Funny Little Holes...

M

Medic

New member
This seems really peculiar to me and I hope that someone here can offer some sort of reasonable explanation.

A friend of mine has a Beretta 21 Bobcat (the one chambered for .22 LR). Nearly all of the .22 ammunition fired from it: CCI Stinger, Remington, Federal, etc... leaves a small .22 caliber hole in the paper target. However I have found an interesting exception. The Aguila ammunition fired from this pistol leaves a perfectly round hole in the target...and the hole is about the size of a 9mm/.38 round. It looks like a .38 wadcutter has been through the target after firing the Aguila from the Beretta. The paper hasn't been torn in a star pattern like most ball ammo does either, it's just perfectly round. I have been using a standard paper target with a 1/8" thick cardbord backing.

One of the sales people at the gun shop we frequent brought it to our attention one day when the store had received its' first shipment of Aguila ammunition. The .22 LR round in question is (as listed on the box) the Aguila .22 Super Maximun/Hyper Velocity.
According to the specs. on the box the round is 30 gr. hollow point, the listed velocity is 1700 fps, and the muzzle energy is 164 ft.-lbs. I imagine the velocity and energy would be less from the Bobcat as compared to a larger .22 pistol or rifle. The other curious thing about this phenomenon is that so far the Beretta is the only firearm that will produce these results. I have fired the Aguila in a Ruger Single-Six and a Marlin rifle, but didn't get the same results.

Has anyone ever experienced this before, or have any kind of idea what is happening?????


Thanks,
Medic
 
Well I can certainly rule out someone else hitting the target. I assure you we were the only ones on the range and this really did happen....
 
The only thing I can think of is that the bullets are soft enough that there is some expansion even on the cardboard. An idea.

If you can do so (range allows it), use some scrap wood and make up a frame with a thin sheet of paper, an inch or so space, the normal target, and another sheet of thin paper about 2 inches back of that.

See what happens when you fire through that "sandwich". The bullet could actually be expanding before hitting anything, but that seems unlikely with the gun you describe.

Still, some investigation would be interesting.

Jim
 
Jim's experiment is a good idea.

Also, see if you can measure the holes very accurately. If the bullets are expanding in flight, the holes should not all be the same size. The same may be true if they are expanding when hitting the paper, but the differences should be smaller.

[This message has been edited by Mal H (edited February 15, 2000).]
 
The thing that troubles me is the idea of only the Bobcat doing this. Keyholing may make sense from such a short barrel, but you said the holes were perfectly round. Perhaps there is a way to contact a rep from the ammo supplier? Surely they've heard of this.

------------------
The first step towards government tyrrany is the disarming of the citizenry.
 
your partner is messing with you.. OBVIOUSLY what is happening is that as you pull the trigger your buddy is taking advantage of the muzzle flash to reach out and cut a hole in the target witha paper punch. By the time that 635fps bullet gets there, (gasp) there is a big hole in the target!

Seriously, I's suspect keyholing of some sort as well... maybe a tight chamber is putting more oommff down the barrel and you are VAPORIZING the exposed lead at the base of the bullet, or spreading the base of the bullet as it exits the barrel... you could (concivably,, but Not every time) be hitting the target with the bullet's base flared out in a concentric circle. Its Probably a combination of hot loads and a tighter chamber or hotter pirimers creating the effect. if the bullet was keyholing (a sign of overpressure) you holes would indeed be neat.. but oval shaped or "scalloped" instead of perfectly round... unless something REALLY bizzarre is going on, I'd suggest the above is true.

any problems with extraction/feeding?

Dr.Rob

Damn I just re-read your post and you said its a 22.. not a 25... now I'm really confused.



[This message has been edited by Dr.Rob (edited February 15, 2000).]
 
Thanks for the input so far...

I have compared the holes and they are all the same size. I am also faily positive the rounds aren't keyholing. Every round fired does this and the holes are all the same.


Medic
 
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