Every so often a customer brings an old Remington 722 into my shop and asks if the .222 Remington is still worth shooting. Short answer: absolutely. The triple deuce got lapped by its own grandchild, the .223, but it never stopped being one of the most inherently accurate cartridges ever put in a case.
I’m Lance Rankin, gunsmith and owner at Western Sport in Roanoke, Texas. Most of my bench time is AR-15s and AR-10s, which means I live in .223/5.56 world, and that’s exactly why I have a soft spot for the cartridge that started the family line.
An original design, which was rare
When Remington introduced the .222 in 1950, most new cartridges were wildcats or necked-down versions of something older. The .222 Remington was an original design from the ground up, developed by Mike Walker, essentially a scaled-down take on .30-06 proportions in a rimless case. It slotted into a real gap in the market, between the .218 Bee and the barn-burning .220 Swift, giving average shooters a high-velocity .22 centerfire that didn’t torch barrels or wallets.
It launched alongside the Remington Model 722 bolt gun and later showed up in the Model 760 pump. That 722 pairing is where its accuracy reputation started.
The benchrest cartridge
Through the 1970s, the .222 Remington flat-out owned benchrest competition. When the game is stacking five shots into one ragged hole, cartridge design flaws have nowhere to hide, and the .222 kept winning. That kind of record isn’t luck. The case geometry just wants to shoot, and reloaders figured that out early. Even today, when someone builds a walking varmint rifle around a .222, they’re rarely disappointed at the loading bench.
What it does in the field
As a varmint and small game round, the .222 Remington is honest to about 200 yards, with mild recoil and a mild report compared to the hotter .22 centerfires. The published data tells the story: a 35-grain V-Max over 22.0 grains of H4198 runs about 3,591 fps for roughly 1,000 ft-lbs, and a 55-grain soft point over 24.5 grains of H335 makes about 3,200 fps and 1,174 ft-lbs. Factory ammo holds up its end too, with Remington’s 50-grain hollow point at 3,140 fps and Lapua’s 55-grain FMJ at 2,887 fps. Lapua still loading for it tells you the accuracy crowd hasn’t moved on.
Can it take deer? Sort of, with caveats
With the right bullet, a .222 can take deer-sized game. Nosler’s 60-grain Partition and Swift’s 75-grain Scirocco are built for it, and you need impact velocity around 2,300 fps for reliable expansion, which limits your range. Here’s the gunsmith’s caveat, though: those longer, heavier bullets often won’t stabilize in the slow twist rates most factory .222 barrels came with. Getting there properly can mean a custom barrel with a faster twist. And before any of that, check your state’s regulations, because some states don’t allow .22 centerfires for big game at all. My honest take: the .222 is a superb varmint round that can be pressed into deer duty, not a deer round. Use enough gun.
Where the .222 Remington stands today
The .223 Remington won the war for shelf space, and if you want cheap, plentiful ammo in a modern platform, that’s the right choice; it’s the whole reason the AR-15 world I work in exists, and precision .223 guns like the DD MK12 carry the accuracy torch in semi-auto form. But if you reload, or you’ve inherited granddad’s 722, the .222 still delivers exactly what it always did: quiet, gentle, boringly consistent accuracy. Some cartridges deserve to fade away. This one just got outsold.
Got an old .222 that needs a going-over, or twist-rate questions before you order bullets? That’s my kind of problem. And if you’re hunting for your next bolt gun, take a look at the rifles I keep in stock. Email [email protected] or call 817-393-4000.
Lance Rankin is the owner and Chief Gunsmith of Western Sport, a family-run Type 07 FFL and Class 3/SOT dealer in Roanoke, Texas, serving shooters since 2007. Born and raised in Texas with over 50 years of experience handling firearms, Lance purchased Western Sport in 2017 and turned his lifelong passion into his profession. He specializes in AR-15 and AR-10 platform rifles, manufactures Western Sport’s own AR-15 line under the Rankin Industries brand, and runs the shop’s in-house Cerakote coating operation. When he’s not behind the counter or the workbench, you’ll find him on his ranch deep into the night, hunting coyotes with an AR-15 and thermal optics. Lance holds an MBA and personally shoots and tests the products Western Sport sells.
