Rimfire heel boolets

[bandmiller2]

Just got my e-mail straightened out so I can post,retired mechanic,machinest and part time gunsmith.Been casting for at least 40 yrs.got a question for you guys I've fired alot of 22 rf and never got a speck of leading in the barrel,soft heel boolet pushed to fair velocity with little apparent lube.I would think you would get gas cutting around the heel.Whats the story??Frank C.

[beagle]

I've wondered about that too over the years. The .22 LR bullet has several things going for it,

Number one, they're lubed really well. Number two, they're soft and upset to seal the bore pretty tightly. Number 3, they have a slight concave base which undoubtedly expands to further seal the bore much as a hollow base bullet does.

With these things in mind and fairly moderate pressures, the design does a right fair job.

This is my take on it anyway./beagle

[Stick_man]

Welcome to the madness, Frank. Pull up a seat and soon somebody with a lot more knowledge than I (shouldn't be too tough at all) will be along to answer your question.

The .22lr does have a pretty good lube on it in the form of the waxy coating you find on most of them. The velocity of most of them is right around 900fps, so it would take some doing to get much leading anyway.

There is a huge wealth of information around these parts, and we always welcome newcomers. I suspect you'll be able to share some of the things you have learned over the years and fit right in.

Once again, welcome aboard.

[Doc Highwall]

Frank, the 22's have a good lube but I think it is because they are large enough to seal the barrel. As far as pressures ammo like CCI Stingers are loaded to around 25,000 PSI.
I am sure you have seen some leading in 22rf, most have a build up right where the case ends and has been called Merill's Ring and once this starts accuracy goes down hill. A gentleman named Frank Trell if I spelled it correctly made a tool for removing the ring. The tool looks like a miniature hole saw made out of a 22Lr case that screws on a cleaning rod that you insert just enough to remove the ring of lead, lube and powder fouling.

[Cap'n Morgan]

22's have a hollow base. Combined with the soft alloy, it allows the heel to expand and flatten against the side of the chamber.

[Larry Gibson]

Also consider that the bullet is already in the bore and doesn't have to make a jump from case into throat and then get pushed into the bore. The chamber of a .22 RF is what we refer to as the throat or freebore and the .22 RF case is sitting in it.

Larry Gibson

[JeffinNZ]

I think that good, stout crimp helps also. Holds thing in place until WOLLOP, away goes the bullet and the base slugs up.

[MtGun44]

They start with a perfect fit, decent lube and moderate pressures and velocities. FIT, LUBE
and DESIGN. Waxy lube or plating, both work. but the boolit is fitted to the groove diam and
very soft so it will slug up a bit if needed, but this should rarely be required.

Bill

[bullshot]

Not to hyjack the thread. Does anyone know an outside lube that is dry like on the 22 LR. I am playing with a couple Marlin 1892's shooting a heeled boolit in the 32 Short Colt case. All the lubes I have been using are sticky. Any ideas?

[leadman]

I spoke with the tech from Rooster Labs and he said most of the 22s here use Rooster Jacket. Midway and places like it sell this is small containers.

[Rocky Raab]

You may find this interesting. The Good 'Ol Boys at CCI sent me a bag of the bullets they use in .22 Short for an article on the .223 I'm writing. Seated in the neck of a .223 with a miniscule powder charge, they are MUCH less accurate than when fired from a .22 rifle, even at the same speed.

I even seated gas checks on a few of them and tried that. Worse. Then I tried seating them as far out as possible, with only the gas check in the neck. Jammed the first one in the rifle throat and stuck it there.

End of experiment. One bag of 34-gr bullets in the smelt pail.

[MtGun44]

.224 groove diam vs .223 boolits, Rocky. I have the conversion unit to fire
.22LR in AR15, mediocre accy at best, minute of pop can at 25 yds, where the gun
will shoot one hole with almost anything at that range.

Bill

[beagle]

Rocky, interesting experiment. I tried some 225353 PB Lymans a while back and they barely cleaned up to .224". Accuracy at 50 yards was awesome at .22 LR velocities and below but beyomd that things went to **** accuracywise./beagle

[Bret4207]

They say there has been more effort put into the 22 lr than any other round, and for a longer time too. I'm with Bill on why it works- good fit, soft boolit, low pressures, the right twist, slow speeds, effective lube.

[Wayne Smith]

Frank, first, welcome to the board. If you really want to investigate this do some research into the 41 Colt or the 38 Colt reloading. Centerfire cases with the same heeled boolit, scaled up. Fun to play with and HarryO has some well written posts and his own blog on this.