.221 Remington Fireball | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Type | Pistol / Rifle | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of origin | United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Production history | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Designer | Remington / Wayne Leek | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Manufacturer | Remington | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Produced | 1963 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Specifications | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent case | .222 Remington | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Case type | Rimless, bottleneck | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Bullet diameter | .224 in (5.7 mm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Neck diameter | .253 in (6.4 mm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Shoulder diameter | .361 in (9.2 mm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Base diameter | .376 in (9.6 mm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Rim diameter | .378 in (9.6 mm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Rim thickness | .045 in (1.1 mm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Case length | 1.400 in (35.6 mm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Overall length | 1.830 in (46.5 mm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Rifling twist | 1-12 in (300 mm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Primer type | Small rifle | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Maximum CUP | 52,000 CUP | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Ballistic performance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Test barrel length: 14 in (360 mm), 24 in (610 mm) Source(s): Accurate Powder [1] |
The .221 Remington Fireball (5.7x35mm), often simply referred to as .221 Fireball, is a centerfire cartridge created by Remington Arms Company in 1963 as a special round for use in their experimental single-shot bolt-action pistol, the XP-100. [2] A shortened version of the .222 Remington, it is popular as a varmint and small predator round while also finding use among target shooters. It has application as both a pistol round and as a rifle round.
In the early 1960s Remington was working on an experimental bolt-action pistol based on their Model 600 action. The goal was a highly accurate pistol that would be well suited for competition. After working with the .222 Remington they determined that it contained more powder capacity than was necessary to work efficiently in the shorter barrels of pistols. While rifle barrels commonly range in length from 14.5 to 26 in (37 to 66 cm), pistol barrels are typically much shorter, ranging from 2 to 12 in (5.1 to 30.5 cm) although occasionally up to 16 in (41 cm) for some competition barrels. As a result, Remington decided to develop a shorter version of the .222 Remington cartridge, optimized for use in the XP-100.
While production of XP-100 pistols chambered in .221 Fireball was eventually canceled after 1985, [3] Thompson Center Arms produced various single-shot pistols chambered for the .221 Fireball as part of their Contender and Encore models. Rifles chambered for the .221 Fireball include the Remington 700 and the Ceska zbrojovka CZ 527.
Despite its smaller size, the .221 Fireball is capable of velocities nearly equal to that of the .222 Remington largely due to its higher SAAMI pressure. The maximum SAAMI pressure level for the .221 Fireball is 52,000 C.U.P. as compared to 46,000 C.U.P. for the .222 Remington. The purpose of the increased pressure was to allow it to perform more effectively in the shorter barrel of the XP-100.
The .221 Fireball produces the highest velocity of any commercial pistol cartridge. [4]
The .221 Fireball has been used by wildcatters to create a small efficient .17 caliber cartridge. The most common is the .17 Mach IV which is essentially the .221 necked down to the smaller caliber. This cartridge is reported to have a very flat trajectory and to be relatively quiet with low recoil. It has been so popular as a wildcat that in 2007 Remington legitimized it by introducing their version only slightly different from the Mach IV and calling it the .17 Remington Fireball. [5] A .20 caliber version is also gaining popularity called the .20 VarTarg (VT), "vartarg" being the combination of the words "varmint" and "target". The .221 Fireball has also been used as the base for the .300 Whisper, sometimes referred to as the .300/.221 or .300 Fireball. It is also the basis for other cartridges in J.D. Jones' Whisper family including the 6 mm Whisper, which has been adopted by Knight's Armament Corporation for their Knight's Armament Company PDW as the 6×35mm PDW.
In firearm designs, the term single-shot refers to guns that can hold only a single round of ammunition inside and thus must be reloaded manually after every shot. Compared to multi-shot repeating firearms ("repeaters"), single-shot designs have no moving parts other than the trigger, hammer/firing pin or frizzen, and therefore do not need a sizable receiver behind the barrel to accommodate a moving action, making them far less complex and more robust than revolvers or magazine/belt-fed firearms, but also with much slower rates of fire.
The .223 Remington is a rimless, bottlenecked, centerfire intermediate cartridge. It was developed in 1957 by Remington Arms and Fairchild Industries for the U.S. Continental Army Command of the United States Army as part of a project to create a small-caliber, high-velocity firearm. The .223 Remington is considered one of the most popular common-use cartridges and is used by a wide range of semi-automatic and manual-action rifles.
The .256 Winchester Magnum is a firearms cartridge developed by Winchester, and was produced by necking-down a .357 Magnum cartridge to .257 diameter. It was designed for shooting small game and varmints.
The .218 Bee / 5.7x34mmR is a .22 caliber centerfire rifle cartridge designed for varmint hunting by Winchester in 1937. The cartridge was originally chambered in the Winchester Model 65 lever-action rifles, which may have ultimately led to its lack of popularity. The cartridge is named for the bore diameter of the barrel in which the cartridge is chambered rather than the usual practice in the United States of having the cartridge's nomenclature reflect in some way the bullet diameter.
The .17 Remington / 4.4x45mm is a rifle cartridge introduced in 1971 by Remington Arms Company for their model 700 rifles.
The .22 Remington Jet (5.6x33mmR) is a .22 in (5.6mm) American centerfire revolver and rifle cartridge. The round is known in the US as .22 Jet, .22 Center Fire Magnum/.22 CFM or .22 Rem Jet.
