Reloading .22 Long Rifle

lesterg3 · Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 4:17 pm Post subject: Reloading .22 Long Rifle

Interesting, still not sure it's practical.

www.ssusa.org/articles...mpetitors/

Pumpkinslinger · Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 6:31 pm Post subject: Re: Reloading .22 Long Rifle

I'm with you Les. I don't think I'll be trying it any time soon.

PaulS · Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 6:34 pm Post subject: Re: Reloading .22 Long Rifle

It looks like they are using black powder with an additional chemical for the primer mix.
Black powder should work with a good strong hit from the firing pin. I suppose the liquid priming compound used in commercial ammo is illegal because it is a "dangerous" substance.

As far as practicality is concerned using a dipper to measure powder can be accurate if you can maintain the same technique with each round. A scale, unless it was very accurate (to +/- .01 grain) would be useless. When your load is 1 grain of powder being a tenth of a grain off one way or the other is a 10% change in the load.

I am in the process of making a powder measure for my center fire 22LR ammo that is adjustable between .5 and 2 grains. I am hoping it will throw charges of ball powder to the nearest 1/100th of a grain. I will throw 100 charges to weigh on the reloading scale and weight single charges with my lab scale. It is the only one that I own that will measure to 1/100th of a grain.

Price wise reloading your own rimfire rounds is cheaper than the cost of factory ammo and real cheap if you get your lead free to make your bullets.

I am building a swage die for bullets because I can't make a decent mold with the rebated base and I have my heart set on a bullet weight of at least 40 grains.
Because my cases are center fire they use a small pistol primer, and at $0.02 each it is the most expensive part of reloading for mine. I get my lead for free and I can reload 50 cases for under $2.00

MacD · Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 7:49 pm Post subject: Re: Reloading .22 Long Rifle

The white tip of strike anywhere matches has been used to provide a priming compound. I believe I read somewhere that alcohol can be used to create a slurry of the compound. I have never tried it and probably never will as only safety matches can be sold here and 22 rimfire ammo is relatively cheap.

SingleShotLover · Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 8:02 pm Post subject: Re: Reloading .22 Long Rifle

I read an article many years ago about native Alaskans reloading .22 rimfires because of the remote areas and little access to stores. They supposedly scraped the sulfur tips from kitchen matches and made a liquid paste with alcohol, I think, and painted it into the rims with fine-tipped brushes and let it dry. They used black powder and cast their bullets from scrap lead. Don't know how true that was, but not that much different than these guys.

SingleShotLover · Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 4:39 am Post subject: Re: Reloading .22 Long Rifle

Sorry Mac, just noticed that you must have been posting while I was composing! At least I know I hadn't just dreamed it.

MacD · Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 5:29 am Post subject: Re: Reloading .22 Long Rifle

No problem SSL. We might have read the same reference.

Here is an interesting read.
r.search.yahoo.com/_yl...zBoAkXfOs-