Jim Taylor
Shooting Round Balls in the .22 Rifle
Sunday, February 25, 2024, 12:13

Playing around in the shop this morning I decided to try the .22 round balls in the Model 67 Winchester. This was a full size rifle that I bought from Gary. I cut it down for my grandsons. I shortened the stock, the barrel and the forend. The barrel was about 7 or 8 feet long .. at least it looked that way for a 9 year old.

BEFORE

AFTER

Now it's so handy I shoot it as much or more than they do. The other day I used it to I pop a nice big ole Armadillo that was mining our yard.

So, I first loaded a round ball onto a primed case and shot into a 2X4 block. The little ball bounced back and whacked me in the arm. Speed was about like a BB gun.

I fired a .22 Colibri into the block and it buried flush. A second shot was the same .. flush.

So I took a case, loaded 1 grain of Bullseye and fired that into the block. The ball just about buried itself but popped back out and fell to the floor.

So I raised the powder charge to 1.5 gr. of Bullseye. The report was quiet and the ball penetrated about 1/4 inch into the wood. The report was too quiet so I loaded another but this time I tapped the ball into the case a bit. This went off with more authority and penetrated a full 1/2 inch.

Last I fired .22 Short. The bullet would have penetrated the block completely if I had fired it level. It was angled down and nearly exited.

So what did I learn? With no crimp the round ball loads can "poop" ... not ignite the powder properly. Tapping the ball lightly to seat it into the case seems to help. Other than that they are just fun to shoot.

Oh .. I did add a little grease to the nose of all loads except the .22 Short, just to help keep the bore clean. I used a grease that has some graphite in it. It works well for me.