By Tom McHale
This is a review of the Reloading 22LR kits from AMG : https://22lrreloader.com/store/
USA -(Ammoland.com)- If one of the following things ever happen, you’ll be really glad you read the following article:
Zombies escape their TV and movie confines and start munching on what few and far between brains there still are in the real world.
Simultaneous fires in the iPhone and xBox factories plunge humanity into global rioting.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton team up to create the weirdest presidential ticket ever, and rumors of an all-Kardashian cabinet send civilization as we know it over the precipice.
Hey, statistically, one of these things is bound to happen. It’s only a matter of time, and when it does, I’m thinking .22LR ammo will be the new basis currency, not to mention the primary means of squirrel shopping.
As an avid reloader, I’ve told people about a thousand times that you can’t reload .22 ammunition.
Technically, I know you can, but it’s always been one of those things that just seemed like a whole lot of trouble. Unlike centerfire ammunition like 9mm, .45 ACP and .308, there is no removable primer that you can simply replace. That’s important as it’s the primer that converts the kinetic energy of the firing pin strike into a small explosion that ignites the powder charge. Rather, .22LR cartridge cases have a narrow little gap in the inside of the case rim. Manufacturers magically squeeze a little bit of priming compound into this tiny space so that when a .22 gun strikes the very edge of the case rim, the priming compound explodes and ignites the powder charge. After the shot, the priming compound is all burned up, and there’s a dent in the cartridge case from the firing pin strike.
AMG 22LR Reloader
I recently got my hands on a little kit from AMG (22Reloader.com) or ( amgsporting.com/22lr-reloader/ ) that gives you the tools, and more importantly, instructions you need to reload .22LR ammunition. The basic kit includes a few simple tools that will help you turn those spent cases back into functional ammo. A pliers-like tool serves dual duty as a bullet mold and crimping tool to make sure your new bullet stays in place once reloaded. A small wire tamper and scraper helps you remove old priming compound residue from the spent case and pack new material in there. An eyedropper and funnel help you liquify the replacement priming compound so it can work its way into the case rim and charge the cases with powder. The company offers extra kits and accessories like priming compound ingredients and a resizing die that fits a standard reloading press. We’ll get more into that in a minute.
So I decided to get all survivalist and take a shot at making my own .22LR ammo from scratch…
The secret to Reloading 22LR Ammo is in the priming
The company provides a priming kit consisting of four mysterious powders with cryptic names like “L2”, “L”, and two bags both marked “S”. Mix these together in the right proportions with the enclosed measuring scoop and you have your own priming compound. Be careful, though, when you’re mixing it dry, too much pressure can set it off. After all, that’s what is supposed to happen. As soon as the four powders are blended into a light gray mix, you drop 1/3 of a small scoop into each .22LR cartridge case.
Using the company’s priming compound is the easy and most reliable method, but you can make priming compound out of other everyday stuff too. When the world ends and Zombie’s rule, you won’t be able to mail order the AMG priming powder kit anyway, so you’ll need to find a way to improvise. Fortunately, you can make priming compound at home using some inconventional supplies like caps, strike anywhere match heads and the contents of those little party poppers you throw on the ground.
In addition to testing the company provided priming compound, I decided to try making my own using caps that I picked up at Wal-Mart. You can use those plastic cup type or the rolls of paper caps for toy guns. I elected to try my luck with the paper caps.
Using the included AMG packer / scraper tool, you can gently scrape the “make the cap go bang” material and collect it. With the wimpy new caps on the market, you’ll need the guts from eight or ten to get enough priming compound material for a single .22LR cartridge. Oh, don’t get all efficient and collect a big pile all at once. The odds of you setting off one of the caps with the scraper are 15 thousand percent, and that will burn up the pile of material you’ve worked so hard to collect. Ask me how I know…?
Next you’ll add a little liquid. This will help the compound work its way into the nooks and crannies of the cartridge rim and make it inert, so you can pack it into place without blowing anything up. The plan is that you let everything dry thoroughly before moving on to future steps. If you use something that evaporates quickly, like acetone or vodka, the process will be faster.
