gnoahhh wrote on Feb 6^th, 2023 at 6:11pm:


Way back when Cooper Arms made their first rifles in Stevensville Montana they had their own proprietary cartridge the 22 CCM.  The cartridge was their answer to the call from gun writers for a reloadable cartridge in the 22 WMR performance range. The idea was to get the performance but at a lower cost than 22 WMR ammo by reloading. The idea was sound and the performance was there and beyond. The issue that killed the 22 CCM was the brass. The original brass was made by Red Willow Armory also in Stevensville MT. at the time. The RWA brass was lathe turned and there fore brittle and would crack on the first firing. Since we were paying twice the price for the Cooper ammo as for the 22 WMR and only getting one firing just as with the rim fire the 22 CCM was dead in the water right there.
In a round about way I came into possession of 22 CCM rifle # 85 nearly 30 years ago. I long ago found a good source for drawn brass from Shroeder bullet works and set in a lifetime supply, good thing too because Shroeder is now out of business.   One of my boys wants that rifle so I have set it aside for him with the dies and brass as well as a Ruger old model single six that has been converted to CF and the cylinder chambered for the 22 CCM.
Still wanting to have use of a rifle in that performance range I decided to have a rifle built for the 22 Squirrel. Both cartridges are made from 22 Hornet brass but so far I have been unable to make 22 CCM brass but brass for the 22 Squirrel is a very easy reform and trim. Both are 22 cal and both have as near as can be as the same powder capacity depending on the case brand. What one does ballistically the other will do. I like both cartridges but I am now more partial to the 22 Squirrel for that simple reason that brass availability does not keep me awake at night worrying about where I might find brass.

I now wish I had bought more of the Shroeder 25-20 SS brass when he was in business.
When I first started using the Shroeder 22 Cooper brass I did a load and shoot trial with one case just to see how many loads the brass would hold up for. When I hit 50 I quit because that seemed well worth the cost.  Now I anneal after about every five shots and have some that have been loaded over 100 times that way. I load only cast bullets and load 52 to 55 grain bullets to 2000 fps.
      When I first started developing loads for the 22 Cooper I wanted to compare it to the 22 LR and the 22 WMR in both revolver and rifle. In chronographing all I got.
22lr 40gn - revolver - 900 fps
22 lr - rifle - 1300 fps
22 WMR 40gn - revolver - 1300 fps
22 WMR - rifle - 2000 fps
22 CCM 55gn - revolver -  ? cant remember must check records
22 CCM 55gn - rifle- 2000 fps
So you can see that the 22 mag from a revolver is about the same as a 22 LR from a rifle .  Also that the 22 Cooper does 2000 fps with a 55gn bullet while the 22 WMR does 2000 fps but with a 40gn bullet.  I also chronographed the only 50 grain load available at the time from Federal for the 22 WMR and it only reached 1600 fps regardless of the claim printed on the box.  With that you can see that the 22 Cooper can outperform the 22 WMR by a good margin.  I cant remember for sure without checking records but I think the 22 Cooper with a 52 gn bullet fired from my 6" barrel Ruger single six revolver was about equal to the 22 WMR fired in a rifle with the 50gn Federal load at about 1600 fps.. I dropped to the 52gn bullet for the Cooper in the revolver because the 55gn seemed enough longer that it was not quite as accurate in the slow rifling twist rate in the single six revolver that was originally a 22 LR.

ndnchf wrote on Feb 7^th, 2023 at 1:35pm:


No one should be throwing away 25-20 ss stamped cases with split necks for this reason.  I’m thinking they work for 300 rook also.

Congrats Steve, it is a fun cartridges.  When the dust settles and get a couple guns done I’ll have three in 25-20 ss.
Bob

About 2010 BACO was selling some 25 20ss. It couldn't be found anywhere else at the time. I bought a bag of 100 figuring some day I might have a 25 20ss. And now I do!. I have been going to gunshows since I bought the rifle and have found another 80 rnds for around 2 bucks a piece. In fact, I have been finding all sorts of vintage reloading supplies at gunshows for the last few years. It appears all the old timers are dying off and their stash of cool stuff is seeing the light of day again. I found a nice stash of 25 20 WCF a few weeks ago. Didn't have a gun for it....but I do now! .