blackpowder .22 LR video (almost took out the camera)

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Busyhands94

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First of all I want to apologize for my HORRIFIC camera and filming. I got it at a garage sale and it cost me $5 dollars. It always sounds like it's sitting on top of a cloths drier for some reason and it's the worst camera ever. I know, I need a new one. But until I get a good job and can afford a camera I'll have to make due with this one.

That being said, enjoy my video. I loaded some .22 Long rifle with blackpowder and was rushed on time but had just enough time to make a video. I wanted to put the camera downrange for two reasons: reason one it I thought it would be kinda cool to see what it would look like from behind the target, and two if the camera got shot it wouldn't be too big a deal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wRDXp36Qkw

The .22 Long Rifle was originally loaded with blackpowder and was just a longer version of the .22 short, the sad part is that they don't make .22 LR loaded with blackpowder like in the olden days. But I'm strange enough to load my own with BP, and it is worth it 100% to have little puffs of smoke belching from my favorite .22 rifle!

Stay safe and God bless America!
Levi
 
That's pretty cool, those rounds must not make that much report because I can see the smoke, see & hear the bullet strike the cans & your steel plate but practically no report from the weapon.
 
BCRider, it was out of my J.C. Higgins single shot .22 rifle. It was made by Marlin for J.C. Higgins and was sold by Sears IIRC.

They are mighty quiet, and that isn't even the .22 short loaded with blackpowder. The .22 short loaded with blackpowder sounds like a miniature pop, it's major fun to have a box of 50 loaded up. You don't even need hearing protection it's so quiet!

As for pulling the bullets, I found a safe way to do it. I don't really re-crimp my shells, although I'm currently trying to come up with a tool that crimps the cartridges for me. I don't like that it's a one way deal, you either have to chamber a round or risk having the bullet pulled and spilling powder everywhere. But, my dreadful problem of no crimp will be solved. I'm determined to figure out how to adapt something to crimp the shell.

I remember reading somewhere that .22s didn't start out with crimped casings, and that they had crimped and uncrimped .22s for different guns.
 
To be fair Levi, it's your horrible FIVE DOLLAR camera. Then you shot it and it lands face down in the dirt, you pick it up, dust it off AND IT STILL WORKS! I'm thinking not too bad for five bucks. :evil::D Just sayin...
Cheers buddy.
Blue
 
There is a bit of interest in black powder .22s, a guy on the Shiloh board showed some very good targets shot with BP and cast bullets with good lube.
A few years ago, Armscor imported some primed .22 brass which was perfect for the project but they did not keep it coming so the experimenter must pull bullets carefully, discard the smokeless, and probably melt down the bullets to be replaced with new.

The original .22 Long Rifle - a 40 grain .22 Extra Long bullet in a Long case with about 5 grains of powder - was known as the .22 Stevens Long Rifle and was not crimped because there were then only single shot rifles for it. At one time, a crimped .22 Long Rifle was known as the .22 Smith & Wesson Long because they made the first good quality revolvers for it.
 
I've got a couple of rifles that would be perfect for use with these rounds too. A very old Stevens Crackshot 26 and an early Remington 6... :D

If a collet style inline puller could be made up to remove the bullets from the cases would the crimp totally ruin the heel of the bullet? And if it did I'm wondering if a simple press operation to reform the heel could reshape the heel well enough to allow it to be put back into the charged casing.

All the operations could be done in a small arbor press or a single stage reloading press equipped with suitable fixtures. A "shell plate" to hold the casing and a collet style puller for removing the bullet would be one set of fixtures. Then the empty casing would need a straight line "flaring" tool to remove the last of the crimp. Then a bullet shaped cup to hold the nose and side of the bullet from being deformed while a flat anvil is pressed against the heel to swage the back to flat and press out the heel to the sides in preparation for being inserted back into the casing. Finally some sort of crimping die would be used to reform the crimp. This last item would be a little tricky since the bullet is the same size as the casing, or near enough. It would need to be some sort of pliers like or collet style crimper.

All these could be made fairly easily by someone with a lathe to fit into and for use with a basic reloading press.
 
Great idea, I'm keeping my eye out for an inexpensive press! I'm already contemplating getting a press anyways since I'm starting to want a centerfire rifle as well as a conversion cylinder in .45 Colt, since there's no way I'm getting into centerfires without handloading. I also have a lath as well as experience working with said lath. This might turn out to be a fantastic project once I get all the materials together!
 
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