My Economical-Reloadable 22LR Substitute

[762 shooter]

Although I have plenty of 22LR, I do not know when I may be able to replenish my stores. I wanted to find out if there was a viable alternative to 22LR that I could cast for and reload cheap or cheaper than 22LR rimfire.

My first step was to decide on a caliber. 223 jumped out for many reasons. More cast boolits per pound, less powder, and a readily available supply of brass. I looked around for a good economical 223 bolt gun. The three that were entry level arms were the Savage Axis, the Mossberg MVP, and the Ruger American.

The Savage Axis is chambered in 223 Remington and can be had on Gunbroker for about $320.00 plus shipping.

The Mossberg MVP is chambered in 5.56/223 and can be had for about $580 plus shipping.

The Ruger American chambered in 223 can be had for $319 shipped.

Being chambered in 5.56 was not important to me in that all of the rounds being shot out of my rifle were to be cast and reloaded.

Since I like rifles that are American made and I am apparently a Ruger fanboy, ( my last 5 firearm purchases were Rugers) I ordered a Ruger American in 223.

I ordered a Lee 6 cavity Bator mold with no handles and a Lee push thru sizer in 224 from Midsouth to get started. I washed and lubed the mold according to site stickies and was casting good boolits tout de suite. My boolits were dropping at 52 grains + or - .2 grains. I am looking for a minute of squirrel head at 20 yards so anal weight sorting was not part of my regimen.

I hand rubbed Ben's Red onto my cast boolits before push sizing them. My Lee 224 sizer sizes my boolits to 225.

I loaded 2.0 grains of Bullseye behind the cast boolits. I first thought of the Goon character in the Popeye cartoons as the rounds have a small head for the body size.



Shot these for chrono readings of 1030, 1070, 1051,1070,1041,1045. At ten yards the unchecked boolits went into a .25 group. Low report and of course no recoil.

Three cents for the primer. (Primers are the monkey)
1/2 cent for the powder. ($160/for 8 pounds)
0.8 cents for the lead at a dollar a pound. (not that I paid that)
4.3 cents per round.
$21.50 per brick.

I have a Nikon BDC coming for the Ruger RAR so I can shoot full power loads and drop down to my 22LR loads when ever I damn well please.

That's my story and I am sticking to it.

762

[tazman]

I love this. Really excellent work.

[geargnasher]

Instant "sticky" material there, thanks for sharing. I've done similar with an NEF and RCBS 55-grain. A half-grain tuft of Dacron seems to help accuracy at 50 yards and beyond, without the check. Keeping them subsonic is a huge bonus, and the extra weight vs. .22 LR more than makes up for the slightly slower than "HV" .22 velocity.

Gear

[Sgtonory]

Nice job.

[Garyshome]

Great plan!

[chsparkman]

Very nice. Last summer I did something very similar for my Ruger #3 in .223. Got my first squirrels with it back in October. Who needs 22lr!

[jaysouth]

I have been doing this with a .357 MAX hundi rifle and a 9mm 1911 for over a year. I am teaching a grandson to shoot.

Learning with a .357 and a 9mm have a lot more bragging rights than a .22 rf for a 12 year old!

I have a couple of thousand 45 gr jhps that were given to me. I might try to work up a subsonic load for my .223 Handi rifle with a 1:12 barrel. I will do a search and find some of Jims old posts on subsonic .223s.

[Russ M]

Yup, good job. Doing the same thing here except I already had a Savage 340 in .222. Using the Bator mold, unchecked, and Promo powder, similar results and for the same reason-have a bunch of .22 ammo, but until I can replace it I'm avoiding using it. Quiet, cheap, and a reason for casting more bullets-what's not to like? Nice cost breakdown also.

Jim's posts on his work with the .223 are great, that stuff should have been stickied. There are several other threads with good info on subsonic .222/.223 loads.

Russ

[Blammer]

7gr of unique and a 55 gr bullet or boolit makes a nice load too.

[Whitespider]

Nice.

I haven't used a rim-fire for near on 5 years now... but I built my replacement on the .22 Hornet using the Lyman #225438.

Oh... 11.5 grains Accurate 1680 and an honest 2300 FPS makes it a 75 yard small game and varmint load.

