22 Cal

[gvanzeggelaar]

Has anyone had any luck with powder coating or hitek costing 22 cal plain base bullets in the 2200fps range.

I am looking to built a load for a Troy PAR and a Ruger gunsite scout

[Dragonheart]

I loaded and fired a few dozen full power plain base 22 caliber 52 grain PC bullets out of my 22-250 just to test the durability of the polymer jacket and whether I needed to have a gas check. I did not chronograph, but estimated velocity was 3500+ fps. As expected accuracy was fair at 50 yards, but poor at 100. The test did what I wanted and that was to see if the coating would fail at that velocity. The coating did not fail and there was no leading in the barrel, however at that velocity there was no bullet to recover.

I have also fired the same PC bullets at full power out of my Competition 5.56 AR. Using the same load that would group 1/2" with a commercial bullet, once again 50 yard fair accuracy, 100 yard accuracy poor.

I have no reason to think a gas check bullet would have performed any better. The problem is not the coating the problem is non-concentric (lopsided) cast bullets. Reducing velocity will aid in accuracy, but quite frankly why would I want to go to the effort of loading a 223 just to shoot 22LR velocities when I can shoot my 10/22 cheaper with no extra time and effort? Just my take on things.

[Willbird]

I loaded and fired a few dozen full power plain base 22 caliber 52 grain PC bullets out of my 22-250 just to test the durability of the polymer jacket and whether I needed to have a gas check. I did not chronograph, but estimated velocity was 3500+ fps. As expected accuracy was fair at 50 yards, but poor at 100. The test did what I wanted and that was to see if the coating would fail at that velocity. The coating did not fail and there was no leading in the barrel, however at that velocity there was no bullet to recover.

I have also fired the same PC bullets at full power out of my Competition 5.56 AR. Using the same load that would group 1/2" with a commercial bullet, once again 50 yard fair accuracy, 100 yard accuracy poor.

I have no reason to think a gas check bullet would have performed any better. The problem is not the coating the problem is non-concentric (lopsided) cast bullets. Reducing velocity will aid in accuracy, but quite frankly why would I want to go to the effort of loading a 223 just to shoot 22LR velocities when I can shoot my 10/22 cheaper with no extra time and effort? Just my take on things.

Bullet shape is probably very important. I cast, PC, and loaded a few of the Lee 6 cavity bullet. As cast and PC air cooled my bullets may be way too soft for that application.


I did re cook and water drop a few but never got around to loading them to try. I seem to recall something like 6"-8" groups at 75 yards ??

The ideal .224 bullet for a cast-PC application may differ from what the AR15 and other similar systems needs to feed well.

The Lee is not a bad looking bullet, they are light enough that I considered picking up a bag of Magnum shot and using it as alloy, might be the best bet to start off with something that has known qualities. We would get 3181 bullets from a bag of shot so the cost per bullet would be quite low .



http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.co.../006-90451.jpg

This is another application where a post PC swaging might make a better bullet.

I have been looking into this kind of stuff to ensure I can make some kind of bullets if need be, right NOW .224 bullets are avail and not crazy expensive but I have no doubt that the worm will turn again on that situation .

[cwlongshot]

I have a few bundred cast and powder coated. Just waiting for a top punch to size and GC.

Im not i trested in 3500 fps.... I have shot pc’d 45 in my bushmaster to 2K with no issues. Thats a PB boolet.

CW

[Willbird]

If I was going to make a bullet to work in 5.56 this is about where I would start.



Adjust dia so body ended up .225 and nose was .218, 3 degree taper or whatever matches throat.

That way when the big push from the rear happens not much bullet is unsupported.

Would it feed in an AR ?? Dunno....might get all mangled up on the way into the chamber .

I'd make the cavity "deep" (leave the body longer) to start with and shorten until no bullet hung down below the neck once seated something like .03 off the lands...not saying .03 would be ideal but just guessing that more would not be needed.

I have seen some bullet/throat drawings here that would probably do a far better job than I have .

Bill

[Dragonheart]

You are dead on as far as the bullet design being a key factor. Bama was using a nose rider design so the more contact the nose has with the lands the better chance for accuracy. Basically a nose rider bullet fit to the barrel, so the barrel swaggers the bullet when fired. What I have tried were spritzers, which fed perfectly, but not what you want for accuracy. Of course if you could swag the entire spitzer bullet to make it concentric that should be the best of both worlds, but how many are going to pony up for swagging dies.
If you get mold serious I would CerroCast my chamber as that is the only way you are going to know what you have. I was shooting range scrap, so alloy hardness doesn't apply to PC and a double PC worked just fine, but PC doesn't fix a lopsided bullet.

[Willbird]

You are dead on as far as the bullet design being a key factor. Bama was using a nose rider design so the more contact the nose has with the lands the better chance for accuracy. Basically a nose rider bullet fit to the barrel, so the barrel swaggers the bullet when fired. What I have tried were spritzers, which fed perfectly, but not what you want for accuracy. Of course if you could swag the entire spitzer bullet to make it concentric that should be the best of both worlds, but how many are going to pony up for swagging dies.
If you get mold serious I would CerroCast my chamber as that is the only way you are going to know what you have. I was shooting range scrap, so alloy hardness doesn't apply to PC and a double PC worked just fine, but PC doesn't fix a lopsided bullet.

Most my my stuff is PSA roll marked 5.56 so they should be very similar, most are 1/7 twist too, I do have one faxon 1/8 marked 5.56.

When we deal with absolutes or people try to all bullets are lopsided . None are round and none are straight . The machined bullets made in monolithic construction maybe have the best shot at everything being concentric because it is all machined in one operation on a swiss turn lathe usually. The bullet is "picked off" and the base finished in a separate operation .

Maybe one day we will be able to laser sinter bullets (metal printing ??) that are really good and maybe not even the same metal all the way through .

We typically only use them once and want them for $.01 each, will often live with $.05 each or up to $1 each for really good ones .

Bill

[gvanzeggelaar]

I may try plain base pc in an sks and vz58. Nice thing about these guns they are typically way over gsssed and can operated the gas system at fairly low velocities