221 fireball loading advice!!!

S

Sqeak'em

New member
Well it looks like I have one on the way one of these days and was wondering what recommendations you guys have for it. It is a CZ USA 527. Local cabelas has brass. Any powder and load suggestions would be great!!!
 
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Any 40gr bullet that suits your fancy and either AA1680 or Lil Gun and your set. If you want to shoot 50gr bullets then Reloder 7 or H4198 should do the trick. Mine liked AA1680 and 40gr Sierra Blitz-Kings best.
 
Years ago my buddy loaded 40 grain soft points with 4198 and Reloader 7. Today I would use 40 grain VMax or BTs with 1680 or Lil Gun.
 
Originally Posted By: venatic
Any 40gr bullet that suits your fancy and either AA1680 or Lil Gun and your set. If you want to shoot 50gr bullets then Reloder 7 or H4198 should do the trick. Mine liked AA1680 and 40gr Sierra Blitz-Kings best.



"Any 40gr bullet that suits your fancy and either AA1680 or Lil Gun and your set. "

This just about everybody's "Go to" load for the 221, and it won't disappoint you.
 
The three posts above pretty much nailed it down.

Just don't push it too hard because the brass cant take it. It's not a 223... It will never be a 223. Find a middle of the road load and your brass will last a lot longer.
 
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Personally, I'm not a fan of plastic tipped bullets for coyotes, especially the lighter weight ones. Ive seen a few splashes with them on close targets but that was with velocities faster than the 221. You can always try them and see how they work out, with the lower velocities they might just be ok. The 40's will shoot pretty flat but the 50's hit much harder so I'd probably start there.
 
My CZ 527 Furball seems to really like 16 grains (15.5 grains to start)of Lil Gun and either a 40 grain Vmax or 40 grain Ballistic Tip. Right around 3500 FPS and 5 shots touching at 100 yards. Have taken numerous ground squirrels, prairie dogs and even a coyote with this load. I'm sticking with it.
 
Originally Posted By: RustydustMy CZ 527 Furball seems to really like 16 grains (15.5 grains to start)of Lil Gun and either a 40 grain Vmax or 40 grain Ballistic Tip. Right around 3500 FPS and 5 shots touching at 100 yards. Have taken numerous ground squirrels, prairie dogs and even a coyote with this load. I'm sticking with it.

Same load here but with 40gr NBTs. I've killed a bunch of coyotes with this load, and to date ( Knocking on wood ) have yet to loose one. Don't take the long shots on coyotes though. I have puffed crows out to 300 with it as well, but my percentage on shots connected out that far does drop a bit.

As stated above, your brass won't last forever with this load. I seem to get cracked necks before the primer pockets start to loosen up.
 
I read something a few days ago about Lil' Gun being a bit dirty, or maybe the word they used was sooty. I have tried Lil' Gun, Re7, AA1680 and find the best accuracy is like Rusty said...Lil' Gun. I know it was designed as a shotgun powder much like Unique, but has anyone had any real issue with it being a somewhat dirty powder?
 
"Any 40gr bullet that suits your fancy and either AA1680 or Lil Gun and your set. "

This just about everybody's "Go to" load for the 221, and it won't disappoint you.

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I agree. I had good velocity and accuracy with Lil Gun, but primer pockets loosened up quickly. Lil Gun was a little dirty, but cleaned up easily. 1680 quickly became my "go to" fireball powder, with 40 grain bullets.
 
Originally Posted By: UncleDocI read something a few days ago about Lil' Gun being a bit dirty, or maybe the word they used was sooty. I have tried Lil' Gun, Re7, AA1680 and find the best accuracy is like Rusty said...Lil' Gun. I know it was designed as a shotgun powder much like Unique, but has anyone had any real issue with it being a somewhat dirty powder?

I found all these to be a little on the dirty side with Lil Gun being the more difficult to remove IIRC. If you want something cleaner try N120.
 
Originally Posted By: UncleDocI read something a few days ago about Lil' Gun being a bit dirty, or maybe the word they used was sooty. I have tried Lil' Gun, Re7, AA1680 and find the best accuracy is like Rusty said...Lil' Gun. I know it was designed as a shotgun powder much like Unique, but has anyone had any real issue with it being a somewhat dirty powder?


Sure it's sooty... It's carbon which comes from burning powder or burning anything for that matter. They will all leave a little something behind just like you and I when our time is up.

The science aside. I run 15gr of the stuff under a 40gr bullet in my 221 and she will go about 250 rounds before the accuracy falls off enough for me to have to clean it. That I'm really happy about.

I think a lot of the dirty powder claims we hear about stems from people's OCD on cleaning a rifle. They think just because they pulled the trigger on it that they need to go home and scrub it skweeeeekeey clean. After 20 rounds their patches are dirty so then it's the powder that's the problem. They never let it go long enough to find out how good their rifle actually shoots, where their accuracy falls off and realize that it takes the same amount of time and effort to clean it after 100 or 200 rounds as it does 20.
 
I think I am first going to try shooting a 50 grain v-max. What would you guys recommend for versatile powder for both 40 and 50 grainers?
 
Problem is the gun comes in Wednesday and I can't find powder for it. All I have is varget and Winchester 748 and it sounds like none of those will work
 
Well I have brass, primers, and bullets ready for it. But now I have called all the different powder suppliers and they have none of the recommended powders in stock.... So now I have to wait.....
 


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