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Thread: .22 Magnum reloading

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy ROCKET's Avatar
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    .22 Magnum reloading

    I did not realize that the .22 mag are so expensive.... Anyway I can reload these ?

  2. #2
    Boolit Buddy
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    Short answer...yes

    I think it is POSSIBLE to reload rimfire ammo, but is prohibitively time consuming and not worth the effort no matter the cost. The biggest hurdle being how to get new priming compound into the rim. I may be mistaken, but I believe the original manufacturers use centrifugal force to prime the rims. Even getting the priming compound may be next to impossible.

  3. #3
    Boolit Grand Master 303Guy's Avatar
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    Someone made a 22 centre fire magnum. Doesn't help any unless one can modify the firing pin position. Can the gun be re-chambered and modified to 22 hornet?
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  4. #4
    Boolit Master ku4hx's Avatar
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    It's possible, yes. But then so is a manned mission to the planet Uranus. The problem is both are currently imminently impractical and improbable.

    There's a reason you don't find components, manuals and load data for rim fire cartridges. And some guns are simply more expensive to shoot than others.

    Additional comment:
    If you go here:
    http://www.ammoengine.com/find/ammo/.22_Magnum

    You'll see .22 Magnum ammo compares favorably, on a per round cost, with other popular rounds. For "standard" loadings, it's cheaper than both the .45 ACP and .357 Magnum and about the same as .38 Special. It's been a looooong time since I bought any factory ammo other than .22LR but it looks to me the .22 Magnum is not that expensive to shoot comparatively speaking. More expensive than the 9mm and maybe there's a lesson there.
    Last edited by ku4hx; 12-10-2011 at 11:12 AM.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master


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    Cheapest to just get a Handi in 22 hornet or 223 ,204 Ruger or 17 rem and go on from there. 22 Mag has very little appeal to me just because it "can't " be easily reloaded and the ammo is expensive.

  6. #6
    Boolit Master Rocky Raab's Avatar
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    Ironically, the 17 HMR has driven DOWN the cost of 22 Mag ammo. So many folks bought guns in the 17 that sales of 22 mag ammo plummeted. To rescue the 22 they had to increase demand for it - and cutting the price of the ammo is the easiest way to do that.

  7. #7
    Boolit Buddy ROCKET's Avatar
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    Was thinking about buying my friends Smith .22 mag revolver but I think I'll just pass...

  8. #8
    Boolit Master Rocky Raab's Avatar
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    Oh, I wouldn't let the cost of ammo deter me from buying a fine gun. I'd shoot it a little less, maybe - but that would just keep the gun in better shape for longer

  9. #9
    Boolit Master jlchucker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by seetrout View Post
    Short answer...yes

    I think it is POSSIBLE to reload rimfire ammo, but is prohibitively time consuming and not worth the effort no matter the cost. The biggest hurdle being how to get new priming compound into the rim. I may be mistaken, but I believe the original manufacturers use centrifugal force to prime the rims. Even getting the priming compound may be next to impossible.
    After getting out of the Army in 1969 I went to work for Winchester as a management trainee. My training included a stint in each operational department of their ammo-making facility in New Haven--except for the primer shop. I saw it, and saw the process. Didn't work there. Separate little buildings, connected by open-air covered walkways. Part of the process was drying assembled primers, because the primer mix itself was liquid when put into the primer cups. An old employee, who worked there during WWII told of a worker who fell while carrying a bucket of that primer mix between buildings. He said the explosion blew the unfortunate guy to pieces. True or not, I remembered that story. I don't think I want to get into making my own primer mix and putting it into rimfire cases to reload. We could really be talking dangerous stuff here.

  10. #10
    Boolit Master

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    Most primer mixes won't explode when they are wet. Also, the simplest non-corrosive one to us in a rimfire isn't even an explosive until after it has dried out after it has been put into the case.

    For the centrifugal force needed, one can set up a drill press for doing it. The chems needed are available. The advantage to rimfire non-corrosive priming is the fact that there is a plenty of room for primer mix. FWIW, room is the big problem in DIY mixes for boxer primers.

    That said and IMHO, reloading rimfire is more of a "for fun" project. Or as a last resort.

