AmBraCol , The Center Of God's Grace
Way back in the 20th Century
Monday, February 26, 2024, 08:36

we were reloading 22 shells with the powder we scavenged from CBC Berdan shotgun primers. We found a pair of slipjoint pliers to be ideal for both carefully crushing the primers from the side to loosen the powder and also for seating a piece of shot into the mouth of the case. The shot we were using was slightly larger than the case mouth and would shave a sliver of a ring of lead off as we'd carefully seat the ball over a full case of FFFg powder. Note that the corrosive primer and FFFg powder combined to demand a THOROUGH cleaning of the rifle after shooting. Oh, and we used my cousin's full length Model 67 to launch them.

And then came the day we decided to "up our game" by using a 22 LR ratshot case and load it to the mouth with firecracker powder. Then we flipped a coin to see who would "get" to shoot it. My cousin won the toss and pretty much nailed the mark on the Brazilian hardwood board we'd designated as the target. I'd dearly love to know what kind of speed THAT load produced as the shot perforated the board from side to side - and it was hard enough you had to predrill holes for nails or they'd bend.

We learned a couple of things from that experiment.
1. Firecracker powder is even MORE corrosive than FFFg.
2. Firecracker powder delivers enough energy to give amazing penetration abilities to a simple round ball of 22 caliber.
3. Firecracker powder develops enough pressure to blow the head off of a 22 ratshot case.
4. One can slide a cleaning rod from the muzzle and push the stuck case out of the chamber.

We never repeated THAT experiment, but I did keep some of those FFFg reloads on hand for dispatching armadillos with my Rossi double barreled derringer.

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I'm a peaceful man and prefer the pursuit of peaceful sports. Those involving teams and balls of any sort tend to be deleterious to one's body and promote violence by both spectators and participants.