making blackpowder .22 cartridges

[Busyhands94]

hello guys! i have been wondering lately how easy it would be to make .22 smokeless cartridges into blackpowder ones. i was thinking about making my own rimfire target pistol and shooting blackpowder .22s out of it because of the lower pressures. i have built blackpowder guns from scratch, and now i want to try rimfire guns, but i don't want the high chamber pressures. i own two cap and ball .22 revolvers and have no problem with the fouling. i know it is intensified in small bores but i am having no problems with it in my handguns even after 50 shots.

i am thinking i might be able to pull some .22 CBs like Aguilla Colibris, and fill the case with powder and reseat the bullet. i am also considering buying primed .22 brass and reloading it with powder and Gamo lead .22 BBs or the conical bullets they sell at North American Arms. i can get the projectiles easily, i have hundreds. i have plenty of powder, enough to reload tons of them. the only problem is finding the primed brass. i am unsure where to find any, i do remember seeing some online though. i just can't find any!
any advice would be recommended, if anybody has experience in this please comment!

~Levi

 

[makos_goods]

Interesting you started this thread, John just posted again today.

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,38060.msg485741.html#msg485741

This is from an earlier thread:

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,37555.msg480298.html#msg480298

He's done this with a lot of old original cartridges. He salvages the powder and bullets then reloads them using a new primer or a new case and primer. His is the best info I have seen on the exterior ballistics of the original ammunition. BP doesn't go bad but the primers and caps do, so the velocities and performance should be pretty much as they would have been when the ammo was new.

Very interesting and a true expert in his own right.

~Mako

 

[Busyhands94]

that is really interesting! thanks for the link!

 

[rcmodel]

The problem is primed brass.

Used to be, you could buy it made by RWS in Germany, and maybe CIL in Canada.

But they are no longer sold here as far as I know.

The other problem is pulling the bullets and re-using them.

The soft lead heel-type bullets used in .22 RF are crimped in the case.
You will ruin the base of the bullet getting it out, which will ruin any practical accuracy.

And then will need a set of .22 RF reloading dies nobody makes to put them back in & crimp them.

rc

 

[Jim Watson]

There is a guy on the Shiloh board who has been working with .22 LR and black powder. He is successful but it is not a simple process of pulling out a bullet, replacing the nitro with black and popping the bullet back in somehow.
See his latest at:
http://shilohrifle.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=17412
and then do a search for his other posts there as w44wcf

HA! Same guy as Mako's link on CASCity.

 

[makos_goods]

Rcmodeler,
Go and actually read the w44wcf's threads on the CAS city forum I posted.

He actually cast new bullets in the most recent post and he tells which die he used to seat the bullets in his older thread on old .22LR BP ammo.

John is a very careful and interesting man, we could all learn something from his efforts. He meticulously documents what he does and you should see his collection of sectioned antique cartridges. If I ever want to know anything about 19th century cartridges, bullets, primers, or propellant he is my first source.

I've learned more from him in the last decade about old ammo than I ever "thought" I knew before I ran across his posts. He goes by several different aliases depending upon the forum. you can recognize him because it will almost always be a Winchester central fire rifle cartridge like w44wf or w30wcf.

Go read the threads,
Mako