.222 poofter loads

[Russ M]

Never had any interest in casting .22 boolits. Seemed as though it would be a pain. Well, my Dad passed away last fall and I wound up with his old woodchuck gun-a Savage 340E with a Weaver K4-1. I've done some reloading for it, but no real load development yet. It shoots pretty decent and I've taken a few marmots and a couple coyotes with it. Anyhow, after reading some of the information on this forum I got one of the Lee Bator molds a while back from Midsouth. Finally, a month or so ago during a casting session I broke that mold out and made up a bunch of the little boogers. Didn't do too badly, wound up with a hundred or so boolits that looked good (and by the time that casting session was over, about 60 .30 caliber and about 400 .45 caliber boolits). At any rate, a couple of days ago I loaded up three of them to try out. The Bators were tumble lubed with 45/45/10, sized .225 with a Lee push through sizer, no gas check. Loaded them in Remington brass above 3.0 gr Promo and a Rem 7 1/2 BR. This is what I got.

100705

These were shot in the back yard at 25 yards kneeling. Looks like it has potential, which I plan to play with more.

Now, first of all I'd like to thank all of the forum members who have posted on this subject in the past. Now I have a few questions. I used the Rem 7 1/2 BR primers because they are what I had, I use them in .223 and .17 Rem. After I shot these, and finished giggling, I did some more reading and it seems as though most folks are using small pistol primers in these types of loads. Would this be correct? Hate to keep wasting the good primers where they aren't needed.

Also, I've read about drilling out flash holes with low power loads. My question is, at what point does that become necessary/advisable? I intend to keep experimenting with this stuff because it intrigues me. The first shot I was wearing earmuffs and barely heard a pop, wasn't sure it even fired but could see a hole in the paper. Did look down the barrel, though, after i ejected the empty case. The next two shots I left my muffs off just to see how loud it was-not very. My ears don't work all that well anymore, but it certainly was less noise than a .22mag.

i was shooting a fair amount of .22 rimfire, but stopped shooting it six months ago, despite a decent stash, because right now I can't replace what I shoot. This looks like a decent alternative, especially since I like casting and loading. This is cheaper than .45s, and could redefine bunny gun for me come fall.

Thanks in advance for any advice you folks can give me.

Russ

[.22-10-45]

Hello, Russ M. It is possible to shoot groups like that with cast from a .222 at 100yds. I have a Ruger No. 1 in .222 . The best accuracy I can get out of it using match grade jacketed at 100yds. is around 1/2" to 7/16" I have equalled this with cast bullets. I am using 10.0gr. H4227 and the Saeco .22 bullet. I too heard that s.p. primers were more accurate in the smaller cases with cast..last fall I did testing on this with a .22 Hornet. Primers were Fed. small rifle match & small pistol match. The rifle primers prooved more accurate. This was using 7.0gr. H4227 with a custom Leeth 52gr. nose-pour. at 100yds. I don't think I would drill flash-holes..too easy to get mixed up with jacketed. One of the biggest improvements in accuracy was when I turned up a sizer die to fit a std. Lyman 45 or 450 sizer..it is tapered inside to match the leade angle of my barrel. using the adjustment screw on sizer, the pusher can be adjusted to control dia. of tapering as well. In use, I size 1st. band of bullet .2235-.224 dia...bullets then are sized nose-first to .226 dia. ctg. is loaded to length such as when breech block closes..1st. band is fully engraved by rifling.

[338RemUltraMag]

I am waiting to test a 6 gr trailboss load with a 225646, couldnt get to the range last week possibly this one?

Anyway, I plan on using this and red, green dot, nitro 100, true blue just to use up my "odds and ends" powders.

[Russ M]

Thank you, gentlemen for your input. Now Mr. .22-10-45, I have to discount everything you've said since this is your 666 post and obviously you are of the devil, sir.

Just kidding. Very interesting info in your post. I'll be playing more with powders, seating depth, primers, sizing, etc., just because I want to and can. Probably aren't too many custom molds in my future, but minute of bunny head at 50 yards with minimal noise and cost is the immediate goal. Kudos to you, though, for working up a system that works for you and works well. I hope to do as well as i continue to play with this stuff. If I drill flash holes, I'll file a notch in the rim on those cases to identify them-I do that now with the .45 Colt cases that I use for BP.

