While in another topic the subject of being at the wim of the manufactures of rimfire ammo came up. The thread didn't start out with that subject but it came up. So I have started this thread in reloading for SS rifles as food for thought. I'm sure that many of us on this site have dabbled in benchrest or small bore 22 LR shooting and know about being at the mercy of the ammo maker when it comes to quality. Yes even in that box of extra super $30.00 a box 22LR match ammo there usually a few FUNNY TWOS. You know the ones that I'm taking about. For example you are shooting rimfire benchrest and have shot 15 or more Xs in a row and a shot goes wild to a 6 or worse. You know it was not you or your equipment that can account for that. Those are the FUNNY TWO! As stated on another area of this site I have stopped shooting rimfire seriously. I still love my rimfires but plink with them now for the fun of it. I just can't trust the factory ammo that they are selling for ungodly prices!Here is there real reason that I've started this thread LOADING 22 rimfire ammo. It seems to me if primed cases and loading equipment were available the rimfire shooter would take to it like a duck to a june bug! They'd have control over their ammo. This would also open up a whole new market for the manufacuters of loading tools and componets. I have said now for many years Hornady is really missing the opertunity in this area of loading tools and componets. Here is why I single out Hornady, they make loading tools, brass, bullets, and rimfire ammo. They could start a whole new line of loading tools for loading 22 LR ammo. Think of it for a moment. There would be loading dies, primed cases, shell holders, swagging dies or Hornady healed match grade bullets. The list goes on. Rimfire benchrest has been hot for a long time now, but there are many that have dropped out because of the crap factory ammo. Loading your own gives you quality control. 
                Sendaro

I think BSing is the best option for 22rf, just as it is in CF.

We had a big discussion a while back on this. Lots of reading and opinions.

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Frank

.22-5-40 wrote on Nov 19^th, 2013 at 5:29pm:


Very interesting, & really not so surprising in the days, before WW I, when Schuetzen competition was still vigorous.  I'm rather surprised the practice persisted into the '30s, because none of the material I've read from the early post-war years, though providing detailed comparisons of all the factory ammo then available, hinted that it was possible to "roll your own."

JohnBoy,Thanks for the reply. I like the idea BS with a swaged bullet in22 LR. Especialy because this could do away with the heal on the bullet and shape/design could be made more arodinamic. The interior of the primed case could be inspected and note the state of the priming compound there in. About 9 years ago I was talking with Dr. Lou Palmisano (of 6MM PPC fame) about rimfire ammo. Seems that he was doing quite a bit of research in making 22 LR ammo more accurate. He gave me an ear full to say the least. He also gave me a small bag of primed 22 LR brass. I still have the cases and found them rather unusual. They are stampen on the bottom with letter F and the font is the same as used by Federal Cartridge CO. So I assume that they were produced by or for Federal. Here is the part that I find unusual, they are .987" long. That is much longer than a 22 LR case at .615" (measured from spent cases). When I asked about the unusual length he had no comment. The cases that I mention are not the diameter of 22 Mag cases. They are like 22 LR cases, just longer.Lou went on to tell me that he had approched Federal with a method of loading more accurate rimfire ammo but Federal was not interested. I don't know if he left notes of his research or not, but I do know that he has left the range. I was at the last CF BR Match held on the Wapwallopin Range (Sept.2010). Lou was sick with cancer but knew what he was doing. He call the shoot the Bill Davis Memorial Match, but it was really Lou's Good By match. After that match he invited about 12 of us to his house where he served us a dinner of soup he made. It was outstanding. After the meal he went from guest to guest that sat around the huge table in is dinning room, and gave each of us a small bag of (15) 6PPC USA SAKO cartridge cases. He went on to say they were from the last of a lot he had made. As I left his home that evening I knew it would be the last time I would see him alive, and the end of an era. Sendaro

Sendaro wrote on Nov 19^th, 2013 at 7:01pm:


A memory to treasure.

Redsetter,

        Yes it is, and I'll never forget him. Right to the end his mind was on fire with new ideas, and plans to test them. He is gone but not forgotten. What a mark he left on the history of rifle accuracy. I feel very lucky to have known him. 

                                    Sendaro

Quote:


Sho do admire that box!  I have a small collection of them, & I think that all the early smokeless & Lesmoke boxes are identified as such on the box; this one having no such label, my guess would be that the powder is black.

There's an easy way to find out for sure.

My GUESS is that the UMC box is from the earliest Long Rifle loadings, in the very late 1880s.  Twist would have been 16" or maybe a smidge quicker.

I have an original Farrow (probably from the early 1890s) set up for those shells, with the original front sight of a height only for shooting at 200 yards.  Twist is 16".

Peters loads with King's Semi-Smokeless first appeared about 1896 or 97.  Lesmok appeared about 1910.

Were there match loads available for 22 Short?