doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Pre War Light Varmint Chambering

The short-necked 222 Rimmed AKA the 224 R-C Maxi can easily be made by using a 223 Rem reamer and running it in short, to the 222 headspace dimension. I used a 222 headspace gauge when making mine on a Martini Cadet and found that 357 Maximum brass would neck down in 2 steps with little trouble after being annealed. A light neck-turning was all that was necessary and resulted in a no-sweat tight-neck setup for presumably better accuracy; case length was correct right out of the box and needed only a light chamfer. I use cut-off 223 Rem dies to ensure resizing of the case base area to fit the somewhat reduced OD of the wildcat short-chamber base dimension. Standard 222 loading data works perfectly and in my rifle yields sub-MOA performance with no pressure or extraction issues. This Cadet has had its breech face bushed for a smaller firing pin nose as should all CF Cadets IMO.

I recommend this cartridge wholeheartedly as one of the least expensive and least-hassle wildcats to acquire (standard-size & commonly-available tools & components) and shoot (proven 222 Rem loading & accuracy data widely available) as well as one of the most useful of the smaller cartridges for actual field use up to 300 yds. It's so little trouble that it's almost like it's not a wildcat at all, except for the headstamp and no factory ammo.

My friend Dave W has built a similar wildcat using a 223 AI reamer and dies, also on a Cadet, and here are some of his photos. The first photo is of the cartridge cases being formed, and even though he's making the Ackley Improved version you can get a good idea of how the unimproved case compares by looking at the partially-formed one, it's almost identical to the 222 shape.



Here's his rifle.



Here are 2 of mine, the takedown Greener on top is the short-necked 222 Rimmed and the Francotte on the bottom is a 219 Improved Zipper.



It's obvious I like these little rifles even though I may never actually finish every little detail of either one. The Greener will get several other barrels, you can see their forearms in the photo, and I'm building a fitted takedown hard case for it. BTW the Greener's cheekpiece has aready been slightly reshaped, it looked way too long after I took the photo.
Regards, Joe

Joe, those are cuties--thanks for sharing! Neat scope setup on the Greener. Who doesn't like a takedown? (Especially this "close" to the doublegun forum....)

Glenn,
I vote for either the .219 Zipper or .219 Wasp.

I just acquired a Ruger #3 in .22 Hornet. After reading this blog, my previous thoughts of rechambering it to something more speedy, are stronger than ever. The 1 in 16 twist limits the bullet weights, but with so many good ones out now, I would appreciate a few suggestions from you die-hard varmiter shooters.
Thanks....

Terry, thank you for the offer of the .222 Rimmed stuff. Before I accept your generous offer, I will check with my friend and see how much brass he has. If he has a bunch of brass, a "bunch" will be a lifetime supply for me. I expect to visit him next week and I will get back to you. Bill Murphy

My friend The Infamous Engraver gave me a Ruger No 3 Hornet barrel a few months ago, and I too wondered about another chambering. I installed it on still another Cadet, this one a BSA, and chambered for the standard 219 Zipper. Preliminary shooting results show the 40-gr Nosler and the 35-gr Hornady will shoot less than 1 MOA, while the Sierra 53-gr Match bullet will shoot ~ 1.0 MOA. The flat-base 53-gr Sierra is my 'go-to' bullet for accuracy testing in most 22s, along with Bergers. I've tried the 33-gr Barnes varmint bullet in several rifles now and have gotten dismal results in all. Speers have been mediocre in most of my rifles although the 50-gr SP did OK in the Ruger/BSA Zipper, around 1.25 MOA. I emphasize that these are preliminary results with this barrel, and I was heartened by the early accuracy shown by such a good bullet as the 40-gr Nosler.

I do not suggest the standard Zipper because A) dies are expensive and B) moderately high pressures will cause case sticking, see Frank de Haas' article about the Zipper family of cartridges. These case sticking issues are not present with the various Improved chamberings and so I suggest either the Donaldson Wasp (a moderate PITA to form, and fairly expensive itself) or the 225 Winchester.

Of course your Ruger will also handle any rimless case as well, so the door's wide open!
Regards, Joe

If I were going for an all-out recreation of a pre-war walking varminter, I would choose the rimmed version of the Lindahl Chucker. It's about in the same PITA class as the Donaldson Wasp when it comes to case-forming, plus the ability to raise eyebrows even higher than a Wasp. "You have a What?" Most of the younger lads have never even heard of a Lindahl Chucker.

See if you can lay hands on a copy of either "Woodchucks and Woodchuck Rifles" or "Twenty-Two Caliber Varmint Rifles", both by C.S. Landis, before you make a final decision. Lots of ideas there.

Richard

Glenn, I reread your original post where you say your interest are in pre-WWI rifles, then ask about pre-war cartridges. If you are looking for a pre-WWI varmint cartridge I could suggest a few from Niedner ;-).

Michael:

Sorry for the confusion. Trust me, you get used to it after a while...

I am a "before the Great War" kinda guy. Said client what wants the light varmint rifle is of the "Betwixt the wars" persuasion.

Way cool pitcher of the Niedner cartridges. The .28-30 based cartridges look most interesting. I have never seen them before. Did these die because the .28-30 died or were they not of particular merit on their own?

I have a number of .25-21 cases. I wonder how a .25-21-22 would work...

Glenn

Thank your for the info, Joe.