.22 Magnum - 20 or 24"?

[GunnyGene]

I bought a 20" today(9/2/18). Brownells has them on sale - too good to pass up.
Also bought 5 boxes of Hornady 45gr ammo from Graf & Sons - Also on sale.

I'll post a report once I get it to the range. Will be adding Williams Receiver sights and Lyman front sight and using the new-one for Lever Action Silhouette.
M

That 45gr ftx round was designed for snubby revolvers. It's not match ammo, but it will do just fine in your 20" in barrel. You should get around 1800fps out of that barrel. I use it almost exclusively in my 45 year old 9422M (also 20") for varmints on my property. I also use it in my LCR for the same reason.

[Blackdog]

Took it to the indoor range today. 25 yards is max, but .22 mag doesn't drop much - I'm thinking good at 25 will still be good at 50.
Had a strange thing happen. Shooting Hornady 45gr bullets from a 20" barrel and getting what looks like "keyhole" strikes on the paper. Five shots would take the center completely out of a 6" Shoot N See target. Accurate, but Keyhole'n?
As the bullet strikes were pretty close together, and I'm shooting a peep sight, I wonder if the keyhole affect is caused by the thin paper target...it just hangs, no backing.
Wish I had taken some CCI FMJs to compare to the Hornady.
Any ideas?
M

[GunnyGene]

Took it to the indoor range today. 25 yards is max, but .22 mag doesn't drop much - I'm thinking good at 25 will still be good at 50.
Had a strange thing happen. Shooting Hornady 45gr bullets from a 20" barrel and getting what looks like "keyhole" strikes on the paper. Five shots would take the center completely out of a 6" Shoot N See target. Accurate, but Keyhole'n?
As the bullet strikes were pretty close together, and I'm shooting a peep sight, I wonder if the keyhole affect is caused by the thin paper target...it just hangs, no backing.
Wish I had taken some CCI FMJs to compare to the Hornady.
Any ideas?
M

No idea. I've never had an issue with the Hornady. Twist rate sometimes will cause that, but IIRC both my Winchester and the Henry have a 1:16 twist for this caliber.

[CT_Shooter]

Took it to the indoor range today.
Had a strange thing happen. Shooting Hornady 45gr bullets from a 20" barrel and getting what looks like "keyhole" strikes on the paper.
Any ideas?

I'm no expert, but it seems to me that a bullet that keyholes isn't flying straight, no matter the target. The problem would be somewhere between the firing pin and the muzzle. The bullet is not being stabilized by the rifling. I'd try some different ammo before I'd blame the rifle, but if it continues to be a problem, I think a call to Henry is in order.

[BillyBoy]

I wonder if the keyhole affect is caused by the thin paper target...it just hangs, no backing.

Well, I'm no expert either! But I had keyholes happen once recently when sighting in my new Skinner sight. Baffled at first, but being the anal-retentive engineer kind of guy I am, have a theory.

I was at the BLM range, and in a rush trying to fit some shooting in between our Santa Fe (NM) monsoons. So I just hung a paper target from some typical spring clips from a string stretched between the posts of my portable target stand. "Hanging Free" I guess! Feels so good!

And every shot had a keyhole, with the "slot" being above the "hole".

Thinking back a long way, I remembered that there is a "wave front" or "pressure front" just ahead of a projectile, whether a rocket or a 22 LR.

Maybe what is happening is that the free hanging paper target is deflecting away just prior to the bullet penetrating?

Not sure, but it sounds reasonable.

But this is curious, and I'm sure more knowledgeable folks will chime in!

FYI- I then taped the targets to corrugated cardboard backers, and got just nice round holes, no keyholes.

Bill

[Mags]

Without pictures is hard to say if what you got is key-holing or hanging chads.

With free hanging paper targets (no backing) one can get hanging chads in the hole. A residual strip of paper with near parallel tears in the direction of the grain in the paper. If you're old enough to have been a computer programmer using punch cards, you know what a hanging chad is. If you remember the Bush presidential election fiasco with the voting machines that still used punch cards you'll know what a hanging chad is.

A pure bullet key hole usually leaves a clean hole in the sideways or partial sideways shape of a bullet.

Took it to the indoor range today. 25 yards is max, but .22 mag doesn't drop much - I'm thinking good at 25 will still be good at 50.
Had a strange thing happen. Shooting Hornady 45gr bullets from a 20" barrel and getting what looks like "keyhole" strikes on the paper. Five shots would take the center completely out of a 6" Shoot N See target. Accurate, but Keyhole'n?
As the bullet strikes were pretty close together, and I'm shooting a peep sight, I wonder if the keyhole affect is caused by the thin paper target...it just hangs, no backing.
Wish I had taken some CCI FMJs to compare to the Hornady.
Any ideas?
M

[Blackdog]

Yes, I had hanging chads. Same as punch cards and the Florida voters in 2000.

I would expect keyhole bullets not to be accurate. But these grouped well. At 25 yards they would tear the center out of the target with 5 hits.

Shooting a lever gun match Saturday...good test. Thanks for the confidence builder. Between pressure waves and chads I feel good for the match.

Michael

[BillyBoy]

Hey, I think we've just invented a new voting machine, lot's of fun, and has a paper trail! Your choice of target!
Bill

[Mags]

.
I think you meant 'paper tail'

Hey, I think we've just invented a new voting machine, lot's of fun, and has a paper trail! Your choice of target!
Bill

[Blackdog]

The last time I shot the .22 Magnum I was attending a Lever Action Silhouette match in Oklahoma City. I shot poorly and I blamed it on my being unfamilar with the rifle. Following other's advise I shot CCI TMJ at the Chickens, Pigs and Turkeys and used Hornady Critical Defense 45g bullets for the 100 yard Rams. My spotter could not see where I was missing the 100 yard target, so I could not adjust the sights.

Today we had perfect weather - almost no wind and 70 degrees - so I went to the range to re-sight my .22 and my .22 Mag Henry rifles. Made a few adjustments and the .22LR was on the money.

The .22 Magnum shoots tight groups at 50 yards using CCI TMJ. BUT when I moved to 100 yards (using Hornady Critical Defense ammo) I could not find a hit on the target. I changed back to the CCIs and shot an offhand group of about 3 inches.

Back to 50 yards with the Hornady Critical Defense ammo. Some shots were "on" but most, 9 out of 10, were key holing - see photo.
The rife is new - maybe 300 rounds through it. It shoots CCI just fine, but Hornady is key holing and not accurate.

Obviously the answer is to use only CCI ammo. Has any else experienced this?

Michael

20181102_141720.jpg

[Ojaileveraction]

Yes my H00tm key holed Hornady defence and lead free CCI.
I've kind of given up on it.

I figured it out just before the state matches so I shot my BBB in 357mag.

[BillyBoy]

I shoot only CCI Mini Mags. Plan to try CCI Quiet 22's and CCI Standards soon. But very happy with the Mini Mags!
Bill

[If1Hitu]

I have a Henry .22 Mag. 20" still haven't fired it enough to to say bad or good things about it yet.

[Blackdog]

Yes my H00tm key holed Hornady defence and lead free CCI.
I've kind of given up on it.

I figured it out just before the state matches so I shot my BBB in 357mag.

I wish I'd figured it out before the regionals in September. I shot the Hornady Critical Defense across the board and came away with an awful score. The targets use pneumatic resets and everyone with .22 Mag was complaining the Rams were set wrong...So I thought it just me and not being familiar with the rifle.
The 20" Henry is quite accurate with good ammo, and it really surprised me to see the 50 yard target. For now I'll stick with CCI until I find better -
Michael