As much fun as a .38 or .357 is when shooting plinker loads in a rifle, if searching for a .22 substitute those cartridges miss the point. Consumption of three times the powder and three times the amount of lead per shot is not a substitute (save perhaps in terms of the fun quotient). The closest we can get to Dan's request for a solution, in a current factory cartridge, is the .22 Hornet shooting home cast bullets over a pinch of pistol powder. Replacing cast bullets with jacketed stuff or store bought cast stuff in the Hornet defeats the purpose by increasing costs dramatically (relatively speaking).
Well, if we're looking for 22RF subs, then the logical choice for me came with the 357's I already load for, 3 revolvers. The 357 lever rifle made it easy to avoid the higher cost of 22's a couple years ago, if they could be found at all. How easy to run these through my Dillon 550 and shoot em all in any revolver and the lever. Easy peasy....and only dropping 5 grs. Not three times the powder charge. And let's not overlook the search for components is not a hunt at all.
I still got to shoot those 243 win 55's I loaded with Blue Dot.
