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Rechambering 22LR to 22Mag part 2
v35
Member Posts: 12,710 ✭✭✭
Some of you guys do a lot of guessing that you present as fact.
The 22LR bullet is .224 diameter and the 22Mag bullet is .2235" diameter.
There were many .22 Hornets made out of .22LR barrels that run at much higher pressures than the 22 Mag. I wouldnt use a cheap quality old barrel for this though.
The 22LR bullet is .224 diameter and the 22Mag bullet is .2235" diameter.
There were many .22 Hornets made out of .22LR barrels that run at much higher pressures than the 22 Mag. I wouldnt use a cheap quality old barrel for this though.
Comments
I have a Hornet made from a 1922 Springfield 22LR target barrel that shoots better with .223 than .224 bullets.
The .22 WMR (.22 Magnum) & .22 WRF
By Chuck Hawks
.22 WRF (.22 Remington Special)
The .22 Winchester Rim Fire (WRF) is all but obsolete. I mention it here because the .22 WRF can be fired in a .22 Magnum chamber, but not the reverse. It fires a 45 grain semi-wadcutter style bullet at a velocity of 1,320 fps and 175 ft. lbs. of energy at the muzzle of a 22" rifle barrel. This means that it hits with noticeably more authority than the .22 LR. Because its case is slightly larger in diameter than a .22 LR case (as is the .22 Magnum), the WRF will not go into LR chambers. Like the .22 Magnum, the WRF uses standard .224" bullets (like most centerfire .22's), not .220" bullets like the Long Rifle.
It is actually quite a useful cartridge, both in its own right and as a less expensive and less destructive understudy in a gun chambered for the .22 Magnum. Unfortunately, sales have diminished to near the vanishing point, and .22 WRF ammunition is hard to find.
.22 WMR (.22 Magnum)
Winchester introduced the .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire (WMR) in the 1950's. It was the first new .22 rimfire cartridge in decades. Its long case contains a lot more powder than the Long Rifle, and the cartridge operates just about at the pressure limit for rimfire ammunition. Like the Long Rifle, the Magnum is chambered in a variety of rifles and revolvers. For the handgunner, one of the neatest of these is the single action "convertible" revolver that is supplied with two interchangable cylinders, one for .22 LR cartridges and one for .22 Mag. cartridges.
Bullet diameter for the Magnum is .224", the same as for the .22 WRF and most centerfire .22's. Its case is slightly fatter than a Long Rifle case and, as loaded by Winchester-Western, the Magnum's original 40 grain bullet came with a real jacket, not just copper plating. Bullet styles include full metal jacket (non-expanding) and jacketed hollow-point (expanding) types.
Available bullet weights have expanded to include 30 grain and 50 grain bullets in addition to the original 40 grain bullets. CCI, Federal, Remington, and Winchester all load .22 WMR ammunition. There is also a .22 WMR shot cartridge, loaded with #11 shot.
The standard 40 grain bullet is now advertised to have a muzzle velocity of 1,910 fps in a 22" rifle barrel and carries 324 ft. lbs. of energy. From the 6.5" barrel of a revolver the velocity is 1400 fps with an energy of 174 ft. lbs.
The .22 Magnum is a much more powerful cartridge than the .22 LR. At 100 yards its 40 grain bullet is still carrying 156 ft. lbs. of energy, more than the .22 LR develops at the muzzle (compared in 22" barrels). The flat shooting WMR can be zeroed at 100 yards when fired from a scoped rifle, and will give a point-blank range of about 125 yards for hunting small animals.
The power of the Magnum, coupled with the violent expansion provided by its JHP bullet, makes it too much cartridge for shooting cottontail rabbits and squirrels at normal .22 hunting ranges, unless only head shot are taken. Body shots tend to literally blow these small animals apart. Used for self defence in a revolver, the .22 WMR has compiled a 42% one shot stop rate according to Marshall and Sanow. This is far superior to the .22 LR and .25 ACP, and makes the .22 WMR the best of the small bore handgun cartridges.