Oh, one more thing. Read all the instructions carefully. The first step before priming is to scrape all the old primer residue out of the cartridge cases or else they won’t work. Ask me how I know that one too…?
Casting your boollits – Reload .22LR Ammo
Since we’re in survival mode, we can’t assume there are stores that are open to sell .22 caliber projectiles, so we’re going to make our own. Besides, that’s why the AMG includes a casting mold with the. The mold makes two bullets per cast, with one being a 25-grain solid point and the other being a 38-grain round nose.
Sticking with my wilderness plan, I opted not to do anything wimpy like buying lead or using an official casting furnace. I wanted to see if I could do this by scrounging everyday stuff. First, I went to Wal-Mart and invested $4.97 in a stainless steel ashtray for my melting pot. When the world ends, you’ll be able to get one free as the looters before you probably won’t steal these. Then, I dug some fired bullets out of the berm at my local range, mostly jacketed ones, but I did find a few all lead projectiles. You could also scrounge lead from other sources like wheel weights on abandoned cars. I tossed my bullets, jackets and all, into my ashtray melting pot and applied heat from a hand-held blow torch.
Yeah, I cheated with the heat source, but only because my wife frowned on my plan of building a wood fire in the garage.
Within just a couple of minutes, the lead melted out of the busted up copper jackets, and I was able to scoop off the unnecessary grunge using a teaspoon I stole from the kitchen. After a few practice runs, I was able to get pretty decent cast bullets.
Loading the cartridges – Reload .22LR Ammo
Cases are primed and dried, bullets are cast, so now it’s time to finish some completed cartridges. The instructions provided by AMG gives you some powder charge guidelines for a few different smokeless gun powder brands, but you can also use fine black powder or substitute like Pyrodex.
In a real crunch, you could use more cap and priming material, but that would be a total end of times desperation move.
Using the provided funnel, carefully measure the desired amount of powder charge in each case. The .22LR bullets will drop right in, but need to be crimped using the bullet casting mold tool. There’s a cut forward of the two bullet molds for that purpose. You can roll your projectiles around in a little bit of lubricant if you like, but it’s not necessary. Just know that if you fire unlubed bullets, you’ll need to clean your gun a bit more often as lead will accumulate.
So…??
Can you make your own .22LR ammo from scrounged up stuff? Yes, you can!
Is it worth it? If you don’t have a choice, it’s absolutely worth the trouble. However, the process is slow and tedious, so you’re not going to want to do this to save five or ten cents per round.
As with any DIY project, there are some learnings:
- Be sure to clean the cartridge cases first, especially the interior rim area.
- Be equally sure to let your priming compound dry completely before loading powder and crimping a bullet.
- Check your brass to make sure it will fit in your chamber. The company makes a resizing die that will solve this problem if you want to get fancy and make all your brass pickups functional.
- As far as the firing pin dent on spent brass, you can try to poke it out with a small screwdriver, or you can just load the cartridge so the firing pin will strike in a different spot. That’s what I did.
All in all, this was a pretty enlightening project. The product does what it says, and the instructions are clear as long as you actually read them. Check it out at https://22lrreloader.com/store/ !
Here is AMG 22LR inventor explaining the process in this short video:
About
Tom McHale is the author of the Insanely Practical Guides book series that guides new and experienced shooters alike in a fun, approachable, and practical way. His books are available in print and eBook format on Amazon. You can also find him on Google+, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
just wondering do you ship to Canada? I’m interested in getting your .22 rimfire reloading kit and supplies to reload Thanks
This kit really works, and works well. It is not a thing that you do real FAST, but do as you are setting around. Also, this company has dies and shell holders for both 22 long rifle and 22 mag shells. They also make a muzzleloader cap maker for no. 11 caps, prime with the same priming compound. I tried the capper, made and primed the caps ,let set for 24 hours, used on my 54 cal hawked, just as good as CCI caps.
