221 Fireball Rem 700 SS Light Varmint

221 FireBall

The 221 Fireball is a cartridge based on the Remington 222 case.  Fine easy shooting round and accurate to 200 yards easily, a little beyond if the wind isn’t blowing to hard.

I’ve really liked the 221 FireBall since I first had a XP-100 pistol in the mid-70s.  I didn’t get to use it on prairie dogs, had to sell it for some reason or another when I did a move in the military somewhere.

A few years ago Remington came out with the 221 Fireball again, this time in rifles.   In 2002 Remington produced the classic Model 700 in 221 FireBall, with a pretty walnut stock, with a blue molly sporter barrel.  Not long after they also produced another Model 700 in 221 FireBall calling it the Light Varmint in stainless steel with a 22″ fluted barrel.  It wasn’t a sporter barrel nor a heavy barrel, with a synthetic stock.

I’m not a pretty gun type of guy, I use my rifles; pretty get scratched.  A synthetic stock is like the mid-60s watch commercial “It takes a beating and keeps on ticking”.

One note here:  remove the pressure points on the Remington stock for-end to free float the barrel.  I can’t remember a Remington stock that worked with them, I always remove them with a 1″ dowel and sandpaper.

My 221 Fireball is a pleasure to shoot with the muzzle brake and an older 6 x 24 x 50 Mil-Dot 30 mm scope.  Yes almost all of my rifles have muzzle brakes and high power scopes on them with Mil-Dot radicals.  With the break I want to see my hits.  With the scope you can’t hit what you can’t see.  A lot of times in the West the wind is blowing at least 10 to 15 mph, sometimes even more.  The Mil-Dot is a must.

The stocks I have on this rifle and my 20 VarTarg were sent to me from Remington after I complained about the recoil pad sticking to my cloths.  Something about the composite of the rubber pad.  Even as bad as they are, once I got the barrels free floated, they shot well.