Does anyone reload .22LR?

[TXAZ]

I heard the question asked today, and thought that has to be pretty hard to do. But maybe someone does reload .22LR?

Anybody?

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

It's been discussed and there are folks who have done it. You have to make your own priming compound and figure a way to get it spread through the groove. Plus, the bullets are heeled and the brass crimped into them. Seems like using match head material was generally a part of the priming recipe, IIRC.

I've never seen a claim that it was worthwhile. More of a "for when the zombies invade" kind of thing.

 

[briandg]

It can be done and you can buy a very expensive kit to do it and make a few rounds of .22 that are probably the worst ammo seen on the planet since the 1800s. It can be done, but for the price of that silly kit you an set back a thousand rounds of the real stuff. When they first came out, the priming compound was match tips. IN truth, it's harder to find strike anywhere matches right now than it is ammo.

 

[DaleA]

it's harder to find strike anywhere matches right now than it is ammo.

That's the truth although my small local hardware store still stocks them.

 

[dahermit]

it's harder to find strike anywhere matches right now than it is ammo.

That's the truth although my small local hardware store still stocks them.

However, the last strike-anywhere matches I bought at a gun show some years ago were of poor quality...nothing near as reliable as the old "Blue Diamond" (I think that is what the brand name was), strike anywhere wooden matches.

 

[lamarw]

It simply does not seem to pass the common sense test.

Actually, buying .22 rim fire ammunition at current prices does not seem, in my view, to pass the common sense test. I still have a few multi-packs of 525 rounds I purchased for under fifteen buck back prior to the last Presidential election.

 

[reddog81]

Reloading 22's makes casting and reloading for any other round look like a cake walk.

 

[TXAZ]

Thanks. I figured as much.

 

[g.willikers]

Pellet gun.
A good one will do about the same job.
Some even a better job.

 

[T. O'Heir]

"...strike anywhere matches..." Grocery stores, up here. Still not worth the expense in time and money.
I'm not sure the chemical is percussion sensitive either.

 

[rclark]

Tutorial here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTf62hDhefY

And no I haven't reloaded any .22LR ...

 

[TXAZ]

After watching those 2 videos, I gotta wonder how much spare time you have to have on your hands or how bad society gets to need to reload .22LR...

 

[higgite]

There is a better chance of me using my .22 rimfire rifles for tomato stakes than there is of me reloading .22LR.

 

[TXAZ]

So what material do large manufacturers us for the primer? I'm pretty sure they are not scraping toy gun caps or slicing match heads.

 

[Chainsaw.]

Proprietary stuff most likely. Ammo manufacturers always keep their cards close to the vest.

Are you considering this for a hobby or a "famine" type of tool?

If for days of famine another small caliber would be better, say 22 hornet. A casting pot, a set of moulds primer and powder and you're good to go.

 

[TXAZ]

Neither chainsaw. Just curious. Scraped match heads can be dangerous in quantity.

 

[Scorch]

So what material do large manufacturers us for the primer?

Lead styphnate. Very sensitive as it is crystallizing.