Red, UK question
- Thread starter mrostov
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The mods have asked in the past that all threads about guns and ammunition be posted in fair game. I suspect that Mrostov is complying with that even though we are talking about blanks.
Well, the reason I asked about it was due to a conversation involving how a number of people, myself included, on this side of the pond have been experimenting with using those blanks and .22 caliber airgun pellets as a substitute for .22LR rimfire ammo. This is both as a survival issue and it has also been prompted by the recent, serious shortage of .22LR ammo over here. During the shortage, the only two types of ammo that were almost never in shortage were shotgun shells, mainly 12ga, and airgun pellets. Those blank cartridges were also quite plentiful.
The question came up about this type of ammo pertaining to Europe, whether those across the pond would have access to it, which was why I asked about the availability. My guess is that with a drop in adapter, blanks, and airgun pellets, someone with only a shotgun license over there could effectively use these types of loads without having to bother with an actual .22 rifle and obtaining .22 rimfire ammo.
These loads have proven to be surprisingly accurate and effective. The .22 caliber airgun pellets reach impressive velocities, and they achieve adequate spin, making them stable in flight and accurate. Using these loads helped conserve existing supplies of .22LR rimfire ammo.
Some people have been loading the pellets into the muzzle of rimfire weapons, like a musket with a cleaning rod serving as a ramrod. I load mine through the breach whenever possible. Mostly what I have used them in have been drop in .22LR adapters for 12ga shotguns. I have three rifled 12ga to .22LR drop in adapters, one is a 2-3/4" GaugeMate made for pump shotguns, and for break open use only I have a 3" Short Lane and a 7" GaugeMate. Single shot, break action .22 rifles can also be more easily loaded through the breach, similar to a drop in adapter for a shotgun.
Here, these drop in adapters are not considered firearms, and can simply be ordered through the the Internet and sent via mail. They have an offset bore so they use the centerfire shotgun's native firing pin. A .22LR bullet's official spec is .223" vs the .224" of a .22 centerfire and the .22mag. A typical .22 airgun pellet is .221", which is still adequate for grabbing the rifling and the pellet's skirt also helps grab the rifling.
I'll drop a pellet into the breach and push it into the beginning of the rifling with a short ramrod (a section of wooden dowel rod). The pellet has a 'skirt' that acts a lot like the similar feature on an old Minie bullet on an antique muzzleloading rifle.
The terminal effects upon game have been surprisingly potent, though I don't have any photos at the moment to share.
Here is a YouTube video of some people using these blank cartridges with .22 caliber airgun pellets. Have you ever seen an airgun pellet drill through sheet steel or make a varmint bullet style explosive impact inside a soft target?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOZpy55U-jY
One of the other reasons for my interest in this type of ammo is that I'm planning on doing some travel sometime in the future on a sailboat, and plan on bringing a couple of shotguns (a pump and a break action) and a couple of air rifles. In most of the Americas, for example, especially Latin America, air rifles are not firearms, no matter how powerful. There are often legal limits on how much actual firearms ammo one can enter ports with, so this can serve as a form of ammo substitute.
For example, with a Mexican hunting license I can enter Mexican territory (the Mexicans are the worst in the Americas when it comes to having firearms on board, unless you have a Mexican hunting license) as a non-Mexican with two sporting style longarms, of non-military caliber, but only 50 rounds of ammo each when entering from outside the country. Two shotguns of the same gauge gives me 100 rounds, plus I can have portable reloading equipment and I can buy as much ammo as I want when in Mexico. Blanks and airgun pellets are not firearms ammo, and drop in adapters are not a firearm.
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Huh, should have figured.
For a while, you couldn't get .22 ammo for love or money and stores were rationing it to customers. On sites like Gunbroker.com a 500 round brick could sometimes fetch $100.
Even right now, for our youth marksmanship course where I'm one of the instructors, we've burned through most of our 10,000 round reserve and we're getting ready to buy a bunch of air rifles to make up for difficulties in supply and to conserve ammo.
It's primarily a matter of civilian purchases of ammo outstripping the ability of manufacturers to keep up. The Federal government has also been stockpiling a massive amount of ammo lately, so that hasn't helped matters.
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Depends on what you shoot, some brands and types of .22LR can take months to get in. We tend to blame those in the US of stockpiling...No shortage here
We tend to blame those in the US of stockpiling...
That is because they are stockpiling like the ant preparing for winter. People would go in and buy everything on the shelf just because it was there.
It's abated somewhat, but the supply is still tight and some areas are still getting strip mined as soon as shipments arrived. The recent ebola scare hasn't helped matters any.
This nonsense has had me seriously looking at some of the more potent air rifles. There are some very nice, very powerful air rifles on the market, especially some of the ones from Korea.
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I assume you can hold as much ammunition as you want in the US? We have limits on our firearms certs and have to have a good reason to hold over certain amounts. It's a bit arbitrary but it does make it harder to buy a large batch in case supplies get short. Funnily enough although you can usually hold less centrefire ammunition you can own almost unlimited parts to reload (subject to a few other conditions).
Depends on what you shoot, some brands and types of .22LR can take months to get in. We tend to blame those in the US of stockpiling...
Yeah. So do we. LOL
It's still hard to find here in NW Florida. Like you say, you have to be there when the truck arrives and most stores still ration it.
You assume correctly (at least in every state I've lived in) I believe there are some restrictions regarding storage of black powder (not really certain though) but they aren't part of any firearms law as such but rather part of the fire protection laws instead.
That said, before the shortage, it wasn't unusual for a target shooter to actually burn through several hundred rounds of 22 in a single day.
Ditch the powder burners and get a bow
Why would I do that when I can't hunt with a bow?
BTW was a long time back in airgunb mag (15-20yrs back) was an artical of a class of gun (factory made ) that used 22 propelling blanks and seperate bullets as a legal way to use a gun for small game think it was a central or southern american country
Did you mean:
a) southern American "state?" or
b) South American "country?"
The first (southern America) is a region in the US that has "states" whereas the second is a continent that has "countries." LOL
I assume if they are licesable, then they are legal. Are they popular? If so, what are the popular conversions?
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