flipping 22 round

[skeeter@ccia.com]

Watching a friend of mine shoot his 22 snub-nose at a target about 10 yards from him we found the Winchester ammo was landing on target on it's side. What is the reason for this? Is there something that can be done to stop it from happening? It is almost as if the round is fired sideways from the gun.

[GoodOlBoy]

It happens sometimes in snubbies depending on the ammo. I have had my nebnose 38 do the same thing with some lowwww velocity target ammo that was jacketed. Dunno what to advise you on a 22 though.

Anyway my 2 cents.

GoodOlBoy

[skeeter@ccia.com]

ok sir...thank you.

[Swift]

Key holeing is not uncommon in very short barreled pistols. Less barrel length and rifling is insufficient to stabilize the sound.

It'll still hurt plenty though. ;)

[Rocky Raab]

It's the result of a number of things: low velocity, shallow rifling, external bullet lube and more. But the guys are correct; it's much more common in very short barrels. Frankly, ten yards is about out of range for guns like that.

[skeeter@ccia.com]

Ok boys...so is a number of things but boils down to just the short barrel of gun and is quite common....no biggie I think the thing is nothing more than a noise maker myself.....I just never noticed such a thing before....keyhole...that was the word I was looking for....thanks all for reply. have a nice day.

[Rocky Raab]

No sweat, mugrump.

BTW, it's also a bit unpredictable. I picked up a used Jennings J-22 once for peanuts - I needed a fishing vest snake gun that I wouldn't mourn if I dropped it into the river.

It has almost no visible rifling, the usable bore length is only about an inch - and the dang thing shoots inch groups at ten yards with CCI Stingers. Whoda thunk it?

I keep one WW crimped shot load in the barrel and five Stingers in the magazine. It has one rattler to its credit to date.

[Contenderizer]

Rocky you must have baby rattlers out there in great state of Utah. If you shoot one of our Central Florida rattlers with 22 cal WW you only tick them off. We keep a piece of junk Super Comanche (45-LC) loaded with a 410 shot shell so as to dispatch our slithering friends. One shot will usually do it, but sometimes I wish snakeshot was available in 50 BMG. :D

[Rapier]

Skeeter,
With the 22 LR guns, you can only change the ammo. With the short barrel guns there is little attention paid to keeping the bore diameter within tolerance for accurate shooting, the short barrel gun simply is not expected to be accurate.

If your buddy's gun has an oversized bore you can increase the pressure in the round to help obturate (expand) the bullet's base. The way to do that is by going to a high or hyper velocity round. Try some of the real fast stuff, like the Stinger, etc. It might just help.
Ed

[skeeter@ccia.com]

Ok thanks and might tell him try hotter and see if different. I am also glad I don't need a 50 cal for snakes here. Sure glad I live in the good ole Pa then.

[skeet]

We've only had a very few rattlers round the house here and I shot one with a 22 shot shell. Killed it but I felt better shooting the 2nd one with 357 shot shells. Wife shot one 2 weeks ago near the garden while I was off to the east for medical work and she used her 44 with shot shells. Dang thing was kinda large for here too. He had 9 rattles. She hates snakes and shot the poor thing 3 times just to make certain...even though the first one all but took his head off.:eek: :D She does however let the bull snakes live. Go figure;) :rolleyes:

[Rocky Raab]

Contenderizer, you are spot on about the size of Florida versus Western rattlers.

I remember three of them in particular. I saw the first of them while bowhunting in Bull Creek Management area. Good thing I was in a treestand, because the snake slithered by right under me. It had to have been six feet long and at least twelve inches in girth at the fattest part - and I'm not scared of snakes, so that's not a panicky estimate.

The second one did induce a bit of panic. I stepped over a palmetto trunk and the instant my foot hit the ground, that familiar buzz erupted. I was straddling the log and the snake, frozen in place. I slowly drew and fired my Single Six and the .22 Mag shot load straight down. The muzzle was just above my kneecap, so the range was only about a foot from its head. I leapt straight up and off to the side at the shot, and didn't dare go back to check the snake - going back is what gets people bitten.

The third snake was found and killed by a pair of bowhunters along the St Johns River west of Melbourne (probably a subdivision now...). The one hunter could lift the snake above his own head before the tail left the ground, and upon slitting it open, the snake had a three-pound swamp rabbit in its stomach. BIG snake.

I actually see very few snakes out here in Utah. They aren't really active in the hot part of the say, and the few that I have seen are good snakes, so I leave them alone. The one rattler I shot with the Jennings was along a riverbank on a trail, and there were kids nearby on that same trail. I thought that killing the thing was a safer idea than not. I just slowly eased up to it until it reacted to me and coiled. I popped it from about five feet away with one shot load.

I still carry a shot load or two along with me when hiking, usually with one in the first cylinder to come up, or up the snout of a semi-auto. Ya never know when there might be a palmetto trunk!