.22lr FMJ ammo

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simonrichter

New member
Ever since I've been interested in firearms (which is more or less ever since I can remember :p) I wondered why there is no FMJ ammo for .22lr.

I mean .22lr is by far the most versatile round, it comes in a wide range of different loads from subsonic to hyper-velocity, with many different bullets including shot-shells and even tracers, but there is no simple FMJ (apart from the few they seem to have produced for the High Standard HDM during and after WWII in order to accord to the Hague convention).

I'm well aware that there is no obvious need for such a bullet, still it's interesting there isn't even a single manufacturer offering one.

Seems others had this thoughts, too, but I guess that's more of an internet hoax:
http://i2.guns.ru/forums/icons/forum_pictures/3/003987/3987195.jpg
 
There is really no need for a copper jack .22LR and I am not sure what kind of performance you would get out of it since even the fastest .22 rounds are pretty slow compared to center fire .22 rounds.

For me, the idea of a .22 is to be cheap fun and small critter extermination, neither of which need a copper jacket.
 
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There is copper washed .22 ammunition,,,

There is copper washed .22 ammunition,,,
Which I suppose one could say is very thin FMJ.

Aarond

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lets just say that if it were to be fmj, it wouldnt be as cheap. no one wants to pay more for anything. but i do get what your saying.
 
Because in a nutshell they are incompatible & unneeded.

Jackets are for high velocity high pressure applications & the .22 RF is a low pressure low velocity round.
 
There HAVE been 22 LR FMJs made (the US Air Force specified a need for these for the "bail-out" 22 LR guns that were issued to Air Force crew and pilots at one time, due to the Hague Convention requirement for non-expanding bullets), but they were expensive and so rarely used that they were dropped after the 22 Hornet was adopted for the same purpose.

M24001.jpg
 
During WW II the U.S. Army also had FMJ .22 Long Rifle ammo made in lots if 10,000 Rd's. each. In normal usage there is no use for anything but lead in .22 rim fire. Good grief, FMJ.22s would be 50 dollars a box. I would believe that you kill can a zombie just as well with a lead bullet than with a FMJ.
 
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I have a box of Federal high velocity solid copper bullets that would meet your criteria. I don't know how they shoot because the box hasn't been opened yet but they are 40 gr bullets so I doubt if I will see much difference. Got them in a big bunch of 22 ammo when somebody sold out his 22 supply and they were in there with a bunch of other oddball rounds I never saw before.
 
Thanks for the great contributions so far, of course I agree with everything said above.

Eventually, one issue where a FMJ would make sense occured to me, namely lead free ammo which might be important in the light of environmental awareness... Just a thought, though...
 
Because 22 isn't a caliber military/leo uses, no one counts it as self defence, more of a trainning round. Why would there be a need for it? It's a small, cheap round, made for lots of trainning/hunting under $30 a box of 500.
 
simonrichter said:
Eventually, one issue where a FMJ would make sense occured to me, namely lead free ammo which might be important in the light of environmental awareness... Just a thought, though...
Click to expand...
Typical centerfire FMJ ammunition is not lead free. It is a lead bullet with a thin copper jacket on it. For most FMJ the jacket doesn't even enclose the base of the bullet, so in a high-pressure round there is still some lead that gets vaporized with every shot.

Lead-free ammo is made of ... "other stuff," such as some recent offerings that use solid copper bullets.
 
Not sure if they are entirely lead free but there are Zinc alloy bullet .22 RF intended for shooting galleries.
These predate any concerns over lead in the air so I don't think that was why these were developed.

There are several FMJ bullet designs that enclose the bullet base, some use a copper alloy plug others drawn the jacket from the base leaving an open meplat.
 
I think the best defence of 22lr not being in FMJ is because it is not realiable, no primer, just hit the case to fire. I do not think companies want to market it for "self-defence" because of the failure rate of not going off, no realiable primer.
 
Hm, another thought: The russians had this pocket pistol (PSM) in 5,45 x 18mm able to defeat light body armor. Taking a closer look, that ammunition does deliver more or less the same power as a HV 22lr. does out of a pistol barrel, which argues against the statement that the .22lr is anyway to weak to penetrate much and hence doesn't need a FMJ...

5,45 x 18: 94 ft/lbf ME, max pressure: 25.000 PSI
22lr: ca. 90 ft/Ibf, max pressure: 24.000 PSI

not that much difference, but of course the 5,45 would be useless in terms of AP if utilizing just a lump of lead instead of a FMJ (and even hardcore) bullet...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5.45×18mm
 
22lr has a primer. It lines the rim. Cheap 22lr ammo is unreliable because of spotty primer in the rim which is why you can often turn a dud strike it in a new spot and it will fire. Good 22lr ammo is extremely reliable. I would still not use it for self defense. I would not carry 9mil/38 special for anything more then a back up either though...
 
Again, no market. And what need would it fill? Years ago in American Rifleman I saw pictures of pre-WWII 22LR wadcutter ammunition. That I would like to see, but with the waning of the 22 target revolver there is no market for it.
 
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