22 conversion kits

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by ithacaartist

I think these slugs are around 60 gr...

Yes, that is what it says on the box. The bullet itself feels and looks strange; like it has a plastic sheath on it...

Ely is another ammo manufacturer. I think Aguila gets primed brass from them, or at least uses Ely's formula, probably under license.

I had always thought that rimfire primer was just mixed & poured around the circumference of the shell, but reading on another site, they said that the primer is a string/ribbon coiled along the rim of the shell...

That kinda makes sense. I've taken apart old British .303 cartridges and was fascinated by the cordite 'rope' in each cartridge...Seems easier to manage, just measure a length & cut it and stick it in the case...No weighing!

[ithacaartist]

Originally Posted by sheepherder

...
I had always thought that rimfire primer was just mixed & poured around the circumference of the shell...

That's what I remember from taking them apart. The primer seemed to be a dried green crust down in there. Forty years ago I survived the task of scraping it out of a bunch of cases, and the resulting powder, along with the gunpowder, guts from a bunch of small firecrackers, and some crunched up match heads, inside one of those little Bayer aspirin tins, bound up by an entire roll of masking tape, made an interesting device to light and toss out the dorm window, for sure.
(Also prepared a batch of ammonium iodide, which was a blast [pun intended]! The best one, for the show of it, was a small oil can full of equal parts, IIRC, sugar and saltpeter, with contact wires to a broken flash bulb imbedded therein with its filament exposed, and the spout of crimped to hold the wires. The entire device disappeared, and some of the guys in the dining hall reported the entire woods lit up momentarily by the flash, opposite the big room's wall of windows. No one hurt, nothing damaged, fortunately. Amazing how the young mind amuses itself...)

[sheepherder]

Here's a couple pics of the SE 08/2 Erma 9mm 4"bbl 'kit'...

Maybe some of the other owners could post pics of their kits (other than the 4" SE 08/2)...

(And a big 'Thanks!' to Ed Tinker for making this a stand-alone conversion thread!)

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by ithacaartist

The best one, for the show of it, was a small oil can full of equal parts, IIRC, sugar and saltpeter, with contact wires to a broken flash bulb imbedded therein with its filament exposed, and the spout of crimped to hold the wires. The entire device disappeared, and some of the guys in the dining hall reported the entire woods lit up momentarily by the flash...

I read, way back when, in Playboy, that an acceptable version of napalm was 2/3 Duz dishwashing detergent and 1/3 gasoline, in a glass wine bottle, with a Tampon taped on the outside...A home made 'Molotov Cocktail'...Haven't had the urge to try it out yet...

[ithacaartist]

Originally Posted by sheepherder

I read, way back when, in Playboy, that an acceptable version of napalm was 2/3 Duz dishwashing detergent and 1/3 gasoline, in a glass wine bottle, with a Tampon taped on the outside...A home made 'Molotov Cocktail'...Haven't had the urge to try it out yet...

The nasty nature of napalm is that it will stick and burn. The dish soap would make it sticky for sure, though I'm not sure if the mixture will emulsify. You could update the recipe by using Dawn, and clean off some oily wildlife with the excess detergent!

I think engineering schools probably contain the highest proportion of students interested in explosives. My brother went to RPI, and had a frat brother who was missing fingers from his high school days, when a timer malfunctioned on a device he was setting off in the Troy High parking lot.

[John Sabato]

Best description I ever heard for Napalm was "jellied" gasoline... I just never bothered to find out what they use to turn the gas into a loose gelatin... soap? Really? DUZ?

(...and for you young whipper/snappers... Duz, a powdered laundry soap and later, a powdered laundry detergent which had glassware and plates in each box; last made in 1980.)

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by John Sabato

Best description I ever heard for Napalm was "jellied" gasoline... I just never bothered to find out what they use to turn the gas into a loose gelatin... soap? Really? DUZ?

I use Palmolive, have for decades...Never used Duz...I recall the recipe only because it was so out of place in a gentlemen's magazine...Along with sci-fi novels ("The Fly")...

Liquid soap would seem to be more appropriate for a jellied exfoliate...But that's my memory of the recipe...

[John Sabato]

BTW, .22LR headspaces on the RIM, not the cartridge mouth, so case length is irrelevant... Overall length (OAL)? that is a different story...

