Smaller can be better with groundhog rounds
A successful fly fisherman might use what is often called a midge.
These artificial baits are very small and use hooks as small as size 24. On a clear stream, tippets may be extremely light and often are but two pounds in strength.
As a reloader progresses and loads more and more rounds, it doesn’t take long to find out the smaller granulated powders meter better through the powder measure.
A Porsche is smaller than a Dodge Ram but the Porsche will corner better and run away from the Ram.
In many ways, smaller can be better. Much the same can be said when one looks at cartridges used for groundhog hunting.
I have always felt the season for hunting this hole-digging varmint begins the end of May and that is not really very far away. While I hunt with a variety of varmint cartridges, it is small one that holds a special place in my heart.
A couple of years ago my friends, John and Doc, presented me with a special citation for making the longest shot of the year.
That summer found most of my shooting being done with the 6 mm Remington or the .220 Swift.
Either of this duo can reach out and touch something with reliability. I also shot the .22-250, .243 and the .25-06. Any of them will do quite well when hunting varmints, but while the Swift and 6 mm are what I consider the best and most practical, neither hold that sentimental spot deep in this shooter.
Both will outperform the round that might be the best for other reasons other than velocity. My Remington in 6 mm will push a 70-grain Nosler ballistic tip over 3,699-feet per second and shoot 100-yard groups at well under ½ inch. It bucks the wind better than the 22’s, and when a shot misses throw up enough dirt to tell the shooter where he is hitting.
The Swift, however, is faster, nearly reaching 4,000-feet per second, with most bullets and doing 4,200 fps with the lighter bullets. It’s trajectory is extremely flat and requires very little hold over even at 300 yards.
Very few, if any, rounds shoot flatter.
This is a round that has suffered from bad press but may well be the absolute best of the groundhog rounds. It is hard on barrels but so are many other high-intensity rounds, and that includes the .22-250.
Deep down, however, I have a love for the groundhog round that was the first I ever owned. If ever a cartridge was well designed it is the .222. When most of the shots taken at Washington and Greene county varmints are taken into consideration, the .222 will be found adequate for 90 percent of them.
Burning, at most, 22 grains of powder, a 50-grain bullet can be pushed to 3,100 fps. This will do for hogs out to about 250 yards.
Load the little case with the 40-grain ballistic tip, and you can reach 3,400 fps and extend the range another couple of hundred yards.
The real forte of this round is its accuracy and barrel life. If we are building a bench-rest rifle, this is the cartridge I would choose. And I have owned the PPC and others.
In fact, I would love to own a Remington 40X in .222. My experience says I could shoot against any local bench shooter with it.
The .222 has a few advantages over either the 6 mm or 22 PPC in the fact that the ammo and empty brass are easily found, while those for the PPC’s are hardly common on the dealers shelves.
Another thing that makes the .222 a sensible field or bench round is barrel life. It is all but impossible to shoot one out.
I know of 222s that have been shot over 19,000 times and are still accurate.
In fact, I own one.
With the small amount of powder, coupled with the high – and getting higher – cost of re-loading components, the small rounds make more sense.
Many might think the .222 is out-moded, but it is still plodding along, despite the popularity of the inferior .223. It is the military cartridge syndrome that accounts for the popularity of the .223, but it is the accuracy of the .222 that accounts for the rifle’s longevity.
George H. Block writes a Sunday Outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter.