223 vs. 222

[buggybuilder]

Why do many shooters-casters not have good luck casting and shooting 223 rifles with only fair accuracy and others shoot 222 rifles that are tack drivers? Is there that much difference in these cartridges?

[rking22]

I will chime in ,even without lots of time with either using cast. I like cast in my 222, it's a Sako L46 with a 1 in 16 twist (yes not 14). It shoots 225432s well and was easy to get good results. Now I haven't done much with the 1/9 CZ 223 due to the fast twist and more so due to the "no need" as I am happy with the 222 for those uses.Also have gobs of "wrapped" 224 bullets I have to do somethin with. So ,what I am saying is the 222 with it's long neck and slow twist is frequently easier to get good results with. The 223 can also be very accurate but the typical fast twist can be kinda hard on "average" bullet alloy and I do not really want to put in the effort to work it up. Wife says lazy :) Suspect that folks with 223 issues may be pushing them kinda hard, those of us who like the 222 tend to be more sedate maybe. Just opinion, interested in others thoughts on this issue myself.

[5Shot]

222 has a much longer neck and the base of the bullet usually stays inside it. Not sure if that helps or not.

[floydboy]

I'm sure Larry or some other very knowledgeable person will chime in with all the details about why the 222 does better but from personal experience I can say most definitely the 222 is the better way to go. I would say the determining factors are the smaller cartridge, longer neck and you must have a slower twist barrel like a 1-14. That being said I would imagine there are some 223's out there that do very well but 222 is easier to get to shoot well the great majority of the time.

Floyd

[GabbyM]

222 Rem also had a quite different throat and lead angle. Shorter throat so my bullets set deeper into my 222 than my 223 Rem chamber. Lymans #225646 fits into the necks of both rounds but hangs out farther in the 223 to reach rifling. I greatly prefer the 222.

222 Remington is considered a more accurate cartridge than the 223 to start with. Then 5.56x45mm NATO with it’s oversized chamber and throat (.227”) is simply built for dirty ammo reliability in the M-16. From my recollection of reading about peoples woes. The NATO chambered rifles is where most struggle.

I really don’t remember any posting woes using a 1:12” twist bolt action 223 Remington. Usually the 5.56mm NATO chambered tight twist AR-15’s. Run a fatter .227” boolit and keep the velocity down to match twist rate and they shoot. 1,800 to 1,900 fps for a 1:8” twist barrel. 2,200 fps with a 12 twist and 2,400 fps with a 14 twist.

My 223 Rem 700 Varmint rifle is sub MOA at 100 yards. Did that on the first load I ever tried. 14.5 grains 4198 at a little under 2,200 fps. It groups around 7/8” at 100yards consistently with very few flyers. Thus it is accurate enough to blow squirrels in half at 100 yards. Still shoots at 200 yards but the wind will , for obvious reasons, kick you around. In theory a man could get some good wind doping practice that way.

I enjoyed shooting cast in the 22 caliber enough that I purchases a CZ 527 in 222 Rem for a dedicated cast boolit shooting walk about weight bolt gun. To say I’m now fond of the 222 Rem over the 223 Rem would be an understatement.

I’m running 14.0 grains of 5744 under the Lyman 225646 around 2,400 fps. In the 222.
It may go faster but I’ve not tried it yet. Rifle has a big enough bark to it at these levels. If I did want to try pushing them faster I'd go to a slower powder.

[Larry Gibson]

The .222 Rem has the longer neck so a better designed bullets such as the Loverin designs can be used while keeping the GC and lube grooves in the case neck. The .222 Rem also comes standard with a 14" twist which is better suited to accuracy with cast bullets.

The .223 with a 12 or 14" twist also do just as well, especially if the throat allows the Loverin designs like the 225462 to be seated with the GC at the base of the neck and the front drive band against the leade. There will be exposed lube grooves though.

The .223 gets difficult with the faster twists in the gas guns where functional reliability is wanted with very good accuracy, especially in the 7 - 9" twist M4 16" barrels. However, useable milsurp level accuracy for 100 and 200 yard shooting can be accomplished without too much difficulty. A bit better can be had with HT'd and coated bullets. Just takes more equipment and effort to make those.

Larry Gibson