Specification
The numbers that define it
Factory loads
Published load data
Muzzle velocities are the manufacturer’s published figures, measured in their test barrel. Your rifle will differ — a shorter barrel typically loses roughly 5–15 m/s per centimetre. Chronograph your own load before trusting a long-range solution.
What it is
The .222 Remington was, at its 1950 introduction, a purely civilian cartridge — no military lineage — and it dominated benchrest accuracy competition for two decades. The .223 Remington later displaced it commercially, but the .222 lives on in Europe, and especially in the Nordics, as a small-predator round.
Use in Finland
In Finland the .222 is the classic fox calibre: the 3.2 g bullet exactly meets the class 1 weight requirement (2.5 g / 200 J), with energy to spare. Most loads also reach the roe-deer class (800 J / 3.2 g) — though with an exactly 3.2 g bullet the weight limit is met with no margin at all, which is worth knowing. See the per-load checks on the hunting page.