223 vs 221 fb
- Thread starter Humpy73
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I had a 221 fireball in one of the REM 700 classics. Beautiful rifle beat cartridge but personally I'd go with .223. I was trying to compare with 22-250 at the time and sold it. Probably never find brass for it either.
WV Hitman
Well-Known Member
Power wise the .223 is much better. I'm killing groundhogs in WV & rockchucks in ID with my .223 Contender handgun out to 400 yds. Taken almost 2000 of both with the .223. Don't think the Fireball would keep up with that especially in windy conditions.
Varmint Hunter
Well-Known Member
I had a custom rifle in 221FB. I took a truckload of PA groundhogs with that rifle, most with the 40gr V-Max. It literally was a blast to own & shoot. Ultimately, I rebarreled the rifle and decided that an increase in horsepower was a good idea. I went with a .223 in a faster twist. It proved to be a more reliable cartridge, especially as I extended the ranges.
Quality brass will be quite elusive if you go with the 221FB. That alone would make me look harder at the .223.
Quality brass will be quite elusive if you go with the 221FB. That alone would make me look harder at the .223.
What twist did you go with? I was going to stay with a 12 or 1-10
Varmint Hunter
Well-Known Member
A 9 twist will usually work with everthing from 40gr to 69gr. A 9 or 10 is fairly versatile. A 12 may not even work with some of the longer 55gr bullets. I'd pass on the 12.
Just my 2 cents.
Good to know. I only shoot the 50 grainers out of my 223 now.
Varmint Hunter
Well-Known Member
A 12 would be fine if you only shoot 50gr or lighter. But that really limits your use if you want to go in a different direction down the road. It also prevents you from trying some of the monos that are pretty popular lately.
Yes that why I was thinking the 1-10. But it's going to be a heavy rifle pretty much for prairie dogs.
sable tireur
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I had several 221s, then discovered the use of Blue Dot powder in the 223 for ground squirrels:
40g V max with 12.0g of Blue Dot is 3000 fps
40g V max with 14.3 is a safe working max load at 3200 fps in my rifle
Much less cleaning involved with Blue dot, in fact every 600 rounds or so. A friend went 900 rounds on his barrel in between cleanings.
Brass for the 221 is a horrible mess to get involved with, especially if you have a good custom reamer.
I ditched the 221 Fire balls and several of the 22 K Hornets also after being so successful in the field with the blue dot loads.
40g V max with 12.0g of Blue Dot is 3000 fps
40g V max with 14.3 is a safe working max load at 3200 fps in my rifle
Much less cleaning involved with Blue dot, in fact every 600 rounds or so. A friend went 900 rounds on his barrel in between cleanings.
Brass for the 221 is a horrible mess to get involved with, especially if you have a good custom reamer.
I ditched the 221 Fire balls and several of the 22 K Hornets also after being so successful in the field with the blue dot loads.
221 brass is no worse to deal with than any other brass. You just have to have good process and good dies, like any other cartridge.
And so does Blue Bot magically make copper fouling go away? Uh, no. I have fired plenty of Blue Dot loads in 223. My son called them fox poppers. No way they go 600 to 900 round without cleaning. I call BS. Flame away.
Edit: I guess you could shoot them 6-900 times if you let your gear get horribly nasty. So yeah, maybe it's not BS. Sorry.