Interestingly enough, not too much has been said from someone who has tried this, though plenty has been said about from folks who won’t. Lets face it, if practicality and/or convenience is your god, you’re gonna find it unholy. But if the idea intrigues you, its your money and your time. Kind of like drinking beer, watching sports, or watching TV; not much to gain, but people enjoy it and are willing to spend a lot of time and money in that pursuit, even though they don’t always get what they want. Obviously there are a lot of alternatives available,… Read more »
Why would anyone hoard .22 ammo? After reading this article it becomes apparent why. WHO wants to spend hours and hours reloading 50 rounds of .22 ammo when you can “hoard” a few hundred for $40 bucks? Seriously? And to top it off, if he is right, ammo, all ammo will become the new currency when the fall comes down the road. And as for zombies munching brains? Good luck to that. About 1% of the American public HAS any brains to munch. Deduct the author from the 1%.
This article gives hope that someone will recognize the desire among collectors for shootable larger caliber rimfire rounds. .32 and .41 have been made in Brazil, but .25 Stevens, which used to be made in Canada, is no longer offered. As far as I know, .30, .38, .41, and .44 have never been offered by anyone. If the brass were available, I, and I imagine many other collectors, would reload some of these calibers.
Since 1971, I’ve loaded over 480,000 rounds; all centerfire. And since I cast my own boolits, cost is about as low as it’s going to go. One very helpful thing is I bought the majority of my equipment many years ago and i take good care of it. If i started today, I’d never start. If taking the time and [extreme] “trouble” to load rimfire cartridges is your thing then good on ya. We all need a hobby, But the one guy I know who attempted this successfully, spend an inordinate an amount of time loading and very little time… Read more »
There are too many collectable guns in rimfire that can’t be shot because of the unavailability of factory ammo. I’m not going to plink with a .30 Sharps the way I would with even a .22 Sharps, but I’d like to be able to fire a couple of shots. The absence of suitable brass is the first problem at this time.
While it can be done, at what cost for the time and materials?
Time better spend reloading 9mm or .223 etc.
If is wasn’t for people hording there wouldn’t be a need to reload 22LR unless you just like to do it. All three major manufactures of 22LR are working at full capacity to meet the demands. A new plant might relieve the problem but regulations, insurance cost, and start up cost make this almost impossible. The best answer is for everyone to stop hording, buy what you want to shoot and stop stockpiling. Hording has created an artificial shortage and tripled the price. Don’t believe me, do your own research. It is your right to be a prepper but in… Read more »
@Greg C, Welcome to the site and I could not agree more. When I was a kid, if I had half a box of .22 ammunition, I was good to go. But Barry Soetoro (aka Barak Obama) was not in charge of things back then.
This is real old news and an old post. Regardless, it is insane to consider reloading .22 ammo unless you have way too much time on your hands. In a crisis you will need the powder, lead, cases, loading tools, primer compound, and the time to do this just as you would with center-fire ammo (also foolish to consider reloading in a crisis–due to logistics and supplies). Just buy ammo. and put it away if you are concerned because in a crisis you will not have the time or stuff to do a good enough job–same theory as those who… Read more »
I think the article on reloading .22 brass was written “tongue in cheek”. Besides, reloading ammo is
above my pay grade. Also, I would use up all the reloaded .22 ammo shooting beer cans, which it
my favourite sport. Shooting under the can and having it fly up in the air and try to hit again is a
blast. Just be careful where you are shooting.
ONLY .22 magnum uses a cupro_nickel jacket, because the higher velocity devoleped..-2000 fps. 22LR bullets are wax lubed!! Their velocities are below 1200 fps. Generally! & jackets are not required,,,, copper plating works.to prevent leading of the bores.
