22 magnum ammo cost

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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by bladeracer » 16 Jun 2018, 10:30 pm

SCJ429 wrote:Bladeracer, what sort of speed do you get from a 223 loaded with Trailboss? Do you use about 4 grains no matter the projectile weight?


4gn gives me 1180fps with a 52gn bullet.
3.6gn goes subsonic with the same bullet. 3.6gn behind the 80gn ELDM could possibly stop in the bore due to the extra weight and bearing surface, and probably wouldn't stabilise anyway. For cast bullets you'd need higher charges.

I've got a pile of .223 loaded at 8.0gn with the 52gn but haven't had a chance to chrono them yet.
You can load them to whatever speed you want, up to about 2000fps I would guess - I haven't chronoed a full Trailboss charge as yet. New ADI brass holds 9.2gn to the top and 8.6gn to the base of the neck. Fired PPU and Tikka brass I can fit 10gn into.

My absolute favorite TB load is probably 8.5gn in the .204 behind the 32gn ZMax at 2400fps (basically a .22 Hornet load), but I make TB loads for everything I shoot. 4.5gn drops them down under 1600fps. I have been down to 3.0gn but didn't have a chrono back then.
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by JimTom » 17 Jun 2018, 6:47 am

I had fancied a .22WMR however like people have eluded to, the cost of ammo is a little disproportionate to .22LR given the difference in performance.
For someone that reloads I am thinking the Hornet is a far better option. Hopefully I will scrape enough together for one in the not to distant future.
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by Oldbloke » 17 Jun 2018, 9:37 am

JimTom wrote:I had fancied a .22WMR however like people have eluded to, the cost of ammo is a little disproportionate to .22LR given the difference in performance.
For someone that reloads I am thinking the Hornet is a far better option. Hopefully I will scrape enough together for one in the not to distant future.


IMO 223 or 222 are better options. As suggested earlier Hornet is a bit limited in performance.
Last edited by Oldbloke on 17 Jun 2018, 10:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by SCJ429 » 17 Jun 2018, 9:46 am

Thanks Bladeracer, I did not realise you could get 8 or 9 grains into a case. I will have to do some experimenting. I need something fairly quiet but faster than a 22. Might have to give the 204 a go.
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by JimTom » 17 Jun 2018, 10:14 am

Oldbloke wrote:
JimTom wrote:I had fancied a .22WMR however like people have eluded to, the cost of ammo is a little disproportionate to .22LR given the difference in performance.
For someone that reloads I am thinking the Hornet is a far better option. Hopefully I will scrape enough together for one in the not to distant future.


IMO 223 or 222 are better options. As suggested earlier Hornet is a bit limited in performance.



Yep I agree mate and already have a .223., the .22 Hornet is just a nice to have.
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by Bruiser64 » 17 Jun 2018, 10:33 am

I bought a Ruger American in 22 magnum and I am happy with my purchase. I wouldnt use ir for plinking, but I like it for shooting bunnies where they are a bit too far away for the 22lr. I dont think the dollar cost per Shooting trip is too bad as I am not shooting that many rounds each time i go out. It is certainly pretty convenient just picking up a box of 50 for $30 as opposed to reloading 50 rounds. Fot me the ammo cost was no barrier to ownership.
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by Oldbloke » 17 Jun 2018, 12:19 pm

Bruiser64 wrote:I dont think the dollar cost per Shooting trip is too bad as I am not shooting that many rounds each time i go out. It is certainly pretty convenient just picking up a box of 50 for $30 as opposed to reloading 50 rounds. For me the ammo cost was no barrier to ownership.


Agree, fuel is normally the main cost, for me anyway. We often worry far too much about ammo cost. For hunting it’s fairly minor. But reloading will in the long term be cheaper. You also get a lot of satisfaction and tighter groups. Just part of the sport.
For those shooting 1000s of rounds it’s probably a necessary evil.
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by bigrich » 17 Jun 2018, 3:33 pm

JimTom wrote:I had fancied a .22WMR however like people have eluded to, the cost of ammo is a little disproportionate to .22LR given the difference in performance.
For someone that reloads I am thinking the Hornet is a far better option. Hopefully I will scrape enough together for one in the not to distant future.


