Introduction
There has been a lot of internet chatter about the “SharpShooter 22 Long Rifle Reloader kit”. I decided to step up to the plate and see if this product actually did what it is advertised to do. After a few emails and phone conversations to Brain at SharpShooter a kit was on its way to me for this review. My biggest question to Brian was - “Does this actually work”?
So in preparation for this I broke out the only bolt action 22LR rifle I had in the house – a Cooey model 600 and proceeded to empty a bunch of cases for the reloading trial run.
If you see me at the range please don’t think I was an idiot for picking up my cases and ziplocking them… I did it for a reason!
What’s included with the kit
Allow me to outline some of the steps used in my product review. I do want to point out a vital step ahead of time – Test each and every case you reload to see if it fits in the chamber of your firearm. These cases are NOT resized and can become too large for fit into the chamber of a different firearm! It’s best to reload for the same gun you fired the factory ammo in!
Casting your bullets
The tool that comes with the kit has two mold cavities in it. During a casting run for my 45 Auto SWC 200gr bullets I put it to good use. There are a few things to keep in mind using this mold though.
I do want to mention the quality of this mold though as a separate note.
You can tell a lot of thought went into the design of the tool. It is very well thought out for its function and the finish on it is quite beautiful. It is also very solid and the one I had for the review had zero play in it. It’s a high quality product for sure!
A lot of people see the price of the 22LR reloading kit and gasp. I actually spoke to the company directly about this and it seems that’s the result of having the product custom manufactured to exacting tolerances. This is not something that is mass produced – it’s a custom product and you’re paying custom mold prices. Sure it’s expensive, but some of the custom molds for centerfire rifle bullets can cost much more!
Repriming your casings
I’m afraid to say it but this is the time consuming part of the whole process. It’s also the most work of the whole process.
Priming compound for your 22LR cartridges sits in the rim of the case. In order to reload them you need to remove the residue left from the previous firing. Included in the kit is a little tool that is designed to scrape that area. It took me around thirty seconds for each case and a few blasts of canned air to insure that the entire previous residue was removed from the case. The tool is simple yes – but was remarkably effective in this task.
Now onto priming and my lessons learned…
To prime the cases there are two recommended sources for priming compound. The first is the tips of commonly available strike-anywhere matches, the second is the shock sensitive material found in the paper coils used in children’s cap pistols.
To use ether you need to use the material WET. I cannot stress that enough. The match heads are easy enough to cut off with a sharp Exacto knife but the caps are a little more shock sensitive. I opted to use the matches since I have a bunch of them in my outdoor gear and wanted to stick with the theme of “Commonly available material”.
Let me document my process for powdering the match tips and lessons I learned in the steps below:
And this is where the Eyedropper comes in. Using the eyedropper place one drop of Acetone into the bottom of the case and allow it to mix with the priming mixture until it’s well wetted. Then use the square end of the little tool to push the mixture into the rim of the case. I cheated and used a pencil to give them a quick spin to insure the rim was full of the mixture. I then let the cases dry overnight.
The alternate method for using the paper caps is the one I should have used. I would have been easier (and better) – wet paper with Acetone, scrape priming mixture out and use the now wet mixture to prime the case. Lesson learned for next time.
Powder Charge
For my testing I used 1.4gr of Hodgdon Universal Clays shotgun/pistol powder. There is a bounty of useful and common powders listed in the included manual but I strayed somewhat and used a powder that I was very familiar with and had a slow enough burn rate that I wouldn’t have to worry about. Each charge was hand-weighed on an electronic scale and loaded easily into the now primed and dried case with the included little funnel.
Seating your bullet
Unlike most reloading there is no “Bullet Seating Die” you’d screw into your reloading press. Since the cartridge is now primed with a shock-sensitive material (in my case powdered strike-anywhere match tips) the last thing you’d want to do is place any form of pressure on the rim. To seat your bullet simply push the heel of the bullet into the case with your fingers.
* I learned the hard way – Before beginning the reloading process make sure the fired case mouth will actually accept a bullet. I had a few fired cases that would not.
Crimping
To crimp into the bullet into case you use the same tool that you cast your projectiles with. There is a hole that runs from top to bottom of the tool. It’s pretty simple – Put in loaded round and squeeze the handles together. I did find that most of my 10 test cartridges did take a nice firm crimp, there was only one bullet that could still be rotated in the case by hand.
Shooting Procedure
I took my 10 reloaded 22 Long Rifle cartridges to the outdoor range to see if they would function in the rifle that originally fired the factory rounds and produced the casings used for this test. I was a nice fall day with no weather aside from a small breeze and due to hunting season starting I had the range essentially to myself.
Testing procedure.
