Remmington Classic, 221 fireball

Ed Fowler

Ed Fowler

Joined
Jul 21, 2001
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2,869
This summer I bought my first new rifle, in one of my favorite cartridges, the 221 fireball. Usually I buy used firearms as most new ones don't temp me. I could not resist this one. I have shot over 800 rounds using every bullet and powder appropriate and available. Favorite load, 17 grains of RL-7 behind a 50 grain Hornady SX. In still air I can shoot 1/4 inch groups (centers)at 100 yards. Wind opens the groups up quickly. I had to bed the action and neutral bed the barrel. She is a real sweethart. The 17 grains of RL-7 seems to be the best charge for bullets from 36 to 50 grains which seems a little strange but that is how the targets read. Is anyone else working with this cartridge?
 
Ed,

It is one of the best "quiet" varmint cartridges around. My Cooper 21 in .222 (LH) arrived in early October. I was really considering the Fireball or the .17 Mach IV, but stuck with the .222 Remington. It's such an easy round to handload. I'm still breaking the barrel in and getting sub .2" @ 100 (3 shots) with the cheap factory stuff (50 PSP).

How does yours feed? I understand that Remington changed the magazine and rails specifically to handle the Fireball. It was a problem with the early Kimbers.

Anyway, it's a terrific cartridge. Good luck and good shooting.

Regards,
JB
 
Hello JB:
Thanks for your thoughts. Feeding is not a problem providing you are careful in loading the magazine. The shorter cartridges are easy to tip. It is a skill that is easily mastered. I clean the magazine well once in a while with acetone, then Break Free and feeding became more reliable. On the bench it is easy to keep from throwing the spent cartridges to the ground, just slow down on the bolt retrieve.

.222 is also one of my favorite cartridges. The 50 grain Hornady SX has proven to be the best projectile in most of them. Both in accruacy and almost zero probability of ricohet.

I was impressed with the quality of the Remington barrel, it did not take long to break her in.

I traded into a Saco 17-223 this summer. She is very tempermental, you earn your success with her.
All the little things are big things. I was about to give up on her, then re read Harvey Donaldson's book "Yours Truly" and got motivated to win.
I plan on buying a match grade 224 barrel and turning her down to exact profile of the Saco barrel and chambering her for the 221 fireball. The 221 is a very impressive cartridge, about as effecient as they come. I will be able to change barrels in minutes. (I hope)!

It seems like the factories have become pretty darn good at loading accurate ammo. A guy has to work pretty hard (or get lucky) to beat their ammo.
Take Care
 
When you start considering benchrest or, even wildcat calibers, you can get some pretty awesome rounds. The 222Remington, 22PPC and, 6mm PPC all have good reputations. I have come close to purchasing a 6mm PPC factory Remington a time or two.

I have also been very impressed with Remington factory barrels in general. All the recent new rifles I have purchased were "hummers". Barrels were easy to break in and just an overall great rifle.
 
Ed,
I owned a .17-223 Sako actioned H&R 317 Ultra Varmint in the early 70's and can relate. My barrel was quite smooth, but I still cringe at the thought of reaming the necks on the military brass. A tenth of a grain makes a huge difference. It was a pretty little rifle, reminding me of a 2/3rds size Weatherby. I think I paid $250 for mine (which was a lot of money for a college student). I also had a .223 in the same rifle. I think both had a 20" barrel pencil thin. The .223 was very accurate, but would obviously heat up quickly. But we don't get any high volume shooting here in South Carolina. Shot a lot of crows and foxes with them, and a couple of turkeys before the DNR made rifles illegal for turkey hunting.

I have never owned a .222 until this rifle and can say I am thrilled with it. Boy, that Fireball sure called me.

JB


Sid,
The only thing that has kept me from trying a PPC is the case forming, both the 6 and .22 were available in the Cooper. I just didn't want to form cases. They are accurate. Although I handload, I like being able to pick up a factory load.

JB
 
When I read your post, it reminded me of a Rem .221 Fireball that my late father-in-law had in a Remington single shot, bolt action handgun with nylon stock. I forget the model number, but I do remember having a lot of fun shooting it when we went to visit. For whatever reason, he had a harder time than I did in finding factory ammo for it, so I often took along a few boxes. Your post brought back some fond memories.
Jim
 
JB: My 17-223 is the same vintage as yours, also a H&R. It is about as sweet an outfit as I have ever held in a bolt action. I have never held a Cooper in my hands, looking forward to it one day.
Like you said it is very touchy, 1 tenth of a grain is a lot. One load I tried was too much for a Harrel sheutzen powder measure. I just took it to the maximum it would throw, about 4 grains short of what was listed as a starting load. It was way too hot, droped down a grain and shot my first 1/3 inch group. Sometimes 1 bullet goes somewhere and the rest are pretty nice on the paper. Fun stuff, I WILL WIN. It likes the Hornady 20 grain V Max and the Berger 22 grain so far.

