HARDCORE

From The Bench
Oldies But Goodies
The .222 Remington and .222 Remington Magnum.
efore the .223
appeared, either in Bcommercial
or military
form, there were two prexkcessors.
Ixxh quite similar to
the .223. TJtesc were the
.222 Remington ami tlx-
.222 Remington Magnum.
This year, the .222 cdebratcs
its 60th Ixrthtby. whBe its
younger sibling. tlx* .222
Mag. is only 12 (making it six
year* older than the official
introduction of tin- .223). In
Kurope. tlx- triple deuce Mill
Ixilds a top spot and is cli;inibcrcd
in most manufacturers'
rilles. Init Ixxh cartridges are
nearly ol>solete in the United
Slates now. ovcrsludowcd by
tlx- popularity of tlx- .223.
That's a shame Ix-cause they
remain excellent chokes for
tlx- predator hunter.
Tlx.- .222 Remington was
created l>> - Mike Walker, kingtinx-
Ix-nch rest shooting
dump atxl Remington
employee. When he inm>duccd
it in 1950. tlx- .222 was
quite a radk~.il concept. Many
descrilx- the case- as a scaleddown
.30-06 and. indeed, it
looks tlx- rok\ In tnith, it was
a Ix-aixl new case not IXLHXI
on any predecessors. It produced
velocity precisely halfway
Ixiween the two nxist
common vamiint/prcdaior
rounds of tlx- day: the .22
llomct of 1930 aixl ilx- .220
Swift of 1935. I lowever. given
Mike Walker s lx»ckgruing
groundhogs in the Fast, aixl
tlx- ever-increasing populalion
of coyotes in the West.
The Hornet, while suitable
for close-range slxxxing of
varmints, lias never been
known for Ceding accuracy
or for king-range use. Hx-
Swift, while excelling in Ixxh,
suffered from the unwarranted
reputation of Ix-ing hard
on lunvLs and finicky to
reload. AltlxHigh neitlx-r
criticism is justified, the
Swift in 1950 was at lite
lowest ebb of its popularity.
On ilx- bench rest circuit of
Ilx- day. tlx- .219 Donaldson
Wasp atxl tlx- .22- 250 (or
Varmintcr as it was then
Called) were ilx- nxist |XI|XIlar
rnundv Rille-s were mainly
reworked Mauser Mjx-.ir until 1958. and
alllxiugh wry similar to
tlx- .222 (only slightly
longer), it Ls a direct result
of Remington's al(cni|X lo
"win" tlx- competition for
a new U.S. military round.
Ultimately, as we know, tile
.223 Remington was chosen,
atxl this rendered tlx- Ixillisticallv
similar .222 Magnum
obsok-te alnxm overnight.
Ilx- .222 survived longer
because of its popularity in
Ix'ndi resi competitions aixl
inherent accuracy in fiekl
guns, bui ultimately the success
of the 6mm PPC aixl tlx-
.22 PPC sent it to a bock seat
on the Ix-nch rest circuit.
From 1950 until the early
Pro-Staff—J.G MunnclL
J.C. Mtwnefl Ixis Ixxm an and
baiuliotuk-rforcxx-r $0 years.
I lis mienst spans lUirofxtin
combination guns to tlx- most
/xunrfid reiohvK, ami
includes ail facets n\lab»and
i arr>itnt cartridge* • Ms
loading nxiiit Ihhim^ over ISO
scis >in USA 1.800338 0563 mm trijicon com