[Edward Tinker]

If I remember right, Bob Tracy besides using Agent Orange, helped mix up Napalm - they had big barrels of powered soap, I think so it would mix better - seem to remember it was gas / diesel and soap - gas for quick burn, diesel for slowing it down and saop made it stick on 'things'... nasty stuff, google says:

Napalm is a mixture of a thickening/gelling agent and petroleum or a similar fuel for use in an incendiary device. It was initially used against buildings, and later was used primarily as an anti-personnel weapon that sticks to skin and causes severe burns when on fire. Napalm was developed in 1942, in a secret laboratory at Harvard University in Massachusetts, by a team led by chemist Louis Fieser.[1] Its first recorded use was in the European theatre of war during World War II; it was used extensively in incendiary attacks on Japanese cities in the Pacific War.
"Napalm" is a combination of the names of two of the constituents of the gelling agent: naphthenic acid and palmitic acid. "Napalm B" is the more modern version of napalm and, although distinctly different in its chemical composition, it is often referred to simply as "napalm".[2

A more modern version, "Napalm-B" or "super napalm", is a blend of low-octane petrol (gasoline) with benzene and gelled with polystyrene. This is the type that was used in the Vietnam War. Unlike conventional napalm, which burns for only 15–30 seconds, Napalm-B burns for up to 10 minutes and is significantly more adhesive which gives improved destruction effects.

nasty stuff - please shoot me...

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by Edward Tinker

If I remember right, Bob Tracy besides using Agent Orange...

True story - Back in 1967/8, I drove to work in Tonawanda NY past a factory named Riverside Chemical. They had stockpiles of palletized 55 gal drums, olive drab, with thin colored rings around the circumference. Some were orange, some red, and some purple. An AFRES co-worker told me they were the infamous Agent Orange defoliants.

Riverside Chemical either quietly went out of business or moved, sometime in the 70's. The land was bulldozed flat. It was still unoccupied, the last time I went by, a few years ago.

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by John Sabato

BTW, .22LR headspaces on the RIM, not the cartridge mouth, so case length is irrelevant...

The print says .875" chamber...I like to keep the freebore to a minimum...I measured a Remington Viper cartridge + bullet at .760"...That seems like a lot of freebore...

[ithacaartist]

Polystyrene?!! Holy mackerel! Once alight, it drips and sticks and keeps on burning. I'm with Ed!

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by ithacaartist

Polystyrene?!! Holy mackerel! Once alight, it drips and sticks and keeps on burning. I'm with Ed!

Back in the 50's, I used to set alight those 3" green plastic soldiers that were common among us kids. I had the scars on my hands for dozens of years. Along with the oval burn scar on my right calf from Norton/Triumph exhaust pipes.

[Curss]

Are these .22 conversion kits semi-auto or do you have to manually work the bolt, err, toggle? And which kits are more desirable?

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by John Sabato

BTW, .22LR headspaces on the RIM, not the cartridge mouth, so case length is irrelevant... Overall length (OAL)? that is a different story...

Got the reamer in today...Won't have occasion to use it for a few days yet...

I had to smile when I unpacked it...All my other reamers are a universal length; this one is about 2/3 size...I guess they didn't want to waste all that steel...

[sheepherder]

I had a chance to shoot the Erma SE 08/2 .22 kit today, Mounted on my commercial P-08.

Loaded one 22LR round in the magazine, racked the toggle. Round chambered OK. Pulled the trigger; round went off OK. Spent case ejected OK. It also ejected the extractor, extractor plunger, and extractor plunger spring. Not good.

I found all three pieces. The spring & plunger just fell off to the side; the spent case and the extractor itself were 20 feet downrange.

Anyone else have this happen??? I have an email asking the previous owner if he had any such instance, but I think he would have mentioned it.

Note: None of the pieces were damaged. They just came apart. I suspect the ammunition was 'too hot'. The Erma documents don't specify the type or velocity of ammunition. I'm going to try to find some 22 Target rounds (~1,000fps) and see how that works.

[John Sabato]

Definitely for use with only standard velocity rounds. Hot .22 ammo didn't exist when the unit was designed...

[sheepherder]

Chamber insert is finished; conversion assembled. I drove quite a bit out of my way and found some CCI 40gr LRN 'standard velocity' "Target" ammunition...$8.99/50rds...

I'll see how far that ammunition will throw the extractor tomorrow...

[Curss]

If that still causes issues, would sub-sonic rounds be the next step?

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by Curss

If that still causes issues, would sub-sonic rounds be the next step?

I dunno...But I bought a box!