Reeder Custom Guns - Shooting Round Balls in the .22 Rifle

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

--
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.

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But, last time I saw you .. you had all your fingers, eyes and limbs.

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I thank God every day for His mercy and grace. I'm glad to have survived the first half century of my childhood. The second half century is going OK so far as well.

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Shooting Round Balls in the .22 Rifle

Way back in the 20th Century

You guys were pushing the envelope!

Still do! Funny you said nothing of hearing... AND