I would point out that the bullet mold is needed, because the .22 Long Rifle is the only cartridge still being made that uses a heel based, lubricated bullet. It’s also not quite .224 diameter, if I recall. Bullets made for .22 centerfire rounds will bulge the case neck and probably produce a round that won’t chamber, among other problems. A few people have asked about primer compounds. Until sometime around the turn of the last century, all primers were mercury fulminate. The main issue with this, other than the hygroscopic salts left in the barrel that cause corrosion, is… Read more »
THE reason gun barrels were pitted was early primers were potassium chlorate.(used until 1941)..mercury fulminate compound also caused brass cases to fail, – mercury softened them,(amalgam)- heads would separate,remaining case blocked the chamber- requiring an extracton tool to pull out. SOURCES: a primer on primers by alton g drury. & hatchers notebook
You Can’t be serious! I got better things to do than this very time consuming project. NO WAY!
How about a video on there accuracy?
This process might make economic sense if it could be applied to the aguila 60gr sniper subsonic round. Be able to reload that 22 short casing, and then powder coat the bullet might make it an interesting capability.
I hate to let u know this..with all your hording of shells n other stuff but I bought a brick of 22lr 5 yrs ago …I went to shoot them yesterday… well apparently if u store them in a cool dry safe for 5 years they still expire….. out of 500 rounds thru my lakefield/stevens semi only 327 went off…the rest had nice long deep pin hits yet no bang.. popped lead out and powder still burned well…Exlanations would be in order I think…Rob
I have a really good friend that worked for one of the smaller commercial powder companies for years. I distinctly remember him telling me in 2009 that they were being heavily ‘overseen’ by ATFE to address powder formulations that provided identification based on date sold (something about that they had favored some kind of ‘inert plastic micro-pellets’ being added to the powder blends), as well as a means to ‘expire’ the powder at the retail level after a given timeframe. This was during the time that ‘micro-printing’ for projectiles was also being considered. While I have never touched base with… Read more »
Yes the anti gun crowd tried to do all this. It never passed. The micro plastic beads threw off the measuring of the powder for each shell casing making the measure of each charge totally inaccurate. I believe this BS was coming from the blank mind of one Charles in charge Schumer.
The ONE video on youtube where the guy went to actually SHOOT these produced terrible results. He couldn’t get them to group at all.
OK. The only problem is knowing how to make mercury fulminate?
Precaution: Make sure you melt the lead in a well vinulated area and don’t breath in of the fumes or get it on your skin. I would use surgical gloves when handling any kind of lead and also have on a respirator when around the fumes. Fumes from lead is not good for your lungs at all and could cause cancer. Better to be over cautious. I do hand load my own .410 shells with a powder dipper and a few tools from my tool box. I don’t crimp the shell, as it is more of a problem and shells… Read more »
Why, Chuck? Chances are the Zombies will get you eventually anyway?
My big question is also—HOW DID THEY SHOOT? What was the average group size at 25 yards…how reliable were they? Did they carry well, or come apart in one’s pocket?
Thanks for the article. Creative, and thought-provoking.
KNOW THANKS
An empty tuna fish can works fine to melt the lead. You can even cut the bottom off an aluminum soda can to use to melt the lead. Tire weights make good bullets. But, if one can stash the supplies needed to reload 22lr rounds, one could just as easily stash a cache of bricks of 22. Even vacuum seal the bricks in plastic so the cache stays easy to identify as a post Zombie stash. Will 22lr kill a Zombie ?
Been shooting 22lr since I was 8 years old, and never run up against anything it couldn’t take down, zombies ???? I quess we will have to wait and see, until them ????? Let me know how you make out.
