22 long rifle reloader

[10sandxs]

Hi group, I was reading shooting sports usa and they had an article on this product for reloading 22 long rifle.

http://22lrreloader.com/design-details/

Does anyone have any experience with it? I'm tempted... very, very tempted...

[dudel]

Search the site. Many discussions on it. Might work for SHTF situations; but with 22LR becoming available (ordered bricks at a good price from Midway, found it on the shelves a few weeks ago at Walmart at good prices), it may not be as practical now.

You can reload a lot of plinking .22 caliber centerfire rounds for what some 22LR is going for. Just need to be clever about it.

[bedbugbilly]

I ran across one of those kits listed on flea bay a while back. I know it's been discussed on here as well.

If I had to resort to doing that, it would be a sad day in "Gotham City". While I really enjoy casting and reloading, I can't imagine the frustration for someone who is my age and with less than "nimble" fingers using one of those kits . . . I'd have more on the floor than in a box. And, if I remember right - that kit is pretty "pricey" as well. Personally, I'll stick to my center fire reloads and cast booklets.

[williamwaco]

+1 on .22 centerfire. Several work very well. Especially the very small ones.

[No_1]

Reloqding 22 RF in a manner which is both accurate and reliable is queationable according the the article. YMMV

[Cosmiceyes]

Looks interesting! If stuck finding 22's it would be a good tool.

[Mytmousemalibu]

Unless it has been improved, I've watched several video reviews of the kit and it has a number of shortfalls. The biggest, the mold is pretty crude and the boolits it makes aren't all that great, many had lots of flashing on the boolits. The mold is all aluminum with integrated handles, so it gets very hot obviously. And the "primer compound" they call for is using the tips of strike anywhere matches. For one, decent strike anywhere matches are almost gone, you can find decent ones online like the UCO brand or the non-Greenlight Diamond matches. Apart from those, slim pickins and the better the match, the better the results since you have to harvest the phosphorus tips. That gets mixed with acetone & ground up for primer mix that you need to pack into the rim which is best done centrifugally if you can. That stuff is also super corrosive, much more so than any corrosive ammo i've seen. I don't have the kit but I have messed with making my own primers. The recommended powder in the kit is Pyrodex P so you will have some corrosive residue to clean anyways. Its pretty tedious to reload .22 rimfire via the kit but I see the value if you kept a kit back for hard times and with the ingredients you'll need. I personally would be more interested if it were a little better quality. The new die & shellholder in the link pic is new, i'd like to see more on that.

I think a resourceful person with some machining equip & ability could far surpass this kit.

[trapper9260]

I was thinking about some thing like that for some time.But I was told that it was a hit and miss on it.That for the price it is not worth it.And now for what been posted on here clear more up for me.I did look at the link and they did not give much information on it all.Like what powder do you use and also what the prime compound was.They say to mix the powders and the that was all.So they did not tell much about any of it.

[Chill Wills]

Unless it has been improved, I've watched several video reviews of the kit and it has a number of shortfalls. The biggest, the mold is pretty crude and the boolits it makes aren't all that great, many had lots of flashing on the boolits. The mold is all aluminum with integrated handles, so it gets very hot obviously. And the "primer compound" they call for is using the tips of strike anywhere matches. For one, decent strike anywhere matches are almost gone, you can find decent ones online like the UCO brand or the non-Greenlight Diamond matches. Apart from those, slim pickins and the better the match, the better the results since you have to harvest the phosphorus tips. That gets mixed with acetone & ground up for primer mix that you need to pack into the rim which is best done centrifugally if you can. That stuff is also super corrosive, much more so than any corrosive ammo i've seen. I don't have the kit but I have messed with making my own primers. The recommended powder in the kit is Pyrodex P so you will have some corrosive residue to clean anyways. Its pretty tedious to reload .22 rimfire via the kit but I see the value if you kept a kit back for hard times and with the ingredients you'll need. I personally would be more interested if it were a little better quality. The new die & shellholder in the link pic is new, i'd like to see more on that.

I think a resourceful person with some machining equip & ability could far surpass this kit.
You might want to read the Shooting Sports write up. You got the primer and the powder part mixed up a bit.
http://www.ssusa.org/articles/2015/8/18/reloading-22-long-rifle-a-new-option-for-competitors/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=insider&utm_campaign=0815
Still, even though they have a primer mix and smokeless powders - 700X and Unique to name a few, I fully agree that the mold and kit are not really high end. Maybe a real mold for the bullet and use their primer and it might make something BUT, like said above, I can do much better with my center fire 22's and 25's.

