A tool for reloading .22 rimfire!

[mundaire]

I recall a discussion here about the possibilities of reloading .22 LR ammunition, with the final conclusion being that it couldn't be done. Apparently "not possible" is a phrase that entrepreneurs don't seem to understand too well Here is a innovative set of tools designed to help you accomplish what was thought to be impossible/ impractical.

http://www.ssusa.org/articles/2015/8/18 ... paign=0815

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[aadhaulya]

But I wonder if we would ever be allowed to buy stuff for reloading in India

Atul

[Walibaa]

Good to see entrepreneurs in this field. Hopefully our country will give permission for innovations in arms and ammunition sector atleast we will produce good weapons and ammo.

[mundaire]

But I wonder if we would ever be allowed to buy stuff for reloading in India

Atul

In India it's perfectly legal to reload for your own use, the problem is - no one here seems to be producing/ selling reloading supplies to arms license holders!

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[aadhaulya]

In India it's perfectly legal to reload for your own use, the problem is - no one here seems to be producing/ selling reloading supplies to arms license holders!

Cheers!
Abhijeet

Abhijeet,

The only problem I see is availability of primers and smokeless powder, as per my understanding.
Some sort of die could be easily fabricated or could be brought in checked baggage for making lead bullets.
Black powder and primers used in muzzle loaders could be bought in India. But I do not know if the primers used in muzzle loaders could be adapted for our cartridges and would the use of Black Powder affect the fire arms adversely.

Atul

[Dean Weingarten]

I purchased one of the kits for reloading .22 rimfire. It appears to use a potassium chlorate priming mixture that is mixed from base components just before repriming the .22 rimfire case. I have not chemically analysed the contents of the priming mixture, but they appear to be the correct colors and in the correct proportions, for a potassimum chlorate based primer, from formulas used and considered in other forums.

If .22 rimfire cases can be reprimed, so can either boxer or berdan primers. It seems a little easier to reprime a berdan primer than a boxer one, but there is no large difference. It is easier to decap boxer primers than it is to decap berdan. Battery cup primers for shotgun shells can be disassembled after firing, but take about twice as much priming compound as do the rifle and pistol primers, which take about .3 to .5 grains of priming, about .02 to .04 grams.

All of the chemicals needed to recharge primers of either the berdan, boxer, or battery cup varieties seem available in India, but of course, it is a moderately time consuming process. I would expect that a hundred primers could be recharged in less than an hour, once a person became familiar with the process and safety procedures. The primers would, of course, be corrosive. Tooling is minimal, and could easily be made by hand.

Potassium chlorate would likely be the most difficult component to find, but it is used in the cottage manufacture of safety matches in India, so it should be available. I can buy 454 grams (1 lb) through the mail in the U.S. for $9. That would be enough for 20,000 primers. Sulfer should be easy to get; fine ground abrasive available; a gum/binder not too difficult. In the .22 reloading kit, acetone, grain alcohol (denatured), or wood alcohol is used to wet the priming compound, activate the gum/binder, and reduce sensitivity while recharging the .22 case. The cases are then set aside to dry with the priming compound hardening into place.

I am not suggesting that anyone do this, but it appears that recharing primers on such a small scale, mixing less that 1 gram of priming compound at a time to rechage primers immediately, is simply part of reloading cartridges when factory primers are not available. One of the greatest subject matter experts on reloading in the United States, Maj. George C. Nonte, jr. remarked on the practice during WWII, when finding components was a problem. It entails risk, but the risks are small if the safety procedures are followed. There are a significant number of Americans who are involved in such reloading for specialty purposes, although they are not a large percentage of the population.

People more knowledgable than I will have to decide if this would fall under the exception for personal reloading and for the weight limits for personal possession of gunpowder. I do not know, for example, if potassium chlorate is a controled substance in India.

Here is a link to an NRA reveiw of the .22 reloading kit.

http://www.ssusa.org/articles/2015/8/18 ... mpetitors/

[dev]

Very informative article. Long ago friend and I failed miserably at this.
Now I can't even see the inside of a .22 shell.

[shooter]

Thanks for the info.
Very interesting comments at the end of the article

[Dean Weingarten]

I have been doing more research on the subject. In the U.S., at least one dedicated hobbiest has developed moderately easy methods for making and reloading primers with non-corrosive priming compound. He has at least two receipes that have been used; one is a variant of the Ely priming system.

How hard these would be to implement in India is unknown to me. Is styphnic acid available? Lead nitrate? Tetrazene? Lead or Calcium Hypophosphite?

If they (or some of them) can be purchased, making the priming compounds would be easy. Otherwise, some chemistry is involved. It does not appear to be very complex, but it requires someone who understands the requirement to follow procedures, time schedules, and temperatures. They are roughly equivalant to some experiments that I did in the first semester of a university chemistry class a few decades ago.

The corrosive primers appear to be much simpler. There are receipies for U.S. military primers used in WWI and the Spanish American War. Quite a number of people report using these, and say they have good results. I am working on an article on the subject, if anyone is interested.

[Mark]

I'll certainly be interested in reading about making a reasonable priming compound, where I could see something like this being actually useful is for making percussion caps. Not only #11's but the big issue I've found is that musket caps can be elusive to find at times.

[Dean Weingarten]

To Shooter:

I do not have enough posts for PM privileges.

[shooter]

Dean you have another pm

[TwoRivers]

Mark, home-made percussion caps used to readily available in Kabul's bazaar. Tools needed were an annealed old file with proper diameter hole drilled through it, a punch made from an engine push rod, and a hammer or mallet. Small squares were cut from thin sheets of metal, soda cans woud do, with diagonal cuts from each corner. Then punched through the file into cup shape, and filled with a priming compound of unknown composition. Dark bluish-green in color, and smelling strongly of sulfur when set off. Reliability was about 80 percent, still better than no primer.

For reloading of spent rifle and shotshell primers a highly corrosive pinkish priming compound was used. New primers were made from blanks punched out of brass head gaskets. Where there is a need, there is a way.