A wildcat cartridge, often shortened to wildcat, is a custom-made cartridge for which ammunition and/or firearms are not mass-produced. These cartridges are often created as experimental variants to optimize a certain ballistic performance characteristic of an existing commercial cartridge, or may merely be intended as novelty items.
The .300 Whisper (7.82x34mm) is a CIP standard cartridge in the Whisper family, a group of cartridges developed in the early 1990s by J.D. Jones of SSK Industries. It was developed as a multi-purpose cartridge, capable of utilizing relatively lightweight bullets at supersonic velocities as well as heavier bullets at subsonic velocities.
The .204 Ruger / 5.2x47mm is a centerfire rifle cartridge developed by Hornady and Ruger. At the time of its introduction in 2004, the .204 Ruger was the second-highest velocity commercially produced ammunition and the only centerfire cartridge produced commercially for bullets of .204 inch/5 mm caliber.
The .220 Swift (5.56×56mmSR) is a semi-rimmed rifle cartridge developed by Winchester and introduced in 1935 for small game and varmint hunting. It was the first factory-loaded rifle cartridge with a muzzle velocity of over 1,200 m/s (4,000 ft/s).
The .222 Remington or 5.7×43mm (C.I.P), also known as the triple deuce, triple two, and treble two, is a centerfire rifle cartridge. Introduced in 1950, it was the first commercial rimless .22 (5.56 mm) cartridge made in the United States. As such, it was an entirely new design, without a parent case. The .222 Remington was a popular target cartridge from its introduction until the mid-1970s and still enjoys a reputation for accuracy. It remains a popular vermin or "varmint" cartridge at short and medium ranges with preferred bullet weights of 40–55 grains and muzzle velocities from 3,000 to 3,500 ft/s (915–1,067 m/s).
The 7mm Remington Magnum rifle cartridge was introduced as a commercially available round in 1962, along with the new Remington Model 700 bolt-action rifle. It is a member of the belted magnum family that is directly derived from the venerable .375 H&H Magnum. The original purpose of the belted magnum concept taken from the .300 H&H Magnum and .375 H&H Magnum, was to provide precise headspace control, since the sloping shoulders, while easing cartridge extraction, were unsuitable for this purpose. Improved cartridge extraction reliability is desirable while hunting dangerous game, in particular when a fast follow-up shot is required. The 7mm Remington Magnum is based on the commercial .264 Winchester Magnum, .338 Winchester Magnum, and .458 Winchester Magnum, which were based on the same belted .300 H&H Magnum and .375 H&H Magnum cases, trimmed to nearly the same length as the .270 Weatherby Magnum.
The Remington XP-100 is a bolt-action pistol produced by Remington Arms from 1963 to 1998. The XP-100 was one of the first handguns designed for long-range shooting and introduced the .221 Fireball and 6×45mm. The XP-100 was noted for its accuracy and is still viewed as competitive today in the sport of handgun varminting, which it helped create, as well as in metallic silhouette shooting.
The .17 Remington Fireball / 4.4x36mm was created in 2007 by Remington Arms Company as a response to the popular wildcat round, the .17 Mach IV. Factory loads drive a 20 grain (1.3 g) bullet around 4,000 ft/s (1,219 m/s). Velocity is close to the .17 Remington but with significantly less powder, and therefore less heat and fouling. Both are important issues to high-volume shooters such as varmint hunters.
The .257 Roberts, also known as .257 Bob, is a medium-powered .25 caliber rifle cartridge. It has been described as the best compromise between the low recoil and flat trajectory of smaller calibers such as the 5 mm and 6 mm, and has more energy, but is harder recoiling, similar to larger hunting calibers, such as the 7 mm and 7.62 mm.
.22 caliber, or 5.6 mm, refers to a common firearms bore diameter of 0.22 inch (5.6 mm) in both rimfire and centerfire cartridges.
The 6.5mm Creedmoor (6.5×48mm), designated 6.5 Creedmoor by SAAMI, 6,5 Creedmoor by the C.I.P. is a centerfire rifle cartridge introduced by Hornady in 2007. It was developed by Hornady senior ballistics scientist Dave Emary in partnership with Dennis DeMille, the vice-president of product development at Creedmoor Sports, hence the name. The cartridge is a necked-down modification of the .30 Thompson Center.
The .17 Mach IV / 4.4x35mm is a wildcat centerfire rifle cartridge, based on the .221 Remington Fireball case, necked down to fire a 0.172 inches (4.4 mm) bullet. The cartridge was introduced in 1962 by Vern O’Brien. The cartridge offered an easy case conversion and good ballistics, but could not compete against the .17 Remington.
.30-06 Springfield wildcat cartridges are cartridges developed from a 30-06 Springfield "parent cartridge" through narrowing or widening the cartridge neck to fit a smaller or larger bullet in an attempt to improve performance in specific areas. Such wildcat cartridges are not standardized with recognized small arms standardization bodies like the SAAMI and the CIP.
A varmint rifle or varminter is a type of small-caliber, precision-oriented long gun primarily used for varmint hunting and pest control. Such rifles are typically characterized by sniper rifle-like designs such as heavy free-floating barrel, enhanced bedding, ergonomic gunstock, the use of bipod/beanbag and high-power telescopic sight, and the choice of high-muzzle velocity, high-ballistic coefficient munitions, which are all accurizing features of needed for improving repeated shooting, often over long distances.