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Been awhile comin' but I got to take a crack (pun intended) at topping the speed of sound today, and 2 out of three times I did.

Scrolled back thru history and found the last date I did any plinking with the .22 GTC was July of 2018. It took awhile to get the brass from RCC, but I found out today after talking to the boss they are in the process of expanding operation and moving to a new facility. He also related that he had done a Facebook thing about the cartridge and had over 25K hits.

Well, one thing leads to another as they say, and I received the brass about a month ago amidst a pile of self inflicted projects. It chambered well and seemed to be up to specs, but had to wait a bit for the first try. First hurdle, only hurdle actually, the primer pockets were a little short on diameter, being .170". Spec is .175' at the case base and .1725" at the web. I tried the bigger hammer theory but wound up with three mangled primers. Plan B: I pulled out the primer pocket tools on hand and reamed to .173" full length and .175" to about 1/2 the pocket depth. Three thoughts: I love battery powered hand drills with variable speed. Now I know why I bought the tools years ago. Everything proceeded apace w/o further incident. I did talk to RCC today and mentioned that matter and have no doubt it will be addressed on future production.

Funny thing about this project is that nothing I've done in the realm of hand loading has taught me more about the finer points. I stepped into round 15 gingerly to say the least. The result of velocity increases associated with Federal primers was an eye opener on one hand, and something I took advantage of this time. Figuring a little boost from the primers and start from zero with the new brass, I set out to the range today. Decided I'd rather set up on the 50 yard butt than do all that extra walking so it didn't take long to get down to particulars.

Couple of thoughts steering my buggy on load choice. There can be little doubt the new brass has a slightly different internal volume because it is a couple thou thicker case wall. I went with Fed SPP and the max load previously tested in the previous lot of brass and used the NASA lube on 3 rounds/load.

The numbers went like this:

1.1 grains WW231; 1125, 1138, 1160 averaged 1141 fps with ES at 35, Sd 17 and the group measured .505"
.9 grains 700X; 1001, 1032, 1057 averaged 1046 fps with ES 81, Sd 41 and group of .2" (scratching my noodle and smiling at the same time)
.9 grains Red Dot; 1153, 1108, 1129 averaged 1130 with ES 45, Sd 22 and a group of .37"

Previous high velocity with the loads above, not necessarily with Federal Primers:
1.1 WW 231 - 1116 fps
.9 700X - 1007
.9 Red Dot - 1036



Primer extracted normally, and fresh primers will seat properly, meaning no case expansion due to the charge/primer. The RCC brass is quite a bit more robust than the previous lot and it is reflected in the results.



Case load density was quite high, very close to 100% with the Red Dot load, but I am quite confident that I can shoehorn in a bit more. There was no powder fouling of significance or leading.

.2" @ 50 works for me!

Dan