22 Caliber Rifle Bullet Casting Questions

[GRG]

I've been on the site for a few years but looks like I have never posted. Still I have gained tons of useful info and it has helped me to start casting 45 and 9mm for pistols. I have also been powder coating both of those with great luck on the 45 and still working on the 9mm for getting the right sizing down.

My questions here are I am wanting to put together a 22cal Centerfire squirrel rifle capable of shooting moa at 100yds. I am thinking 22tcm out of TC G2 Contender. I have a chance to get one already set up chambered which used their 22lr Match barrel, I believe it was a 20" with a 16twist barrel. I'm not concerned with factory OAL as I will throat it accordingly, that's why going to the single shot.

My goals are,

1. Velocity range in the low to mid 2k fps range. Wherever best accuracy falls in. Squirrel head accurate at 100.
2. MOA at 100yds.
3. Bullet in the 35-45 range with Hollow Point
4. Extremely low powder consumption and recoil.


So the big question is what bullet and molds have most people had good luck with at this criteria. I'm not to concerned with all the other things such as just doing a hornet or some of the established cartridges out there as I feel in a rifle this cartridge is a good candidate for what I want to do. I already have 222's and 222mag and above that will shoot sub moa easily as well as Rimfires in 17hm2 that will do this pretty consistently but this a project I have been wanting to do.

Any help would be appreciated as I am struggling to find the info I am looking for. If anyone has experience with this pelt let me know, bullet style, weight, gas check, powder coat, anything.

Thanks again

Glenn

[technojock]

You should take a look at the thread called "Thinking of squirrels" in the Hunting with cast boolits forum here... That would be an good place to start...

Tony

[charlie b]

Or the walking about rifle thread. Don't remember which subforum it was in.

[GRG]

Will do, thank you.

Glenn

[quilbilly]

Every rifle barrel has a personality and yours will not be different. I have two molds in 22 cal. that produce boolits that have shot well for me in various riles and Contenders but none have shot CB's well at velocities much over 2K. One is the old style "soup can" 54 gr. mold from Lee that shoots well in my 22 Hornet Contender Carbine as well as a .222 Contender 10" barrel and a Savage rifle. The best accuracy was around 1800 in either. The other mold is a 57 gr. mold from NOE (225-57 FN). In my 223 bolt rifle (1/12 twist), that boolit at 100 yards has outshot in accuracy every jacketed bullet I have tried except the Sierra match 52 gr HP's at standard velocity but even then, best accuracy has been at about 1950 fps for the CB. Both boolits have been sized to 224 and been lubed twice with Lee Alox before and after sizing.

[MT Gianni]

Try the RCBS 55 or a clone like NOE or Lee's. Probably should be powder coated. When developing a load, start with the slowest powder recommended in a manual and move to the faster ones until you get where you want to go.

[GRG]

Thanks quilbilly for the info. I love the Sierra MK 52hp in my there a.
If 1800fps is where it's at then that's fine but I dont know that a 59gr bullet will work with the 16" twist barrel that I will be stuck with on this rifle.

[Larry Gibson]

The major hurdle to 2000 fps + will be the 16 twist 22LR barrel. Those normally have multiple shallow grooves intended for 22LR velocity levels.

[sigep1764]

As long as the Contender barrel is not a rechambered 22LR barrel, I would think the rifling would be fine. It is going to necessitate a very small 30 to 40 grain boolit in my opinion. You will most likely have to play with the alloy, one with some antimony and tin. I would also likely use a gas check at this speed level with such a little boolit. I would start slower then move up to ensure RPM doesn't turn that little bitty boolit to dust 5 feet from the muzzle.

[GRG]

Sigep1764, The barrel was a 22lr match barrel. I believe it was new, why do you think it wont work well?

[Larry Gibson]

Sigep1764, The barrel was a 22lr match barrel. I believe it was new, why do you think it wont work well?

As stated in post #8;

"The major hurdle to 2000 fps + will be the 16 twist 22LR barrel. Those normally have multiple shallow grooves intended for 22LR velocity levels."

The shallow, multiple groove 22LR barrels are not conducive to high velocity (as you mention is your goal). A lubed cast bullet will be swaged down smaller than groove diameter as it rides over a layer of lube. Given even a "hard" alloyed lubed cast bullet that swaging down can make the bullet as small as or smaller than the bore diameter. That means the bullet is no longer held and/or spun by the rifling. Accuracy will be unabtainum. Additionally, the 16" twist will require a relatively short bullet for stabilization. That translates into a short bearing surface which further exacerbates the problem.

Many 22 CF barrels don't have grooves over .003" deep which can make accuracy at higher velocity, even if under the RPM Threshold, difficult to achieve for the same reason with lubed cast bullets, especially those with short bearing surfaces.

What cast bullets are you using in the 222 and 222 Magnum to achieve moa accuracy at 100 yards? At what velocities?