  11. #11
    Boolit Grand Master

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    FWIW; Reciently in another forum, reloading rimfires came up. One poster came up with his experience with a kit that was once sold that had the punches/tools to reform the case, a liquid priming compound with a hypo type dispensing tool, and bullets. The user reformed the case, put one drop of primer in the case and allowed it to dry, powder charged, and bullet seated/crimped with part of the reforming tool (sounds like crimping with a Lee Loader). Poster mentioned it was labor intensive, hard to handle small components, and was just not worth the trouble. Poster didn't mention the name of the kit.
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  12. #12
    Boolit Grand Master

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    The centerfire case that is reloadable is the 22CCM. From what Magnum Mike at Speciality Pistols posted on this I gather that 22 mag is still shootable in the same chamber. That is if you are using a gun like a Contender.
    I have thought about getting my Savage 24DL set up for this cartridge but it would be fairly pricey to get the conversion from rim to centerfire done.

    I shot the 22mag for many years then several years ago I bought a Savage 17HMR. A box of 50 runds was about $7 to $8, now I feel lucky to find them at $10. 22 mag was about $5 when I first bought it about 20 years ago, now it runs about $9 or so.

    I wonder if Bullshop ever sold those new primed 22 mag cases??

  13. #13
    Boolit Grand Master uscra112's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jlchucker View Post
    An old employee, who worked there during WWII told of a worker who fell while carrying a bucket of that primer mix between buildings. He said the explosion blew the unfortunate guy to pieces. True or not, I remembered that story. I don't think I want to get into making my own primer mix and putting it into rimfire cases to reload. We could really be talking dangerous stuff here.
    That sounds like a variant of the stories of the guys who pushed "nitro buggies" from building to building in the WW2 ammo plants. There are pictures in Phil Sharpe's books. Those poor saps did in fact get vaporized on one or two occasions.
    Last edited by uscra112; 12-10-2011 at 06:22 PM.
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  14. #14
    Boolit Grand Master


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    According to the CCI and ELEY videos I have watched the priming mix is no longer spun in. They use a putty like mix (wet) in the case and use a punch like attachment to for the compound into the case/rim from there it goes to the drying room before powder is added.

    There was a survival article written recently where strike on box match heads were ground up moistened and put into already fired cases and reloaded. Senior moments won't let me remember where I saw it though.
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  15. #15
    Boolit Buddy
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    It is cheaper to reload the Hornet. But sometimes when time has been short I like to pick up the 22WMR and go out. It may not be a benchrest cartridge, but it is plenty accurate in my CZ 452. It's kind of nice not looking for brass sometimes too.

  16. #16
    Boolit Master
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    even at $9 a box of 50, it isn't worth the hassle and wasted time. cause i've tried it. and i had very little luck. i used the strikeall match heads, but i had very poor luck getting them to fire. the 22 mag is a favorite of mine, but i wish i had a .223 boltgun. it's more flexable. it can be loaded from mild to wild!

  17. #17
    In Remembrance


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    The componets for reloading .22 rimfires were once available back in the early part of the last century. The most popular reasons for them being curtailed for sale is people were getting hurt priming cases. Another reason was in the 30`s people found out you could blow a safe open with that stuff if you knew how or make other destructive objects besides .22 ammo.Robert

  18. #18
    Boolit Master
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    I'm a big fan of the .22 magnum (and the .17 hmr).

    The best route would be to buy a different gun in Hornet and keep your .22 mag rim for those days you just don't have time to load for the Hornet or sell that .22 mag weapon to someone who likes it more.

    Fingers don't grow back .......... and different guns can be bought cheaper than existing ones can be modified with respect to the topic at hand.

    I have thought of the .22 CCM often.

    But ........... is there any brass being made for it???

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  19. #19
    Boolit Master jlchucker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by uscra112 View Post
    That sounds like a variant of the stories of the guys who pushed "nitro buggies" from building to building in the WW2 ammo plants. There are pictures in Phil Sharpe's books. Those poor saps did in fact get vaporized on one or two occasions.
    Well, part of the big Winchester sprawling plant during WW2 was in fact an ammo plant. The primer shop was a place where they moved (via hand carts) primer components between little buildings, via covered walkways. It was like a little park out there in that shop. The story I heard supposedly took place during WW2. The unfortunate victim could have been one of the vaporized guys. I would think that a lot of the primer mix in use today has a different chemical composition that what was in use during the 1940's. Anyhow, I heard the story from an old, but still yet to retire foreman around 1969 or early 1970. He was one of these guys with 30 plus years of service at the plant. A tale to remember.

  20. #20
    Boolit Grand Master
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    I wonder if you need to be a "handloader" to try something like this? If there is an accident, doing it one handed must prove quite challenging.

    Don

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check