Categories: Guns

Cheap Triple Deuce Thrills

The .222 Remington, known as the triple deuce, is an inherently accurate cartridge. I have an old Savage 340 chambered for this cartridge and I’ve written about it before. The Savage was inexpensive and the stock was well worn (it was only $180 from a local shop used gun rack maybe 3 or 4 years ago). I bought it because I never had a triple deuce and I wanted a refinishing project.

The refinished Savage 340. Port, and…

..starboard. It looks brand new. It’s at least 50 years old.

The Savage 340 was an economy rifle back in the day. I have a library of old Gun Digest books, and my 1956 Shooter’s Bible shows that it sold for $62.

The refinish, with TruOil, turned out well.

Mine is a 340D. I think that means it was the Deluxe model.

Note the cantilevered Weaver mount and the Bushnell 3×9 Banner (an el cheapo model if ever there was one) were included with the rifles’ $180 price at Turner’s.

The detachable box magazine. The bluing is in excellent original condition on this rifle.

I recently bought an 8-pound bottle of XBR 8208 propellant (these days, you buy what’s available), and I wanted to see where the accuracy was with this propellant and 55-grain full metal jacket boat tail Hornady bullets. I use these bullets in my Mini 14, and I was pretty sure they would do well in the .222 Savage, too.

Loads for testing in the Savage.

The accuracy load for the Savage is 23.4 grains of XBR 8208. Not bad for $180, a little elbow grease, a little TruOil, and an hour on the range at 100 yards.

For a pencil weight barrel and a really screwy bedding approach, the Savage did very well.

And another. You gotta love conistency.

The rifle could do better. The stock has a lot of drop at the heel and it is designed for the iron sights on the rifle. And that would be okay, but the Savage has a scope on it and I wanted to play with it. It’s difficult to get a consistent cheek weld because of the scope’s height and the stock’s drop (I’m shooting with my chin almost on the stock). I may cast about for one of those leather cheek pads that lace onto a rifle, or I may leave it as is.

This lightweight and accurate rifle would be a hoot chasing jackrabbits in west Texas, which is what I spent a lot of my earlier years doing. Maybe someday I’ll go back.

About those other links…here’s the series on refinishing the Savage:

Refinishing Savage: Part 1
Refinishing Savage: Part 2
Refinishing Savage: Part 3
Refinishing Savage: Part 4

And here’s the blog about my first day on the range with this rifle!

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Joe Berk