MyFavorites
Brass:
Winchester
Super-X (old production)
Lapua (Now Available!)
Primers:
CCI BR4
Rem 7 ½
Federal 205M
Powder:
Varmint:
H4198 40 & 50gr bullets,
especially for hunting
IMR4198 40 & 50 bullets,
especially for hunting
Target:
H322 50gr bullets, excellent
accuracy
N133 50 & 53gr bullets
Bullets:
50 V-Max
52 & 53 MatchKings
52 Bart's

Reloading Information
Now, lets apply the knowledge obtained from all these reference sources to our Triple Deuce. We will now assume the handloader has a press, scale and priming tool. Then lets look at some additional loading equipment including dies, a powder measure, overall length tool and some specific handloading components including brass, primers, powder and bullets. Brass Once the brass is all prepped you can move on to priming and loading. Sometimes, the availability of reloading components such as brass and primers is intermittent. Bullets Load Evaluation The loads that have consistently worked best in my Remington 722 and 700 rifles have the following specifications:
Dies
It is a good practice to buy new dies from the major manufacturer of your choice. New dies from most manufacturers are reportedly produced on CNC tools and are more dimensionally consistent than some older dies.
Powder Measure
The value of a good powder measure can not be overstated. Find one that will meter conventional extruded powders and ball type equally well, consistently and accurately. Be a smart shopper for this essential device. Read reviews, ask questions and do your home work. Many conventional measures do not meter extruded powders like IMR4198 well at all. It will then be necessary to weigh every charge. Other powders like H322 meter more easily. Plan on spending up to $300.00 for this tool. Take a look at the Harrell's. Some also report having great results from the Quick Measure by Johnson Design Specialties.
Preparation is the key to success with many endeavors. This is especially true with handloading. To prepare the brass and load it for best accuracy there are a few more tools that will be needed. These are a primer pocket uniforming tool, a primer flash hole deburring tool, a neck chamfering tool, a case trimmer, and Hornady Lock-n-Load OAL gauge and Bullet Comparator measuring tools. With these tools on hand we can begin the process. Basic cartridge case sorting and preparation including primer pocket uniforming, flash hole deburring, neck mouth chamfering, overall length check and case trimming are good standard practice. When using the Lock-n-Load OAL tool I prefer to use a case that is fireformed in my particular rifle rather than the universal cases marketed for the tool. This provides more accurate measuring that is specific to your individual rifle, but requires light machine work and threading to the fireformed case.
Primers
Some retailers report that the availability of primers is a problem and the cost has risen dramatically. For the Triple Deuce primers by CCI, Federal, Remington, and Winchester will work quite nicely. More specifically CCI BR4, Federal 205 and 205M, Remington 7 1/2, and Winchester standard small rifle primers are fine choices.
Powder
The application of the data found in the manufacturer’s data bases is fairly straight forward. I religiously use the load data right off the Hodgdon web site. Recently I have gravitated toward using the old tried and true IMR4198 and H4198 powders for hunting using 40gr bullets. These two powders provide a velocity edge over the other powder choices while still maintaining safe and acceptable pressure levels. You can see this in the Hodgdon data where a max load of IMR4198 yields 3583 fps whereas H322 produces 3313 fps. So for hunting where higher velocity and terminal performance are important and accuracy is as good or close, I would choose one of the two 4198 powders. This situation is similar although not as dramatic with 50gr bullets.
For target shooting H322 works extremely well. H4895 also provides impressive results and is a chosen powder for accuracy baseline testing by some manufacturers. I have begun experimenting with Vihtavuori N133 and Accurate 2015. Both seem very promising. H322 and H4895 are two that I am certain of.
