another 221 fireball question

[cshooter]

Just wondering again, been doing some reserch on the fireball. How is the report ? I have a Ruger 77/22 Hornet and it's not only a tack driver out to around 130 yrds or so, but it does'nt make alot of noise either. Compared to say, a 223, how noisy is the 221 Fireball ? How would it compare to the Hornet ? Anybody know much about that new 17 fireball that's out ?

[tuck2]

I shoot the 17 Fireball, 221 Fireball, 223 Rem and 22 Hornet. I use 19.0 Gr of Benchmark powder with the 25 Gr HP bullet in the 17 Fireball case. My load for the 221 Fireball is 18.6 Gr of Re7 powder with the 40 Gr V-Max bullet. 27.0 Gr of Win 748 is used in the 223 case with a 52 Gr Match bt bullet. The Hornet cases is loaded with 11.2 Gr of H 110 powder with a 40 Gr V-Max bullet. It seems to me the muzzle blast from lowest to the most is 22 Hornet ,17 Fireball, 221 Fireball and the loudest the 223 Rem. I use ear plugs when target shooting but not when shooting prairie dogs.

[cshooter]

Tuck, thanks for the info. I shoot the 40 gr. v-max too, but with 11.3 gr of IMR 4227 and Win. small pistol primers. Really good load in that little Ruger. Seems like to me the 17 fireball is sort of like a Hornet, only with a little more killing range. On your 17 fireball, what is your group size with it and how often do you need to clean it to maintain that level of accuracy ? I assume it's a Remington rifle ? Bench gun or sporter ? And one more question , which fireball do like best ? I know it's probably hard to choose....

[tuck2]

The action with about two inches of the barrel has ben glass bedded, the rest of the barrel is free floated, the trigger pull has ben set at about 2 3/4 Lbs, and a gunsmith has lapped the bolt locking lugs on the Remington 700 LS 221 Fireball rifle with a Burris 4-16 X scope. I may get a Boyd Thumbhole Varmint stock for it. The 17 Fireball is a Remington Mdl 700 CDL SF Limited Ed. sporter wt with a Leupold 6-18 X scope. I free floated the barrel on the 17 and adjusted the trigger pull down to about 2 3/4 Lb. My 17 is a bit more accurate than the 221 , both of the rifles will be with me when I go out prairie dog shooting.

[glenn asher]

Reloader Seven is a prime powder for the .221 Fireball, but there are other good ones, too, 1680, VV-120, 4198,Lil Gun, 335 and Benchmark should work well, also.
My rifle so strongly favors Re-7 that I quit looking at others, velocity isn't much, but accuracy IS, so I just feed it what it likes and consider myself happy with it. Even at the loafing along velocities I'm getting, I haven't had ANY trouble at all hitting PDs out to .250 yards, which is all I ask of it. I have other rifles if I need more reach.