couple new molds

About maybe two years ago maybe a little longer I found some primed 22 LR brass on gun broker. When I first found it I got it for about the same price that bricks of 22 LR ammo used to be at $10.00 per 500. I though it might be a good idea to put in a supply of them so I did. Remember 22 ammo was still hard to find and getting expensive. Watching the auctions I saw the price begin to rise steadily getting to the point where it didnt seem like a good deal any longer.
22 LR loading kits seem to have gained popularity. I started using cast gas check type bullets using the gas check shank as a heel and using those to load 22 LR primed cases. The idea worked after a fashion but there are dimensional difficulties one being the gas check shank is a bit too large in diameter and another is the bearing portion of the bullet too far forward for free chambering. In an action type that has some camming power to closing the breach they load OK but lacking the camming power like in an auto loader they just dont want to chamber.
I shot quite a bunch of them in a Stevens model 44 which does have some camming power to closing the breach and compared the handloads to a few cheaper brands of ammo and the hand loads beat out everything else tried shooting at 50 and 100 yards. I found that just as in all types of loading when the powder burn rate that nearly filled the case and generated enough chamber pressure to burn fairly clean accuracy was improved. All the factory loads I pulled had a powder volume that looked to be 50% or less. I found that powders that are usually used in magnum handgun loads to be about right for this. One of my best efforts was with a full case of IMR 4227 and our 48 grain NEI #2 bullet. I started powder coating the bullets to prevent lube in the lube grooved from being outside the case which prevented carrying ammo on my pockets. With the powder coat which acts much like the hard wax lube used on factory 22's there is no problem as with the conventional lubed bullets picking up contaminants that may harm the bore. Having a mold for bullets designed for this purpose should simplify the dimensional chambering issues. I will have to experiment with coating these and maybe have to brain storm a way to coat the bearing area but not the heel. We shall see.

So the tool bumps up the bullet diameter ? I am sizing to .223" for the 22 RF bullets but I think larger diameters may chamber in some rifles. 223 is pretty much as large as will enter my crimp die so that is what I am using. Larger diameter bullets could be seated at the shooting bench going right from the seating die to the rifles chamber without the crimp something that might be interesting to try. Loading the primed brass gives a few options to try in bullet diameter, and hardness things that can make a difference in ultimate accuracy. Lube too can make a difference but as I earlier said kind of limits field use but for target shooting loading one at a time from an ammo block is pretty standard. Its interesting at least to me to see just how accurate you can get a 22 rf to shoot. At 50 yards all the ammo I tried shot fairly well but at 100 yards the handloads out classed everything. I think that extra eight grains in the 48 grain NEI #2 I am using over the 40 grain factory helps to reduce wind deflection something that is a weak point of the slow moving light weight bullets of the 22 rf.
There is an outfit making high BC bullets for loading the 22 rf but they are expensive so I wont be trying those. NOE makes a kind of interesting bullet or I should say mold for bullets for the 22 rf it is a pointy spitzer nose shape so should help raise the BC. The mold I am waiting for is from Old West molds and is the traditional shape round nose 40 grain. I may end up at some point adding the NOE design to inventory. Having recently acquired this thoroughbred Haenel 22 rf target rifle makes it all the more interesting. The Haenel rifle is configured for off hand shooting and I will say that once you learn how to snuggle into the stock and hand rest it sure seems to smooth out a lot of the wobbles of shooting a standard sporter off hand. It can be fired off the bench too but as is no good for field use. Thats OK too because thats where the Stevens model 44 excels.

I still have my Zastava/ CZ99 which is the most accurate 22 I have ever owned.

The tool I getting is basically a die that the whole cartridge fits into and then you use an arbor press or a hammer to flatten the nose of the bullet with a punch or it also comes with a hollow point pin.

It’s mainly designed for making ammo more effective for hunting, but with flattening the nose it also bumps up the bullet diameter to what the inside of the die is so supposedly added accuracy is a side effect.

It’s quite a simple tool and would be easy to make if mine had a lathe, but I don’t so I bought the tool.