to say my go to varmint guns are split between this and my .17 Fireball both are great guns.
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