Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires New Cutting Edge 22LR

https://www.facebook.com/CuttingEdgeBullets/posts/10157135288822815/

Looks promising.

Cool

I always wish anyone indroducing a new product into our sport the best of luck. I truly do.

But- the "cutting edge" folks show a STUNNING lack of ballistics knowlege . And rinfire history and development.

If a Spitzer shaped 22LR slug had ANY real advantage in a .22LR (at any range) then Eley, RWS , Lapua ,CCI ,Hornady, etc would have ALREADY used it.

There is a REASON why .22 LR match ammo is ROUND NOSED (either fully rounded or with a small flat pount) and a reason why Hornady ,since they figured out how to load Vmax bullets in 17 HMR 20 years ago, did NOT go on to load them in .22 LR cartridge. Neither did CCI

Why? The basic laws of external ballistics..


At transonic speeds or lower (>1,400 FPS) the most stable ,Aerodynamically efficient projectile is a FRONT HEAVY blunt nosed bullwt with a flat base. As a matter of fact, if you go below 900 FPS, a REALLY nose heavy slug with a hollow base & drag skirt at the rear ( Airgun pellets , Shotgun slugs ,badmitten shuttlecocks, etc) are the most stable.

It is only at supersonic velocities- (1,400 FPS +-the faster the better) that rear heavy ,sharp nosed slugs have any ballistic advantage.

These rules are so pervasive that if you go onto the SIERRA BULLETS website and check their B.C. numbers for each bullet they give differing BC numbers for the same bullet according to velocity ranges. If you bother to study them ,you see that Flat and round nose slugs have BCs that IMPROVE as they drop below 2,000 FPS down to the sound barrier. The also show that those lovely spiter boat tailed slugs BC s are greatly lessoned the closer they get down to 1,000 FPS.

There are also two other factors which favor Round/flat nosed slugs in any .22LR round.

First is the buffeting (turbulence) at the trasonic range from anout 1,100 to 1,400 FPS . That buffeting destabilises the bullet momentarily as it breaks the sound barrier. It is why Olympic grade 22 match ammo has ALWAYS been below that range. It's also why long Military Snipers place such importance on the distance at which a bullet goes supersonic. In that velocity range a round nose ogive is by far the most stable and less affected by wind drift.

The second thing that favors Round nosed slugs is length . A longer slug requires a quicker twist to properly stabilize it..I can tell you with confience that a 1-16" standard rimfire twist WILL NOT come close to stabilsing the bullets shiwn in that link.. Also, I doubt thise loaded slugs are the proper overall length to feed in a repeater action.

Good info JK16. It's funny because I was just thinking the other day that it was strange that I'd never seen a spitzer / vmax style bullet in a 22lr. They have them in 22mag, so it seemed weird that someone wouldn't offer them in 22lr. Thought maybe it was just a cost thing or possibly something to do with the 22lr barrels that favored soft, lubricated lead bullets over plated bullets. The thing about the buffeting makes me wonder about the 22mag spitzer bullets. I've had a few different 22mag rifles that group very well a close ranges but they all seem to open up terribly past 75 yards or so, more than would be expected with just the distance factor. Whereas all the 17hmrs I've shot group very well at close and long range. Could be something to do with the bullet speeds involved.

Part of the problem with the 22 mag slugs is the BCs of those short little 30 to 33g bullets are horrible and.the BCs get worse as they drop below 2,000 FPS.

You can also see the difference when the 33g V-maxes are conpated directly downrange to 40g Vmaxes in a the .22 Hornet, etc . The 40g grainers just spank the 33s from 100 to 200 yards.

The light .22 mag bullets have BCs under .100.. the 17HMR Vmax slugs are .125+ and operating at a much better velocity range for their shape- 2,600 FPS ++.

I have to wonder if they would have done that soft launch if they hadn't had good results in their testing to this point.

It's only weird if it doesn't sell

I’ve always thought that if the Spitzer design lent themselves well to the 22LR, they’d have been using them long ago. Who knows?

Some things are just made to sell.

There it is. No way a spitzer is worth the time and trouble for a .22 LR. Cutting Edge will probably find a market to the retards, though.

OTOH, there's some knucklehead who's been putting plastic tips on CCI Short HPs on Farcebook, trying to do what? exactly? I have no idea, BUT, buckets of bozos are urging him on, without a second thought (or a first thought, for that matter). When you point out exactly how stupid it is, they get pretty agitated.

I'll buy a box and give 'em a try. It's not like I stand to lose too much.

I wonder who will actually do the manufacturing

The market is beyond ripe for a higher bc .22lr.

Tinfoil rimfire bullets with high bc's?

I'm down for a few boxes.

I don't think there are that many rimfire ammo manufacturers. Evidently it's not an that easy a game to get into.

DF

If they are able to bring something usable to the table that lapua/eley hasn’t done yet....I hope they can.... I’ll absolutely give em a go.

Yessir!

Don't wanna pretend to have all the answers, but if they give us a bullet that does better in the wind...

This is a retread of a sptizer type round manufactured some years back, I can't recall the name/maker, but it looks nearly identical in design.