I've had a 222 for a few years as I always fancied one after reading an article in the seventies in the old Guns and Ammo magazine. It is the father of the .223 (5.56) and for many years was the benchrest calibre of choice due to its inherent accuracy until the 6mm class took over. Although the 223 is very popular due to the ready availabilty of mil surplus ammo and cases, the 222 still has a large following and factory ammo is easily available in virtually any gunshop for as low as £15 or so for twenty. If all you want to do is pop off the occasional fox then that is all you need.

I have always reloaded so I went straight into reloading for the 222. I picked up a few hundred empties at auction (Welsh arms auction) for next to nothing. Small rifle primers can be had for thirty quid a thousand at places like the gunshow. Suitable powder is around forty quid a pound which with 20gn loads will give you 350 shots at about 11p each. I managed to pick up what was sold as "about 1000 assorted .224 bullet heads" which ended up being 1300 good quality (Sierra, berger, Hornady etc) bullets still in sealed boxes and varying in weight from 40gn to 72gn for £52 at one auction and then another 1400 Sierra 55gn at the next auction for about fifty quid again. Very cheap shooting for years to come.

I have a couple of very old single stage Wamadet loading presses which I use for everything except my .38 loading (Progressive press for that). A second hand press can be had very cheaply if you look around. Even new they are not overly expensive. Die sets from about £40.

The 222 is very easy to load for and very forgiving. I've put a few hundred down range with different loads, bullet weights and types and mixed cases and they have all shot within an inch or so at 200 yds with no great difficulty. As has been said earlier, reloading can be fun and it is very satisfying to put in an excellent group with your own load. Most 222 rifles have a slow twist of 1 in 14 or so, so anything heavier than 55gn start to become unstable. I tried some of the 72gn projectiles and they keyholed beautifully at 100yds, although they work great in my mate's 223 (1 in 8). Little 40gn hollow points can be driven at over 3000fps and are deadly on foxes at three hundred yards.