The .222 Remington is a centerfire rifle cartidge introduced in 1950, and was the first commercial rimless .22 (5.56 mm) cartridge made in the United States. The .222 Remington was an entirely new design, not derived from any previously existing cartridge.

Introduction

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The .222 Remington was introduced in the Remington Arms Model 722 bolt action rifle, and was an instant success. It was not unusual for factory rifles to produce groups of one minute of arc at 100 yards (91 m) with no tuning. The accuracy and flat trajectory of the cartidge meant that it was quickly adopted for varmint and benchrest rifles, and was the dominant cartidge in both disciplines for decades. While the faster .220 Swift and .22-250 provide more reach, it's at the expense of far more powder (roughly 50% more), muzzle blast, and barrel erosion.

The .222 Remington was also popular in Europe. Sako was one of the first Eurpoean makers to introduce .222 Remington rifles and cartridges, and German and Austrian hunters quickly adopted the .222 Remington for hunting smaller deer sized game.

Obselescence

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The .222 Rem. was finally eclipsed in benchrest competition by the 6 mm PPC cartridge, a dedicated benchrest cartridge, chambered almost exclusively in single shot rifles. The 6mm PPC is still a top benchrest cartridge.

When the US military was looking for a new smallbore rifle catridge, Remington started with the .222 Remington, and stretched it to increase powder capacity by about 20% in 1958 to make the .222 Remington Magnum. The greater powder capacity put the velocities between the standard .222 Remington and the .22-250. The cartridge was not accepted by the military, but it was introduced commercially. In 1964, the 5.56 x 45 mm, also based on a stretched .222 Rem. case, was adopted along with the new M-16 rifle. The 5.56 mm catridge had a capacity only slightly less than the .222 Rem. Mag., about 5% less, so when Remington introduced the commercial variante of thew new military cartridge, the .223 Remington, both the .222 Remington and the .222 Rem. Mag. faded quickly into obselescence, being replaced by the .223 Remington.

While the .222 Remington is rarely found in current production, but its derivative cartridges are among the most popular in the world. In addition to the .222 Rem. Mag. and .223 Remington, the .222 has also produced the .221 Fireball, the fastest production handgun cartridge, and the new .204 Ruger, the fastest production rifle cartridge.

References

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• Speer Reloading Manual #11, Omark Industries, Inc. 1987