I’ve described using bolt shims to reduce flyers out of my 22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire (WMR) target rifle.
While it helped, that rifle still doesn’t shoot as well as my highly modified Ruger 22 LR, or even my bone stock Tikka 17 HMR.
Maybe it’s the ammunition.
Competitors know you can find consistent, match-grade 22 LR ammunition–and even test different lots of it–to tweak performance in your rifle.
And although it wasn’t developed as a competition cartridge, 17 HMR is noticeably more accurate than 22 WMR, too. 17 HMR bullets have a higher ballistic coefficient, so are less affected by wind–and they’re faster.
More to the point, unlike the venerable 22 magnum, 17 HMR ammo–and the rifles chambered for it–benefit from modern, precision manufacturing.
Unfortunately–and despite the recent appearance of quality offerings–the internet consensus is that there’s still no such thing as precision 22 magnum ammunition.
Acceptance…
There’s a lot to like about the 22 magnum. Developed in 1959, it outlasted numerous competitors for the title of hardest-hitting rimfire (except possibly for the 17 WSM, which is increasingly difficult to find).
It’s an excellent choice for plinking or hunting small game, and is even a borderline candidate for self-defense.
But every time you shoot paper targets you’re reminded that it’s just not consistently accurate beyond 50 yards–limiting its usefulness as a bridge cartridge between 22 LR and, say, a centerfire .223.
There are thousands of old 22 magnum rifles (and revolvers) out there, so it’s hard to make a business case for upgrading production lines to produce match-capable 22 WMR ammunition that may not shoot any better in those firearms, anyway.
If this were a centerfire cartridge, you could load your own ammunition and find what shoots best in your gun. But since it’s a rimfire, I guess we’ll just have to accept this fine old cartridge for what it is, warts and all.
…or Denial
Unfortunately, I lack the patience for that.
For example, I grew frustrated while developing loads for my 30-30: although I have a great rifle and up-to-date reloading components, I just couldn’t get it to consistently shoot better than 1.5 MOA at 100 yards. It was maddening.
To be fair, the 30-30 was designed in 1894.
It’s a great cowboy gun that still enjoys a loyal following among hunters, particularly in eastern woods where close-in shots are the norm.
After sulking awhile, I accepted that my 30-30 was a utility rifle–and a link to our storied past–rather than a precision platform.
But I wasn’t happy about it.
So when I began wringing out the 22 magnum, which is a spring chicken compared to the 30-30 (heck, it’s barely older than I am), I was even less willing to accept subpar accuracy.
I upgraded my rifle, and experimented until I found the ammunition it liked best. But except for the occasional lucky sub-MOA group, it still tended to shoot like a 30-30.
Although I was tempted, I decided not to invest in an expensive, high-end rifle–not if ammunition was still going to be the limiting factor.
This is where a sensible person says “well, if you want bitty groups at 100 yards, shoot your 17 HMR. Or better yet, one of your centerfire rifles.”
What a sensible person does NOT do is…
No!! Absolutely DO NOT try this at home!!
…tinker with rimfire ammunition.
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I was vaguely aware that you could, theoretically, reload rimfire ammunition. However, I never thought it was worth the effort: if you’re worried about running out come the apocalypse, just stockpile extra.
Still, turns out there are kits available to reprime and reload your rimfire brass. You carefully mix priming compound from the provided envelopes, wet it with acetone, pack it evenly into the rim of the cases, then let it dry.
My experience shooting cheap 22 LR has taught me that this is easier said than done. It’s not uncommon for a bargain round to misfire due to gaps in the primer, but if you rotate the cartridge (so the firing pin hits a different spot), it works.
(Or not).
The kit also includes a mold so you can cast your own 40 grain bullets, which you then load over small powder charges. The instructions provide recommendations for several brands.
You crimp the cast bullets into place with a provided tool.
However, I wasn’t interested in casting homemade bullets: I wanted fancy precision bullets that shoot better than the factory stuff.
Then I happened upon a YouTube video made by a man down under who shared similar goals, and had actually taken steps to that end.
I was intrigued.
I’m serious–this is a REALLY bad idea
He experimented with various approaches before deciding to remove the factory bullets from 22 WMR rounds and replace them with something more aerodynamic. In the process he discovered that adding a uniform crimp helped every load he tried–including factory ammunition.