Choosing the proper bullets is a very important consideration. In order to obtain the best results from your Triple Deuce the first thing you must decide is the intended use and desired terminal performance of the bullet. Generally there are game bullets and there are target bullets. Target bullets are recommended only for targets because they are designed to provide optimum accuracy, not a specific amount of expansion for game. There are a large variety of target and game bullets available in the .224 diameter from many manufacturers. Most of these will work well in the Triple Deuce but there are also some that will not work quite as well as others, especially for hunting. The newer polymer tipped bullets from Hornady, Nosler and Sierra usually work extremely well in the Triple Deuce for hunting and casual target shooting. Specific single use applications require a bit more analysis. For instance, Sierra makes many fine hunting and target bullets in the .224 diameter. The Varminter Blitz, Varminter SMP, BlitzKing, Match and MatchKing bullets are all appropriate for the Triple Deuce. The Varminter Blitz, Varminter SMP, and BlitzKing for hunting and the Match and MatchKing for target shooting. Their Varminter SMP series of bullets are for slower twist (1:14) medium velocity rifles like the .222. They are intentionally short so that they stabilize well in medium velocity, slow twist rifles and have a generous exposed lead tip to provide aggressive expansion. These SMP bullets could be used in the higher velocity 22's but do not have the long range trajectory abilities of the pointier SPT bullets. The Varminter Blitz bullets have thinner jackets and a softer core and should provide the most violent expansion of all which is especially desirable on prairie dog sized game. On the other hand their 45, 50 and 55gr Varminter SPT bullets (1310, 1330, 1360) are designed for very high velocity .22 caliber cartridges like the 22/250 and 220 Swift and will not work as well as some others for hunting in this application. These details are explained in their reloading manual but not usually found at the point of retail sale. Similarly, Hornady used to include a note in the box with their SX bullets. It read "Hornady SX bullets are for use in cartridges of velocity up to 3500 f.s. Accurate and deadly at 222 velocities they are NOT intended for cartridges of higher speed." Although a "hard" bullet in the .222 may not affect accuracy, it will affect terminal performance for hunting. Also, the use of thin jacketed bullets in a 22/250 or 220 Swift may cause the bullet to disintegrate before reaching its intended target. I strongly suggest that the handloader read up or call the bullet manufacturer first to discuss what is appropriate for the caliber and application being loaded for. As already stated, many of these bullets have a maximum velocity. If they are pushed past their velocity or rotational limits they can disintegrate prior to reaching the intended target.
For hunting applications note that the 50gr Speer TNT and Hornady SPSX bullets have 3400 fps and 3500 fps maximum velocity and are perfectly fine for the 222. The Sierra Blitz 50 (1340) and 55 (1345) are also perfect for the .222 as are the BlitzKing bullets. Hornady V-Max bullets are excellent in my experience both for casual targets and hunting. For strictly targets, Sierra Match 53 and MatchKing 52's, Hornady 52 A-Max & 53 Match, Bart's 52 Match Grade, Watson 52's, all work very well in my experience.
On my 722 rifles the magazine length limits the finished OAL of the cartridge. A short very pointed bullet like the 50gr SPSX will allow for a distance of .010 off the rifling and still comfortably fit in the magazine. The 50gr V-Max and BlitzKing bullets are shaped in a more arching fashion and result in a longer OAL to the ogive, unfortunatley they end up longer and therefore will not fit in the magazine at .010 off. A sacrifice is then necessary and the distance off the rifling must be increased to accomodate the magazine length.
.010 - .015 off the rifling
Each rifle is different, but this information provides a good starting point.
The common preferred reloading components for the Triple Deuce are listed on the left below. Go on to the data page for some loads I have tested.
Load data on the next page!
Preferred Reloading Components Powder: Bullets:
Brass:
Lapua (Now Available!)
Norma (very expensive)
Remington
Primers:
CCI BR4
Federal 205, 205M
Rem 7 ½
IMR4198, H4198, IMR4895, H4895
H322, BL-C(2)
N130, N133, N135
2015BR
RE-7
Varmint:
Hornady – 40 V-Max, 50 V-Max,
50 SPSX
Nosler – 40 Ballistic Tip,
50 Ballistic Tip
Sierra – 40 HP, 40 BlitzKing,
50 Blitz, 50 BlitzKing,
50 SemiPoint
Speer - 50 TNT
Target:
Bart's - 52 FB
Hornady – 52 A-Max, 52 BTHP
Match, 53 HP Match
Sierra – 52 HPBT MatchKing,
53 HP MatchKing
2015BR 50 & 53gr bullets
H4895 53gr bullets, excellent accuracy