i had a beutifull weihrauch hw60j in 22 mag that would shoot 1" at 100 . depending on the batch of rimfire ammo you got. frustrated the hell out of me which is why i got a hornet. 22 hornet is not overly loud to use for pest control on smaller blocks, can be extremely accurate and is reloadable. if i was looking at longer range shooting, from my experiences costs be damned i'd go 243 or work on lighter loads for my 6.5x55. had a range day that was a bit windy, 22-250 moved around a bit. my 6.5 hardly noticed. back to hornet, cost per bullet it must be one of the cheapest to load for once you have the gear. JMHO :thumbsup:
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by Flyer » 20 Jun 2018, 3:45 pm

We were talking about the cost of 22wmr and 17hmr compared to 22 the other day and came to the conclusion it's the different types of bullets - 22 is a lead slug or copper wash, while 22wmr and 17hmr are proper jacketed bullets. There's a little bit more powder and brass in the magnum cartridges, too, but not so much as to quadruple the price.
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by bladeracer » 20 Jun 2018, 10:46 pm

Flyer wrote:We were talking about the cost of 22wmr and 17hmr compared to 22 the other day and came to the conclusion it's the different types of bullets - 22 is a lead slug or copper wash, while 22wmr and 17hmr are proper jacketed bullets. There's a little bit more powder and brass in the magnum cartridges, too, but not so much as to quadruple the price.


To give you some real numbers:
For reference - CCI Std Velocity RN 1080fps.
.22LR has a 40gn lead healed lubed RN .223" bullet.
.22LR has a 10gn case (including priming compound - fired case is 0.40gn lighter).
.22LR has 1gn of fine ball powder.

For reference - Win Super-X JHP 1900fps(?) (old 1980's bullet design).
.22WMR has a 40gn semi-jacketed HP .224" bullet (interestingly, the jacket is 13.5gn of that - one-third).
.22WMR has a 19gn case (including priming compound - I don't have a fired case to weigh. I would guess it would be about 0.6gn lighter when fired).
.22WMR has 6gn of fine ball powder.

The WMR bullet is ten-times the price (more material and a lot more manufacturing processes to make), the primed case is about three-times the price, and the powder is six-times the price of the .22LR cartridge.

So yes, just in components, the WMR would be very significantly more expensive to produce - on the same scale of production - quite likely even more than quadrupling the price.

But if you compare the WMR to .223Rem, which has five-times more brass in the case, four-times more powder, fifty-percent more bullet, and a separate expensive primer, you would reasonably expect to pay at least five-times more than for the WMR ammo. Scale of production though makes .223 only about double the WMR's price, and sometimes closer to equal.
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by Runnymede » 22 Jun 2018, 8:33 pm

Hi all this is my 1st post as only joined today. Anyway re. 22 WMR ammo cost I have 22WMR and pay a fair bit for ammo here in OZ, a few weeks ago I was in the US for work and dropped into Cabelas and was walking the ammo aisle and noted that 22 WMR Winchester Super X 40 gr we’re selling for USD $9.95 a box of 50 so even factoring in the exchange rate why am I paying almost 3 x that at home? And don’t get me started on the 308 Win Winchester 180 gr Super X that was selling for under USD$ 20 a box that I pay somewhere near AUD $40 here at home. Someone is making money and it’s not me....
I guess perhaps it is economies of scale or perhaps we are just prepared to pay more than others?
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by bladeracer » 23 Jun 2018, 12:15 pm

Runnymede wrote:Hi all this is my 1st post as only joined today. Anyway re. 22 WMR ammo cost I have 22WMR and pay a fair bit for ammo here in OZ, a few weeks ago I was in the US for work and dropped into Cabelas and was walking the ammo aisle and noted that 22 WMR Winchester Super X 40 gr we’re selling for USD $9.95 a box of 50 so even factoring in the exchange rate why am I paying almost 3 x that at home? And don’t get me started on the 308 Win Winchester 180 gr Super X that was selling for under USD$ 20 a box that I pay somewhere near AUD $40 here at home. Someone is making money and it’s not me....
I guess perhaps it is economies of scale or perhaps we are just prepared to pay more than others?