An additional step he tried, but discarded, was removing the factory powder from numerous cartridges, weighing the charges to find an average, then decanting that exact amount back into each before seating the new bullets. He found that factory powder charges were fairly consistent and didn’t justify the extra effort.
Look, here’s why this is all a terrible idea: first, remember how rimfire cartridges work.
The brass surrounding the primer compound is thin, by design, so that it can be easily crushed by the firing pin.
That thin brass can just as easily be crushed–setting off the priming compound and in turn, the powder charge–by the shell holder in your reloading press.
But even assuming you don’t detonate the round while attempting to replace the factory bullet, you’re still faced with another challenge: how not to exceed a safe pressure level (one that won’t blow up your firearm, or you, or bystanders) when you shoot it.
Since there’s no official loading data published for the 22 magnum (other than for the Sharp Shooter cast bullets mentioned above), you have no way of knowing whether your chosen powder charge will exceed the 24,000 psi SAAMI maximum.
Admittedly, 24K psi is only half the pressure of a centerfire round, but if you’ve ever had a 22 fire out of battery, you know that’s more than enough to get your attention.
Even if you stay with the original factory charge–using the original factory (mystery) powder–you can still cause dangerous pressure increases by loading a heavier bullet than the original.
And even if you load the same weight bullet as the original, you can still cause a dangerous pressure spike by seating it deeper into the case–perhaps in an attempt to get the reloaded cartridge back down to 22 WMR magazine length–or conversely, by seating it into the lands.
A thought experiment
Were I to attempt this project, I’d work to mitigate the risks mentioned above.
Most of the intrepid internet adventurers who pulled 22 magnum bullets used the same basic technique: with no die in the press, put the shell holder on an extension so the bullet sticks up through the opening far enough for you to grab it.
Once you have a firm hold on the bullet, carefully lower the press ram, drawing the bullet from the case.
It seems to me this is the best way to go about it. Clearly you don’t want to use an inertial “hammer” type bullet puller for this operation. Not with live priming compound in the brass…
You could use a collet puller, but although I use one for all of my other bullet pulling chores, I thought in this case a pair of channel-lock (“groove joint”) pliers would be easier to manage.
I also stole an idea I found on an internet forum: one contributor drilled through a spent 45 ACP brass case so that he could fit a 22 WMR case into the hole (base diameter of 22 magnum brass is .2455″, so a “D” sized drill bit will work).
He then “stepped” the hole by drilling partway into the case with a larger bit. This allows the rim of the 22 WMR case (.2940″ diameter; “M” sized bit) to be recessed below the surface of the 45 brass, much like a centerfire primer.
He then placed the 45 case and 22 magnum round into a 45 ACP shell holder. The 22 WMR primer is now surrounded and protected by brass, so it’s slightly less likely to be set off while the bullet is being pulled.
While building a mockup of this contraption I discovered that the hole in the bottom of a 45 ACP shell holder is larger than the rim of a 22 magnum case.
Your 22 magnum round will fall through the 45 case, through the shell holder, and onto the floor unless you cut a shim, like this one, to support it.
I’d load up on the protective gear before starting: face shield, eye protection, gloves, etc.
Remember, if you try this, you’re likely to be exposed to an exploding 22 magnum cartridge. Dress accordingly.
Barring sudden loud noises, the next steps would be to discard the mangled factory bullet, remove the case from the press, then decant the factory powder charge.
You could then lay the groundwork for consistent neck tension by use of an appropriately-sized expander mandrel. These are usually mounted inside a die, but in this case the corresponding die is too long for a 22 magnum case.
Since the die wouldn’t work, I initially used this Rube Goldberg arrangement on the press to expand 22 WMR case necks.
Remember, the case rim still contains live priming compound, so don’t jam the mandrel all the way in.
I checked to see if my ad hoc expander had pulled the cases out of true.
They were fine.
It eventually occurred to me that the original factory bullets had probably already done an adequate job of expanding the case necks, so I dismantled my ridiculous, jury-rigged setup.
(We will never speak of this again).
I did chamfer the insides of the cases to make seating the new bullets easier. After pouring factory powder back into the cases, we’re ready to seat bullets.
Having decided to stick with the same weight bullet as the original, I ordered these.
They should work in my 1:14″ barrel, although they’ll be moving much more slowly than their designers intended. If I had a slower twist barrel (i.e., 1:16″), I’d go with 40 grain bullets, using 40 grain factory loads as donors.
