Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Making .22 HP brass

I just finished making a batch of .22 HP from 30-30 brass. This project turned out to be much easier than I had figured on.
I started out with new Remington brass. The first step was to neck size to .284 right to the start of the shoulder, then I neck sized to .257 staying about .090 away from the shoulder, and then full length sizing with the HP dies. The last step is to trim the cases by about .030
The neck wall thickness is .012-.013 witch is the same as an original HP case. Out of 50 cases I only lost 3 and that was due to using too much case lube.

where did you get your bullets?
dave

I'm using .228 70 grain Hornady bought right here in Edmonton.

That's kind of how I do it, but I run them through a .250-3000 die instead, then into the .22HP die. Case loss is entirely due to too much lube, but is a tricky balance between too much and not enough. I found that Imperial Sizing Wax went a long way toward solving the problem.

That, or I usually just push .25/35 brass straight into the .22HP die and be done with it.

25-35 brass is pretty rare in this part of the world. I looked all over and there was none to be had.

Thats what I did, but I had a fair amount of old 25-35 in stock.
Note: Using old 25-35 your probably smart to anneal the necks 1st, a lot of the old stuff seems brittle.

25-35 through the 22HP FL die is a one step process , easiest way to go if you don't have 22HP brass.


Mike

Altaboy,

Have you worked up a load with the Hornady 70's?

Hey John
I went into Ken Waters pet loads and tried a couple of his recipies substituting the Hornady bullets. Most of the loads worked OK but 25 grains of H4895 seemed to work the best in my rifle. 2"-2/12" groups at 100 meters with irons.
I'm wondering if Hornady has reworked the HP bullit since Ken Waters did his testing.

They hadn't when I was doing a lot of loading the .22 HP 6-8 years ago, but whether or not they shoot in a particular 99 depends on the exact twist. The common rifling machine back when those rifles were made was a sine-bar, and twist could vary an inch or so either way. (I once had a .250-3000 99 with a 1-15 twist, which caused me some problems until I figured it out....) If the twist in yours is tighter than the standard 1-12 the Hornady bullets should shoot, even if the bullet hasn't been shortened up a little.

In my rifle the most accurate bullets were mostly .224's, much like Ken's experience. It REALLY shot 60-grain Nosler Partitions, as I recall in 1.5" or less, with a tang sight. I used them on quite a few prairie dogs out to 150 yards or so.

Just curious, how about 22-250 brass?

No rim.

That's what I thought too. I misread Gnoahh' post on running the brass through a 250-3000 die to infer he was using 250 brass. On re-read I now realize he was using the die but not the brass. Yes, the rim issue had me puzzled.

Thanks Fireball.


I have a master's degree in English and I still can't read.

Thanks for the info guys!

Dad has had an old Savage 99 in .22 High Power for many years. We've stretched the limited factory ammo about as far as it can go. I think he's down to one box of the Canadian ammo, and I've got a box of Norma.

Hornady makes a 70 gr .227" soft point - but I seem to recall reading that the .224" bullets actually shot more accurately, by far. Must have been John's article! Any way to get a copy of the info?

I know a set of dies for the old rifle will cost me dear, but I'd like to load for it, as a hobby if nothing else.

His rifle is kind of neat, as it has a tang sight, and also a .410 shotgun barrel that screws right on.

Thanks, Guy

In my experience, the .224 bullets didn't shoot any better for me. In fact, just the opposite is true. Just goes to show how rifles differ.

The .227 Hornady is a real crap shoot, with the odds favoring it not shooting nicely. The hang up is in the length of that long spire point design. It is marginally of a length to fully stabilize in the nominal 1-12" rate of twist in our old Savage rifles. About a tenth of an inch too long, as a matter of fact.

Sadly there aren't many alternatives. Buffalo Arms carries lighter (shorter) .228 bullets that fill the bill, but I suspect their deer-killing efficiency due to their thinner jackets. They do shoot much better though. Scour the gun shows and other repositories of the obscure/arcane shooting supplies for old Sisk and Speer .228 70 grain bullets. They are the cat's a$$ in the .22HP, because being of semi-pointed design, are short enough to stabilize in the old Savages. (They are similar in shape to the current Norma and S&B HP bullets.)

There are indeed those who find .224 bullets to shoot beautifully in their HPs. If you try them, note two things: One, you must swap out the expander ball in the sizer die (something to take into account when looking at old used dies- are the expander plugs available?), and two, .004" is a lot for a hard gilding metal jacket to bump up and seal the bore to prevent hot powder gasses from cutting past and scouring the steel away in the throat of your 100 year old barrel. Not a huge issue if the gun is fired but seldomly, but since HP's are so much fun to shoot, you may find yourself shooting it a lot and then who knows?

Remember too that the bulk of these HP barrels were made back in the days when accuracy of bore diameters and rifling twists were as dependent upon operator skill and alertness as much as the efficiency of the machines. Accordingly, diameters and ROT's vary, and you might get lucky and find the unaltered 70 gr. Hornadys to serendipitously shoot great in your rifle. If so, hurry down to the local lottery agent and buy a Powerball ticket too!

Thanks much for that info!

I would like to do some handloading for the old Savage, and perhaps a little coyote hunting with it as well. Minimum bore size here in Washington, for deer, is .243, so it's not destined to do any deer hunting, not here anyway.

Would be a hoot to take it to Wyoming and try to stalk a pronghorn doe with it though... I could see that happening!

Regards, Guy

Just to resurrect this thread, made my first 25-35 case about ten minutes ago.



Now, just need Hi-Power dies.

Ted

Done! Couldn't wait for the new die set to arrive, so necked the above-pictured 30-30 case that was reformed to 25-35 down to 22, and then seated a 60 gr Hornady .224" flat base using 22-250 FL die set.




The case on the left is the reformed 30-30 brass, the right a factory S&B. They both chamber perfectly in my old BRNO ZH305 22HP/12Ga combination gun.

New RCBS die set is en route, and should arrive next week.

Ted

Dies arrived late yesterday. Tried them out today using some old once-fired Imperial 30-30 brass I had in a box.



Now, it just needs to warm up, -24C here this morning.

Ted

I now make most of my HP brass from.30-30 because it’s free this time of year especially, at most ranges.

I have found.224 bullets to work as well, especially the 63 grain Sierra semi-pointed.

I have often considered making a.225 barrel for my HP, but there are a number of more rational uses if my time much higher on the list.