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22 rimfire wad cutters

golferboy426golferboy426 Member Posts: 970 ✭✭✭
edited March 2013 in Ask the Experts
after shooting a bunch of 38 special wad cutters yesterday in my S&W 52 then switching to 22 I wondered why nobody makes wad cutters in 22. I'd much prefer a nice round hole

Comments

  • RadarRadar Member Posts: 2,312 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Feed problems ??
  • rufe-snowrufe-snow Member Posts: 18,650 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    There use to be a couple of aftermarket accessories manufacturers, who made tools specifically for this, i.e. to change the nose profile of .22 rimfire ammo.

    It seemed it would work OK if you just used them in a revolver. Running them through semi-autos would be problematical though. Personally I've had to many choke on standard hollow points. Wadcutters are not likely to function at all, in some semi-autos.
  • XXCrossXXCross Member Posts: 1,379 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    At one time in the distant past, some target and match 22 ammo (both rifle and pistol) had a distinct shoulder much like that seen on a semi-wadcutter pistol bullet. They did exactly what you'd expect...punched a nice clean hole...easy to score.
  • iceracerxiceracerx Member Posts: 8,860 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    They would only be accurate @ 50 yards or less (if that), just like the 148gr HBWC used in 38/357.

    Shoot your 52 @ 75 yards and get back to us w/ a range report.
  • golferboy426golferboy426 Member Posts: 970 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    It they could 38 spc to work in my S&W, they should have been able to get 22's to work. Granted they would be target only but so are all other wad cutters.
  • perry shooterperry shooter Member Posts: 17,105 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have a few boxes From one of my mentors in Bulls-Eye pistol shooting
    He retired from shooting in 1973 and was 65 + years old at that time.
  • beantownshootahbeantownshootah Member Posts: 12,776 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    True "square" nose flush-loaded wadcutters would choke virtually every semi-auto .22 gun, and be tough to load into revolvers to boot.

    The answer is that lots of different types of 22s use shouldered bullets that punch perfect round holes. . .so long as you're actually using real targets.

    Good targets are constructed from long-fiber soft paper that makes it easy for bullets to punch nice round holes.
  • 62fuelie62fuelie Member Posts: 1,069 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The amount of work that S&W went through to get the M-52 to work was significant. The pistol is very critical about what it is fed - 2.7 grains of Bullseye and a bullet seated flush with the case mouth was all that would work with mine. There were other approaches including the the AMU effort where the Army Marksmanship Unit turned the rims off the .38 case and deepened the base groove to allow for extraction. This was to relieve some of he problems with feeding rimmed rounds in a semi-auto. The .22 RF has the same difficulty with its rim, but it can't be removed. The SWC .22 target loads are about the best you will find that are reliable.
  • llamallama Member Posts: 2,637 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    The truncated cone design of the Winchester subsonic 40grn hps (X22LRSUBA) and several loads from Remington provide more of a semi-wadcutter profile, which gives a sharper "cutting edge" to the bullet like you are used to wtih your 38 wadcutters.
  • 11b6r11b6r Member Posts: 16,584 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Loaded by UMC at one time as a target load for revolvers. Example appears in Suydam's US Cartridges and Their Handguns, Was supposed to be a tack driver out to 20 yards or so.
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