Reloading 22LR?

Hello everyone!

I have a problem…. For one to legally use a 22LR for hunting here in Sweden, the bullet needs to produce at least 111 ft-lbs at the muzzle.

Since I`m going to mount a suppressor to my CZ 453 Lux, I would really like to use subsonic ammunition for hunting.
The problem is that I can`t find any factory made subsonic 22LR that will deliver 111 ft-lbs at the muzzle, except Aguila Sniper Subsonic but it`s more likely that I`ll find a Sasquatch riding a unicorn before finding a dealer in Sweden that sells Aguila Sniper Subsonic.

If my calculations are correct, I would need to push a 50gr bullet at 1050 fps to reach 111 ft-lbs.

I would gladly buy for example CCI Standard 22.LR ammunition and carefuly remove the bullet and powder to obtain “primed brass”.

Does anyone know of a bullet mold that would produce heeld 22.bullets (50gr) that would work in a 22LR?

What powder should I use? Would some of Vihtavuoris powder work?

I think I will need a tool to set the bullet in the unfired cases?

Any tips or thoughts?

Thank you very much!

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Welcome to the forum!

If your rifle has a 24” barrel it may be fairly quiet without a suppressor, especially if you use subsonic or target ammunition.

This is 112 ft lbs energy. https://www.midwayusa.com/product/101973310?pid=529918

Probably still difficult for you to get.

Does law enforcement there need to see a box of factory ammunition showing 111 or above or do they chronograph your loads, weigh the projectile, and calculate the energy? And at what ambient temperature do they conduct the test? Is the test done in your rifle or theirs? I’m asking because depending on barrel length and temperature the velocity of 22LR can be different. Ammunition rated supersonic generally is subsonic in pistol length barrels. I’ve seen integrally suppressed Ruger 10-22 barrels for sale here with a 16” total length. This gets to the required length for a rifle, but the actual useful barrel length inside is short. Therefore most any 22LR fired will be subsonic.
I’ve never loaded 22LR but I read somewhere Vihtavuori N310 works well. No idea what bullet weight it was great for though.

What game animals are you pursuing? Are you required to hunt them with a 22 long rifle? Could you use centerfire rifles with subsonic ammunition and suppressors?

We tried the Aguila sniper subsonic for silhouette back in the day. Biggest problem was stabilizing the bullet way out there. You'll need a faster twist barrel for it to work at the right bore/groove dimension. Only outfit that had one was Lothar Walther. And it was BAD about getting shoved around by the wind.

I've made a bullet-seating / crimping tool for .32 Long Colt, which also uses a heeled bullet. Uses a spring-loaded top punch to hold the bullet firmly in place as case is fed into the die. It does not actually crimp the case, just irons out the little flare that eases initial bullet placement, but that's enough for my purposes.

When originally introduced, .22 Long Rifle was meant only for single shot Stevens rifles and pistols, and it was not crimped. If you're able to single load, just ironing out the flare as I do will work fine. If you must crimp, something like the Lee Factory Crimp die will be necessary.

You might inquire on the ASSRA forum. There are guys there who load their own for black-powder competition. They buy empty primed cases somewhere, I think.

https://forum.assra.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl

ADD: Come to think of it, those guys are breech-seating their bullet into the throat, ahead of the case, so they aren't using a heeled bullet, Any plain base design can be used, assuming the length is appropriate for the twist. Can only be done with single shot rifles, but it does make for extremely good accuracy.

I use Winchester Sub-sonic in my suppressed Marlin 22 . The 40 gr boolit is traveling around 1050fps. Great for varmints! This load should be close to the 111ft-lbs you require.

Playing with it in Quickload, 40 grains at 1050 fps falls quite a bit short. Only 100 ft-lbs.

50 grains at 1039 yields 120 ft-lbs. (126 joules), at about 11,000 psi (814 bar), which is perfectly safe in any modern .22 rifle. That's the minimum weight that gets you over the 111 ft-lbs energy bar and is still subsonic. Problem will be the twist.