My wife's 22

She has liked the 22 mag for a long time but has decided to step it up a little. I want to get her a centerfire but my orders are nothing that kicks and nothing too loud. I have been looking at the 22 K-Hornet but it seems like a lot of money to spend for puny rifle that she doesn't use a lot anyway. If I were to build her a 223, how cold could I load for it? We all know the 223 has minimum recoil but I'd want to ease her into the benefits of the cartridge rather than have her shoot it once and say, I don't like it.

You could go the .223 route and go with reduced loads just to get her hooked. Look up a fellow who goes by "Seafire" over on 24hourcampfire if you want to check it out. He has come up with Blue Dot loads that work well. Of course, reduced loads can be found in many places. A 40-grain bullet may help further reduce recoil and still shoot well.

Yeah, the .22 Hornet is my nemesis. Too much dirt cheap .223 brass for a guy to skip over it.

RiverRider gave sound advice.

Bring her to our place and she can shoot my 223 as much or as little as she wants. A 2 hour drive from DFW. I have a covered bench and a 100 yard range.

Like RiverRider says, there are Blue Dot loads out there that work quite well and are very accurate. I have a couple of formulas I'll share with you tomorrow (since my reloading records are not here at the house with me). I'll get 'em and share 'em.

I found a copy in house, so here it is:

603Country, that is a generous offer and I thank you for it. We have a place ourselves that is 2 hours from home with a personal range of some sort. My dad has a bolt 223 and he'd be more than happy to meet us there with it and tell me how I should have her's built. Thank you again for the offer though, kind of you. I guess I need to call the old goat and tell him to load up a bunch of weak loads for her.

What science is used to determine book starting loads? I understand why they stop at a max load but what happens if you incrementally go below book minimum just like you do going the other way? At least going up you have pressure signs telling you what's happening in there.

It may be more of an art than a science when it comes to starting loads, but I would imagine one thing they look closely at is the amount of powder that is actually consumed. Powders operate best at certain specific pressures, meaning conversion to gas is consistent and very near complete when the correct pressure range is approached. When pressures are reduced too much things can become unpredictable and inconsistent.

For starting loads, i’d go with Lyman 50’s suggestion, or Nosler’s -since i mostly shoot Nosler bullets. For light loads, I’d probably go with a 35 or 40 gr bullet and a starter load with a good powder. I load the 40 grainers pretty hot, and there’s little recoil.

To get folks of all ages interested in shooting the 223, i made a wooden T frame and hung golf balls from the top of the T (string and duct tape). I found that shooting targets bored most folk, but a compettive session shooting golf balls at 100 yards really got everyone’s competitive juices flowing. The family (ages 10 to 60) were bragging and talking trash if they hit and making excuses for missing. It was great. I need to get more golf balls.

Rifle weight and barrel length could help achieve these goals as well?

I suspect you will get the most mileage out of the lighter load though.

223 can kick light or medium depending on the weight of the gun. A Tikka Lite in 223 is not a no-recoil gun. But I had a Tikka Varmint in 223 that was like shooting a 22. You literally didn't even have to shoulder it. Stupid accurate and a blast to shoot.

My wife prefers the 17 wsm, she really does like to shoot but does not like kick of any kind, makes her anxious so I keep it fun and light.

Thank you gentlemen. Your insight has been helpful. I believe I will build a heavy 223 and start it with 40 grainers. I think Ma will accept it.

Tikka varmint 1/8 twist that I cut down. Shoots 60 vmax

@Brother in-law - love the short 223. Is that a 16"? What kind of velocity are you getting with the 60g Vmax? I'm thinking of doing that exact same thing for another predator rifle.