Rimfire hard to find 22 cal centerfire a better option?

[Bullshop]

Attachment 68115

This is one of the targets I shot with the 221 yesterday. It is with the 62gn NOE. Ibelieve this was the first 22 cal done by Swede.
The load was 7gn Blue Dot with the RP 6 1/2 primer. Distance is 100 yards.

[yotatrd4x4]

Nice little caliber. I had a encore in 221 fireball. It was a custom shop 10 inch barrel but I let it go cause all I had was pistol barrels and wanted a rifle setup instead. I have had a bunch of AR rifles but dont want to go that route with prices right now and me not being able to find the parts I want to build one. I may just go simple with a stevens or a handi if the price is right. I think I will go 223 for simple logistics. thanks for the load data for 223 I think it will work just fine for my needs and I may let one of my 22lr setups go to pay for it.

[jh45gun]

Why buy a new gun if you have an other caliber say a 30 caliber that you cast for already. Just load that down. Hole might be a bit bigger but it should work fine.

[Swamp Man]

Why even worry about anything else in 22 line? Either 22lr will come back in stock and be easy enough to get at a reasonable price or all shooting supplies will dry up and you won't be able to reload.

[acemedic13]

With the mass availability of 22lr shot-shell ammo around, im surprised nobody on here is casting heeled boolits, making a die set,pulling down the round and reloading the shot-shell ammo with them. Thus making 22lr boolits. Where's BT, Bullshop, Larry, and Bruce on this?? Those guys usually have all the answers to these "problems".

[acemedic13]

I had the same idea on the 22 centerfire thing a long time back. I have a 218 bee and 300 pieces of brass. 200 new and 100 older. It works perfect in place of the 22 lr. It does real work on small stuff and does decent on deer and pigs. With the latter game needing to be at 75 yards or thereabouts and shot placement being more critical, but...... It does the business within that range

[357maximum]

Why even worry about anything else in 22 line? Either 22lr will come back in stock and be easy enough to get at a reasonable price or all shooting supplies will dry up and you won't be able to reload.

Throwing common sense at a senseless situation....how dare you....you are going to ruin all the speculative fun.

Personally I just hoard a lifetime supply of 22 and I smile everytime I walk by the shelves. I am persuing the .32 "rook" "bunny gun" angle....just for the shins/giggles/ and fun factor though. 500 brand new pieces of 32Long starline brass should last me longer than the time I have.....especially if I never get the gun finished.

[Swamp Man]

Throwing common sense at a senseless situation....how dare you....you are going to ruin all the speculative fun.

Personally I just hoard a lifetime supply of 22 and I smile everytime I walk by the shelves. I am persuing the .32 "rook" "bunny gun" angle....just for the shins/giggles/ and fun factor though. 500 brand new pieces of 32Long starline brass should last me longer than the time I have.....especially if I never get the gun finished.

LMAO! Smiling setting on my stash of 22lr ammo.

[Hickory]

Bullshop; Please explain the below statement.
Not trying start anything, but I think you must
be one heck of a man to rely on a 32 (mag) in
bear country. I think something larger might be in order.

I mostly carry the 22 but when I go into bear country and need real power I take the 32.

r

[Bullshop]

99% humor

[NoZombies]

I am persuing the .32 "rook" "bunny gun" angle....

Do this, you won't regret it at all. I LOVE my .32 rifles!

[Hickory]

I thought so.

[jcwit]

I decided to go with a .222 Rem over the .223 Rem as it has a longer cast boolit friendly neck, and 12-14 twist ...

My Remington 700 VLS in .223 came with a 1 in 12" twist.

[Bullshop]

Now days you can buy a 223 in anything from 1/7" to 1/14". When I was a young man there were no choices 22 cf was 1/14". The first sporting rifle I know of to come out with a faster twist was Ruger with a 1/9" in the mini 14 and in the #3 in 223. I hunted coyotes quite a bit with a #3 Ruger and the 69gn Sierra.
I will have to back up a bit on that first statment as way back when I was starting in coyote hunting I did use a Styer model-L chambered for the 5.6x57 RWS and it had a 1/8" twist or the metric equivilent. It was a Euro rifle though chambered for a Euro cartridge. They used that cartridge over there for deer and the factory ammo was loaded with 90gn bullets. Darn nice rifle too!

[Green Lizzard]

22 hornet 56 gr lyman aa1680 2200 fps,same bullet without cc unq 1200fps t/c carbine

[GabbyM]

Really enjoy my 223 cast boolits from my Rem 700 1/12" twist barrel. It actually leaves a 22 rim fire magnum in the dust. My current load is running 2123 fps with a near 60 grain Lyman #225646. It's a 200 yard plinker that's accurate enough to hit a squirrel at 100 yards. My Rem 700 V has a 6 1/2 x 24 scope with target knobs. I just write the scope settings on the cast boolit ammo boxes.

[xacex]

I wish Armscor would SAMI the 22TCM. That looks like a nice, light 22 round with some umph if you need it. A 22 TCM revolver, or rifle, anything really. A modern 22 hornet if you will made from 223 brass.

[chirodr1]

I vote for the 223. The two Kimber 22 hornets I have took considerable load development before I found an acceptable load with J-word bullets. I am pretty new to boolit casting but it would seem that cast boolits would be even harder to get to shoot well in the hornet.

[yotatrd4x4]

I see alot of good info here. I understand the whole stocking up but its hard for me to stockpile since Im Active Duty Air Force and cant ship ammo when I move. I have to hand carry all my powder, primers, loaded ammo etc. Its a pain right now because Im in Alaska where things are scare at the moment and when I PCS in 3 years I have to only take what Im allowed to take thru Canada which is a pain also. I have a good bit of 22 but as I said I would like to stick with another varmint caliber thats easy for my little man too shoot. I also want to have a reloadable cartridge because I have and can get plenty of brass, primers and powder right now to stock up on. Right now you cant find 22lr. So even if things do go south and we cant find anything i would already have brass, primers, powder for a 22 centerfire plus a bunch of pistol powders to make light loads. If you have say 5000 primers and 5lbs of powder or more and a good bit of brass I would be set for the rest of my life and be able to pass whats left to my son even if things go away. If I have no 22lr because we shot it all and cant reload or stockpile it then in the end we have nothing. Does that make sense?

I still am on the side of selling off a 22LR and picking up a 223. Seems to be the most reasonable approach right now. I do like the smaller cases like the hornet and CCM and the TCM but those are not gonna be abundant all over like the 223 is.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

The "Accurate Reloading" forum has low velocity loads for the .222 and the .223 listed in the data section with many reduced loads using powders like green dot, blue dot, etc. which show some phenominal accuracy possibilities. From a very good 45 or 50 grain reduced load @2000fps, it is easy to work your way into boolit loads. They are good.

I have such j bullet loads for both calibers using many times fired cases that are very accurate. If you have a mildot scope chances are that one of the dots will be on at 100 yards. Great for a CZ sporter of some type or the equivalent rifle. I figure 3 cents each for powder and pills, based on old stock prices, and that has been cheaper than 22M for quite a while. 22 boolit casting is tedious for me but that is a valid option still if required....in a rifle.

If LR is simply not available there is no other practical way to shoot some guns, so save the LR for the pistols where the crunch will fall and economize with the reduced rifle loads and some of your regular components assisted by boolits

BvT