Did those prices include tax? Often US prices are without tax which you then add on at point of sale.
How did the WMR price compare to .22LR?
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by Runnymede » 24 Jun 2018, 7:54 am

Hi bladeracer, yes I stand corrected that price did not include sales tax. Sales tax in the state I was in was approximately 6.5% still a pretty cheap deal. Anyway I guess it just comes down to volume...... there is a lot more shooters in the US than here and prices reflect the number of units that are being sold. Anyway it won’t stop me shooting my 22WMR as I find it a great little fox gun.
I didn’t actually check out the price of 22lr as I don’t have one sorry.
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by Oldbloke » 24 Jun 2018, 8:00 am

Runnymede wrote:Hi bladeracer, yes I stand corrected that price did not include sales tax. Sales tax in the state I was in was approximately 6.5% still a pretty cheap deal. Anyway I guess it just comes down to volume...... there is a lot more shooters in the US than here and prices reflect the number of units that are being sold. Anyway it won’t stop me shooting my 22WMR as I find it a great little fox gun.
I didn’t actually check out the price of 22lr as I don’t have one sorry.


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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by bones-350 » 25 Jun 2018, 9:34 pm

I have a 22 mag bolt action rifle but I could swear it's a muzzle loader in disguise.
Winchester 22 mag ammo 1 in 5 case splits and have to use the cleaning rod to eject the stuck case.
Steer well away from Winchester 22 mag ammo.
Gonna get rid of it I think.
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by Elmer » 26 Jun 2018, 4:04 pm

Back in the olden days (1985) I could buy a 50 round box of Winchester super x JHPS for 5 bucks from KMart.
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by SCJ429 » 26 Jun 2018, 5:14 pm

I remember buying rimfire ammo at Kmart. Don't remember any centerfire but then I only had a rimfire in the early 80's.
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by el toro » 20 Jul 2018, 12:49 am

+1 in support of the poor old .22wmr.

Yeah, it's pricey (still spitting about paying $30 for one box of CCI v-max the other day!) but much more neighbour-friendly than .223 on a small block and seems to stop foxes better than the .17HMR I had (which is similar money per shot from memory...).

Any .22 Hornet owners want to chime in on relative noise levels, .22wmr vs. Hornet?
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by Runnymede » 20 Jul 2018, 4:44 pm

bones-350 wrote:I have a 22 mag bolt action rifle but I could swear it's a muzzle loader in disguise.
Winchester 22 mag ammo 1 in 5 case splits and have to use the cleaning rod to eject the stuck case.
Steer well away from Winchester 22 mag ammo.
Gonna get rid of it I think.


Bones-350...I think I would be getting a gunsmith to check your 22WMR as I have shot 1000,s rounds of Winchester ammo through my Ruger and have never had the issue you describe. Do you get split cases with other brands?
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by RoginaJack » 20 Jul 2018, 5:14 pm

:huh: Noise levels :wtf: ? but we can reload 22 hornet... :D
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by Bills Shed » 20 Jul 2018, 10:03 pm

el toro wrote:+1 in support of the poor old .22wmr.

Yeah, it's pricey (still spitting about paying $30 for one box of CCI v-max the other day!) but much more neighbour-friendly than .223 on a small block and seems to stop foxes better than the .17HMR I had (which is similar money per shot from memory...).

Any .22 Hornet owners want to chime in on relative noise levels, .22wmr vs. Hornet?


Ref the noise level, I have been doing a lot of testing with trail boss. Definatly lower noise levels. With the 17 Hornet it was no louder than a 22LR but could only do 2000 F/S with a 20gn pill and they preformed poorly at that lower velocity. Knock down power was minimal and shot placement was everything. Very little cross section on that little 17 pill! The 22 hornet was a pleasure to shoot but with the same case capacity and a projectile twice a heavy, 40gn, velocities were really low, but when it hit, it was a stopper. A .224 diameter round nose projectile at low velocity still hits hard. The 233 with a 40 gn was perfect. No more noise than a 17 WSM and with a 40gn pill velocity was still above 2000f/s. Far cheaper for me to run the reduced loads in the 223 than the cost of 22 mag ammo. :drinks:

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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by Stix » 21 Jul 2018, 1:18 pm

