succesfull experiment

G

gunrunner8

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
242   0   0
Location
Kamloops, B.C.
20 years ago or so I bought bent barrel LH Rem mod 591 in 5mm Rem Mag (no ammo) and decided to convert it to 22K Hornet. I had lots of fun with it over the years and even killed two mule deer with it and 50 Barnes X bullet. Long story short, I have 40'+ high black Walnut tree in my half an acre backyard and problem with crows that are picking the walnuts, fly away with it dropping it on the street below breaking the shell and eating the inside nut. Over the years my harvest did shrink to the point of 1 to 1-1/2 (20L) buckets and it is way, way less than 50% what grows on the tree! My 177cal 500fps air rifle is no match against those thieves so I need something quiet but more potent to deal with them this year. I drilled today letter "C" .242 dia hole in my K Hornet brass and counterbored it .020" deep with .312dia milling cutter and after seating 15gr 22cal air pellet from the rear of the brass towards the neck and priming it with shotgun primer (no gunpowder) I created very powerfull and very accurate 22 cal air rifle! That combo penetrates 3/4 fir plywood! My 177 cal air rifle penetrates 1/2" spruce plywood but just barely...I did spend 4hr in my machine shop today ironing out some bugs included but it was worth every minute of it.... GR8
 
Last edited:
Drills are bought in fractions of 1/64 or in letter sizes. The dia of shotgun primer is .242" to .243" and somewhat tapered so letter "C" drill at .242" dia when used carefully will drill perfect hole to seat the primer. I am sorry but I don't even have digital camera jet so no pictures are available. My shop is 28' long and while testing the inserts the 3 shots got me somewhat less than 1/2" at that distance (25'?) so at my maximum hunting distance of 60' if I can hold the accuracy to 1,5" or less I will be happy camper. The main thing is that my air rifle spring piston noise is touch noisier than pimer powered 22 cal pellet. Are even heavier 22cal air pellets available like 20gr? Crows are notoriously hard to penetrate and heavier pellet would be better in that task IMHO and even more quiet(?).
 
Isn't that what the old .22cal BB caps where? No powder, just primer. Then the CB had a grain or 2 of power in it? Sounds liike a hell of a good use of a few hours tinkering in the shop!!:D
 
gunrunner8 said:
Are even heavier 22cal air pellets available like 20gr? Crows are notoriously hard to penetrate and heavier pellet would be better in that task IMHO and even more quiet(?).
Click to expand...

I'm not sure on the weights, but I was snooping on D & L airguns site and they have have quite a variety of pellets.

Edit to add:Beeman silver arrow pellets are just over 17 grains or some JSB diablo jumbo monster pellets at 25 grains.
 
A few years ago I needed a quiet weapon in the city for crows that took up home in my back yard trees.

My solution was a 22cal pellet mushroomed a touch (to .257 :p)to fit snugly into a 250-3000 Savage primed case with no powder.

Then loaded the Savage 99, turned the scope down to 3x and quietly took them out...cou: Problem solved!
These were very accurate for a short distance...I never did any real testing for accuracy or penitration, I just loaded a mag full when needed. I liked this load/recipe much more than the crows did!

I also pulled the lead on some 22 shorts and removed 1/2 the powder charge and then replaced the bullet, but I found they were still loud.....too loud for my liking.
 
Hornhunter said:
A few years ago I needed a quiet weapon in the city for crows that took up home in my back yard trees.

My solution was a 22cal pellet mushroomed a touch (to .257 :p)to fit snugly into a 250-3000 Savage primed case with no powder.

Then loaded the Savage 99, turned the scope down to 3x and quietly took them out...cou: Problem solved!
These were very accurate for a short distance...I never did any real testing for accuracy or penitration, I just loaded a mag full when needed. I liked this load/recipe much more than the crows did!

I also pulled the lead on some 22 shorts and removed 1/2 the powder charge and then replaced the bullet, but I found they were still loud.....too loud for my liking.
Click to expand...

As far as I know you can buy 25 cal heavy pellets for much better accuracy but 250-3000 Savage brass has big internal capacity and I am afraid that single LR primer might not be powerfull enough to propell it with decent speed. I also think that one or two grains of Trail boss would make it "hell of a lot screamer"! Which reminds me....instead all that extra machining I should use reg SP primer and one gr of TB in my 22K Hornet....
 
Hornhunter said:
A few years ago I needed a quiet weapon in the city for crows that took up home in my back yard trees.

My solution was a 22cal pellet mushroomed a touch (to .257 :p)to fit snugly into a 250-3000 Savage primed case with no powder.

Then loaded the Savage 99, turned the scope down to 3x and quietly took them out...cou: Problem solved!
These were very accurate for a short distance...I never did any real testing for accuracy or penitration, I just loaded a mag full when needed. I liked this load/recipe much more than the crows did!

I also pulled the lead on some 22 shorts and removed 1/2 the powder charge and then replaced the bullet, but I found they were still loud.....too loud for my liking.
Click to expand...

I'd be extra cautious about that. You wouldn't want to discharge a firearm within city limits.

A far less fancy/skilled way to get quiet performance is to try Remington's CBee .22 LR ammo. It launches a 29gr HP at 710 fps. CCI also has their new Quiet .22 LR, which is a 40gr bullet at just over 700fps and is supposed to be only 68dB, although I have never tried it myself.

Also, I have used RWS Superpoint pellets out of a .177 495fps pellet rifle. It will kill a crow with a head shot from ~20 yards.
 
A .22 cal pellet seated into the neck of 22-250 case with 1 gr of WW231 and a LR primer will completly penitrate a pine 2x4.

I have the chroney velocity written down somewhere. Found it 750fps at 6ft:cheers:
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom