Hardness of 22 Mag Lead Bullets

[Traffer]

Does anyone know the hardness of 22 mag lead bullets? All I have are jacketed so I cannot test it. I am guessing that they are pretty hard but would like to have more info for a better decision. Going to be reloading these puppies. Just paid $22 + change for a box of 50 (including tax) I can reload them for 3 cents per round. A no brainer.

 

[FROGO207]

Using a veeeery unsientific method with the only plated lead .22 mag bullets I have (Winchester Dynaplate) I can scratch the copperish colored bullet into the lead with my thumbnail. I then tried it with a Winchester .22 LR plated bullet and went about the same depth. FWIW I have never seen ANY just lead .22 WMR ammo. I would think it too fast for even hardened lead to work without the rifling stripping the lead off the bullets at standard MAG velocities. But you never know. Look at what a 22 Hornet bullet is and it is about the same hardness wise.

 

[Traffer]

Well, I just learned about gas checks. It would seem that these will solve my problem. It's still hard to believe that the bullet is the same hardness as a 22lr though. I tested the 22lr and they come in at 7 to 8 BHN which is pretty soft.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I was about to say 22 rimfire bullets have been very sort historically. I see that is still so. It shows you don't need very hard bullets to prevent leading, just a good fit. When was the last time you heard of a 22 rimfire leading?

 

[GooseGestapo]

With the exception of the Winchester DynaPoint and CCI plated bullets, the .22win mag is loaded with jacketed bullets. These typically have a 97% lead 3% tin core which is fairly soft.
The CCI have a copper plating that is roughly .002-.003 thick irrc from grinding the tips down on some TMJ's I removed the plating from the tips to render them "soft points" back around '03 for hunting pigs on a state WMA which required "small game" caliber firearms which meant .22 Rimfire or similar.
Again, once under the copper plating, the alloy is rather soft.

A cast bullet,even with a gas check needs to be somewhat harder. I use wheel-weights plus ~2% 95/5 Leadfree solder added to improve casting and hardness (antimony-tin) for my .22 cf cast bullets. As such, they will tolerate up to about 2,200fps with acceptable accuracy.

 

[Reefinmike]

look into powder coating your bullets. should solve any possible issues.

 

[Traffer]

My thanks to you guys. Great advise and useful info on this.

 

[mdi]

Did you say you were going to reload 22 Magnum rimfire ammo? I've seen a kit for .22 LR but those are waaaay too labor intensive...

 

[Traffer]

Did you say you were going to reload 22 Magnum rimfire ammo? I've seen a kit for .22 LR but those are waaaay too labor intensive...

Yes, I have been reloading 22LR for about 6 or 7 months now. No kit, made my own tools. You are correct....way to labor intensive. I am in the process of trying to streamline my process. I am finding that this stage of the game is by far the hardest. It is easy to "hand build" every damn round which I have practically been doing. Now I am trying to get the procedure down to a more manageable amount of steps. Now with being able to get 22LR ammo for around 5 cents a round I am getting tired of this. I want to reload magnums for the obvious reason that they are much harder to get and generally cost about 10x the amount of LR's. Now I have another obstacle. I do not have a "beater" gun for 22 mag. So I am in the process of building a gun for testing purposes. I bought a barrel for a Marlin model 60 for cheap and reamed it out to fit 22 mags. Now I am in the process of building a receiver and bolt. I am looking forward to having a gun to experiment with.

 

[Conservidave]

When was the last time you heard of a 22 rimfire leading?

Remington Thunderbolt.... every time you squeeze the trigger

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Remington Thunderbolt.... every time you squeeze the trigger

Then IMO there is possibly something wrong with your gun.

 

[mdi]

Wow, Interesting project. Keep us informe of your progress...

I have had Remington 22 ammo foul the barrels of 3 guns; my first 10-22 (in the '70s), a Ruger Single Six, and a Remington Viper. No other .22 lr ammo shot as dirty nor fouled barrels as did the Remington ammo...

 

[Dave Markowitz]

I had a brick of Winchester XPERT .22s that leaded and gummed up several different guns, including a 1958-vintage Ruger Single Six, a S&W Model 18, and a Winchester 9422 XTR. Horrible ammo.

Back on topic -- OP's project sounds interesting, please keep us posted.

 

[Traffer]

I have some old Remington ammo...Viper. You are correct unbelievably dirty. I also have some new Remington Golden Bullets. Not nearly as dirty but still pretty bad. Of the reloads that I have made, the harder lead ones leaded up badly. They were just at spec, not oversized diameter at all. I have read that to keep harder lead bullets from leading the barrel, they have to be a bit oversized. One or 2 thousandths. I am just going to stop using harder lead. Stick to 8 BHN. So I figured that I will have to use gas checks in Mags. Yet another annoyance in reloading.