Resurrecting Cutting Edge Bullets 32Grn

[JM4590]

So….a cpl years ago when this all started, I bought the CCI cases, 32 Grn bullets, and the dies. I loaded some up using 20/28 powder and had some nice groups. Then like the rest of the world, work got in my way of further experimentation.

Now I am retired and looking for something to do. My God, no one ever told me how potentially boring true retirement can be! So I got the ole CEB dies and cases and bullets back out to have another go at it. Today for my first experiment I loaded 5 with 2.0 of CFE Pistol. I cross ref with VV3N37 and started there. I fired the 5 with the 2.0 and no real joy. The group would have been good for 100yds, but I was at 50. So I thought let’s drop down a cpl .10. Loaded up 5 with 1.8 Grn, and these show some promise. Put em across the Magneto Spd and avg velocity was 1354. Good stuff right? Need to shoot about 20 more to get true details as SD was a very disappointing 25.4, but I’m well aware that 5 shots make an SD not!

Anyhow, I’ll keep at it a bit and see what I can come up with. I like using the CFE as 1.8 is only about 2/3 of the case, where the 20/28 is about 3/4. Heading to the indoor range tomorrow to test a few more loadings. Will post the results as far as grouping go as soon as I can. The photo shows the last group I shot The other groups were one with 1.8 w/o the Magneto and the 2.0. Tomorrow I will use clean target for each group. I think I have 5 diff loads to try.

 

[JM4590]

Todays resultant groups…. I think I will go with the 2.2 CFE and get some chrono data.

 

[spartan67]

Good to see that someone is still hand loading .22.

Who else is working up loads?

 

[acourvil]

I shoot the 32gn with 2.2gn Longshot, around 1400fps, around 1 MOA at 50 yds, 1.5MOA at 100 yards. I also tried VV 3n37 but got better results with Longshot. There’s probably room for improvement, but I set this rifle up for small game hunting and reached the “good enough” level so I haven’t pushed it further.

I’ve also done some work with the 50gn n a 1:6 barrel with HS-6, and had some promising results but got distracted with some other projects and didn’t really finalize anything. I’ll get back to it at some point.

 

[JM4590]

Chrono data for the 2.2 CFE was avg of 1554

 

[JM4590]

I’ve also done some work with the 50gn n a 1:6 barrel with HS-6, and had some promising results but got distracted with some other projects and didn’t really finalize anything. I’ll get back to it at some point.

Will be watching for further updates on this

 

[spartan67]

Any updates on the project?

 

[acourvil]

Sorry, no progress, but I can give a little more info on what I have done with the 50gn bullets..

I tried Longshot, AA-9, HS-6 and VVN350. I ended up with a reasonable good load for the rounds with 2.75gn of HS-6, giving me ~1170fps. 2.3gn of VV N350 was similar and maybe slightly slower @ 1150fps, but also seemed more finicky. My results with longshot and AA-9 were not good enough to pursue further. I use bushings of .222 or .223 to get consistent neck tension, I could never get the 22 crimper to work with the copper rounds. My SDs were higher than I wanted for long range use, typically in the low teens. I tried pulling some Center-x rounds to use the Lapua primed brass and got a significant improvement in the SDs, but the Lapua primed brass was noticeably hotter, so my next step is to re-do the load development using the Lapua primed brass. But right now, that barrel is in my closet and I have been using that action on a 1:9 barrel that I have shot a few matches with.

One other note: all of the powders I have tried are sensitive enough to temperature that it's hard to get the consistancy session to session that I am used to with centerfire stuff (also true with commercial .22 ammo).

 

[spartan67]

The little details in this project, must be madding!