Model 1 update

[hotfxr]

Having two perfectly working revolvers sitting around without ammo is infuriating. Worse than coming home late and realizing that Hanshi not only drank the last of the orange juice, but he snagged the last cinnamon roll! 

If I thought the long quest to find or make parts for these two little lovelies was hard, try coming up with rimfire 22 short black powder cartridges'. Firing a full power 22 short runs major chance of blowing out the cylinder. Finding empty short primed brass is beyond impossible. I did find a guy who had some 22lr empty primed brass so I bought 100 rounds from him. I figured I would take the time to cut them down but couldn't find a base in 22 for my case cutter. The 4 grains of BP would be no problem, but finding 29gn bullets also proved impossible. And believe me, I literally spent months checking everywhere I could think of with no success. Even my buddy that manufactures ammo couldn't come up with a source. I even contacted CCI couldn't or wouldn't help me. And they use 29gn bullets in their shorts. The ammo guy showed me where subsonic 22 short CB caps would be just a smidgen more powerful than the black powder. I had my gunsmith buddy check the hardness of the cylinders and he declared that there was no danger using the CB caps.

Great!   

Wait a minute, not so great after all. With California's restrictive (and unconstitutional) ammo rules, finding anything other than the most popular calibers is an exercise in futility. I had three stores special order them for me, again with no joy. And we cannot have ammo mail ordered to us anymore.

Well a few days ago I had to make an up and back trip to Tahoe (for work, not skiing) and went to three big sporting goods stores in Reno and Carson City. Guess what? No 22 shorts whatsoever. 

So just before leaving Nevada, we stopped by a Walmart for some cleaning stuff and what did I see? They had ammo. Why was I surprised? California Walmart's no longer carry any type of firearm or ammo. Welcome to the golden state.    I walked over to check it out and wonder of wonders, they had several boxes of the same stuff no one else was able to come up with.   

So I bought a couple of boxes and went on my way. Hoping to test them out this week. (I did actually fire off one round in my back yard just to be sure. Yep, worked fine. Now to see how they act fully loaded since one shot out of one pistol is not really a test. I just couldn't help myself.

I'll update after giving them a workout.

[Hanshi]

Now I may have once drank the OJ up but really don't care all that much for the cinnamon rolls. 

Back in the day I bought and fired countless CB rounds because they made no noise.  I was also able to order some BB caps - slightly shorter case loaded with round lead ball and fired by the primer only.  They were from Germany as I recall. 

Personally I don't think CB caps pose a danger in the tiny pistols.  But even if they did you'd find out and let me know so I wouldn't have to shoot them.

Move East, my boy!

[flintboomer]

I remember seeing CB caps back when they stopped making shorts and longs but never tried them. I did buy some subsonic long rifle to "scare" some squirrels with but didn't find them that much quieter thn the rat shot I had been using.

Good deal finding some so you can try out your revolvers.

[Hanshi]

I recall shooting a few over my chronograph back in the later 90s.  The old CB caps did around 800 or so from a rifle but I never tested the BB caps and wish I had.  So the CB caps (the old ones that are seemingly gone) were about on par with some of the more "muscular" pellet rifles.  I know of a shooter or two who shoot a .22 pellet rifle and it seems to be about on the same level as the old CBs.  And .the .22 pellets gave up very little in weight to the CBs.

[doggoner]

Hotfxr  try this  https://www.cci-ammunition.com/rimfire/cci/cb/6-26.html. Or not--- I don't know the laws in commiefornia. Good luck.

doggoner

[hotfxr]

Hotfxr  try this  https://www.cci-ammunition.com/rimfire/cci/cb/6-26.html. Or not--- I don't know the laws in commiefornia. Good luck.

doggoner

Thanks for the link! Those are the ones I was looking for and the ones I bought. The fairly recent law in CA forbids mail orders of ammo and requires a background check to purchase in state. Plus a $1 recording fee for every purchase. This has caused a lot of retailers to cut back on ammo. To add insult to injury, it is a felony to bring unregistered ammo into the state.    So officially I am only shooting the revolvers at a friend's house in Nevada. Honest!
As far as BP goes, we are only allowed to have 1 pound in possession. And there is not one single retailer that sells BP over the counter. We still can have BP shipped to us from out of state. For now.

[bmtshooter]

Why does CCI offer ammunition for sale online, but not primers?

Am I missing something?

[hotfxr]

Range Report!!

I was able to pull the bullets out of a couple dozen cartridges and set the empty brass aside. Then took another couple dozen and cut the rim off, dumping the powder for some kind of later use. Was able to come up with a Rube Goldberg setup to push the bullets out of the shells. I will never in this lifetime attempt to do that again. Now I have empty primed brass and mostly good bullets. Powder time. According to all the old info I could find, each cartridge takes 4 magnificent grains of black powder. Right. Each shell took 2 grains with the bullet compressing the powder down. I used 3f on the first 14 rounds. I'll try 4f on the rest and see if I can get more volume.
Taking it all into the back yard, the black powder rounds all fired. I had loaded both with 7 rounds each and had no misfires. They worked, made a little noise and just a little puff of smoke.

Success! 

Then I ran another 14 rounds (in each pistol) of the regular CB caps and they all worked like they were supposed to. The CB Caps felt like any 22 short pistol I have ever shot. The black powder rounds felt like shooting a cap gun.

My conclusion? With CB Caps it would be effective as a belly gun at very close range. Enough to let a person escape a dangerous situation. Maybe take down a squirrel or a rabbit if you could get close enough. The BP rounds? A slingshot or a pellet/BB gun would probably be more effective.

All in all, a most satisfying outcome. And now I have two more residents of my safe for my kids to sell off when I finally shuffle off this mortal coil.

[doggoner]

Good to see you were able to go shooting in "Nevada" with your project pistol--'s. The black powder shooting is a great sport.

Doggoner

[Hanshi]

The only place I know of that's worse than Calafo, Caflo, Fornocal.....I choke when I have to say that word so let's just leave it at "that-place-where-you're-kept-captive".  That other place is the UK, there's a book about it called 1984!

I feel your pain, brother hotfxr and not just the pain of not being considered a legal citizen of the remainder of the US.  As you know from our childhood antics, I obey the law and abide by such.  BUT I always put more legitimacy in the greater law of the land which doesn't always agree with silliness.  So continue your tests in Nevada - even if your global position puts you a bit more to the west.  Yes, mom used to help us out but we are mostly on our own now.