.22 Wildcat Project

[Polar_Hunter]

Due to it's diminutive size it might be best called a "Kittycat".

I have an antique Pinfire revolver that I want to get shooting and, finding no suitable modern ammo, I have come up with this "pea-shooter" round. The parent case is .22 Hornet.

I have bored out the old rotten bore on the revolver and will sleave it to .22 cal. I am going to attempt to machine a complete new cylinder out of modern steel and chamber it for my new little round.

The goal is to get cast bullets flying at about Long Rifle velocities. This project should keep me busy for several weeks at least.

Left to right,,, 22 LR, 22 Mag, ?, and 22 Hornet

[JeffinNZ]

Cute but you may have reinvented the .297/230 Morris.

[seppos]

What is the old caliber of that revolver?
If the timing is not too much wore out, and there is enough material left, maybe you could reline the chambers also in the begining.
There is plenty of work in the complete cylinder.
If the pressures will stay moderate, the relining might work.

S

[Polar_Hunter]

I Can't find case dimensions for the 297/230 Morris but I imagine that they may be close. I did find one called the ".22 Squirrel" which has the same parent case and has a trim length of .965,,,, still to long for my purpose,,,, my trim length is .800.

It looks as if I could reline the cylinders but I may give making a new one first. I have to make up some jigs and fixtures first but it will be very rewarding if I get it done.

[fred2892]

Type 297-230 morris into google

Heres one of mine. Parent case is 22 hornet, bullet is Lyman 225438. Thats a 44-40 next to it. Its worth saying the 297-230 comes with short neck, long neck and an intermediate bastard size that the lads down under specified.

Dies are available from CH4D however at a push they can be formed by cropping 22 hornet cases and necking them with a 25acp die.
You will end up with a centrefire .22lr which is cheaper to reload than actually buying 22lr

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[Polar_Hunter]

Thanks for the info fred2892. What kind of powder charges are you using? I was thinking that a smokeless load for a 25 acp would be a good place to start.

[NoAngel]

Several little ones like this have been done over the years. Getting that old gun going again is pretty cool.

One member here has a 22 wildcat made from necking down 32 S&W Long cases.

[fred2892]

I've spent many long hours with the lyman 225438 and this case. Loads have ranged from 1.4 grains of unique up to 4.1 grains of 2400.
After close to 500 test rounds and 7 different powders the best for me with this bullet is 1.7 grains of green dot.
These were all for 25 yard paper punching.
I've moved on to the 37grain lyman 225107. Just starting with these so it will be a few months before testing is finished.


Usual disclaimer on powder loads. These loads worked for me and I worked them up from lower loads. While its going to be difficult to kaboom with such a small capacity case, never say never
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[Ballistics in Scotland]

= While its going to be difficult to kaboom with such a small capacity case, never say never

It isn't that difficult with that small powder space, especially in something like one of the small pinfire revolvers. In particular the primer explosion looms so large in comparison with the powder (not as extra propellant, but in the way the powder gets ignited) that I would recommence from a very low charge and work up if I changed even from small pistol to small pistol of a different brand. I would prefer black powder to smokeless.

It would be useful to see pictures and know the calibre of the revolver. Some of the open-frame ones aren't particularly weak in the frame (the front end and barrel often threads onto a fixed axis pin), but others are, and the cylinder walls are almost certainly both thin and made of mild steel. Not to mention having the redundant notch where the pin went. The 12mm. French Thick Rim cartridge, originally used in conversions from pinfire and with a head construction much like a shotgun shell, had a very thick rim to strengthen the head. But that did nothing to prevent a split in the wall starting there.

Remember, the 12mm. revolvers were aimed at the military market, often of very good quality, and were very soon killed stone dead by centrefires. While a small minority of the small ones were beautifully made, most were made after centrefires were available, simply because they were cheap. They are nearly all Belgian, which means they were usually safe when new, but might be very susceptible to wear.

If you are lucky yours will have six external locking lugs protruding from the cylinder, instead of notches. These are both stronger and easier to make. You can see this in this picture (pre-restoration) of my rimfire Webley. I would much prefer to make a new cylinder in modern steel, although it is true that there is a lot of work in it. I would want the revolver to be at least 9mm. before lining it for your neo-Morris cartridge, and even then I would want to make sure the liners were of modern steel, capable of doing some of the work.

I think the best way to make a cylinder would be the star first, mark and cut where the locking bolt must stop the cylinder second, and drill the chambers last. A brass bushing to locate an extra long 1/16in. drill through the bore would give you the exact position.

[seppos]

Made the Morris reamer just for giggles..

Need hardening and grinding..
It is for modern barrels so possible to use .224 bullets instead of the rare .223 ones.
S

[Ballistics in Scotland]

That should work nicely in the lathe on an accurately trued-up bore. But a D-section reamer exerts quite a bit of sideways pressure as it turns. I would prefer not to use it by hand, or if I had to, make it with a very long pilot to keep the alignment.

[seppos]

Actually it is 3 fluted.. the angle distracts to believe that it is D reamer.

S

[Polar_Hunter]

Got my reload tooling working. Now to make the chamber ream and get to work on the gun.

[seppos]

Looking good!

S

[fred2892]

Nice work, keep posting updates and pictures.

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[Ballistics in Scotland]

Actually it is 3 fluted.. the angle distracts to believe that it is D reamer.

S

Ah yes, that is much better, I think. It would go against the grain to pay custom reamer-makers' prices when it is only a little one.

For somebody making a new cylinder, there is a way out of some of the most difficult machining. The original cylinder could be turned down to a press-fitted and Loctited bushing, with the original star.

[seppos]

Ah yes, that is much better, I think. It would go against the grain to pay custom reamer-makers' prices when it is only a little one.

For somebody making a new cylinder, there is a way out of some of the most difficult machining. The original cylinder could be turned down to a press-fitted and Loctited bushing, with the original star.

Yes.. precisely. The modern glues eases up some of the work that required earlier on welding or brazing.
I would do small step to the back of liner and cavity made for it, but maybe that is purely over thinking. Press fitt and loctite might be enough as the pressures would not be so high.

S

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Or ream the chambers with a taper pin reamer (¼in. taper per foot of length or 5mm. in 250mm.), and taper the sleeves to match. They could be made over-length, push in tight, and finished off flush.

What I wouldn't do is soft-solder when the liner and cylinder wall are thin. Solder is a plastic material in the engineering sense. If it deforms, it stays in the new shape, and may keep on doing it a tiny bit more at each shot. (Most plastics, despite the name, are elastic once they are moulded and hardened, meaning that they return to the old shape.) If the liner and the cylinder aren't firmly located together,

[roadie]

I made this cartridge in 1996, didn't know about the .22 Squirrel then. Mine is slightly shorter than a Squirrel. It's a great lil thing, cheap to load from .22RF easily up to .22RFM.

I personally wouldn't reline the cylinder, it's really not that hard to get pressures to a bad point with this small case. With liners, you have only the strength of the liner, that old steel surrounding them won't count for a lot.

[seppos]

If you use a stump of a barrel as the base of the liner, that should be crome moly steel and should withstand higher pressures. It is true that as one can not say what the original steel was in the cylinder it is better to treat it as a liability to the safety.

S