I think a resourceful person with some machining equip & ability could far surpass this kit.

I agree with this part for sure.

[Mytmousemalibu]

You might want to read the Shooting Sports write up. You got the primer and the powder part mixed up a bit.
http://www.ssusa.org/articles/2015/8/18/reloading-22-long-rifle-a-new-option-for-competitors/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=insider&utm_campaign=0815
Still, even though they have a primer mix and smokeless powders - 700X and Unique to name a few, I fully agree that the mold and kit are not really high end. Maybe a real mold for the bullet and use their primer and it might make something BUT, like said above, I can do much better with my center fire 22's and 25's.

I think a resourceful person with some machining equip & ability could far surpass this kit.

I agree with this part for sure.

Hmm, I think somethings have changed, the kit reviews I watched, nobody had any kind of "primer powder" included in the kit, that must be new, along with the rec. for 700X & Unique. To be honest, the mold pictured in the link looks better than the reviewed ones I saw. Perhaps they got some disappointed feedback from the 1st go at it. I would have been a little miffed at the quality of the 1st kits had I bought one. At least they look to be improving.

I hope to be getting a lathe & mill in the near future and I'll be able to roll my own. Besides being able to make all kinds of firearms related stuff & gunsmithing, I have a lot of use for some equipment as is. I really enjoy machine work too.

If a guy went and got some blank Lee molds, cut some heeled cherrys, he could be cranking out some custom rimfire boolits fairly cheap and quickly. I think if you made a new sprue plate, a Lee 2cav block could probably make an easy 3-cav rimfire boolit mold and a blank 6-cav block could be 8-10? I could probably create a much improved way to clean and spin prime cases and perhaps a tool to swage out the firing pin indention like a plier with a semi-flanged mandrel to go in the case and a fitted groove in the bottom jaw. Turn yourself a simple sizing die (that could easily be like a Lee Loader die or go whole hog for a press mounted die & shellholder) and make a crimper out of some heavy pliers or better make a collet style boolit crimper.... You're in business! I have all the ideas in my head and the time to try them, just need the machines...

[10sandxs]

Thanks for walking me back off of the ledge group. It's nice to have a safety net.

[zarrinvz24]

Didn't Gale McMillan experiment with loading/reloading 22LR? Perhaps someone more knowledgeble on the subject could chime in but I seem to remember that he was not able to produce consistent results through reloads, so after convincing a manufacturer to part with some primed, unloaded brass he still found that he could not exceed the average mid-level factory produced 22LR. IMHO seems like its not worth the effort one would invest; for a survival or SHTF type scenario perhaps it would be better to stick with one of the smaller centerfires, 223 or 22 hornet.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I saw this kit at the SHOT Show this year. it was pretty disappointing for the cost.

I had considered one simply because I like tools, but this one is going to take a long time to pay for itself and I see it as a viable option only if society degrades to the point of anarchy and then after about 5-6 years it might be worth while to have.

However anything you can do with this kit can be done easier to a centerfire round.

Also the outfit could find a better machinist.

Randy

[snag]

Didn't Gale McMillan experiment with loading/reloading 22LR? Perhaps someone more knowledgeble on the subject could chime in but I seem to remember that he was not able to produce consistent results through reloads, so after convincing a manufacturer to part with some primed, unloaded brass he still found that he could not exceed the average mid-level factory produced 22LR. IMHO seems like its not worth the effort one would invest; for a survival or SHTF type scenario perhaps it would be better to stick with one of the smaller centerfires, 223 or 22 hornet.

Black powder . If you have the raw materials and tooling you can make everything necessary to shoot them at home .

[Slade McCuiston]

So the company that developed a .22 reloader has now developed .22 S/L/LR resizing dies.

They sell a priming compound that is perfectly safe to ship (without HAZMAT) until it is mixed on site. Mix it up and add some acetone, spread it in the rim and let it dry for a few hours. Unfortunately, this compound IS corrosive. You can cast the bullets in the meantime using their mold, although they said in one of the reloading podcasts they were working on a gang mold to make the process faster. In this same interview they also said they were working on .17 HMR, .22 mag, et cetera.

I made a comment of these guys' page asking them if they considered dies to remove the dent in the rim, pack the primer into the rim, seat the bullet, and crimp... they said: "Slade about 3 months u can have all that."

Guys, I really think this is a company to watch. Obviously, .22 ammunition will come back. When it does, these guys are really going to have to innovate (which will be AWESOME), or they're going to go belly-up.