Hornady Critical Defence .22 Mag ?

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dgang

New member
Has anybody had a chance to try the Hornady C.D. 45 gr. .22 Mag from a short barrel handgun ? I've been seening their ads for sometime now but have been unable to locate any. Interested in trying them in 2" NAA Black Widow. Many thanks, dgang
 
I'd rather have the new Gold Dot 22Mags. They use CCI ignition which is the best rimfire primers and shells available, and with a very good slug.
 
Gold Dot .22 mag

Forgot to mention : Made a few phone calls and it appears that CCI produces case, primer mixture, and powder for Hornady. That is why they both use V-Max bullets in their 30 gr. rounds, black tip fpr CCI and red tip for Hornady. Both have same velocity. dgang
 
These seem interesting, but I'm doubting that they're any better than the current crop of 22wmr Hollowpoints out there. Especially coming out of a short barrel. Are there any reviews out yet?

I'm using Winchester's 50gr'ers myself right. They were the heaviest that I could find for my 6 inch Ruger SS.
 
It is hard for me to imagine a .22 magnum bullet that could honestly be called a "critical defense."

IMO, the very best defensive round you could put in one of them would be a barnes type. partition, three very small petals on tip, lead core,two small drivingbands, one at base, one at crimp.

You would retain 100% weight, get better penetration, and have the petal portion.

The petals serve mostly one function. They expand the actual wound channel, without adding the resistance of a fill faced, full area mushroom of identical diameter.

Whether or not they tear things up much as they pass through is irrelevant to me, to me, their best function is to increase wound diameter and allow for deeper penetration of a fully expanded round at the same time.
 
I've been looking too, going to try again next week at Cabela's ... I'm loading the new Gold Dot 40gr rds in my NAA Pug, and I like them, so I can wait for the Hornady ammo ... I am a fan of Critical Defense rounds, carry them in my nightstand 1911 and in my carry PM9 ...
 
I'm interested also. If anyone can find an online retailer that has them in stock post the link. I will pick up a box and run a few rounds over my chronograph using my NAA mini w/ 1" barrel.
 
Forgot to mention : Made a few phone calls and it appears that CCI produces case, primer mixture, and powder for Hornady. That is why they both use V-Max bullets in their 30 gr. rounds, black tip fpr CCI and red tip for Hornady. Both have same velocity. dgang
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Aye.
CCI manufactures some, or all, .22 WMR and .17 HMR ammunition for Hornady, Speer, Remington, Federal, and, of course, CCI.

Like Jim March, I consider CCI hulls and priming compound to be the best available for .22 WMR and .17 HMR (for consistency and reliability). ...And I'm one of those crazy people that used to handload .22 WMR. ;)


Midway does have the Gold Dot short barrel and Hornady Critical Defense loads in stock.


Just a side note:
I consider Winchester hulls to be the worst available for .22 WMR. They're stronger than other brands, but terribly inconsistent. The only Winchester hulls worth mentioning are in the Supreme line of ammunition... but those loads are pricey.

In the middle: ArmsCor/Fiocchi. Both brands come off the same equipment, with the same bullets. They have been 100% reliable for me (7,500+ rounds), but dimensional consistency isn't as good as CCI.
 
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frankenmauser

I knew and worked with an older guy who claimed he reloaded .22 rimfire. As I was not into reloading at the time I only asked some simple questions. However, since you reloaded them at sometime let me now ask you: I assume you had a tool that had a splayed end to iron out the firing pin indentation. What did you use as a primer, mercury fulminate in liquid form? How much and what kind of powder did you use and and how did you crimp the case. Did you make your own bullets, cast or from L.R. casings, or buy some Hornet bullets. This really interests me. If you could shed some light on the subject I would appreciate it. Good shootin' to ya', dgang
 
However, since you reloaded them at sometime let me now ask you: I assume you had a tool that had a splayed end to iron out the firing pin indentation.
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I only performed the process that is outlined fairly well in the link provided by rep1954 (shooting-hunting.com). I pulled the factory bullets, adjusted the powder charge (if needed), and seated a new bullet.

I haven't ever attempted to re-prime fired hulls (for reloading, rather than handloading).

If you want to read a few posts in reference to my .22 WMR handloads, here are a few posts I made (in reverse chronological order):
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=409380
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3119252&postcount=8
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=315424
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=310089

But, the most applicable statement I made in any of those posts, is this (in reference to reloading .22 LR, after explaining how I would approach the subject):
FrankenMauser said:
Lastly - I wouldn't do it at all. I started loading for the .22 WMR to see what kind of velocities I could get, and to use bullets that weren't available in commercial ammo. In the end, I stocked up on Fiocchi and ArmsCor 45gr HP/SP ammo, and called it a draw. It was a vicious cycle of wanting more velocity, more expansion, a slower powder, then more velocity again. After everything was said and done, I just wasted a lot of perfectly good factory ammo (expensive stuff, too - the best .22 WMR hulls are from Winchester Supreme loadings).

I won't do it again. On the up side, though... my .22 WMR is probably the only one in the world that has fired a handful of 53gr Barnes TSXs.
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(My opinion of the Winchester Supreme hulls has gone down a couple notches since then, but they're still quite close to CCI's quality.)
 
I have read about reloading .22 magnum rounds before. 40 years ago. The reason was that at the time, there were no performance rounds. You had solid lead and hollow point lead. The people who were reloading were putting hornet bullets into standard magnum cases with the existing primer/powder charge. It was a matter of bullet performance, nothing else.

15 years ago or so, I found empty primed .17 caliber rimfire cases. That really threw me too.

I don't know that I have ever heard of rimfire cases being reused. You'd have to get liquified priming compound and spin it into the groove in the rim, and IMO, the labor, expense, and absolutely mind blowing risk of failure along with a large probable failure rate would never justify reusing cases.

Maybe for obsolete cartridges.
 
I have heard of it, but it's a bit spooky. Priming compounds are absolutely terrifying. I rather enjoy having all ten fingers.
 
...As do I.

One of the reasons I grew tired of handloading the .22 WMR, from an older post:
FrankenMauser said:
Of course.... I did say it was dangerous. Even I, the anal-retentive safety officer, had a lapse in concentration. I had a cartridge detonate while seating a bullet, once.
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Sorry about the unintended hijack. It seems to always happen, with the mention of rimfire handloading. All I intended to do, was quantify why I felt CCI hulls and priming compound were the best.
 
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