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It makes just as much sense now as it did when the swear word was in there, that was all I removed the word was totally gratuitous so did nothing to help the "sense" of what you wrote.

Badger, do the decent thing, buy a 222 and be done with it :)

Gosh, you're right. I was tired. :(

For sale posts removed, you should know better.

There's nowt wrong with .223. It's a fine cartridge, with a huge variety of projectiles, propellant, loading data. You can find components literally anywhere. So it's boring? So what.

If you are going to go for odd-balls, why don't you just get a .219 Donaldson Wasp made. If you are going to go odd-ball, you may as well really do it right.

Interesting ammunition makes handloading a real joy and a true learning experience.

Boring ammunition makes handloading reloading and therefore a chore.

In my experience that is.

There are certainly many people, no doubt the vast majority, who revel in boring and that is their choice or lack of making one.

It is the difference between seeing handloading as an end it itself as opposed to reloading which is just a step to shooting which is the end.

I shoot to handload (interesting) as opposed to those who reload to shoot (boring).

Each to his own but the approaches are as different as apples and oranges.

I am split on this thought. Some of my rifles are reloaded so I can shoot them and the reloading is a means to an end with the alternative being expensive factory ammunition. Equally I find reloading some cartridges very challenging and I am sure I am only shooting them because I find the reloading aspect fascinating. One of those odd things where 1" groups at 200 yards are deemed to be very average, yet a 5" group at 100 yards with another rifle has me skipping around.

I do have "banked" loads that just work and are go too these are mainly for my live quarry guns so I don't need that many rounds in a year so they don't become a chore reloading for them even although they are a means to an end, a full freezer.

The rest of my handloading is gun related, get a gun, work up loads, get it shooting well then move on.

Muzzleloading now there is a true amalgam of handloading a shooting coming together at the firing point with its infinity of variables to twiddle with at every shot, one of the many reasons why it gives me so much pleasure.

Agreed, it is my overland rifles such as the 22-250 and 6,5x47 that are 'just' loaded and even then I am still tweaking them very slightly as I progress.

""To each his own" said the old lady as she kissed the cow." That's what my mother used to say, anyway.

In my book the performance of .222 is just not sufficiently better than .223 to make it worth doing. I'll stick to my simple and boring .223.

For me, loading is only a means to an end, and that end is shooting. I like .223 because they can easily be loaded in a progressive press at a rate of 100 and hour - when necessary. The real beauty of .223 is that for now anyway, they can be bought as (relatively) cheap reloaded ammo locally here. I buy my .223 in 250 round bulk packages. When you are feeding semi-automatic rifles, simple and boring is good.