(I tried both)
You can’t buy a 22 WMR seating die, but you can buy one that works: 22 Hornet is a bottle-neck cartridge (see below) but the case neck–the part that extends furthest into the seating die–is the same size as a 22 magnum. For my experiment I ordered an reasonably-priced RCBS seater.
Since the average 50 grain factory bullet in our experiment is 0.536″ long, loaded to a cartridge overall length of 1.341″, an equivalent case volume for the Sierra replacement (0.659″ long”) would result in a 1.464″ COAL.
For those of you who’ve ignored my repeated warnings NOT TO TRY THIS AT HOME: remember that while your seating die is mashing the new bullet into its case, the primer-filled rim is resting on a steel shell holder.
I think these next couple of steps carry the greatest risk of accidental detonation: if you’d prefer to avoid serious injury, I recommend having an assistant perform them while you supervise from a safe distance.
Via webcam, if possible.
By the way, I found that a 25 ACP shell holder (RCBS #29) fits 22 magnum brass.
The RCBS 22 Hornet die seated the Sierra bullets consistently. Concentricity and seating depth were well within my usual bolt gun tolerances.
I backed the seating die body out enough so the roll crimp wouldn’t engage, and used a Lee Factory Crimp Die instead.
I like these Lee Factory Crimp Dies for pistol and AR loads because they help provide consistent neck tension, improving accuracy in those platforms without adding excessive pressure.
I don’t usually crimp bullets for my bolt guns, but the YouTube experimenter said it helped him achieve more consistent velocities. I figured it would hold the bullets more securely in this thin rimfire brass, as well.
Naturally, Lee doesn’t sell crimp dies for 22 WMR: even if there were a market for them, the company is no doubt averse to lawsuits leveled by people who hurt themselves doing stupid stuff.
However, it turns out that the 22 TCM Factory Crimp Die works on 22 magnum (if you back it out a little to allow for the slightly longer case).
My resulting dummy round is about an eighth of an inch longer than SAAMI specs: it won’t load in a magazine, but it chambers–and ejects–in my rifle. Given the faint scratches I saw, the bullet was in the lands but not excessively jammed.
The concern here, of course, is how big of a pressure spike you’ll get from seating these bullets into the lands.
I think it would be safer to seat the bullet .010″ off the lands and to reduce the initial powder charge by half a grain–about 10%–to compensate for the reduced case volume.
But you’ll still probably blow your gun up. And shoot your eye out.
Just saying.
Dreams of Accuracy…
If you survived this far, you’d doubtless want to shoot the reloaded bullets over a chronograph, looking for big jumps in speed over factory loads–indicating excessive pressure–and inspecting the fired brass carefully for damage.
Assuming your gun didn’t explode and the bullets didn’t tumble, you could then cautiously add powder in tiny (0.1-0.2 grain) increments in hopes of finding better speed and accuracy. Given the small charges involved, you could use a pistol powder metering insert along with a trickler–or just a trickler by itself.
If you have a good barrel mounted to a good receiver, bedded in a good stock, with a good trigger, etc., then accurized 22 magnum ammo might just make a difference.
Maybe there’s a niche out there for someone to start producing some.
Hell, I’D buy it.
It might even justify saving up for that fancy, high-dollar rifle.
…and the Reality
While it’s possible that you could see improvement in 22 magnum accuracy by tinkering, it takes a huge amount of work–some of it hazardous, even VERY hazardous.
I found that using ad hoc reloading components, equipment, and procedures introduces a lot of variables (i.e., errors–and those errors can stack).
And though factory 22 magnum ammunition may not be anything to write home about, I was unable to improve on it–at least not consistently (probably because I was afraid of blowing myself up).
Even assuming your “improved” ammo is perfect–a rash assumption!–your gun may not be up to the challenge. Many–most?–22 WMR rifle chambers are bored loosely (so they can shoot anything you feed them). Precision 22 magnum chambers are few and far between.
Besides, all this work sort of defeats the purpose of shooting a rimfire: you buy a box of (relatively) inexpensive ammo, load it into your gun and go shoot. No collecting brass, no case prep, no testing components, etc., etc.
If you can’t make yourself accept the 22 magnum for what it is–at least until someone develops match-grade ammunition for it–then maybe it’s time to consider a different cartridge.
You could, for example, upgrade to a 22 Hornet: better ballistics and accuracy, and lots of proven reloading techniques. Besides, if you’ve been following along so far you already have a set of 22 Hornet dies and some leftover bullets.
(if not, I know where you can get some, cheap)