History
In the early 1960s Remington was working on an experimental bolt-action pistol based on their model 600 action. They wanted a highly accurate pistol that would be well suited for competition. After working with the .222 Remington they realized that it contained more powder than was necessary for the shorter barrels that are used even by specialty pistols. Typical rifle barrels range from approximately 18 to 26 in (46 to 66 cm), while typical pistol barrels range from 2 to 12 in (5.1 to 30 cm). Competition pistol sometimes have barrels as long as 16 in (41 cm), still making them shorter than the shortest rifle barrels.
The decision was made by Remington to base their new cartridge on a shortened version of the .222, optimized for their new XP-100 gun. The cartridge gained some popularity with silhouette shooters and varminters, but still takes a back seat to the more common .223 Remington.
Today the XP-100 is no longer in production. .221 shooters can still get Thompson Contender single-shot pistols chambered for the Fireball, and some rifle manufacturers are making guns for this cartridge as well. Like the .222 and .223, the .221 is well suited for the high-volume shooting for varmint hunting, having almost the same velocity and trajectory out to almost 300 yards (270 m).
Read more about this topic: .221 Remington Fireball
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“History has neither the venerableness of antiquity, nor the freshness of the modern. It does as if it would go to the beginning of things, which natural history might with reason assume to do; but consider the Universal History, and then tell us,—when did burdock and plantain sprout first?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)