The 209 powered .22 BB cap

[Buckshot Bill]

Inspired by fineredmist_7's post:

So, for what it's worth I built one yesterday. It's a neat concept and silly quiet, Fiocchi 209 were pushing a 14 grn lead round ball around 700 fps and a federal 209A were a touch over 1000 fps. Only problem is accuracy, minute of soup can at 10 yards but that's about as good as it gets. I thought I'd have some fun so a reamed the bore to .245" and tried it smoothbore with .250 roundball for the same effect. You can also muzzle load it as a shotgun with a 4 or 5 grains of FFFg to deal with those pesky bumblebees. Pretty useless past 8 yards though 10 max. Kind of a neat novelty but is does not perform satisfactorily enough for me to be excited about it. If anyone else tries or has tried it let us know your findings. Most of what I have read about roundballs being powered by a primer of some sort has reported less than stellar accuracy.

[brettb75]

Haven't heard about this one but it sounds like a fun little project to take on

[koehlerrk]

Hmm... Might have to build one.

[Buckshot Bill]

If you do please post about it, would love to be able to build one that shoots accurately enough to hunt with, at least quarter sized groups @ 25 yards would be nice. I may try patching a .220 ball in the smoothbore one day and see how that performs, I don't have my hopes very high though. I built a .22 muzzleloader from an old ruger 10/22 barrel a while back with some bicycle gun influence and it will do almost that well with the open sights (which I'm not very good with).

Here is a link to fineredmist's thread
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?303510-My-22-short-replacement

[johnson1942]

next make one that shoot nail driveing 22 blanks. also use a copper jacketed 22 bullet in front of it. its not a toy. a guy on you tube got that bullet going well over 2000 ft per second. way more powerful than a 22 long rifle. it may be the answer to the 22 longrifle shortage.

[victorfox]

Mmm... Looks cool. Ever tried cutting an spare air rifle barrel and playing with buckshot/airgun pellets?I saw this one other day but found the electrical stuff rather complicated. I'd prefer a cap or flintlock:http://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml_experiments/plink_king/plink_king.html

[halfslow]

A while back I came across a Stevens Tip-up pistol in .25 rimfire.
The price was good since the ammo is no longer available.

However, the smart cookies on this site have addressed that little problem with .27 cal ramset blanks and buckshot.
I tried this and it made the wall hanger into a neat little plinker.

I considered making another barrel in .22, but the tiny size of the barrel lock made me can that idea.
I did not want to create a dangerous gun in case someone slipped a high speed cartridge in there.

This idea of using the 209 primer sounds like a way to use the little pistol for plinking and maybe small game such as snakes.

Plus, the 209's go for 3.5 cents each whereas the ramset blanks are 12 cents each.

Regarding the use of diablo pellets, there is a comment on the gun digest site which suggests filling the pellets with resin or epoxy before shooting them.

Lastly, the NAA Companion, a cap-n-ball mini revolver, uses little 22 slugs which they sell.
These may also work in place of the round balls.

However, I think that the .22 pellets filled with epoxy would work just as well.

[44man]

Brings back memories when I had a little gun that shot no. 6 shot with a cap from cap guns.
Why not try a rifled barrel?

[Buckshot Bill]

I did, accuracy sucked, so I smoothbored it and got the same results, only it shoots shot minutely better

[44man]

I know what you mean! I have an old gallery .22 Winnie smooth bore that is a wonderful shotgun but look out if bullets are shot.
Thing is death on carpenter bees too but I shoot the .475 cheaper.
The gun likes the old crimped shells better then the plastic shot shells.
I loaded .45 Colt cases with shot for the bees and it was a waste of primers, never did hit one so I got the 410 out. Even with me loading them, cost is crazy.
need to try cream of wheat or rice in the .45 someday.
I don't mind the holes the bees make so much but there is a big wood pecker that rips the boards to pieces to get at the larva.

[victorfox]

44man you can get a cheaper load using 5 to 6gr of any fast powder like red dot, w231, under 3/8oz of fine shot. This is load data we have here in Brazil because slower powders are sold only to registered shooters/hunters... It is a small payload sure but is easy on the pocket (comparing to 13gr of 2400 and 1/2oz). It should go around 1100/1200fps. This load is also quit comparable to those used on the .45 Speer shot capsules I remember right.

[victorfox]

I meant for the .410 ok?

[44man]

OK, note taken, thanks.

[Chev. William]

Unpatched Ball through a Rifled bore probably won't work well, too much 'Windage'.
Patched ball in a rifled barrel seals better and the ball actually will be spun up some.
Best Regards,
Chev. William

[Buckshot Bill]

I figured a .224 ball would fit nice and snug down a .220-.222 bore. Bare balls shoot fine though my .22 ML.