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Old 05-23-2018, 12:01 PM
grovey grovey is offline
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Default 221 Fireball

Anyone have some real world experience with Seirra's 52 or 53 gr Matchkings in their 221 fireball? BC is a toss up, but one probably bests the other in dimensional consistency and or accuracy. Which one consistently shoots better in your 221,222, or 223? Looking for an accuracy load for my 221 with these bullets.
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Old 05-23-2018, 01:02 PM
Bayou City Boy Bayou City Boy is offline
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I've shot the Sierra 52 Grain BTHP for years. It is an accurate bullet in cartridges such as the 222 Rem, 223 Rem, 222 Rem Mag, and 22-250.

Although its touted as being a target bullet, it has worked great for me over the years as an effective predator bullet for coyotes. I've never tried shooting bullets that heavy in my 221 FB rifles.

-BCB
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Old 05-23-2018, 03:21 PM
Tim Anderson Tim Anderson is offline
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I have shot the 52 gr. Sierra's in both of mine and they group nice. For pred. though I prefer the Calhoon 42&52 gr. dbl. h.p.s which are no longer made..
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Old 05-23-2018, 03:57 PM
TinMan TinMan is offline
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The original factory Remington 221FB loads were a 50gr SP. I like the 40gr VMAX or 45gr Sierra 45gr SPT better in my 221FBs. I have never shot the Sierra 52gr SMK or 53gr HP in my 221FBs. I have shot lots of them in my 223 bolt rifles and ARs, and use the 52gr SMK the most. (I used to live 1.5 hours away from Sierra, and made the pilgrimages several times a year.) The 52gr is a boat-tail and the 53gr MK HP is a FB. For me, both bullets will get good accuracy in both 1:12 and 1:9 twist rifles, typically <0.5 inch at 100yds for 5 shots. My best ever group in 223 was the low of 0.319 inch. I don't shoot BR, just varmints, PDs and paper. For the 221FB, I have had great results with RL-7 and AA-2200 with 40gr tipped and 45gr SP bullets.
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Old 05-23-2018, 06:27 PM
grovey grovey is offline
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To be clear I'm only interested in these for shooting paper. I've been shooting a few local groundhog matches at 1, 2 and 300yds with a 14 twist 221 in the factory class. Currently I shoot the 50 gr Hornady Zmax which shoots pretty well. A few weeks ago I center punched the 10 ring with a three shot 0.110 at 100 yds, but bottom line... the bullet just isn't very uniform.

The Zmax 100 pc packs weigh as much as a half gr different thru out, and different lots varying up to 0.012 base to ogive. For what I'm attempting the time has come to use a lil better/more consistent bullet. The gun is capable of shooting in the .2's regularly, and it needs too to be competitive.

I'm cheap, so thinking of match bullets... the next logical bullet to me are these lightweight match kings. I posted this ? elsewhere and it seems like it's a toss up everywhere as far as who likes which one of the two. I'm leaning towards the FB 53 for ease of tuning, but the jury isn't in yet.
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Old 05-23-2018, 07:55 PM
NeilA. NeilA. is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Anderson View Post
I have shot the 52 gr. Sierra's in both of mine and they group nice. For pred. though I prefer the Calhoon 42&52 gr. dbl. h.p.s which are no longer made..
Hi Tim,

To Clarify, the Calhoon 42’s are still available, I assume the 52’s are also. I just bought 1500 of the 42’s in April and will be at Jim’s Friday- I’ll try to remember to ask about the 52’s - there is usually plenty of both.
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Old 05-23-2018, 08:00 PM
TinMan TinMan is offline
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I have seen similar variations in OAL (not base to ogive) of those bullets from Sierra and Hornady. I did not weigh bullets.

Maybe you can sort your bullets of choice to segregate the better bullets for matches and save the others for practice. Or, you might have to find genuine handmade BR type bullets. Let us know what happens.
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Old 05-23-2018, 08:55 PM
JohnHenry JohnHenry is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by grovey View Post
Anyone have some real world experience with Seirra's 52 or 53 gr Matchkings in their 221 fireball? BC is a toss up, but one probably bests the other in dimensional consistency and or accuracy. Which one consistently shoots better in your 221,222, or 223? Looking for an accuracy load for my 221 with these bullets.
If compatible with the chamber's free bore, I generally get a little better accuracy with the flat base 53 gr Sierras. Accuracy wise it is preferable that none of the bullet's bearing surface is seater below the sized portion of the neck. For chambers with a shorter freebore the pressure ring at the base of the flat base bullet can extend below the sized portion of the neck. In these cases I typically get better accuracy switching to the 52 gr boat tail bullets.
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  #9  
Old 05-24-2018, 01:19 PM
grovey grovey is offline
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Thanks to everyone who answered. All advice is greatly appreciated . I was hoping to see a " clear winner "pattern of results from asking about these, but after posting the same question on a couple more boards it's still about a 50/50 split. What most say about the 53 first is it is easy to tune, and what most say first about the 52 is that is they choose it for accuracy. I guess I should expect such results because a group of grown men seldom agree on anything. haha.

To be certain I'll have to wring each one out in my own rifle to know if one of the two will meet my needs.
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  #10  
Old 05-24-2018, 02:54 PM
458win 458win is offline
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Use the 53s with 15-16grs of H4198 definitely no speed demon but stupidly accurate. The fireball has always been my favorite .224 round. Usually run 14.5gr of lil gun with 40gr zmax but that’s varmint killing.
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