Interesting Old .22 Luger Thread

[Rick W.]

Rich,

I have seen picts/articles on a 25/30 Luger with longish barrel that they claimed worked ok. More bullet weight helps I am sure, especially with the longer barrel.

Out of curosity, I dug out the modified 30 Luger die, and with some Wilson bushings necked down some 38 super cases. I did not put a lot of effort into the deal, the cases were shortened by hand, and just run thru the die with the respective bushings. So kinda rough, but shows the concept attempt.

The result is not quite what I wanted, but it is what it is. I think the shoulder is too sharp. Bullet length/weight really surprised me, have to find some old round nose hornet bullets or perhaps some of the lightweight babies on the market now....30-35gr; but that may work against the effort as far as repeatable function.

My slush fund is way down now, so no funds for custom reamers. I can make the dies from scratch, but that approach takes the basic reamer tooling to get there. I have not evaluated a shortened 256 win mag die or a 22 sabre cat die............but have extras of the 256 dies, so will take a cue and looksee how that might do...........

Maybe the fellow with the original working Luger will visit again and share more of how it did, was, and is..............always thought a little bullet in the Luger would be neat.

NECKED DOWN AFFAIR.jpg

[sheepherder]

Does anyone make a round nosed .223 cal bullet??? I haven't kept up with AR stuff.

If I could find a cheap/reasonable Luger barrel extension ["receiver"}, I would try a .22 Luger. I'd make the cartridges out of .223 Remington brass in a shortened RCBS .223 die set, like I did with the '256 Mauser'. That allows me to use a .223 (or 5.56mm) chambering reamer, which I already have. And AR-15 5.56/.223 die sets are cheap on eBay.

Even if no one makes a round nose bullet, it is not hard to make up a set of aluminum blocks to hold the pointed bullets while you mill them to a blunt nose. I've done similar work with 30 cal carbine bullets, but on those, I drill out the base to lighten them for 30 Mauser.

An amusing project. Sellers on eBay seldom separate the Luger barrel from the extension, and they seem to believe that a Luger barrel + extension is worth ~$400...

Maybe I'm living in 1985 but I won't pay that much for a barreled extension...

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by Rick W.

Out of curosity, I dug out the modified 30 Luger die, and with some Wilson bushings necked down some 38 super cases.

The .223 case is close enough to 9mm/7.65mm Parabellum cases to work (that's how we made 30 Luger & 30 Mauser cartridges back when you couldn't buy them). And If I'm only using the first inch or so of the chambering reamer, then I only need to make a spacer for the reloading dies, so the case goes in the same distance...Form with the expanding die. Seating die might require a special 'round/flat head' die insert...Or modify the spitzer insert...Depending on bullet used...Hmmm...

Correction: I would still need to cut down the .223 dies...I would not be using the base section...