.221 Askins

[Chev. William]

My Conversion of a Ruger Standard Auto .22LR Pistol to .25ACP is mostly done!
John Taylor of Taylor Machine in WA did the machine work on both the Barrel and the Bolt Modifications for a total work cost of $432.00 including finishing it in matching Blue to my receiver.


The Modified Bolt Face. Note the enlarged Rim rebate to fit the .25ACP rim and the Centered round firing pin tip in the new Bored firing pin central position below the original Ruger rectangular firing pin tip channel. the 'lump above the channel is the Ruger recoil assembly forward tip and 'half moon' guide/stop. The Extractor works without modification. for reference the bolt assembly is slightly less than 3/4" diameter as it slides snugly into a .750" ID Drill Bushing I bought to use as a Ring Gauge.


The top view of the Bolt with recoil assembly removed to show the new firing pin in its channel. Just visible is the 'Trumpet' shaped transition form rectangular cross section to the round section tip going into the new centered port and the old tip channel for the stock Ruger firing pin.


Left side of Modified MKII pistol with its new 8-1/8" Barrel. The 'white' bare metal band on the muzzle is where I turned off the Muzzle threads. I was informed that threaded Muzzles are Now Forbidden in California due to new legislation by the Democrat Controlled State, County, and Local Governments. Sad State of affairs now.


Right side of Modified MKII pistol with its 8-1/8" long Barrel. Currently it is still a 'Single Shot Auto Eject Pistol'; as i do not yet have magazines to fit its grip frame and feed .25ACP cartridges.

I have Purchased an adjustable rear sight to replace the original fixed rear sight, but it is yet to be installed.
To date only John Taylor has fired a round through my converted Action, using his grip frame under my Receiver/Bolt/Barrel combination. I hope to get to an Indoor range soon to do some 'single shot' shooting myself.

These Photos were taken by my Special Effects business owner Friend with a Camera that has a "Macro" Photo Capability.

Chev William

[Chev. William]

I have been 'pondering' on using .25ACP cases to make a more modern, or updated, version of the .221 Atkins and I believe it is a reasonable idea.
- The rim diameter and thickness is closer to .22LR than that of the 5.5 Velodog Col. Atkins used as the 'parent case.
- I know the .25ACP can be swaged down to .250 body diameter reasonably. I have done it using Drill Bushing derived Dies, and the .25ACP extractor clearance cut makes removing displaced brass 'rings' almost easy.
- The rim could be turned down in diameter to match .22LR if desired, but a center fire conversion of a 22LR bolt is relatively painless with suitable tooling and opening it to accept the ACP rim would be trivial.

Something for further Thought I believe.

Chev. William

[deltaenterprizes]

I made a little progress on my efforts to make some reloadable 22LR!
I bought a 3 cavity 22 cal 37gr mold from a member here and cast about 150 boolits!
Sizing and lubricating is a challenge, I had to use tweezers to put hem in and take them out of the Die!
Sure can make a bunch of them from a pound of lead!

[Chev. William]

I took My Converted Ruger MKII pistol to a "Range Day" on a Wet, Cold Breezy Midday Thursday, Feb. 14th, and fired about 150 rounds of Factory FMJ .25ACP through it in 'Single Shot' mode over about 4 hours of Shivering.

But I DID Have FUN!

Chev. William

[Chev. William]

Winter Continues here with intermittent Wet, Cold, Windy days interspersed with Damp, Cool, Sunny days.
Thankfully, no Freezing to date here; but there have been Slides and mud flows in areas hit by wildfires in the last two Years.
Too Cold and wet to work in my outdoor reloading 'shop' (my
back Patio).

Chev. Wiliam

[nekshot]

Now that is beyond "neat" in my book. I wish I knew just alittle bit of what John Taylor knows! Those pistols never enticed me but that is absolutely smashing! You will enjoy that rig for a long time.

[Chev. William]

In March, I took another 'Range day' and fired another box of Factory .25ACP through my pistol with No Failures of any kind again.
This is with a custom Parallel wall Chamber of .2795" diameter, NOT a typical Tapered Chamber of the auto pistol in general.

Spring is coming; so eventually I will be back out "under the tent"; on my Back Patio and in my 'Reloading Shop' again.

Chev. William

[Willbird]

I have seen them blow out the "blem" 25 acp bullets pretty cheap, I was not finding any barrel blanks of the proper bore size for them anywhere.

Bill

[Chev. William]

I have seen them blow out the "blem" 25 acp bullets pretty cheap, I was not finding any barrel blanks of the proper bore size for them anywhere.

Bill

Bill,
Did you check Lothar Walther dot Com website?
Or Track Of The Wolfe dot com website?
Lothar Walther lists 'Pistol Barrel Blanks of 23.8 inch Length in .25 Auto/6,35 Browning bore/Groove dimensions, plus I believe they have shorter ones for specific pistol replacement use.
Cr-mo Steel or Stainless steel alloys are listed.

