Hot loading .22 cal.

[Seancass]

i dont really know anything about reloading, but i understand there are much more powerful powders than what comes from the factories. would it be possible to load a reg. .22LR cartridge to much higher presures for heavy barrel guns where it is safe. as opposed to the weak guns the factory ammo must be able to fire in. also wondered about doing it in .22 magnum and .17 HMR. I was thinking in something like a contender or similar, there is a lot of metal surrounding that lil bitty shell.

 

[Mikee Loxxer]

Rimfire cartridges cannot be reloaded, centerfire only.

 

[Seancass]

no one said you had to shoot it before removing the bullet and powder.

 

[Terrierman]

If I were you I'd try stuffing a .22 LR case full of Unique just to see what happens . Unless I valued my eyesight or anything.

 

[ribbonstone]

If you could do it...would blow the case. The limiting factor is the hollow rim and the need for soft/thin cases (in order to be fired by the rim hit). Some RF cases do handle a bit more pressure (the .17HMR) but (1) the cases are constructed thicker and (2) they are near the upper limit of acceptable pressure.

 

[Jim Watson]

There has been some handloading done for .22 Magnum.

It has been many moons since .22 lr was handloaded, but once upon a time you could buy primed cases and buy or cast bullets. Problem with trying it now is that you can't buy cases and the hard crimp on soft lead heeled bullets will pretty well wipe out both bullet and case if you pull it to heat up the load. I have heard of it being done in spite of all the trouble to make up black powder .22s though.

There is the .22 CCM - Cooper Centerfire Magnum - which is a centerfire the size of a .22 Magnum. Velocities are higher because of the stronger case.

 

[Seancass]

i know it is remarkable easy to remove a bullet and powder from a .22 shell. a small bird told me so. but maybe they are then too damaged to reload.

do the guns not seal up tight enought to provide support all around the brass? it seems like with a break action all the brass is completely surrounded by steel, but of course, a small gap is enough room for failure. i was thinking that if they guns sealed up tight enough you could go well beyond the limits of the brass towards those of the steel(naturally still very far from any risk of failure)

like i said, i dont know everything about the enternals of a gun when its locked and loaded.

 

[Seancass]

i dont know if i made it clear: I have no intentions of trying this, nor do i even have the means to. its just a questions i was wondering.

 

[dfaugh]

Ok, so tell me no one else did this when they were a kid.

Pull the bullets from 3 .22LR cases. Dump all the powder into 1 case, and reseat the bullet....

Result: no "extra big" noise, no super-duper impact, and lousy accuracy ('cause you deformed the bullet, messin' with it.)

 

[Onmilo]

You want more power than a standard high velocity rimfire offers then you need to consider a .22 Hornet centerfire as minimum.

There is no pleasure in picking brass cartridge case fragments out of your face and nobody is going to be all that amused doing it for you.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

do the guns not seal up tight enought to provide support all around the brass?

It's just the other way around -- it is the case that seals the breech. The bolt face only supports the case -- it doesn't have a gas sealing capability. When the case blows out, you get a face full of hot gas and often bits of brass and gun parts.

 

[slugcatcher]

"Ok, so tell me no one else did this when they were a kid.

Pull the bullets from 3 .22LR cases. Dump all the powder into 1 case, and reseat the bullet....

Result: no "extra big" noise, no super-duper impact, and lousy accuracy ('cause you deformed the bullet, messin' with it.)"

Do not try this. I'm not proud of this but in my personal experience using the powder from two Federal .22 Lightnings will result in one destroyed Marlin Model 60. Neither of us was hurt (luckily)but the receiver was damaged beyond repair. The report was noticably louder as well. It is dangerous and just plain stupid. Go with a centerfire, reloadable cartidge for which there is safe and reliable reloading data available.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

And then there was the Norweigian shooter who decided to surprise everyone a the next rifle match. He got some dynamite. crumbled it up, and mixed it with his powder.

He surprised 'em, all right.

 

[Terrierman]

Crack me up.

 

[carterbeauford]

Aguila Super Maximum and CCI Stinger are high-performance .22LR loads. 1750FPS and 1640FPS, respectively. The Aguilas are pretty hot, give them a try.

 

[RecoilRob]

MANY years ago, I was doing penetration tests on Readers Digests with my trusty 10/22.

Got the wonderment of what a double load would do. So, pulled two, loaded one, chambered and fired it down into the stack of magazines.

MUCH louder...actually had some recoil and the bullet did penetrate a couple more Digests than the normal load.

But, my faithful Ruger had spit its' extractor out the side and I later found it lodged in the nearby wallboard. Actually found the spring for it after much searching.

Took quite a while to get the separated case out of the chamber but afterward, the rifle was just fine.

I have loaded many tens of thousands of rounds since then but no more mucking about with .22 hotrodding for me.