.22 CCI Blazer meets .22 Hornet

[Toddlo]

I have about 300-400 .22lr CCI Blazers lying around and I wasn't thrilled with their performance in my Marlin 22. I decided to try recycling them for a .22 Hornet squirrel load. First, I created a bullet puller from a 223 casing and used some hockey tape to attach it to part of an aluminum arrow shaft. Worked like a charm! The blazer bullets have a pretty small base that requires at least around a 0.10" or thicker gas check to hang onto it. I took some Aluminum roof flashing and made gas checks and super glued them to the bullets and sized them to .225. I loaded them with 3.0 grains of some old Unique and CCI small pistol primers with a 1.740" COL. They shot about 1" groups at 35yds, which is not great, but a decent starting point.
Now I can start experimenting with some different loads. I tried some Remington Golden bullets too and got patterns rather than groups.

Any one else try using .22 bullets before?

Toddlo

[Bullshop]

I am just curious about how you sized them. Did you swage them? Sizing requires that you go down in diameter. Swaging requires that you go up in diameter. Since to my knowledge a 22 RF uses a .223" diameter bullet how did you size them to .225"?

[davidheart]

Bullshop, when I take a 22lr boolit and stick it in the muzzle (gently) of my 22 hornet which is sitting right next to me as I type, the 22lr boolit can't go in. My calipers are reading .225/.226 on a CCI Stinger. Mind you I've never pulled a 22lr boolit but that's what I'm seeing here. Maybe that helps?

Toddlo.... pictures of your "boolit puller" please? :D

[Bullshop]

.225'/.226" - That's interesting. I wonder why then they don't make all 22 barrel diameters the same. I have always read that a 22 RF barrel has a .223" groove and a 22 CF has a .224" groove.
Some of the old load data books used to warn that 22 Hornets made with RF barrels should use .223" diameter bullets.
I think the 22 Stinger bullets are plated after being swaged. I wonder if maybe just the plain old lead swaged 22 RF are the same diameter.
It makes sence though because anyone that shoots boolits knows that the diameter that is going to shoot good will be a couple thousandths over groove diameter.

[Toddlo]

I used a .225 Lee bullet sizing die for my gas checks, but the bullets are .224 or .225 (I think), since they made it through the die without loosing any material.

Pics of bullet puller to come when I get home from work. Also, the Blazers I'm using are at least 15 years old. (not sure if newer ones are different size)

[jonp]

A picture of the homemade bullet puller would be cool. I have several bricks of blazer and keep them as last resort ammo. Never liked them.

[starmac]

Seems to me the way I see 22 ammo advertized these days, a guy could sell off a couple of bricks and get a pretty decent mold. Just a thought.

[Shooternz]

A few years ago our local Reload supply shop sold bulk bags of .22 Mag 40gr HP bullets I still have a couple of hundred use them in the .22 Hornet with 296 12.0 grs at 3100fps go off like grenades,
not good if you want to eat little critters

[Jack Stanley]

I've often wondered if those twenty-two magnum jacketed bullets wouldn't be a handy thing to have around . Any idea how that reload shop got ahold of them ?

Jack

[303Guy]

My 22 hornet has a .223 groove but I shoot .224 55gr bullets in it. I'd love to shoot cast or swaged boolits in it. A fellow at the gunshop told me he got a heap of 22 mag bullets (copper plated I think or would they have been jacketed?) and loaded them in his hornet to 3100 fps I think he said.

[uscra112]

I've done this in a pinch to get some boolits that sized .228" for a rifle I'd just gotten, and for which I had no boolits and no mould. Used bullets from CCI Quiet ammo. Just fired them into a bucket of water, rather than pull them. Made a simple hammer swage to bump them up. Swaging breaks up the wax lube coating they came with, so I added an LLA dip before shooting them. Results not impressive. I'd rather weight sort and "bump" the Blazers, and shoot them in a normal fashion. The other is too much like work.

@Bullshop: Most .22 RF bullets I've measured, (and that's a lot) seem to be .224", although I found a brick of Thunderduds once that was mostly .226". My "bump" die makes them all .2250", and that seems to improve bulk ammo by 20% or so. Weight sorting is another 20% improvement.

[rhead]

I have never tried this with a 22 boolit but i have done it with some boolits from a .45 boolits that were a bit undersized when cast from pure lead. I used a bullet seating die for a 45 ACP with a semi wadcutter seating stem and the pushing stem from a Lee push through sizer. I ran the boolit into the seating die until it made contact and screwed it in two full turns. (one seventh of an inch) . pushed the handle down fully and held it for a ten count and then lowered it. the boolit could then be resized it.

Probably more trouble than it is worth but it will work.

[Toddlo]

Here's the pic of my little homemade bullet puller. I had to ream out the case neck just a tad with a phillips head screwdriver so the 22s would fit loosely. I insert the 22 lr upside down into the mouth of the 223 casing and use a piece of hockey tape (same one each time) over the base of the 22 cartridge to keep it from flying out on the back swing. I use hockey tape because I had an extra roll lying around from my hockey days and it's very strong, yet easy to tear. I also jammed a little wad of paper towel into the 223 casing to avoid damaging the Blazer bullets when they pop free. Once I hear it rattling around in there, I remove part of the tape, flip it over, take out the brass and tap it a couple times to get the bullet to pop out with the powder in my hand. Even if a box of 500 is $25, it's cheaper than any other bullet I can get except the ones I'm casting from my Lyman mold. My Blazers are .224".

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