AusVarmint

I cant seem to walk into gun shop and not buy anything, and yesterday was no exception!
Walked into the shop "magnum sports" for the first time, had a look around and walked out
with a $100 deposit on $500 martini cadet with a heavy barrel in .222Rimmed.

Its been reblued the stock is nice monte carlo style butt and a target fore-end with weaver mounts all i need is to mount my Simmons 3-9x40 Wide-Angle to it and after I buy cases from bertram I'll make some ammo for it then its off to the range.

One thing I do need to ask th'o is who makes die sets, especialy a neck sizer as I want to buy them in a couple of weeks

What's money for, if not for spending?

Marco wrote:
One thing I do need to ask th'o is who makes die sets, especialy a neck sizer as I want to buy them in a couple of weeks

Just use an ordinary 222 die set. The body of the case is identical to the 222 Remington, only the rim differs.

You will need a different shellholder (I have NFI what the 222 Rimmed uses).

Good one Marco

Yes use normal 222 dies, even lee collet, need a shell holder for 38 special or I think 357 max or something like that, I use a 38special I bought a 38 special trimmer from lee to get the shell holder to trim to length. Also be careful I have been told Bertram brass is a tad thicker than usual 222 brass so when loading aim for 1 gr under max and start 1gr under the start. Mine pretty much seems to shoot 1 gr under the new max, too hot with the martini and you can't extract the cases, I have been there done that while trying to get some 50gr vmax's to work in a slow twist (1:16). I am loading with 2207 at the moment and seems to do the trick!

Enjoy it they are a sweet rifle sounds like a nice rig, photo's when you pick it up. My user photo is my 222 rimmed.

Ryan

Shell holder is one for a 357Magnum. When you stat loading for it ... start loads for the 222Remington are your max loads. That'll keep you out of trouble.
Cheers...
Con

I was speaking to the old man about it last night and he told me his first rifle here in oz
was a martini henry 222 rimmed but he soon traded it in for an M1 carbine in the early 70's
I was only 4! .....( first gun I ever used at the age of 10 was that M1 carbine, god I miss it.)

Anyway my dad swears blind! that RCBS make dies in .222 rimmed, as he had a set.
anyone heard of them?

Nope

But 222rimmed is just a 222 with a rim so just the extra shell holder, has worked for mine.

Jansa arms in sydney sells simplex 7/8 2 die sets 222rimmed $107.00 yeah very pricey i know

this photo is a very similar stock thats on mine, but this one is a sportco, mine on the other hand may also be a sportco but im unsure?, im 70% sure thats the stock on it, but the forend is a dead ringer.

that's sweet Marco. they are fine looking rifle.

I'm sure there is allot of info above that is relevant that i personally know from history gossip and loading manuals.

excuse my ignorance although didn't the aus army cadets or recruits start of with these rifles in the 2'nd world war????? love to know the history behind an aus rifle!

If you have a Sportco barrel its possibly a 1:16 twist too marco, this means most plastic tipped 50grainers are too long. However the nosler 40 bt's should be fine they are the longest 40 I have found so vmax and sierra's should work well too. I tested them out to 200 and were stabalised just fine. Actually it put three into less than an inch at 200 with .5 gr above min. IF you want to shoot 50's then stick with hp's and lead tips. I used some remington 50gr hp's which weren't bad, certainly flattened game but not as accurate as the 40's.

Ryan

stinkitup wrote:If you have a Sportco barrel its possibly a 1:16 twist too marco, this means most plastic tipped 50grainers are too long. However the nosler 40 bt's should be fine they are the longest 40 I have found so vmax and sierra's should work well too. I tested them out to 200 and were stabalised just fine. Actually it put three into less than an inch at 200 with .5 gr above min. IF you want to shoot 50's then stick with hp's and lead tips. I used some remington 50gr hp's which weren't bad, certainly flattened game but not as accurate as the 40's.

Ryan

ok lets say i do have a 1:16 barrel, what wrong with the big 50gr plastic tips?
is the fact that their too long therefore they have to be seated in further, therefore less powder in the case .... or is there another reason

whats the maximum range i could expect on a good no wind day?
and whats the lightest projectile i can load for this twist?

one other question could you load cast bullets in it.

The 50 grain ballistic style bullets are just too long for the twist. They key holed terribly, could make out the tip and boat tail in a target a t 50 metres I loaded some hot to see and was a touch better but of course then I had case extraction issue's. I cut the tips of the last couple I had loaded and sure enough round holes in the target again. I think you forget that those tips do anything as there is bugger all no weight in them but it affects them more than you think. My stability calc even says the 40 grainers should be too long but they do stabalise and shoot damn well, which I have heard that often bullets just stabilised are good for short range as well.


Yes you can shoot cast if you want out of them no issue's there like any other cartridge. I have shot the 35 vmax but find they are a little like throwing rocks, with the same charge the 35's POI was lower at 200 than the 40's. Although they were pretty accurate but the wind pushed around. I think the best is about the 40 grain vmax/ nosler BT or sierra blitzking. or perhaps a 45 lead tipped proj the 50 gr hp's do shoot fine though. I haven't tried the 52/3 match projectiles in it though as it has been purely for hunting.

I think the 222 is great 200 m cartridge, can stretch it out to 300 if you know what your doing, with a 200 zero I think its under 2 moa high at 100 and 3.3 moa low at 300 so its do able.

Ryan

yeah ok, thanks eveyone for your imput, especialy you Ryan....... thanks mate

nothing to add........ theres info i need on this post ..... just making it easier to find
but hey if you wish to add, be my guest!

Hi Marco,

Out of nothing but idle curiosity, does the front of the action have a kangaroo marking?

A bit like this?
Rabz