Beat The Ammo Shortage

Hollowpoints, left to right: CCI Suppressor HP, 45-grain; Remington Subsonic HP, 38-grain; Remington Subsonic HP expanded with #0 screwdriver; Winchester Subsonic HP, 42-grain; Eley Subsonic HP, 38-grain; Aguila SuperExtra HP, 38-grain; Aguila SuperExtra HP, #0 screwdriver; and Aguila SuperExtra HP, Li’L Gizzy large HP.

Caught with your pants down around your ankles again? After all, we thought the Obama-generated ammo shortage was finally over. No more anxiety-driven searching for .22 ammo, right? The hoarders were satiated, and the supply chain was overflowing.

Then along comes the Kung Flu and the new wave of panic buying hits well before the elections. And now, with the nationwide violence that has erupted while writing this, all varieties of ammo seem to have evaporated.

I sure hope you bought enough during the lull. The trouble is, .22 hollowpoints have always seemed to be in short supply in my part of the world. Even if we think we finally have enough plain ol’ round noses for general banging around through the current shortage, what if we never did find a decent stock of HPs when we had the money? Make ’em yourself, that’s what. Yeah, right, you say?

CCI Mini-Mag Results, left to right: CCI Mini-Mag 36-grain HP, unmodified; Mini-Mag
40-grain solid, Li’l Gizzy small HP; Mini-Mag 40-grain solid, Li’l Gizzy large HP;
Mini-Mag 36-grain HP with #0 Phillips screwdriver indentation; and Mini-Mag
factory 36-grain HP with Dewalt #1 screwdriver bit impression.

The Right Stuff

Like most everything else, it’s easy if you have the right tools. For instance, check out the Li’l Gizzy tool set, which Jack Harvey makes in Michigan and sells on eBay for $75. Li’l Gizzy comes with three rams, or nose punches. One makes a nearly full-diameter flat nose. By shimming the ram with washers, you can even adjust the diameter of the meplat smaller, similar to the often-scarce CCI SGB small game bullet. The other two make your choice of a small or large hollow point in garden variety round nose .22LR bullets. And man, do they work well! An added benefit is the bullets all come out at a 0.225" diameter after experiencing Li’l Gizzy’s loving embrace. Consistency in dimensions makes for more consistency at the target.

Also be sure to check out Arizona-based Paco Kelly’s line of .22LR cartridge improvement tools, one of which is his $75 ACU’RZR. It makes two different blunt nose shapes, plus an HP, as shown in the photo. It’s double ended with 0.223" and 0.224" chambers, so you can choose the diameter that works best with your rifles. Check out Paco’s other ACU’RZR tools for other diameters and for higher-volume production. Orders are accepted via snail mail only.

Roger tested the ACU’RZR with CCI standard velocity rounds. As expected, the
NASTI-NOSE HP (center) expanded nicely. The cupped point rod (right) produced
a flat-bottomed crater with a thin raised rim around it and expanded just a trifle.
The SCORP’N (left) also expanded very little. Inset: The shoulders on the Li’l Gizzy
rods prevent them from sliding up in the drill press chuck and provide solid depth
stops nose shape precision. The shoulders on the ACU’RZR rods are purely decorative.

The Li’l Gizzy hollow- and flat-pointing tool set comes with the die and rams to make small and large HPs and FPs. Roger used a drill press (not running), but you can also use a soft-faced hammer.

Field “Testing”

This project started simply enough. Shoot a few refilled plastic one-gallon jugs at 10 yards with my Marlin 70HC to compare factory CCI Mini-Mag HPs to the small and large HPs made at home with the Li’l Gizzy, and be done. Uh-huh.

The problem with my plan is I always have to know more. For example, does the old trick of pushing a #0 Phillips screwdriver into a factory HP actually make it expand still more? Will it make a difference when pushed into Li’l Gizzy’s HPs compared to doing it to factory HPs? What does Li’l Gizzy do for standard velocity RNs, both with and without that #0? How about subsonics? On and on the quest goes. And to be fair, I just had to give the snazzy ACU’RZR a whirl, too, didn’t I?

Modified Roundnoses, left to right: CCI Quiet 22 RN, 40-grain, Li’L Gizzy small HP plus #0 screwdriver; CCI Quiet 22 RN, 45-grain, Li’L Gizzy small HP; Quiet 22, 45-grain, Li’L Gizzy small HP plus #0 screwdriver; Quiet 22, 45-grain, Li’L Gizzy large HP; Unmodified CCI Suppressor HP, 45-grain; CCI Std. Vel., Li’L Gizzy small HP; CCI Std. Vel., Li’L Gizzy large HP; and CCI Std. Vel., Li’L Gizzy small HP plus #0 screwdriver.

Results

My conclusions? Well, I learned the Phillips head screwdriver trick doesn’t seem to offer much, if any, improvement for high velocity HPs. They already expand very well as they come from the factory. Nor does the trick do much for .22s at velocities below 800 fps. On the other hand, from 835 fps on up into the standard velocity range, it can sometimes make a dramatic improvement with both factory and homemade HPs. I’ll refer you back to the photos.

Second, flat-pointed .22s, even at high velocity, don’t expand much at all unless they’re nearly full diameter wadcutters. Then they become a real bear to extract from the forming tools, and they don’t chamber worth beans when feeding from a magazine. Without gelatin block evidence, the increased effectiveness of meplats any smaller than near-full diameter remains anecdotal and speculative. Besides, HPs are what this article is all about.

Third, Li’l Gizzy is so plain Jane, you almost feel sorry for her. But, man, the results! Everything you poke in comes out perfectly dead-nuts consistent, thanks to the depth-limiting shoulders on the nose punches. Using a turned-off drill press, the hollowpointing job is fast, simple, consistent, reliable and totally satisfying.

On the other hand, the ACU’RZR is pure head-turning eye candy. It’s a fine example of gorgeous industrial art work. But to me, it’s fancy but fickle. Without depth-controlling shoulders on the rods, consistency with the ACU’RZR can be frustrating and elusive, requiring a lot of effort and much practice driving them with your hammer to achieve. Persist and you’ll get results worthy of the effort.

So, pull up your big boy pants, make your choice, and spend what is necessary now to be better prepared and more self-sufficient in the future. You’ll be glad you did.

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