Jim M: I just put a laminated stock on my xp 100 221 in place of the plastic stock. My son packed that pistol for years working cows and running his trap line. He rigged up a sling out of a length of nylon cord. Just tied it around the pistol grip and through the vent rip and around the barrel. It has a regular Weaver 4X rifle scope on it. I tried it with the sling, pushing the pistol out with the sling holding it back to my shoulder. It made for a very stable rifle-pistol. He shot many criters with it. He said it was pretty unhandy if you needed a second shot, but he did not need many second shots. He could regularly shoot a beaver in the eye and leave no exit hole with the Hornady SX bullets. He made some good money when beaver pelts were in demand.
Like you said, it has a lot of fond memories and love it dearly. That was one of Remington's great ones!
 
Ed,
They are petite. The 317's make excellent calling rifles. I remember having a difficult time finding a .17 caliber cleaning rod. Finally found one from Outer's (jointed brass), I still have it somewhere and a few brushes. The Bergers and the little 20 grain V-Max should give over 4,000 fps, even in the 20" barrel. I'm "helping" a friend with a 700 Classic in .17 Remington, his barrel seems pretty smooth.

I got to the point of weighing every charge with the .17's, a real aggravation but I felt it was necessary.

The Cooper is a very nice rifle, a little heavier than I anticipated: going maybe 7.5 with the 2-7 VX-II. Southpaws don't have many choices in small caliber bolt actions.

Good shooting,
JB
 
Just put a .221 classic with 10 baoxes of factory ammo on layaway for my dad. I already have a Luepold 2-7 scope sitting in the stash I can put on it. Don't think I'll need to go higher, if so I'll just put the 3.5-10 on. Looking forward to seeing the look on his face when he gets his new antler tipped shooting stick and a new rifle.

Cheers,

ts
 
TS: Your dad will love it! I put a 12 power scope on mine just because I wanted to more finely discriminate my ability to place the bullets. The 221 will do that to you. I ended up with three wind flags over my 100 yard range and one on the target. Wind will start out as an aggrivatuion, but ends up as a game, it is fun to plot the deflection in your mind and guess correctly. Deflection will be more to the right than to the left with opposing deflections. (Most of the time).
 
JB please let me know when you find a super load for your .17. I just made a trade for a new bench rest barrel in 224 for my Sako. Going to set it up in same profile as the 17 barrel so I can convert from 17-223 to 221 with ease. Haven't given up on the 17-223, it is winter time and I got to make knives or starve next winter. My shooting bench is covered with snow. Will clean it off if it warms up a little.
 
i had a XP100 w/a weaver scope back in the late '70s, had a lot of fun w/it, was the first thing i handloaded for, was more accurate at 50 yds than some of my buds deer rifles, lol.

it, along w/a old winchester pump 12 gauge were stolen outta my dads car in '80,reported it, had the serial #'s, never got either one back.

greg
 
Ed,
I haven't owned a .17-223 in twenty years. I can't recall the loads off the top of my head, but I'll dig around (I have lots of data from rifles I no longer own!). I think H4198 and IMR4320 were the two powders I used in those days under the Hornady 25 grain HP. Nothing but Remington 7 1/2 primers

Not sure if that's any help.

JB
 
Greg: The beloved Modle 12!!! I bought mine used 1963, nickle steel barrel, solid rib. I put over 2,000 pounds of shot through her. She is still as sweet as ever. None of the new ones tempt me. She put meat on the table until the Feds. came up with the steel shot stuff. After working up a load for her and purchasing several cases of powder I decided to give up duck hunting. Could not bear to leave her home. Did shoot some clay birds last winter.

JB if theloads are handy I would like to share them with you. If your loading room is like mine it may take years, if so don't worry, the thought is there. Thanks
 
yup, a mod 12 was it!! had a 'cutts compensator' on it, i found some of the old tubes (imp cyl, and X-full) in my gun box a while back, gosh, hadnt seen them in yrs. wish i had that old gun back, it was the gun my dad taught me to shoot with. losing it sucked.

greg
 
Ed,
I found an article in my Nov/Dec 1969 issue of Rifle on the H&R 317 in .17-223. The loads listed are dated and only the Hornady 25 and some lightweight .17 bullets made by Bill Williams are shown. Written by John Wooters, it's pretty interesting stuff, sure brings back a lot of memories. I'll keep digging, don't give up.
JB
 
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