Fireforming with pellets

[joatmon]

Anyone used pellets while fire forming ? I'll be forming some K-Hornet and 17 Hornet brass and think it might be interesting to try. I was watching some of the crazy tube stuff on
.22 cal pellets shot with nail gun power loads through a .22RF. Just wondering! Might mix a little target fun in with the forming.

Aaron

[Mk42gunner]

I don't think an airgun pellet will have enough resistance to build the required pressure to blow a case out. I could be wrong on this, but I don't think it will work very well.

I have had the best luck using a normal weight projectile and a (usually) staring load. I have not had good luck using cornmeal.

Robert

[joatmon]

Thanks for the reply, I also wondered that! The .22 cal pellet is 13.6grs and the .177 is 8.2gr. pretty light load.

Aaron

[reed1911]

It will work just fine. Just be sure to treat it like any other bullet and ensure a good backstop and beyond. Generally I suggest not doing this but only because it leads the bore badly. Remember pellets are .177 and pure lead, while bullets for the .17 are .172. Even at low speed (sub-900) leading occurs. If you want to form without shooting bullets, I recommend a small pinch of fast burning powder (AA#2 or Bullseye) fill the case with corn meal or cream-of-wheat and compress the load with a small rod, then shoot into the air. To be honest, more folks find that the forming load with the bullet actually shoots very well, which has also been my experience.

[country gent]

Most of the "pellet loads use only a primer or very small amount of powder to duplicat e peelet rifles or there abouts. What used to be called indoor gallery loads. Very low pressures but accurate and fun. I doubt these types of loads will generate the pressures needed to fireform the cases even small hornet cases. I would go witha starting levem load or so a 35-40 grain bullet (Can be cast lead here) loaded just into rifling to hold head against breech face and fire. Make sure chamber is dry and clean. When doing this. I have used fast powders and dacron cream of wheat also but is meassier and a bigger pin keeping things together.

[tygar]

I have actually used a wax plug to fire form brass. Didn't see any problem with it. With the mag brass I usually use the lightest bullet I can, cast or jacket with 10gr Unique or Bullseye, works great. So I would think it would work with the right diameter to plug case.

[.22-10-45]

Just wondering how many of the yay sayers have actually shot an airgun pellet in front of a powder charge? Using black powder charge in a primed .22 L.R. case resulted in pellet head being blown off & leaving hollow ring of lead in bore. I did fill hollow base with beeswax & this took the pressure..but still with black powder. That pellet unless solid wouldn't stand a chance in front of a fire forming load of smokeless.

[tygar]

I would agree that it probably should be a solid or maybe turned around so solid end is in case. But if a wax plug would work so should a lead plug, again, as long as it sealed case.

On my part it's speculation since I've never used a pellet but...wax/lead??

Are there actually pellets that are big enough for a .22 center fire? Mine is only .177.

[Larry Gibson]

Just wondering how many of the yay sayers have actually shot an airgun pellet in front of a powder charge? Using black powder charge in a primed .22 L.R. case resulted in pellet head being blown off & leaving hollow ring of lead in bore. I did fill hollow base with beeswax & this took the pressure..but still with black powder. That pellet unless solid wouldn't stand a chance in front of a fire forming load of smokeless.

I have to wonder that too! I've shot lots of .22 cal pellets out of 22 Hornets, 222 Rem's, 223 Rems and 22-250s. Done lots of fire forming of cases also. I've also measured the psi of numerous 22 Hornet loads. Wonder if they realize it takes 7,000 - 9,000 psi to expand the brass to fire form it correctly? That's a bit much to put behind a .22 cal pellet...........a cast bullet such as a 225438 with a normal 22 Hornet "starting load" powder charge will do a lot better, fire form the cases well to the K-Hornet chamber and you'll get some fun shooting out of your "fire forming" loads.

Larry Gibson

[bearcove]

I shot pellets with just primer in 22 hornet. Hornet brass is thin but most FF loads I use are full power starting loads.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Pellet selection important. Long ago I had some pellets simply blow-thru, leaving a ring of lead in the bore.

[Geezer in NH]

Pellet selection important. Long ago I had some pellets simply blow-thru, leaving a ring of lead in the bore.

Load them to have the hollow base forward like a super hollow point? For leading use BLL on them.

[reed1911]

I never had the skirts blown off but I did get significant leading which was where I stopped. Obviously it happens so it is yet another reason not to mess with it.

[BAGTIC]

If a quarter sheet of toilet paper ahead of Red Dot will fire form a case it should not take much resistance.

[Hogpost]

I have always shot my fire-forming loads straight up, rather than horizontally, and thus for safety's sake I cannot use a hard slug. Generally, it's a wax plug slightly compressed over Cream of Wheat. The reason for vertical firing is to assure concentric expansion: unless the unformed case is a snug fit in the chamber already, it can/will rest with the neck on the bottom of the chamber, leaving most of the air gap for expanding into on the top. The result of horizontal firing is an asymmetric shoulder at best, and a guppy-belly body at worst. When fired vertically, the case rests flat on its head, parallel to the chamber & bore, resulting in (in my experience) concentric fired cases.

Of course, all my fire-forming is large-caliber black powder, with LOTS of expansion, such as 45-90 into 11.7mm Danish. Would this all be less of a problem with something as tiny as 22 Hornet? I'm always ready to learn...

[Houndog]

It might be like comparing Apples to Oranges but when I expand 200 Russian to 6PPC I simply resize the neck of the 220 Russian brass, fill the case with something like IMR 4895 (slow for the case to bore size), use my cull bullets and fire them in an old barrel with the neck opened up to .003 over the loaded round size. The cases come out perfectly formed and you would be surprized how accurate these fireforming loads can be! I've NEVER lost a case doing them this way and the cases are more concentric than I get using some other method.

If I were doing something like a 22 Hornet to a k Hornet, I'd simply load a middle of the road standard Hornet load and fireform them in the K Hornet chamber.

If you are doing something that requires blowing the shoulder forward, BE SURE to jam the bulled HARD into the lands of your fireforming round to prevent cases from thinning at the web.

Hope this helps.