It would seem to me that a special tool could be used to remove the crimp. The end of the tool would be like a circle. However half the circumference or less would be the shape of the internal rim. It would work something like a shoe horn. Very quickly. It could be used to pry out that crimp from the firing pin. Then the resizing gear would ensure it is near spec, (take out any over bend.) Copyright 2015 Thomas Paul Murphy Copyright? For transformitive purposes, I will be posting this comment on every .22 blog, forum and video… Read more »
If someone were to machine the external profile of a “to spec” .22 case into a piece of steel, then set up a quick way to clamp it closed, you could insert 1-100 cases in the die, fill them with water and use a hydraulic ram (piece of rod + a hammer) to form the rim back to new. Alternatively, you could make a device which expanded to fill the rim when tapped and retracted via spring after each tap. OR you could use the synthetic rubber compound die-makers use to expand internal volumes. Glue it on the end of… Read more »
2500 rounds? About 5 Bulk packs (500+ rounds/per) Back in the day (15 years ago) Big 5 Sporting Goods use to have regular ‘specials’ – 500+ round bulk packs as low as $8. I always tried to snag a few – just in case. I don’t have an exact count but i must have at least 25. But that is nothing:, at age 13 I remember yhe local Western Auto sold 22lr around $1.00/50, 22 Long about 85 cents, Shorts about 70 cents. But I also remember a new Jag XKE (my dream car) was about $6500 at the same… Read more »
I have 10 boxes of Winchester Wildcat .22 LR ammo that were bought in a Dallas K-Mart in the late 1990’s. The price sticker says, “88 cents.” That is even cheaper than when I was a kid, a half century ago.
While I have enough .22 ammo stashed for most conceivable scenarios it is kind of neat to see that it is possible to load those old empty .22 cases. I just may have to stop tossing them into the “brass bucket’ for recycling.
Now we need a way to reload primers (with watchmaker’s tools?).
Wake up people. This article is NOT designed to get people to reload their own .22. This is to show that it can be done, and also what is needed if you are interested in doing it in a SHTF senario. As for me, I already have 2500 rounds cached!
Not enough. You need at least one more zero. 😉
As for me, I think I’ll give it a try … just to have the “know how” tucked in the back of my head. I was saving .22 brass to recycle, but if I can reload it faster than I shoot it, that would be good, too.
RH – If you actually read the article, you’ll see that it said exactly that. If you’re looking to say 5 or 10 cents per round, this is not your Huckleberry. Where this type of process gets used is in the bush, trappers, and plenty in other countries where things like number of rounds of ammunition of any kind are severely limited. Plus, it’s fun.
Didn’t know this was so easy to do. I actually would be far more interested in adapting this process to 25 Stevens and 32 Stevens. Those are somewhat more difficult to find than 22 lr.
Just buy yourself a small caliber center fire gun and save your fired brass. When live ammo becomes unobtainable you’ll have a supply of brass that’s a hell of a lot easier to reload and more reliable when you press the ‘bang switch’.
Ummm…I know this is trivial, but I don’t think you told us whether they fed and fired OK.
Interesting. I’ve seen this before somewhere.
$160 for the complete set of stuff.
Hmmm. That would buy 2000 rounds at $.08 per round average price these days.
Much easier if you can it!
I hope you cleaned your firearms after using fulminate of mercury. It is the reason the bore in many older weapons is found to be in very poor/pitted condition.
Many years ago back in the early 60’s a friend of mine down in South Louisiana tried his hand at reloading .22 ammo. He made the molds to cast bullets, collected empty shell casings and proceeded to experiment with reloading. His first attempt was not successful but as a WW II EOD specialist who went thru Europe and worked at Redstone arsenal after he retired from the Army. He told us that he and some of the guys he worked with had experimented with reloading .22 ammo to see if it was practical and could be done by the layman… Read more »
Never tell a redneck something can’t be done.
I agree, I’m a Jersey Red neck. Always have copped an attitude, when told, NO YOU CAN’T ! I’m not a “CC”.
I would think that you could use a common nail 6pny,8pny,10pny, what ever. Just grind the head if necessary so it fits the inside of the rim. If you put the case in the sizing die it would allow you to force the nail head into the rim using a screw driver and the nail head would fit better than almost anything else, I think so anyway. Also you could tap the nail lightly so as to take out any of the dent that remains.
I believe in the “hoarding” part but I would still get this kit and accessories as a plan “B” because you never know what will happen.
Do you make dies for 22 mag. ? Also there has to be a formula for primes? What is used inside nipple caps for black powder weapons??? It has to be something very common. Yes ? I have a die cutter That makes Musket Caps from thin sheet of brass or maybe even heavy duty aluminum Foil? But there has to be a liquid they used during the time of musket and black powder Firearms. The primers had to be made by the shooters, people could not go to a Store or town every time they needed primer caps !… Read more »
So much easier to make mercury fulminate than to screw around with matches and caps for your primer.