338ultramag, I'd like to hear how you make out with the trailboss. I have some that i bought thinking it would be good in .45 Colt. So far I've been underwhelmed. There seem to be a lot of folks who like trailboss, and I think it has its place, but I'd trade what I've got for an equal volume of Unique in a heartbeat. Maybe it's just the bullets I've been using or something but I just haven't found anything it could do that something else couldn't do better and cheaper.

Russ

[338RemUltraMag]

Russ,

I totally agree about trailboss, my grandfather gave it to me when he didnt like it and now I have what amounts to a 7/8 full jar and nothing to do with it. I hope it doesnt do well, because I really do not want to put yet another powder on the bench.

[waco]

My brother and I have had good luck with the Bator in his Savage .223 with a 1:9 twist using SR4759 and dacron.
sub 1" five shot groups at 50 yards. Hor. GC sized to .255" and lubed with Lar's CR

[runfiverun]

I use pistol primers in many of my cast rifle loads.
I use @35k as my cut off point, right where many magnum revolver rounds are.
I have found I do need to adjust my load to keep the same accuracy most of the time.

[Russ M]

Thanks for the additional info, guys. R5R, the pressure thing makes perfect sense, don't know why I hadn't thought of that. I'll continue playing with it, and reading old threads and stickies.

Russ

[Pinsnscrews]

Thanks for starting this Russ,

I just got the Bator mold a couple weeks ago from MidSouth. I am planning on loads for an 8" Barreled Contender pistol in .222

I am wondering if there are any other, than those listed, Pistol Powders. For instance, I got a pound of Longshot for my .40sw.
My thinking is that Barrel length being the key factor in this load, the faster burning pistol powder should get a full burn from that barrel length. A couple of factory j-word loads I have shot spat a fair amount of unburned powder out the end of the barrel. I stopped shooting it until I can set up a catch sheet for all the unburnt powder LOL

[JWFilips]

I use pistol primers in many of my cast rifle loads.
I use @35k as my cut off point, right where many magnum revolver rounds are.
I have found I do need to adjust my load to keep the same accuracy most of the time.

run5run.....Standard pistol primers? The reason I'm asking is I just started shooting cast boolits in my Remington Sportsman78 Bolt .223 Rem.
First time out I had great success with 11.5 gr reloader 7 and a the 55gr CBE FN Without any load workup I was shooting 1" groups at 50 yds consistently. So I said "hey this might be a fun thing" ..being out of SR primers I went to my LGS and bought what they had ( never used Remington primers before?) well the bad news is they are 6 1/2's & I'm hearing they are too soft to shoot in a .223 ! What?
Anyway since I have a good supply of SP primers in many brands I may still be in luck from what you are saying? I hope, I hope!
My apologies, RussM if I side tracked your thread.
Jim

[Jack Stanley]

Of recent I have been using a lot of cast in the two two three Remington case while working with four different rifles . While I do use small pistol primers at times it's part of the search for "what works best" and it's dependent on my rifles . I'm with Runfive though , I won't run pistol primers above the pressure the factories would load them . So thirty-five M or a little less is a good cut off point .

So far I haven't had to resort to drilling flash holes but I have tried using a de-burring tool on them . While that may work for some of the loads and rifles I feed , I'm not going to even attempt it on a large bucket of cases . For minute of bunny head though it may help a bit and hunting loads are different than plinking ammo right ?? ;-)

With one rifle to feed I think you are able to make ammo by the bucketful and still get excellent accuracy at fifty yard without going to the effort of drilling flash holes .

Jack

[Russ M]

Don't rely solely on me for info but I think you'll be fine with the 6 1/2 s. Lyman cast bullet handbook shows that load at about 17000, half of the 35,000 that r5r mentioned. No apologies needed, it's all just an exchange of information. That's what this place is for.

Now, hopefully someone smarter than me will chime in.