Chev. William

[Willbird]

Bill,
Did you check Lothar Walther dot Com website?
Or Track Of The Wolfe dot com website?
Lothar Walther lists 'Pistol Barrel Blanks of 23.8 inch Length in .25 Auto/6,35 Browning bore/Groove dimensions, plus I believe they have shorter ones for specific pistol replacement use.
Cr-mo Steel or Stainless steel alloys are listed.

Chev. William

I had just looked at the normal run of the mill barrel makers and found nothing. Good that there are some sources avail .

Bill

[Chev. William]

It is Easter Eve tonight. This last week I took a used ~24" inch long Marlin "A1" barrel to my Gunsmith to be 'slugged' and bore/groove diameters recorded. It was marked 'Microgroove' so it will be interesting to see the Actual measured diameters.

I am thinking of possibly using this take off barrel to make a .221 Atkins test barrel to try my reformed .25ACP cases swaged down to .250" diameter.
I think it will be possible to machine an 'adapter bushing' to fit this barrel to either a 1915 Favorite or a Model 44 series action for my purposes.

The Favorite would need to be ~.663" diameter by ~1.5" plus long and the Marlin barrel is ~.630" for its' tenon and ~.740" just forward if the tenon cut.

This also means I will need to order a Finish Chamber Reamer again.

Happy Easter Everyone!
Chev. William

[Chev. William]

RE: "This last week I took a used ~24" inch long Marlin "A1" barrel to my Gunsmith to be 'slugged' and bore/groove diameters recorded. It was marked 'Microgroove' so it will be interesting to see the Actual measured diameters."

BAH! It won't Be usable! The bore has a Rusty area along one 'side', possibly from sitting in a damp area horizontal and condensing some moisture. That rust area Strips off any slug land/groove markings. The slug comes out rough all over its bore size Body.

The last Month and some of June, my gunsmith is working a Movie shoot on location so nothing is getting done on my 'low bucks Projects' at this time.

I may have enough set aside to pay for EDM cutting on my Donor Magazines to make up some for my .25ACP Ruger Standard Auto MKII conversion.

Chev. William

[Chev. William]

I took the time my gunsmith is on the Location Filming project to get reacquainted with Scale Model Railroading in 2.5" to the Foot Scale and my local 'Live Steam' Model railroad club, The Los Angeles Live Steamers Railroad Museum, which has its Tracks in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, CA.
My equipment involved is a 2.5" Scaled Uintah Railway late series Flat Car (originals built about 1926) that was 9 feet wide by 32 feet long with a 3'2" deck height above Rail-head.
I had originally built the car back in 1975 and made it with working scaled brake rigging hooked to a hand brake Wheel via a length of small chain.
The current project was to add a 'scale' brake pipe to the car to eventually install working Air Brakes on it. This tube is currently 1/4" Copper tubing and its eventual 'end fittings will be adapted to 3/8 Steel Tubing threaded for 1/8 NPT fittings.

In addition it has a LALSRM sized Copper tube and fittings train air Brakes Carry through Pipe installed. This is a 3/16" copper tube with 'Clippard MQC' end fittings with internal Valves.
Conveniently, the LALSRM fittings are on the Left side of the Coupler as you face the end of the Car and my later Scaled brakes connections will be on the Right side of the Coupler, like full size practice.

Then I had my Professional Artist Niece paint the scaled 'reporting marks' on the car.

And the following weekend (Memorial Day Weekend) for running and Display.

Best Regards,
Chev. William

[Chev. William]

My gunsmith is back in the Shop after his time on TWO movie projects now. but his backlog of work is much deeper also.
We reviewed my projects and he said he will attempt to get my .25ACP and .25ALR 8-shot cylinders done as soon as he can.
The other projects include three Rifle projects, one is about 4 years in the que now, a Winchester USGI Carbine receiver to be fitted for .45 Win. Mag. with a Rifle Length Barrel as a Straight Pull manual action without any gas system.
A second one is another Carbine receiver, a Fulton Armory one, to be fitted to a Match Grade .308" 26" long blank and also to be finished as a Straight Pull Manual action.
These are desired to do testing with to see just what level of accuracy I can achieve shooting them as single shot magazine fed rifles.

Another rifle is a Stevens "Model 44" action conversion to CF to shoot CF versions of .25ACP, .25ALR, .25MACP, .25ALS, and perhaps .25ALRM wildcat cartridges.
This Action has a tight fitting Breech block that /locks up tight against the two shoulders in the rear of the Breech Block slot so wil have extra Breech Block support for these cartridges. one of the barrels fitted is a Stevens .25 Stevens one and another is a custom LW based barrel chambered for the .25ALR wildcat for comparison testing. This one is waiting for my gunsmith to finish fitting the New CF firing pin as he left it slightly long on both ends to allow for final fitting.

