converting 22LR to 22 long

[koyote]

Right now, 22 long is selling for over $200 per 400 on gunbroker. Now, we all know that's just silly. But some of us winchester shooters "need" 22 long and google is mighty unhelpful on this idea, so I'm going to talk here about....converting 22 LR to 22 long.

caveat: done safely, without blowing yerself up. proper mandrels and making a collet or whatever.

anyone see a particular problem with making a shorter "flat nose" out of a .22LR round? The simple answer is to just make a pseudo wadcutter by cutting off short enough to chamber properly (modulo chamber dimensions)

the slightly more advanced idea would be to cut and swage.

Yes, it's silly. But a buck per round for 22 long is, in the language of the 80s, maximum ridiculosity.

thoughts?

[rancher1913]

if your talking just cutting the lead down, you could have a pressure problem. usually the heavier the payload the lighter the charge so by cutting off the nose you are dropping the payload without doing anything to the charge. this would be a larry gibson type question.

if you pulled the bullet, adjusted the powder charge, and adjusted the payload it would probably work, you might look at what traffer has done in reloading 22's

[GregLaROCHE]

If you cut down the lead, it would make it lighter and logically you should have lower pressures. I don’t know what powder charge longs have compared to Long rifles and your points of impact could be different. Further, cutting them all exactly the same would be difficult and could also effect accuracy, but if you’re just looking for plinking rounds I would say why not? When I was a kid, we experimented all the time with cutting off the heads of 22lfs, carving hollow points or scribing crosses in them. I never had any problems, except possibly feeding.

[koyote]

Further, cutting them all exactly the same would be difficult and could also effect accuracy, but if you’re just looking for plinking rounds I would say why not? When I was a kid, we experimented all the time with cutting off the heads of 22lfs, carving hollow points or scribing crosses in them. I never had any problems, except possibly feeding.

I was thinking of a collet jig to make it as consistent and easy as possible, possibly a top swage if needed to give an ogive.

given the usual state of a model 1890 barrel, I'll debate accuracy once we try it out

[GARD72977]

Working a few hours over time would be much simpler. I dont see reasonable\cost effective way of doing this

[M-Tecs]

https://northeastshooters.com/xen/th...is%2040-grains.

[koyote]

Working a few hours over time would be much simpler. I dont see reasonable\cost effective way of doing this

ah, but the Command Economy doesn't really permit that. if I could make $100 for 2 hours work anytime I wanted I'd retire right quick.

[koyote]

https://northeastshooters.com/xen/th...is%2040-grains.

yep! I thought about how the reduction in weight with cutting the lead would result in a boolit more suited to a slow twist. also, SHOULD be lower pressures.

the main issue being the lifter in a 1890, really. as far as pressures - the firearm design handles wrf well enough and there were 22lr versions made

[koyote]

duplicate

[M-Tecs]

SAAMI pressures are the same for the Long and Long Rifle https://saami.org/wp-content/uploads...2018-06-13.pdf

As long as the throat is long enough pressure is not an issue. Twist rate and feeding may be an issue.

[GregLaROCHE]

Have you considered shooting 22 shorts for the time being? Maybe they are easier to find at a reasonable price today.

[John Boy]

I have a couple of single shots that have 22 long chambers and because I reload 22 LR primed empty cases... the 22 long rounds have a 36 grain bullet and have a mold that drops 36gr bullets instead of the 22 LR rounds that are either 40 or 45 gr bullets. No muss, fuss making either

[Bazoo]

Take standard velocity 22 LR and cut the nose off and it'd work fine. The only difference between long and LR is the bullet weight/shape. Short and long use the same bullet. There was an extra long, in the 1880s, that wasn't so great. They found the magic combo when they put the extra long bullet on the long case, and the LR was born. High velocity LR came in 1930, and guns were proofed for it by 32.

Maybe make something akin to a file trim die, to remove the same amont of nose from each and square it up.