How long would it take to load 10,000? Every day for a year? How easy is it to buy and stash 10,000 and not have to reload any? If you shot 50 a week it would take you 4 years to deplete your stash….
Cute tool, totally impractical and unnecessary.
You should only need maybe 1-3 bullets per day if your situation is so dire you can’t obtain store-bought bullets but need to have bullets 1 way or another. Basically, the kit would be for true survivalists or perfectionists. If you need 50 .22LR shots to take down a rabbit or something for your meal, or you like wasting ammo or just having fun, you’re probably better off getting ammo from the store or buying a BB gun. Let’s be honest, if the world goes to shit, you’re going to be using .22LR for hunting small game, not self defense,… Read more »
Kenny… it appears you donot know the power of a 22lr cartridge. Up to 50 yards a 22lr can take down a deer in a pile. Sometimes maybe a kick or two but that’s it. Shoot between the eyes. Also at close range a 22lr will go into a human scull and just bounce around inside the skull. If bugging out it would be the ideal gun to take. Once you learn one shot one kill, sometimes two kills, if you line them up right. Practice makes perfect they say. when I was young 8-14 years old and not allowed… Read more »
The self defense 22LR or SHTF Aquila 60gr SSS has the juice to be effective. I use them in my 223 AR pistol with a CMMG conversion kit. You can only hear the bolt slap. Probably why the IDF uses them in Gaza. However, I was looking at the extreme concept of reloading those SSS 22 short casings. As it turns out, I have found it easier to simply remove the conversion kit and replace the original BCG and reload straight up 223 REM subsonic with a 77 grain powder coated cast bullet. A slightly louder bolt slap but harder… Read more »
With .22LR, I’ve only had experience with CCI Mini-Mags. Those rounds have a reputation for being some of the most powerful and reliable .22LR in the mainstream market. From a 3.5″ barrel and 12′ away, the bullets won’t go through 2 pieces of old and weathered ply-wood. Also won’t go through more than a few inches of home made bare 10% gel from Knox brand gelatin at 37 degrees F. Maybe a rifle would give better results, but I doubt it’d be much better and I’m not impressed with .22LR at this time. I believe .22LR would pass through 1… Read more »
The little old .22 long rifle cartilage fired from a rifle has long been used to stun (instantly drop) 500+ pound pigs and 1500 + pound cattle. Of course they are not dead and must be knifed (bled out). If let alone and not knifed they will recover somewhat but are deranged and dangerous. However the bullet does penetrate the skull and drops em every time if you can hit them in the right spot. If you can’t hit the sweet spot from fifty feet away….you should not be playing with guns as you are a danger to yourself and… Read more »
Hugh, I get that the .22LR from a rifle can “drop” or “stun” animals in the right hands, but when have you ever heard of .22LR being a popular self defense round for quickly stopping a threat? Also, I don’t play with real guns. It’s why I use mostly pistols and not rifles or carbines. I understand my limitations and don’t exceed them. My eyes simply aren’t good enough to aim so well after 18′ and I don’t like scopes. Funny, I’m actually more accurate with stock sights than I am with a Gamo or NcStar scope. I was more… Read more »
“Even at point blank, supersonic 40 grain .22LR from a pistol or revolver would barely make it’s way through a human skull, let alone cause significant brain damage.”
Is that a joke?
I shot a washing machine at close range(~20′) with standard velocity, 40gr .22lr.
The bullet went through the sheet metal front, penetrated the steel wash basket completely, and was stopped by the back of the washer, which was seriously dented.
I was amazed at the results.
Wanna volunteer as a live test subject?