Within its trajectory limitation of about 125-150 yards, the extra destructive power of the .22 magnum's JHP bullet moves it into the varmint rifle cartridge class. A .22 WMR rifle can humanely take game of up to about 25 pounds with solid hits in the heart/lung area. Its low report makes it one of the best varmint cartridges for shooting on the small ranches and farms typical of semi-populated areas and in the country outside of small to medium sized towns.
For years there were lever, pump, and bolt action rifles chambered for the .22 Magnum, but very few autoloaders. This is because the Magnum operates at pressures above those deemed safe for simple blowback actions (the type of action used for all autoloading .22 LR rifles). The rifle manufacturers seemed to have licked the problem in recent years, however, as there is now a selection of autoloading sporting rifles chambered for the .22 WMR. For the serious small game and varmint hunter there are a number of accurate, high grade .22 Magnum bolt action rifles.
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Copyright 2001 by Chuck Hawks. All rights reserved.
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The .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire
In Sporting Revolvers
by Mike Cumpston
As the decade of the 1950s gave way to the ?_~60?_Ts, the shooting journals were a-buzz with the introduction of the .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire cartridge. A updated and upgraded variation of the old inside lubed .22 Winchester Rimfire Cartridge (WRF), the new round was aimed at the growing ranks of post-war varminters then diasporating across the fallow lands which erupted as a result of the Federal Soil-bank Program. The magnum rimfire propelled a .40 grain jacketed solid or hollow point at a nominal 2,000 fps from rifles and an advertised 1550 from the six- inch revolver. Much was made of its capacity to disrupt and destroy everything from jackrabbits to coyotes.
Owners of the traditional rimfires were told that there was no way they could re- chamber their rifles and handguns for the larger diameter case as straining the larger magnum bullet down the .217 -. 2225 " bores would prove hazardous with the 24,000 psi. round. A fifty round box of Magnum rimfires proved more expensive than a like amount of centerfire varmint caliber reloads, a circumstance that curtailed the budding enthusiasm for the new round. This began to turn around with the early introduction of several revolvers bored for the magnum bullet and provided with a spare cylinder sized for the traditional rimfire rounds. The theory was that only a little bit of accuracy degradation would occur when the healed bullets of the long rifle " slugged up" to fit the larger bore. .
Atricle curtailed at this point. Note "larger magnum bullet" & "long rifle "slugged up" to fit the larger bore."
OK a third source:
To: Purchasers of Lilja .22 rimfire drop-in barrels
Subject: Important Chamber Information
The .22 rimfire drop-in barrel you have just purchased has been chambered with a special match-type chambering reamer. In keeping with the all the manufacturing processes we use, your chamber was machined with a precision match reamer. This means that your barrel will deliver the type of accuracy you expect from a Lilja barrel. Caution: this also means that some ammunition causes the bolt to close with resistance and that you may have difficulty removing an unfired round from the chamber. Always keep your rifle pointed in a safe direction while chambering or removing a loaded round.
We use four different chambering reamers in making our .22 drop-in barrels. The reamer used depends on the type of barrel. The different types are listed below:
4. The Ruger 77/22 and 10/22 barrels in 22 WMR (rimfire mag) are chambered with a semi-match type reamer. It does not engage the bullet so tightly that an unfired round cannot be removed. These barrels are also made to .224 centerfire dimensions not rimfire diameters. And because the bullets for the 22 WMR are jacketed, centerfire cleaning and break-in instructions apply.
Note: Most information deleted, only left reference to above.
Edited by - gruntled on 05/01/2002 23:37:32
so to answer the original question, i think it would be unsafe to rechamber a .22 long rife barrel to .22 magnum rim fire due to the smaller bore on the .22 long rifle barrel causing increased pressures.
i never make misteakes.
Captain Kirk, Tech Staff
i never make misteakes.
The question about converting the barrel was on another string.
Douglas standards for precision 22 barrels are .2215-.222 for 22LR and .224-.2245 for centerfire.However, there are barrels out there that are outside these dimensions. Using the above dimensions, .22LR bullets swage down .002-.0025" and 22RFMag bullets swage down between .0015-.002"in the 22LR barrel.
If your barrel slug measures less than .223,I would not do the conversion.
Captain Kirk, Tech Staff