Hope you all will forgive a somewhat long winded post, but there are some interesting developments to pass along.

First item I will discuss is the results of Round 13 which was shaped by developments of the previous round.

3 groups of 5 loads preceded by Norma Tac with followup at the end with Wolf MT. The reason for the mild charges goes to a discovery during the priming of the cases. If you recall during the previous round I loaded 1.0 grains of WW231 with Federal 100 primers (SPP). Purpose of the run was to compare lube types and it was somewhat unexpected to see a significant jump in velocity, ostensibly from the change of primers. Ballpark increase of 50+ fps for a given charge, and even a few good numbers on the side. I noticed when cleaning the cases that the primers appeared somewhat flattened and were noticeably more resistant to removal than the CCI SPP had been. I didn't think much about it, all seemed good.

Then I started priming the cases for this round and found that 5 would no longer hold a primer. Oops. Found the primer pockets of those rounds had expanded to .177"-.178" and the case below the web had expanded to .226"+/- a hair. The number of cases so affected correlated to the number of rounds fired that tickled or surpassed the speed of sound (~11116 fps). Sooooo, i downloaded this round with fond hopes of not replicating the occurrance.

All cases were primed with Federal 100 primers and the bullets lubed with NASA lube. There was no leading observed and all cases are usable for the next iteration. Don't know why, but the making of 4 holes with 5 shots seems to be my signature these days.

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A few points for your consideration. The group fired with Red Dot used a spiral lube groove by use of a knife. The other two were knurled with a file edge.

The velocity gain by use of the Federal primers is significant. The info below reflects the average velocity from previous rounds of the same charge first, then the velocity with Federal primers.

WW231 CCI/910 fps FED/1047 fps
700X CCI/920 fps FED/1002 fps
Red Dot CCI/944 fps FED/998 fps

The gain varied from about 50 fps to near 150 fps.

I spoke with Jimy about this and he suggested that a measure of the primer dims and cup wall thickness might be of use, before and after firing.

Unfired CCI and FED primers mic'd at .175" diameter with a cup wall thickness of .015" as best I can determine.


If you will look closely at the top row of brass (WW231 charge) you will note there is obvious flattening of the primer.

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I have no fired CCI primers on hand, but the measurements after firing for these primers showed the cup diameter held at .175" at the mid point, and .180" at what had been the radiused segment, or that which forms the intersection of primer and case head against the breech face.

The debris was once again collected from the muffler and is the result of 15 CF rounds and 10 RF rounds. Total weight was 2.8 grains...the very few larger flakes below appear consistent with RF powder residue, but I am not certain that is the case. Total charge weight for the CF rounds was 12,5 gr and is estimated at 9 grains for the factory rimfire. 2.8 gr of residue is approximately 13% of total charge. Yes, it burns....

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Last on the news front: I spoke with the director of engineering at Hornady and I think if fair to say he was quite intrigued with the concept. With that said, there are technical hurdles to overcome....high hurdles indeed. One of the most daunting is the process of making brass. As I understood it, swagging brass of such small dimensions is a very challenging proposition. He also opined that the Achilles Heel of the .22 RF ammo is the heeled bullet design. I get that, but might have said something about it being easier than sending man to the moon. I left the conversation with the thought that the case is still open for review, but if anything happens it won't be tomorrow.

If any of you fellas are intent on pursuit of this endeavor I'll pass along some contacts for brass supply.

1st on my list is Jimy here on the 'Fire. He has provided all of the brass I've used to date. I think it is fairly close to perfect for standard velocity performance and as noted by the "round #" the first supply has been reloaded at least 13 times without the use of genuine reloading tools. I have not averaged groups sizes in fine detail but my sense of it with a wide variety of powders is it will produce sub 1/2" groups @ 20 yards and I've a few less than 1" at 50 yards. My smallest group to date at 20 yards is .28" for 5 shots.

I am perfectly content with standard velocity, ie. ~1050 fps for this project. Maybe you are as well, but maybe not.

I strongly recommend Steve Brooks for moulds if you are so inclined. http://brooksmoulds.com/index.html

Other brass suppliers:

RCC Brass in Amarillo, TX: https://www.rccbrass.com/
Quality Cartridge in Maryland, http://www.qual-cart.com/

I have opened dialog with RCC with the intention of exploring the realm of higher velocity for this project. Subject to success on this point you can consider that the initial set up for their machinery will be complete within the next 30 days and I speculate the expense associated with the initial work will not be a factor....unless you change the specs.






I am..........disturbed.

Concerning the difference between man and the jackass: some observers hold that there isn't any. But this wrongs the jackass. -Twain