Little 22 cal...22-38 Special anyone?

[Evan]

Alrighty, my model in GRT is a 22-357 and has an 18.5gn water capacity, and I was seating a Hornady 52gn BTHP to an OAL of 1.7". Keeping max pressures to 40ksi and a 26 inch barrel:

• 12.5gns of IMR-4227 showed a nice result with 2710fps
• 12.5gns of W296 made it to 2760fps
• 6gns of Unique made it to 2180fps
• 13.3gns of H4198 only made it to 2660fps

I don't think I will make one up, but it was a thought experiment where I was trying to find a capacity less than a 221 that would drive the 52gn boat tails to 3000fps or so. The 22.4gns of water capacity of the 221 was hard to improve upon.

EDIT: My 22-357 puts the body/shoulder junction 0.920" from the base of the case and the neck/shoulder junction at 1.000". This is a good bit bigger than the 22 Jet, which had a long, tapered body and shoulder, if I recall correctly.

 

[JSH]

I had a source for 7x57R brass. I had plans of doing a 7BR/Rimmed. Never came to fruition, but I should have bought ALL the brass and ammo as I ran across a Drilling rifle later on.

I ended up with a 35 Remington rimmed years ago for TC. That cartridge caused a lot of people issues, mostly because they tried to put bolt action type thoughts into break open actions. The 35 Remington R uses 30-40 or 303 British brass. The extractor set us so you can still use standard brass. Made extraction a lot easier with a rim.

 

[1raggedhole]

I like the idea as well and happen to be looking into the same. As with most cartridges, you can dig and probably find more than one similar example wildcat from the past. I found a couple using 357 mag parent, so 38 spl parent is basically the same, a little shorter:
- 256 win mag, necked down to 22, “22-256”
- 22 super jet, “improved jet”
I would like to know more about the best way to make those cases, as I couldn’t seem to find off the shelf form dies.

 

[Ramblerman]

Alrighty, my model in GRT is a 22-357 and has an 18.5gn water capacity, and I was seating a Hornady 52gn BTHP to an OAL of 1.7". Keeping max pressures to 40ksi and a 26 inch barrel:

• 12.5gns of IMR-4227 showed a nice result with 2710fps
• 12.5gns of W296 made it to 2760fps
• 6gns of Unique made it to 2180fps
• 13.3gns of H4198 only made it to 2660fps

I don't think I will make one up, but it was a thought experiment where I was trying to find a capacity less than a 221 that would drive the 52gn boat tails to 3000fps or so. The 22.4gns of water capacity of the 221 was hard to improve upon.

EDIT: My 22-357 puts the body/shoulder junction 0.920" from the base of the case and the neck/shoulder junction at 1.000". This is a good bit bigger than the 22 Jet, which had a long, tapered body and shoulder, if I recall correctly.

Kind of in the same boat Evan, as in thought experiment. Lacking the digital capabilty, I was just relying on mock up and measurement...which didn't work quite to my hopes, but kinda to my expectations, hahaha. Thanks so much though for the data, that's handy if I find a way to move forward, as I was hoping...meaning cheaply (er), hahaha.

 

[Ramblerman]

I like the idea as well and happen to be looking into the same. As with most cartridges, you can dig and probably find more than one similar example wildcat from the past. I found a couple using 357 mag parent, so 38 spl parent is basically the same, a little shorter:
- 256 win mag, necked down to 22, “22-256”
- 22 super jet, “improved jet”
I would like to know more about the best way to make those cases, as I couldn’t seem to find off the shelf form dies.
View attachment 1516183

22-256 Winchester Rifle Reamer | Finisher

You are considering a used unknown manufacturer 22-256 Winchester Rifle Reamer Finisher. It's in good, serviceable shape and ready to get some work done.

oldarmsofidaho.com

You gave me an idea sir...a 22-256 reamer (ordered- one more reamer cant hurt, hehehe!) gets me to the base of the case dimensions needed...I can make a seater and a bushing neck sizer is also not too hard.

I now see some 357 Maximum brass that's available...so much for saving money

 

[NZ_Fclass]

Do I remember a 256 magnum - the 357 necked to 25 that was around in the 70's? I seem to remember reasonable figures. I may have dreamed it during a Covid fever...

 

[Ramblerman]

Do I remember a 256 magnum - the 357 necked to 25 that was around in the 70's? I seem to remember reasonable figures. I may have dreamed it during a Covid fever...

Yessir, 256 Win Mag...I'm gonna try a 22-256 Win Mag

 

[Paul's Black Rifles]

Yessir, 256 Win Mag...I'm gonna try a 22-256 Win Mag

Isn't the 22-256 pretty much a weak rimmed 221 Fireball?

Paul

 

[Ramblerman]

Isn't the 22-256 pretty much a weak rimmed 221 Fireball?

Paul

Yessir, roughly a rimmed furball, .260"ish short. One of my favorites too.

 

[Paul's Black Rifles]

In my opinion the 256 Magnum suffers from a shortage of bullets, projectiles. I think I'm running a 65 grain round nose in the Contender. So far I'll stick with the 221. But I'm not trading away the 256 either.