reloading .22 LR

[sawbones]

There must be a way of reloading .22 rimfire cartridges

Its just that no info is available about this

Dont tell me its impossible

sawbones

[MoA]

While not impossible... it is a very difficult proposition to load rimfire cartridges.
To begin with the priming compound needs to be applied directly to the case. Not a trivial task.

The the rimfire bullets are cupped unlike normal bullets, i.e. the base is actually subcaliber, and the external bits are crimped onto the case.

Finally... why bother. .22LR ammo in particular is cheap and pelntiful, and unlike centerfire ammo factory ammo will beat any handloaded ammo as far as accuracy goes.

[jonahpach]

Have done it a few times myself but found out that its not worth the trouble even at Rs. 13 -14 per round.

Jonah

[lazybones]

Might be possible but might be unsafe since the firing pin on rimfires cuts into the case itself, and not into a defined primer spot. Having said that I must admit that I have re-fired rounds that had misfired earlier with no misadventure.
Did it work for you Jonah ?

Ashok

[TwoRivers]

Theorethically, it is possible to reload a rimfire cartridge, but not really feasible. In manufacturing a rimfire cartridge, the priming compound is applied in liquid form and the case is spun to distribute the priming into the fold of the rim. How you would duplicate that process, or did, I'd like to see. The previous firing pin indent would be a dead spot, so even if you could develop a process to reliable re-prime; there would always the chance for a misfire. In any case, the expenditure of developing and procuring the necessary equipment, and the time involved in reloading such a tiny round, make this totally impractical. Even if one could obtain the required powder, bullets; and the highly explosive priming compound.

The other point would be the small charge of very fast burning powder. Minute variation in the charge would have great effect upon pressure. The heeled bullet presents no problem in itself; resizing the case, and crimping the bullet in place, would.

Misfired rimfire cases will often fire on a second try, or in a different rifle, if the second impact comes on a new spot on the rim. Even a factory cartridges can sometimes have a primer void someplace in the rim. Or the misfire is caused by too weak a firing pin blow. An indented breech face, due to much dry firing, can also be the cause for misfires. There is never any danger involved in re-firing the cartridge.

In centerfire cartridge misfires, the culprit can be a weak spring, i.e. firing pin blow, too short a firing pin, or excessive headspace cushioning the blow. Or, a faulty primer. If the first, the cartridge will usually fire on a second or even third try, or readily in another rifle. Again, there is no danger in trying to fire the cartridge again.

Hope this clears things up a bit. Cheers.

[timmy]

In the days of the American West, Native Americans often obtained rifles in rimfire calibers for which they reloaded ammunition out of necessity. As I recall, the priming compound they used was obtained from matches, and naturally, they cast their own bullets. I can only imagine that the results were inaccurate and subject to misfires.

(Hopefully) You are not intending to reload 22 LR to engage in combat, so in this case, an occasional or even common misfire might be acceptable to you. However, I think that the explanation provided by MoA is going to be your biggest hurdle: the heeled bullet used by the 22 LR. Here's a picture of the base of a heeled bullet:



A = the diameter of the inside of the case
D = the groove diameter of the barrel

(The hollow in the base of a 22 LR bullet is not this pronounced.)

The first problem you will have is finding a mold to cast this kind of bullet. Next, you will have to bell the case mouth somewhat to ensure that you don't shave lead from the bullet's heel when you seat it in the case. Then, you are going to have to figure out a way to crimp the bullet into the case. Note that factory ammo uses a pretty deep rolled crimp, and that the tension of the crimp can directly affect how accurate your reload will be. Finally, you will have to lubricate the bullet to avoid leading. This was always a bugaboo for heeled bullets -- they were usually outside lubricated and this is one of the reasons they became outmoded, except for 22s. So, the manufacturers of 22 ammo spent a lot of time working with an outside lubricant that wouldn't collect all kinds of fuzz from a pants pocket -- the place such ammo is often "stored" for use. Some of them have a copper wash and others, various waxy lube.

Factories were able to make machinery that could cast, crimp, and lubricate 22 LR economically because so many are produced. Your production won't be able to spread costs like this, and it isn't as likely that you'll be able to obtain the consistent results factory ammo provides.

I looked into this years ago and had revisited it with regard to the .41 Colt (both short and long). DA revolvers chambered in this round used to be pretty available where I lived at a very reasonable rate, because ammo was very scarce. This made regular shooting of them a reloading proposition. Some folks do reload successfully for the .41 Colt. There are both heeled and expanding bulled molds available. (The expanding ones work like a muzzle loading Minie ball.) But it is a lot of work. I concluded it was better to pay the extra money and get .38 Special revolvers, for which reloading is very easy.

For reloading 22, you will have the additional problems that I noted. Good luck!

[jonahpach]

Like I said I wasnt worth the trouble..

I used a nail head of the appropriate size to remove some of the deformation in the fold of the pin including tapping of the bottom of the case with the nail tip which I had cut off to a flat end. This opens up the crimp slightly and then stuffed in as much of the powder removed from toy cap guns for the fulminate. The rest is easy! I mostly used gunpowder saved from dud .22 bullets or 12 bore shells.

Jonah

[Anand]

A word of caution,
Some one or the other has done this somewhere at some time, but the time and effort, expense and the danger involved in such activity (reloading something that was never meant to be reloaded) is what should concern anyone who wants to take up this sort of endevour. I have some experience in reloading (only centerfire cartridges) while I lived in the USA. There is data and equipment available for those wanting to reload centerfire cartridges and some people have even reloaded Blaser aluminium cases (a big no-no). The fact that it can be done is onething, whether it is advisable and safe to do it is another.
Please be safe,
Anand