Actually Shooting reloaded 22LR
I will freely admit that I was a little nervous squeezing the trigger on the first shot. The heavy takeup on the trigger of the Cooey rifle felt like it took forever however I was rewarded with a loud BANG and the round fired as it should have. The bullet impacted the berm as expected and pretty close to point of aim. The results were duplicated with shots 2, 4 and 5. I did have a failure to fire on shot 3.
Loading up the magazine tube with the remaining 5 reloaded cartridges had a similar result. The rounds did cycle into the chamber freely and most of them fired as expected with one round that wouldn’t properly discharge.
I want to stress that I’m 100% sure that my failure-to-fire problems were caused by the match head priming mix. If I would have used the paper caps instead I know it would have went bang every time!
I did have a few people ask what I was doing pulling 10 rounds of 22LR from a Ziploc bag and why I was keeping the casings though. Reloading 22LRs made for an interesting story to the range crew!
Does it actually work?
YES – it really does!
Conclusion
Yes the kit works as advertised. It is fully possible to reload 22LR cartridges in the comfort of your own home. In a survival situation this would be very handy to have in a bugout bag as well!
The downside to this kit is the time and effort involved. If you’re a rimfire shooter who goes out and shoots a hundred rounds on the weekend you’re the person this kit is designed for. If you’re a rimfire shooter with a bullet-hose like the M&P15-22 or a modded-out 10/22 and shoot your ammo a brick at a time you will not be bothered to put the time into this.
You also need to have all the casting equipment to cast your own bullets and be very familiar with the process. Producing “great bullets” free of wrinkles can be a little bit of an art and these small little bullets will show you very quickly what you need to improve in your process.
I would like to thank Brian at Sharpshooter for providing this kit for review and all the helpful hints and conversations we’ve had. He’s a very knowledgeable gentleman and stands behind his product!
Please feel free to check it out yourself at his website at:
http://22lrreloader.com
There has been a lot of internet chatter about the “SharpShooter 22 Long Rifle Reloader kit”. I decided to step up to the plate and see if this product actually did what it is advertised to do. After a few emails and phone conversations to Brain at SharpShooter a kit was on its way to me for this review. My biggest question to Brian was - “Does this actually work”?
So in preparation for this I broke out the only bolt action 22LR rifle I had in the house – a Cooey model 600 and proceeded to empty a bunch of cases for the reloading trial run.
If you see me at the range please don’t think I was an idiot for picking up my cases and ziplocking them… I did it for a reason!
What’s included with the kit
- A bullet mold for 25gr and 38gr heeled 22lr bullets with built in crimping tool made from 7075-T6 Aluminum (The same material that the AR15 receivers are made from!)
- The rim cleaner and primer packer tool
- A glass bottle and eyedropper
- A little powder dipper
- A little priming/powder funnel
- And a detailed instruction booklet with load data
Allow me to outline some of the steps used in my product review. I do want to point out a vital step ahead of time – Test each and every case you reload to see if it fits in the chamber of your firearm. These cases are NOT resized and can become too large for fit into the chamber of a different firearm! It’s best to reload for the same gun you fired the factory ammo in!
Casting your bullets
The tool that comes with the kit has two mold cavities in it. During a casting run for my 45 Auto SWC 200gr bullets I put it to good use. There are a few things to keep in mind using this mold though.
- Degrease and smoke the mold thoroughly!
- Because the mold and its handles are all one piece it takes a while to bring it fully up to casting temperature.
- Wear thick gloves! This mold does get hot when it’s up to proper temperature!
- Use a soft alloy (pure lead or close with just a bit of tin)
I do want to mention the quality of this mold though as a separate note.
You can tell a lot of thought went into the design of the tool. It is very well thought out for its function and the finish on it is quite beautiful. It is also very solid and the one I had for the review had zero play in it. It’s a high quality product for sure!
A lot of people see the price of the 22LR reloading kit and gasp. I actually spoke to the company directly about this and it seems that’s the result of having the product custom manufactured to exacting tolerances. This is not something that is mass produced – it’s a custom product and you’re paying custom mold prices. Sure it’s expensive, but some of the custom molds for centerfire rifle bullets can cost much more!
Repriming your casings
I’m afraid to say it but this is the time consuming part of the whole process. It’s also the most work of the whole process.
Priming compound for your 22LR cartridges sits in the rim of the case. In order to reload them you need to remove the residue left from the previous firing. Included in the kit is a little tool that is designed to scrape that area. It took me around thirty seconds for each case and a few blasts of canned air to insure that the entire previous residue was removed from the case. The tool is simple yes – but was remarkably effective in this task.
Now onto priming and my lessons learned…
To prime the cases there are two recommended sources for priming compound. The first is the tips of commonly available strike-anywhere matches, the second is the shock sensitive material found in the paper coils used in children’s cap pistols.