[TCFAN]

I am working on the same thing. My cartridge is the 218 Bee in a 22 inch T/C Encore.I have the full power load worked out using the Hornady 40gr. V-Max. Still working on the cast using the 225438 for a 22RF substitute and the 225415HP for a 22 Mag. load. ............Terry

[Iowa Fox]

We're the lucky ones being able to cast and reload. I think a lot of us old guys already had a selection of 22 cal molds and 22 centerfire rifles we picked up years ago, long before shortages. When I used to go to the range 10 to 15 years ago late in the afternoon you had to sweep the floor with a broom to keep from slipping on the empty brass and brought it home by the bucket full. It used to make me madder than heck having to clean up the mess all the time but now I'm glad I have it. If I don't factor my time into the cost I can run out 500 rounds of 223 on the Dillon in short order for 5.00 bucks with my old component inventory. I still shoot the rimfires but without knowing when I can replentish the ammo inventory I have cut way back. Its a fun change of pace to give the Rem 700s and Contender a good work out. Sure don't find the brass laying around like I used to.

[762 shooter]

Thanks for the heads up guys. I just found Jim's thread.

A little more info.

22" barrel at 1 in 8.
Alloy was 50/50 1% Sn.
Mold and sizer was about $67 shipped.

My actual costs were:
Primer = 0.01
Powder = 0.003
Alloy = 0.00
1 brick = $6.50

There's something about being able to load 3,500 rounds out of 1 pound of powder that appeals to the old man in me.

762

[texassako]

Three cents for the primer. (Primers are the monkey)
1/2 cent for the powder. ($160/for 8 pounds)
0.8 cents for the lead at a dollar a pound. (not that I paid that)

That is about what I have found shooting .25 ACP, with the primer cost far above powder and lead. A little more lead and powder don't really add much to the cost. You make me wonder how a .25 ACP bullet would do in one of my .25 caliber rifles (drops big enough and smallest I cast).

[762 shooter]

That is about what I have found shooting .25 ACP, with the primer cost far above powder and lead. A little more lead and powder don't really add much to the cost. You make me wonder how a .25 ACP bullet would do in one of my .25 caliber rifles (drops big enough and smallest I cast).

I've put as little as 1.5 grains of Bullseye behind a 113 grain cast 308. I'm using a fast powder because general wisdom seems to be that low charges of slow powder may disperse and detonate instead of burn. I'm not sure if one could blow up a rifle with 2.0 grains of anything but I've been wrong before.

762

[Harter66]

I just bought an as new 36cal 58' Remington repro. I make my BP and obvously cast.
.015 Powder 15gr at $6 /lb
.05 cap ,I've them in the stash as low as 3.25/100
.01 ball presuming $1/lb

I gotta do somthing about cap costs I guess . I shot 3 days last week w/some BP guys I shot 100+each day ,25 yd squirles would have been in trouble by the end weekend, 3 pistols and a 50cal rifle I spent less than $25 on shooting I spent more than that for my Dad and I on dinner going home.
I can even back them down and stretch the powder farther, but at .05-.10 a shot why bother ? I didn't even start shooting BP in earnest until about 2 yr ago. I've cosidered for several yr the ability top shoot BP in 38/357.

[FredBuddy]

I'm working on the same thing in 30-30. When the weather stabilizes, I'll be able to finalize the process, but so far, so good.

[runfiverun]

if you use a 22 cal pellet and a sr mag primer it will clear the barrel [at about 800 fps] with a little bit of lube applied to the barrel it goes a little faster.

for 20-25 yd squirrel shooting it's all you need.

[frkelly74]

22 really really long rifle. My solution so far has ended up being a 9mm hi-point. so far I have killed a few clay pigeons with it out to about 30 yds.

[mdi]

Good report! I've been shooting my R.R. (rimfire replacement) for mebbe a year but with a few differences. I don't have a .22 cal. mold so I just bought some Beartooth 45 gr. LRN bullets. I don't count pennies for my hobby so I can't compare to my 22 lr ammo (besides I have bricks of .22 from 9 years ago and primers mebbe 6 years old, and can't remember what they cost!), but it sure is fun. I have a bunch of WC820 that I've been using and get some pretty accurate loads outta my Handi in .223, mebbe 1300-1400 fps...