221 Fireball Info Wanted!!

[shagerott]

FW: Another update - I ended up NOT getting the ER Shaw barrel in 221FB. The factory is expanding and I was looking at another extension to the already long wait. I got a refund and bought a 22 Hornet in a Handi. Just got it from the gunsmith - reamed to 221 Fireball. Now to get out and try it out.

I also won a 223 Rem Marlin barrel and will setback and ream for 221 Fireball. I will get one on a Savage action some time (persistent) . . Thanks for encouragement here!!

[n4ue]

Shag, great. I just 'found out' the other day that the Savage and Marlin bbls are interchangeable. Never would have quessed that!
I believed I mentioned that my first attempts at the 221 rifle was to simply shorten a 223 bbl. I was told it wouldn't work. Those that said that, were 1/2 right.
The ctg had to have a die made for it because of the lesser amount of body taper. Just modified a spare 223 die. I did some research and some old discussions called it the 223 Short. It shot just fine, but was a PITA.
So I just bought a PTG 221 FB reamer and easily fixed the issue. Yes, I remember a particular groundhog hunt in Ky with the XP-100. It was awesome, but my shooting buddy vowed never to go gh hunting with me again, unless I used a rifle!

ron

[shagerott]

Ron,
The Marlin has a slightly smaller diameter, 1.055"? so I hope it is stable when tightened down. It also has a larger diameter in front of the threads which might interfere with the barrel nut. I may have to trim the barrel nut and maybe turn the shoulder down. It is not plug and play with a Savage barrel nut.

[n4ue]

OK, I remember seeing a Marlin bbl for sale on eBay where it was stated they were interchangable. That was the first I had heard about that.
When I made my '223 Short', I had to trim the bbl nut also, but that was the easy part. In anticipation of all these rebarrelling jobs, I purchased several SS and black Axis nuts. Have fun and be safe....

ron

[shagerott]

Ron- If recent Marlin 223, yes, I won that one.

Update on H&R 221fb - tested it today and it worked as planned. Iron sights at 50yds were as good as I do with 22LR. Took 20 rounds before the barrel got warm. Broke it in cleaning every 5 rounds for 25 rounds, no copper fouling. Glad to see that. It was a good day!

[n4ue]

shagerott, glad you got it going. To be honest, I've only tried one 'rifle' load for the Axis, so far. There are load tables out 'there' for rifle loads, but I'm just trying to go through some of my 221 loads I worked up for the XP-100. My only load shot in the Axix so far is: Sierra 1410 / 16.0 gr IMR4198 These 52 gr bullets are HBN coated.
A load I worked up for the XP is Nosler 50 gr bt / 18 gr IMR4198. These particular bullets were plated with WS2. I have not shot either over my chrono, so no idea about velocity.....

As you can see, I'm a big fan of plated bullets! ha ha The1410 / 16.0 load shoots so good, I doubt if I'll even try to develop anything else. Have fun and enjoy the FB.....Kinda like a larger .22lr....

ron

[shagerott]

Hi Ron, Thanks for the IMR4198 hint with 50gr Nosler (BT?). I tried starter loads of 844 with 50gr V-Max and 55gr SP. The V-Max shot higher at 50 yards. I also had some 40gr V-Max over 15.0gr Lil'Gun. No chrono, but those move right along in the 22-inch barrel.

shane

[Rustydust]

I have shot the 40 grain Vmax with up to 16 grains of Lil Gun (3600 FPS) and they shot one hole 5 shot groups at 100 yards. Pretty dang good in my book. After using this load for years I finally dropped it back to 15.5 grains and I think that I am going to stop there. Shoots fantastic and bolt lift is now a tad easier. I tried these out on prairie dogs in Wyoming a couple of months back and I don't think that there was a single complaint generated by any of the dogs as to how effective that load was. For sure, I will never leave my little Furball home again when I make my annual pasture pooch trip. Just too much fun!

[n4ue]

Rustydust. Welcome to the club. I bought my XP-100 back in the 80s, but just recently decided to add a rifle in that caliber. Although I now own several 221s, I believe it was the Sierra Manual that said that the Remington Engineers developing the 221, said it was one of the most efficient ctgs they had worked with (at that time, of course. ha ha). I just found some Lil Gun for my 17s, thanks for the load data.
Also, there used to be a bunch of guys that had XP-100 competitions and shot some amazing groups. Of course, the XP's short action has no mag cutout....
Before I did the Axis, I actually thought about ditching the 10.5" bbl and putting on a longer tube. Glad I left it alone.
shagerott, the Noslers are PN 39522 Ballistic Tip Boat Tail

thanks for the chat, guys. Now, I 'almost' wish we had groundhogs, PDs, whatever, here in Florida! Just Yodel Dogs......

ron (just an old paper puncher)

[Rustydust]

thanks for the chat, guys. Now, I 'almost' wish we had groundhogs, PDs, whatever, here in Florida! Just Yodel Dogs......



Hey Ron

My hunting buddy drives from far eastern West Virginia to meet up with me in Wyoming every year. His wife has a sister in Casper so we hook up at a motel then use my truck to hunt out of while his wife and two girls stay at her sister's house. Works out well because the wife and kids get to enjoy a trip out west every year to visit kin and he gets to shoot prairie dogs with me. Oh, and this year in 5 days we killed over 1500 of them taking turns using my shooting bench while the other one spots. Killed them with every gun that I had with me on the trip including a 2" barreled Taurus .22 revolver and a .357 Magnum. Was quite a successful trip to say the least. I hope you can make it out someday. None of us getting any younger.

[Rustydust]

Oh, and you don't have to have a hunting license to hunt varmints in Wyoming. That makes the trip a little sweeter too!

[n4ue]

Rustydust, too cool! After I retired, the ex and I took our new motorhome and made a cross country trip. I loved Wyoming. We lived in Ky at the time and Wyoming, North Arizona, etc, would have made wonderful places to move to. Unfortunately, having grown up in Boston, I learned to HATE snow.
That's why I now live in the 'Sunshine State'... ha ha
Never want to see that white stuff again, EVER!

ron

[Rustydust]

Never want to see that white stuff again, EVER!

ron

Well, not a big fan of it myself to tell you the truth. If not out shooting I am motorcycle riding (almost 1000 miles this week so far) so for sure don't like no snow under my wheels. Especially if I only got two of them!

But after almost all my life in the south I moved to Idaho after visiting a friend here and falling in love with the place. Almost zero crime, nobody walking around with their pants to their knees and no rap "music" to be heard ever. Yeah, sometimes it's cold here too just like Wyoming but that's when I get caught up on my reloading. Got lots to do this year too. And yea! Just bought some more power and bullets so I'm ready to get started! C'mon snow!