The Reloadable .22 LR

[Vern Humphrey]

I recently embarked on a project to produce the Reloadable .22 LR. I had two goals, one was to be more self-sufficient during ammo shortages, and the other was to produce better quality ammo than the typical bulk pack .22s.

I started with the original reloadable .22, the .22 Winchester Central Fire, developed back in the 1880s. Nowadays that's called the .22 Hornet.

I ordered a 45-grain wide flat nose .225 mold from NOE. This is a 4-cavity mold, and while waiting for the rest of what I needed, I easily cast 1,000 bullets from wheel weights.

I ordered a .225 Plain Base Checkmaker from Pat Marlins. This little device makes gas checks for PLAIN BASED bullets out of coke can metal (.004" thick.) It's about the size of a typical reloading die, and screws into your press. There are two set screws. Loosen the upper set screw and tighten the lower one, and it chops disks out of 1/2" strips cut from coke cans. Then reverse the set screws and drop the disks into the lower part of the Checkmader and it produces tiny "bottle caps."

I crimp the "bottle caps" on by running the bullets base-first through a Lee .225 sizing die, and lube with Liquid Alox. I load these over 8 grains of Hodgdon's Li'l Gun and cap them with Winchester Small Pistol primers.

In my M82 Kimber, I'd getting 1 1/2" groups at 100 yards and around 2100 fps. And it's running me less than 6 cents a round.

I think I have the ultimate squirrel rifle here.

[psteinmayer]

That's really interesting work there! It gives hope to making the .22 accessible and affordable again.

I can remember back in the mid-1980s being able to buy a 1,500 round brick of Remington 22 LR's for about $5 bucks. We used to take our 10-22's to the trash dump and just blast away at stuff for hours. My buddy and I would go through two bricks each a weekend... LOL Them days ain't likely to return!!!

[PhillipM]

Where are you finding lead wheel weights? They are all iron or some such here now.

I've not done it but some of the target shooter say to segregate 22's by rim thickness because that is what gives them consistency.

I need to dust off the military 513T. I need to come up with 600 bucks to buy my buddies 82G with scope and sights. I need, I need...

[Vern Humphrey]

There are three sources for wheel weights -- first from a local tire shop (I get mine free), next from a metal recycling yard, and finally from searching the Internet.

[Allen]

I pay roughly $20 per 5gal bucket full of weights at tire stores. They keep the bucket.

[Vern Humphrey]

I pay roughly $20 per 5gal bucket full of weights at tire stores. They keep the bucket.

Five gallons is about 130 lbs of lead, once you melt it down, clean it and cast it into ingots. A 45 grain bullet will run about 150 to the pound. so 130 lbs of lead will produce about 19,000 bullets. Cost wise, that works out to about a little over a tenth of a cent a bullet.

Figure around 2.3 cents for powder, and 3.2 cents for the primer, and it costs you around 5.6 cents a round.

[PhillipM]

How do you control hardness when using wheel weights? I'm guessing when using wheel weights it's an unknown alloy?

[Allen]

Personally I've never done a thing with wheel weight hardness. The mix seems to be about right, not too soft or hard. I've bought store brand cast lead bullets that were so hard they would fragment. The targets looked like they had been shot by a shotgun. Since then I just cast my own and with wheel weights. I don't know how consistent they are from manufacturer to manufacturer but again, I haven't had any problems. You could always add some pure lead or antimony to suit though.

[Vern Humphrey]

How do you control hardness when using wheel weights? I'm guessing when using wheel weights it's an unknown alloy?

The first thing you do is get a big pot and melt a LOT of wheel weights. Skim off the crud and steel clips, stir the mixture and ladle it into ingot molds (I use a cast iron corn pone griddle -- the ingots run about two pounds apiece.) You now have a large stock of ingots with the SAME characteristics. That's what promotes accuracy, identical characteristics.

Next, you can either drop the cast bullets onto a soft towel or drop them into a bucket of water (for harder bullets.)

I have found that by and large, simply dropping the bullets on a soft towel and lubricating liberally (I like Liquid Alox) works very well in .22 Hornet, .30-06, .30-40 Krag, .308 Winchester, .30-30, .35 Brown-Whelen. .38 Special, .45 ACP and .45 Colt. Gas checks are an important part of the equation -- good gas checks cut way down on leading.

[PhillipM]

Thanks, gentlemen.

[RCS]

a few examples of early small bore cartridges

Here are some early small bore cartridges that were all black powder except the third cartridge which is the G&H 22-3000. Many early
single shot rifles were converted to use this cartridge until replaced by the 222 Remington




If you can locate the rifles, most of these cartridges can be made from others or purchased as empty cases


Left 22 WCF, 25-20 UMC, 22-3000 G&H, 25-21 Peters, 25-25 WRA and 28-30-120 UMCp1010036_0038.jpg

[joem]

Title of thread threw me off a bit (22LR). Picture shows center fire cartridges or am I just confused as usual.

[Vern Humphrey]

The idea is to develop a CENTERFIRE cartridge that duplicates the ballistics (and low cost) of the .22 rimfires. My load in the .22 Winchester Center Fire (also known as the .22 Hornet) duplicates that .22 WMR at a cost of around 5 - 6 cents a round. I haven't yet throtteled it back to .22 LR ballistics -- and may not, because it so perfectly meets my needs as is.

[RED]

A commendable bit of work. But all in all, not a real money saver unless you already have the rifle, dies, molds, Lee size and lube die, lead, lead molds, the tools to make the gas checks, etc., but if you have to buy the rifle etc. you could buy a lot of .22LR even at todays prices.

[Vern Humphrey]

I already had the rifle and dies -- I just needed the mould, Checkmaker and sizer. But my point isn't to save money so much as to be more self-sufficient. When there's no .22 LR for sale, I have an alternative.