This gets more interesting with each contribution and educational to boot. Having spent several days hopping around cyberspace on the quest I find several things of note. There is hardly a shooting forum out there that does not have substantial discussion in the archives on the topic. Will throw a couple of thoughts out for consideration and see where it leads.
Every cartridge serves a purpose, a niche sometimes larger here and smaller there. No need to illustrate it really, but there are a lot more .243 Winchesters afield than .460 Weatherbys, etc, etc. I've no doubt the .22 RF is the largest segment in production over the scope of the marketplace.
Gnoahhh just reiterated a valid point regarding the direction I'm headed....SV .22 RF equivalency that can be reloaded. I don't care necessarily that it be .22 caliber, but I do look at the playing field and see potential success defined by the ease by which something like this might hit the market. I note that a vast supply of .310" diameter buckshot is out there, and recognize the potential for folks to fiddle with such things such as a ".30 VD" roundball load.
When I did the cost calcs on the OP I was looking at current costs for available components and materials, AND the fact that such things might be available when other supplies were not, such as .22 RF ammo as recently experienced. I've not bought any .22 LR or Short ammo in years other than a chance purchase of Norma Tac about 3 years ago. I don't shoot it much and that is tempered by the recent shortages. I do shoot a lot however. That begs the question is such circumstances, what am I going to shoot? Availability notwithstanding, the cost of reloading anything has spiraled upward in recent years by significant degree. As example I've seen bullets suitable for the .416 Rigby "on sale" for $3/piece quite recently. Why bother with that when the dreaded CB short will cap a hog easy enough?
I have played the reduced load/cat sneeze game like most here and while it works, I've seldom seen it work with aplomb. Good enough for a pest? Yes. Good enough to brag about? Not so much or very often. Been there with the Hornet, .25-20 Win, .30-30, .38 Special, .44 Mag and so forth. Problem at hand for the most part, assuming that fine accuracy/precision is desired, is a complementary load density for the objectives at hand. There have been a number of small capacity .22 cartridges introduced in my life, some have been successful, most not so much. They have focused on velocity realms in the range of the .22 Hornet and upwards. Fairly stiff competition if one is going for a bit of snap in the velocity spectrum, no?
So, how does the world turn with .22 RF guns? Price a brick of .22 short ammo these days, or perhaps a brick of high quality LR match ammo. Uh...."gasp" comes to mind. Yesterday, on sale, CCI CB Shorts were available (for the first time in awhile) at around $12/box of 100. Ho Li Gasp'nmoan. Will it always be like this? Probably not. Do we need to be cornered like this in the future? No.
Here's a premise I've based my inquiry on: If anything is worth doing, it is worth doing correctly. That would mean putting all shots in the X-ring in a metaphorical sense. Nothing is perfect for all applications, but reasonable goals can be met or exceeded. Conceptually the .22 rimfire is a stroke of genius, but it has baggage. The heeled bullet is one aspect and high precision is a demanding pursuit. Mass production introduces variables which confound the pursuit, and if one is intent upon high precision with the cartridge, it is not cheap in any regard.
So, how does one segway into a new market niche with success? I'm not perfectly certain on this, but have a few thoughts. Accept for the moment that gun cranks are often capable of producing superior ammo to the manufacturer given and opportunity to do so. There are folks out there disassembling .22 LR ammo, rebuilding it and shooting remarkably well with both smokeless and black powder. It's a hobby pursuit, it is time consuming and something that stems from the "I can do better" mentality. What they are NOT doing is reinventing the wheel. Col. Askins' modification of the 5.75 VD into a spec .22 RF equivalent is an example. He won a national match in the end by doing so. He used a .22 RF gun that was slightly modified, converting it to CF configuration, case closed. He spent considerable effort in modifying the VD case to make it work, but in the end it worked within the framework of existing components and platforms.
I am not caliber allergic and have no vested interest in one over the other except as a matter of practicality. I was thinking ".224" bullets" when this started, but give it a thought or two. Do I/you want to invest the time in forming cases and modifying guns and so forth? Not so much. I'm looking for a straight path to create a reloadable .22 RF alternative for reasons previously stated. Here's what might work: A .22 LR equivalent case, CF primed, that uses SAAMI spec diameter bullets suitable for current production .22 RF arms....without the heel. We are talking a very minor excursion of dims alteration here, most in the brass wall thickness and bullet design. At the end of the day, Ruger, Remington, Winchester et all can manufacture arms with existing tooling and provide options which enable straightforward conversion. Ammo .22 RF spec dims? Put the CF bolt in your 10/22 and rock on. change the bolt in your Savage and go shoot something. Need bullets? Hornady has been selling swagged lead bullets all my life.
I can do it in my own way because I have a single shot rifle. Simple action alteration makes it optional for many. It is a marketing suggestion as much as anything. Sort of like having a revolver which shoots the LR and WMR, though it will shoot better because cartridge dims are compatible.
I'm doing a variation of this dance with the .30 Sneezer at present and it has been quite interesting....and rewarding. My per round costs are about in the 10-12 cents/round realm at present. I cast my bullets, form the brass, load and shoot. Yesterday it lead to a .233" group of 5. Second, third and forth place were less that .6" groups of 5. Pigs have died as a result.
Thanks for joining the discussion, I think the idea is worthy on large scale and certainly doable at a lower level. BTW, BACO has VD brass available....at about $2.50/case.
