My buddy Ray and I decided to try to work up some groups in 222 Remington. He because of his near new but really old Remington 700 Varmint Special that needed to be exercised again. It has had less than 500 jacketed bullets thru it since new many years ago. It was a labor of love with one of his favorite rifles.
I recently bought a CZ 527 in 222 to see if I could make a 22 LR and a 22 Magnum load shoot acceptable for plinking or hunting or just garden duty. This rifle was bought new and has never had a jacketed round thru it.
Both rifles have perfect bores and have never shown signs of leading although the 700 did show some residue from one load coated with Hi Tek. Ray cleaned his rifle after every session but the Cz has never been cleaned at all and shows no need to do so. There may be a few flakes of powder but even those go away with good powder charges.
The 700 sports a 3x9 scope that was probably special way back when but is not so special today. The CZ has a older Weaver T-6 and is crystal clear. A T-10 would be better for groups but we all run what we have. The range we shoot at is 39 yards. It is what we have until a better range is built. This would probably be a long shot for me on squirrels. I am simply not that good of a shot and think more of any animal than to wound it with a bad shot.
We agreed on plain base boolets because we are cheap. If you are going to pay for gas checks, you might as well have quality jacketed bullets. 2 days ago was the fourth session and the groups are improving. Inspect, inspect, inspect and weigh, weigh, weigh are the rules here.
We are using 5 to 8 shot groups now but the final test will be 20 shots on the same point of aim. This will be a real test in my mind. My goal is 20 shots under 1/2 inch outside to outside. Yep... I doubt I get there but that is the goal.
The boolets tested were the NOE 46 grain .228 sized back to .225. ( Al...if you are reading this, please...pretty please..make this mold with the nose the same size and the driving bands at .225. I would buy at least 1 three cavity and probably 2!!) When sized to .225, the nose section is straightened out at .225 and 90% of the boolet is a groove rider. It shoots very well indeed as the coming photos show. The mold itself is a joy to use.
The second boolet is an Arsenal Mold that cast a 40 grain boolet with no lube grooves. It was designed to be Hi Tek coated and I have shot some good groups with it as well. I wanted to see how fast I could go without a gas check and still have acceptable accuracy. It shows promise and testing will continue. This mold is also a joy to use. Who ever said casting 22 boolets is difficult has never got things 'just right'.
One little thought and I'll end this section. We are a couple of old guys and are doing the best we can. You guys that shoot 1/4 inch groups at 900 meters offhand on a foggy night will just have to put up with us......