Chev. William

[Chev. William]

This last Tuesday I got a chance to use some free machine time at my Friend's Special Effects Shop to start machining on some (three) Blank die bodies.

These Bodies are now bored through 3/8" diameter, with the 'Handle' end further bored 1-1/2" deep to 15/32" diameter and the 'Threaded" end bored 7/16" deep to 31/64" diameter preparatory to reaming for some Hornady or Redding neck sizing Hardened and coated Bushings which I intend to use as 'Sizing/Swaging' dies to reform .25ACP cases to .221 Atkins and .22 Ladybug/.22 Ladybug-Repeater diameters.

Chev. William

[Chev. William]

Sadly, little or no work done since my last post as my Special Effects shop owning friend has been busy with movie and commercial work and also with health issues (he has been diagnosed as having prostate cancer).
I am hoping some 'shop time' may open up soon.

My gunsmith did return three modified cylinders and my Reamers.

But now California has put MORE Problems in my way to enjoying my Firearms with the 'New Ammunition Purchase Rules'.
No useful Mail Order of ammunition, Background check to buy ammo., and my local guns shop does not carry much .25ACP nor any .32 Colt (Long or Short), .32 S&W (Long or Short), .38 Colt, or .41 Colt ammo as the Inventory taxes are too much for him to carry on such 'low demand' ammo.

To add to the problem, my local reloading store has cut open hours from 7 day s a week to 3 days a week (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday only).

Chev. William

[Chev. William]

Grumble, Grumble, Gnash, and OH Rot!
California Ammo Purchase Rules have made my Shooting much less Pleasurable.
I cannot buy .32 COLT, Short or Long, nor .41 COLT ammo locally.
I can get some .25ACP Ammo intermittently.
44-40 is still available but only loaded with .427 Jacketed bullets, my two 1873 Winchesters prefer .432 LEAD bullets!
My 44-40 Cattleman SA Revolver will 'sort of' shoot the .427" bullets but accuracy suffers.
.38 COLT DA ammo? "Huh?"

.32 S&W and .32 S&W Long seem to be intermittently available, although .32H&R Magnum and .327 Fed Mag seem to be available.
.327 FED MAG is not suitable for my custom revolver though.

Sad in California.

Chev. William

[Chev. William]

A little thinking on the .221 Askins as a Modern Variation on the Center Fire .22 Long Rifle Replacement issues.

a plus is that a suitable case can be made from .25ACP brass by swaging it down to about .250" body diameter, which is relatively easy as any 'displaced' metal forms a 'ring' that is usually sheared off when it reaches the Extractor Clearance Cut of the .25ACP case.

The resulting 'rimmed' case will accept .224" diameter bullets as 'inside lubed'; which is cleaner to carry than the 'outside lubed' .22LR ammo.

The CF case is stronger and will allow repeated hand loading, which is a saving over the rim fire ammo.

Also, it will permit some 'hot rodding' of hand loads to optimize performance in a particular weapon.

Lead bullets or Jacketed bullets may be used.

Much room for future development is present in this cartridge.

Chev. William

[deltaenterprizes]

I made a dozen 22 Ladybug Improved cases yesterday in anticipation of a project rifle arriving in the near future!
Really tricky working on such small parts on a 14x40 lathe!
I was using a collet block with a .250 collet but next time I will use my collet chuck for faster parts change.

[Chev. William]

I gather that you are making .246" diameter cases for the 'Ladybug' designs; Bravo for your efforts!

I am 'Stuck' at .250" diameter as I have not had access to my friends shop machine tools to make more swaging die bodies as he has been very busy (Very Good for him) with movie and series work. he has even been using hired help on the projects as the workload exceeded his individual time available.

on another subject:
the First Rain of this Fall/Winter/Spring rainy season fell last night or early this morning here, leaving the area wet and dripping when I got up to let my two dogs out for their morning 'toilet'.
The Dawn was sharp and sudden as thjer ewere no clouds to give a predawn glow.
The air smelled 'fresh and Clean' and Smelled of the resent wet rainfall.
My back patio reloading shop had 'splashed' rain dampness on some of my storage cases out there but no direct rainfall on any of my gear or tools.
My Primers and Propellants were stored in Ammo Cans with good seals so is not subject to the dampness. However my cases in process of rework/forming were in plastic MTM cartridge boxes that were subject to splashed dampness.
Cartridge cases awaiting start of reforming or completed reformed ones are stored in other Seal fitted Ammo cans, as are my loaded Cartridges so they were not exposed to the dampness.

This 'Freshly Washed' rain cleaned air is a relief form the residual 'smoke and ash of the recent wildfires that have 'sulled' our air.

Chev. William