RJ & Bill are on the money...!!
Hornet & 223 can reload/load em down for cheap...
I run the trailboss in a 204 & experimenting with it in 22-250 atm just for fun...
They will give out hornet type velocities, & for $30 i can load a lot of relatively quiet rounds for each of them. :thumbsup:
22 mag is not a chambering high on my list.
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by bladeracer » 21 Jul 2018, 1:30 pm

Bills Shed wrote:Ref the noise level, I have been doing a lot of testing with trail boss. Definatly lower noise levels. With the 17 Hornet it was no louder than a 22LR but could only do 2000 F/S with a 20gn pill and they preformed poorly at that lower velocity. Knock down power was minimal and shot placement was everything. Very little cross section on that little 17 pill! The 22 hornet was a pleasure to shoot but with the same case capacity and a projectile twice a heavy, 40gn, velocities were really low, but when it hit, it was a stopper. A .224 diameter round nose projectile at low velocity still hits hard. The 223 with a 40 gn was perfect. No more noise than a 17 WSM and with a 40gn pill velocity was still above 2000f/s. Far cheaper for me to run the reduced loads in the 223 than the cost of 22 mag ammo. :drinks:

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Yep, Trailboss is amazingly versatile.
I almost suggested that RJ should load some .223 loads to replicate .22WMR and .22 Hornet for noise comparison. I have a load with 52gn bullets on 8.0gn of TB at 1880fps. 4.0gn drops it to 1180fps. I haven't pursued other reduced loads in the .223 so far as I already have the .204, but I do intend to do some experimenting with the 35gn NTX to replicate .22LR, .22WMR and .22 Hornet. I also have two moulds so I can experiment with cast bullets, although I'm expecting the 8"-twist is going to require hard bullets.
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by el toro » 22 Jul 2018, 12:17 am

Very enlightening, fellas. Thanks.

I don't reload and had never considered the idea of mild loads to reduce noise. Makes a lot of sense. I have a Marlin x7 .223 that, apart from the odd feeding issue has been a good workhorse - many foxes accounted for on the family sheep farm. Would be good to hear about your further experiments Bill and Bladeracer - to be honest most of my shots were under 120m so a load that would shoot flat to that distance as quietly as .22WMR would be spot on.
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by bladeracer » 22 Jul 2018, 2:59 am

el toro wrote:Very enlightening, fellas. Thanks.

I don't reload and had never considered the idea of mild loads to reduce noise. Makes a lot of sense. I have a Marlin x7 .223 that, apart from the odd feeding issue has been a good workhorse - many foxes accounted for on the family sheep farm. Would be good to hear about your further experiments Bill and Bladeracer - to be honest most of my shots were under 120m so a load that would shoot flat to that distance as quietly as .22WMR would be spot on.


That's the same reason most of my .204 shots are with 2400fps loads, most of them are closer than I need to use 4400fps loads. The hot loads are only for those long shots that come up.
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by Oldbloke » 22 Jul 2018, 12:31 pm

el toro wrote:Very enlightening, fellas. I have a Marlin x7 .223 that, apart from the odd feeding issue has been a good workhorse - many foxes accounted for on the family sheep farm. .


What's the feeding issue. I have the exact same rifle and just love it. No issues and with reloads I'm getting .7moa
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by NUTSACK » 18 Aug 2018, 6:12 pm

I can't understand people comparing a .223 to .22 Magnum..not even similar or for similar use really. Half the point of buying a rimfire is to not have to reload or mess around, just grap a pack and go have some fun. I considered selling my barely used magnum and getting a 17WSM but again it's another kettle of fish really. Shooting rabbits and maybe fox's at 0- 100m is what i consider a magnum being good for, anything bigger or further then reassess your needs..I'd have to be shooting a lot of magnum ammo for it to bother me..it's a hobby with a cost like everything.
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Re: 22 magnum ammo cost

Post by Bills Shed » 18 Aug 2018, 7:37 pm

We are not comparing the 223 to a 22 mag just saying that you can load a 223 down to 22 mag velocities at a cheaper cost than feeding a 22 mag.
I have finally got my .224", 40gn RNFB projectile right and it is a cracker. I made it a hollow point core in a open tip jacket. It just disintegrates even at low velocity <2000f/s. I tried it with a full load of TB at 8.4gn but it did not like it and 8gn was far better. Turns out the drop from 50 - 100m is minimal once I zeroed it properly for that projectile. Very cheap to run.

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