WooHoo- Air Bullets!!!
Well I was a little bored tonight, and didn’t want to play with knives for a change, So————–!!!
I decided to spend a little time with the .22 SS with the Condor tank.
I’ve been wanting to try .22 bullets for a while. I mic’ed them and then swagged them down to 5.51 to 5.51. I used a short length of 1/4″ OD easton target arrow shaft and pressed them through it.
The .22 short slugs came out 5.52 mostly. (the ALU. tube flexes a bit, so I’ll bore a piece of steel and press the tube into that next.)
The .22 LR slugs went 5.54 mostly.
The .22 shorts, (29 grain) went into the breach very easily. The .22 Lr. slugs were hard to seat all the way. Probably due to both the slightly larger diameter, and the longer length being too long for the leed in the breach.
I didn’t do any accuracy testing. Probably wouldn’t be too hot since it is a chocked bbl., and the wrong twist rate for a bullet.
Here are the results of the velocity test. I ran sever different pellets for a control.
FPS FPE
1. 16. grain JSB———–1160———————-47.81
2. 21 Grain Kod. ———-1065———————-52.90
3. 29 gr. Short————-963———————–59.73 😯
4. 40 Gr. LR.—————-728———————-47.08
I suspect the low FPE with the 40 grain slugs is due to them being larger in dia. and the much longer bearing surface. The FPE should have been the highest of all. I have a feeling that driving bands used for lubrication on Keith type cast slugs used in center fire hand gun ammunition would help this out a lot!
This test was fired from a .22 SS with an 18″ bbl.
Fill Pressure was 2200 lbs. for all but the 29 gr. It was 2500 lbs.
Condor valve that has been fully polished internals.
The Bbl. has also been lapped.
All of the .22 slugs were copper washed. (Plated).
I still need to post a piece on lapping the bbl’s. It really does help the accuracy, greatly slows down leading and picks up a little velocity to boot!
I don’t advise any one to pull .22 rimfire slugs as it can be very dangerous. DO NOT USE A KINETIC BULLET PULLER ON RIM FIRE AMMUNITION!!!
When I get the chance ,I want to have a .22 Long Rifle rim Fire BB. turned down for the SS and will pull a few strings to see if I can get some unloaded rim Fire slugs.
So what’da ya think. Could this be worth while for longer ranges. I would love to see what a full Condor could do!
Does any one have any Idea how the FPE compares to a .25 with a similar length Bbl.?
Any input will be welcome and appreciated!
Mike
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Sorry I am on travel so this reply is slow. Even though there is more surface area and friction because of the larger caliber, the rear surface area is going up much faster and more than compensates, if it has the air. The larger caliber needs more air in order to take advantage of the increased rear surface area. It’s sectional density will also probably be greater, so it may not be able to achieve the desired fps without even more air, if at all.
Yes I very much agree. I do wonder however, how much of that energy is wasted due to the friction of the larger surface area caused by the larger diameter.
I’m sure there is some trade off going on.
A couple of months ago, this was a hot topic. I’m surprised that there is so little feed back on here today.
Mike
Mike
First, I agree with your assessment of why the 22LR did not have a higher energy. Please forgive me if what I am about to say is common knowledge.
In general, heavier pellets have more energy because they are in the barrel for a longer period of time. During that extra time energy is being transferred to the pellet by the HPA.
The .25 has 29% higher rear surface area for the transfer of that energy to the pellet. On paper, with time in the barrel being the same, the .25 will have the opportunity to pick up 29% more energy from the HPA than the .22.
In reality, as you well know, all things are rarely the same. In general though, the .25 has the advantage every time.
Strieyder
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Sounds like a winner to me. But you do reach a point of diminishing retruns. One of the reasons .45-70’s are slow and 22-250 are so fast. 😀