John,

I had a 22 Hipower once in a 99 takedown. I bought it because I'm left handed and wanted a small calibre rifle for rabbits and foxes.

In those days I was able to buy (not easily though) 227/228 bullets made by Speer, Hornady and Norma - all were 70-71 grains. I also had a small supply of 227 60 gr HP by the now defunct Super cartridge company.

When it was released the 22 Hipower had some marketing hype about how it would kill out of all proportion to its size, killing tigers and other large game instantly. I took my 99 out on a couple of hunts in NSW and shot a few pigs with it. None were monsters, say up to 120lb. It would make a mess when you hit bone, but no magic. Performance is about what you would expect from a 223 with heavy bullets. I dont know how they killed tigers with it, perhaps were tied to tree first.

The cases I used were made by Norma and designated 5.6X52R. The case is based on the 30/30 and forming dies are available but you would need to be keen to do that much work.

The case design is not great, being heavily tapered and case head separations are common if you push pressures. I had a several of them. I would suggest a design with less taper - easier on the case and the gun.

In some countries in Europe this caliber is used in combo guns for mixed bag hunts where you might come across a Roe deer. Roe are about the size of our Hoggies. However for Hog deer in Victoria you need 243 min. Brno once made a combo in 12GA & 22 Hipower and I have seen the odd one come up for sale from time to time.

Depending on your end use and whether you want to build a rifle, I would suggest the 225 if you can still get cases & dies easily. This would give you a case design with less taper and in 224 you have a huge range of bullets. At one point RWS used to make a 74gr 224 bullet for game designed for the 5.6X57. Plus you have a offerings from Barnes and Nosler that are designed as game bullets.

Joe