To use ether you need to use the material WET. I cannot stress that enough. The match heads are easy enough to cut off with a sharp Exacto knife but the caps are a little more shock sensitive. I opted to use the matches since I have a bunch of them in my outdoor gear and wanted to stick with the theme of “Commonly available material”.
Let me document my process for powdering the match tips and lessons I learned in the steps below:
- Fold sheet of paper in middle to catch match tips on cutting
- Cut off thirty match tips and allow to fall into crease on folded sheet.
- Fold paper in half and gently grind match tips into fine powder using soft tapping with a rubber hammer
- Open and inspect – not powdery enough.. TAP harder!
- POOF! See smoke, #### pants
- Get fresh paper and start again with only 5 match tips
And this is where the Eyedropper comes in. Using the eyedropper place one drop of Acetone into the bottom of the case and allow it to mix with the priming mixture until it’s well wetted. Then use the square end of the little tool to push the mixture into the rim of the case. I cheated and used a pencil to give them a quick spin to insure the rim was full of the mixture. I then let the cases dry overnight.
The alternate method for using the paper caps is the one I should have used. I would have been easier (and better) – wet paper with Acetone, scrape priming mixture out and use the now wet mixture to prime the case. Lesson learned for next time.
Powder Charge
For my testing I used 1.4gr of Hodgdon Universal Clays shotgun/pistol powder. There is a bounty of useful and common powders listed in the included manual but I strayed somewhat and used a powder that I was very familiar with and had a slow enough burn rate that I wouldn’t have to worry about. Each charge was hand-weighed on an electronic scale and loaded easily into the now primed and dried case with the included little funnel.
Seating your bullet
Unlike most reloading there is no “Bullet Seating Die” you’d screw into your reloading press. Since the cartridge is now primed with a shock-sensitive material (in my case powdered strike-anywhere match tips) the last thing you’d want to do is place any form of pressure on the rim. To seat your bullet simply push the heel of the bullet into the case with your fingers.
* I learned the hard way – Before beginning the reloading process make sure the fired case mouth will actually accept a bullet. I had a few fired cases that would not.
Crimping
To crimp into the bullet into case you use the same tool that you cast your projectiles with. There is a hole that runs from top to bottom of the tool. It’s pretty simple – Put in loaded round and squeeze the handles together. I did find that most of my 10 test cartridges did take a nice firm crimp, there was only one bullet that could still be rotated in the case by hand.
Shooting Procedure
I took my 10 reloaded 22 Long Rifle cartridges to the outdoor range to see if they would function in the rifle that originally fired the factory rounds and produced the casings used for this test. I was a nice fall day with no weather aside from a small breeze and due to hunting season starting I had the range essentially to myself.
Testing procedure.
- Manually chamber shots 1 to 5 and fire for reliability test.
- Load remaining 5 rounds in magazine tube and fire for reliability.
Actually Shooting reloaded 22LR
I will freely admit that I was a little nervous squeezing the trigger on the first shot. The heavy takeup on the trigger of the Cooey rifle felt like it took forever however I was rewarded with a loud BANG and the round fired as it should have. The bullet impacted the berm as expected and pretty close to point of aim. The results were duplicated with shots 2, 4 and 5. I did have a failure to fire on shot 3.
Loading up the magazine tube with the remaining 5 reloaded cartridges had a similar result. The rounds did cycle into the chamber freely and most of them fired as expected with one round that wouldn’t properly discharge.
I want to stress that I’m 100% sure that my failure-to-fire problems were caused by the match head priming mix. If I would have used the paper caps instead I know it would have went bang every time!
I did have a few people ask what I was doing pulling 10 rounds of 22LR from a Ziploc bag and why I was keeping the casings though. Reloading 22LRs made for an interesting story to the range crew!
Does it actually work?
YES – it really does!
Conclusion
Yes the kit works as advertised. It is fully possible to reload 22LR cartridges in the comfort of your own home. In a survival situation this would be very handy to have in a bugout bag as well!
The downside to this kit is the time and effort involved. If you’re a rimfire shooter who goes out and shoots a hundred rounds on the weekend you’re the person this kit is designed for. If you’re a rimfire shooter with a bullet-hose like the M&P15-22 or a modded-out 10/22 and shoot your ammo a brick at a time you will not be bothered to put the time into this.
You also need to have all the casting equipment to cast your own bullets and be very familiar with the process. Producing “great bullets” free of wrinkles can be a little bit of an art and these small little bullets will show you very quickly what you need to improve in your process.
I would like to thank Brian at Sharpshooter for providing this kit for review and all the helpful hints and conversations we’ve had. He’s a very knowledgeable gentleman and stands behind his product!
Please feel free to check it out yourself at his website at:
http://22lrreloader.com