A high powered BB gun can shoot through sheet metal and plastic at 20′ but still can’t penetrate more than 3″ in 10% gel. Maybe a .22LR from a rifle would do more but I found .22LR from a pistol to be lacking. Stopped by less than an inch of wood or 1 gallon of water. I wouldn’t trust .22LR from a pistol for personal defense. I would trust it for hunting small game and plinking. In a rifle the main advantage would be slightly higher MV, more stability in flight but that’s about it. Just as low capacity magazines… Read more »
Another way to uncramp the firing pin strike would be to use a process tool head somewhat like how a circle spark plug gapper works. The device is inserted into the spent brass and circular (like how a screw driver works) takes out that crimp as the gradient comes to maximum rim gap at that point on the rim. Copyright 2015 Thomas Paul Murphy
It would seem to me that a special tool could be used to remove the crimp. The end of the tool would be like a circle. However half the circumference or less would be the shape of the internal rim. It would work something like a shoe horn. Very quickly. It could be used to pry out that crimp from the firing pin. Then the resizing gear would ensure it is near spec, (take out any over bend.) Copyright 2015 Thomas Paul Murphy
Actually, a hard 8-penny carpenter’s nail (slightly groomed with the aid of a hand-file) and a soft wood surface (pine 2×4, anyone?) and you can dress the previous pin-strike right out of the brass primer pocket, Simply lay the fired brass on the pine board (on its side), place the small nail head into the case, and with a hard plastic mallet head, strike the side of the nail a couple of times. The head of the nail works like a micro pry-bar, and opens the firing pin strike point right up (except on the most extreme deep-strike points). Quickest,… Read more »
I would like to know If I can use gun powder for 223 bullet to reloading 22L cartridges
Since none of us can predict the future, actively collecting and retaining information about how to do hands-on valuable tasks like this in the absence of Walmart, Cabela’s, or Ye Olde Corner Gun Shoppe (which will be looted right after the pharmacies and before the cigs-and-beer places get hit) having this knowledge and more like it could be highly beneficial in that uncertain future. Concerning the hoard vs reload issue re: .22 rifles, my position is that rather than paying a 300% premium to hoard massive amounts of .22 ammo, which might or might not actually shoot five years from… Read more »
Mr Skeptical Joe, I own no firearms of note, I have several air rifles. Your observations , In my opinion, are dead on! A 22 cal piston air rifle can smack down a racoon, depending on distance. For those that care, air rifler shooters do not say “crack barrel” they are break barrel. (that is for others , I do not believe you used the term). The better newer systems can push a 22 cal @ 1100 fps. Mind you they are smaller, but as stated head shots work well. An air piston springer, has 2 recoils. standard in the… Read more »
Absolutely. Even the cheap .177 cal. (actually closer to .175 cal.) pellet rifles from Walmart (advertised at 1000FPS but only get around 800FPS with a traditional weight/material pellet) will kill anything a .22 Short pistol can.and with less noise, velocity and material in the projectile. A better quality .22 cal. pellet rifle might be able to compete with a .22LR pistol. A higher power .25 caliber pellet rifle, still break-barrel, might be able to compete with a .22LR rifle. Of course, I’m talking about shot/shot penetration at close range. I say those things as someone who’s had experience with air… Read more »
I have done something simular with .32RF old and obslete ammo, there are a lot of antique rifles and revolvers out there and following these directions can add a new life to a old firearm.
Just a wee point.
I continue to fire sans problemo .22 magnums that I bulk bought in 2006/7. They are stored in an issue 556 ammo box and kept in a dry cabinet in a garage, shielded from the Irish weather.
Until I fired them, I was concerned about their usability, and can honestly say thy’re absolutely good for 1 shot.!!
FYI
Kenny, Agreed. Hunting weapons that launch arrows are fairly simple to improvise and are extremely quiet. If you watch a bunch of pig-hunting videos on YouTune like I do you’ll see that actually loosing the arrow doesn’t even get a glance from hyper-wary feral pigs. They don’t scatter until the slap of the arrow arriving and the grunt or squawk of the surprised and soon-to-be-porkchopa pig startles the other animals. And provided the bow is powerful and shot well you can literally kill anything in North America with it. While no bow can match the kinetic energy of a centerfire… Read more »