ing, so we sought the services of RCBS to pounds which would necessitate that a 55- B Art Blatt learn more about this unique wildcat car- grain .224 caliber bullet would have to exit tridge. We were told that the 9 mm/.22 the muzzle at around 1,550 fps. Y had been successful in revolvers, notably These numbers did not seem to be out single-action Ruger conversions. We liked of reach, but we also added another impor- the idea for the 9 mm/.22 conversion be- tant parameter-to keep the Colt Com- cause of the plethora of handguns cham- mander as "stock" as possible. Instead of bered for the Big Nine plus plenty of readi- making major modifications to the com- ly available brass for case forming. pact autoloading pistol, we would make After sleeping on the idea for a while, the load fit the pistol instead of vice versa. we decided against the 9 mm/.22 for a Ever since Colt helped introduce the .38 couple of reasons. First, it had already Super cartridge in 1929, handgunners have been done, and we wanted to develop a either praised it or buried it. There are ding pistol proved to be an wildcat with a little more horsepower. The seemingly no "middle of the road" atti- experience and opened up next logical choice was the temperamental tudes surrounding this unique cartridge. It carries a certain stigma regarding accura- I .38 Super case. Our ultimate goal would be to develop a cartridge which would pro- cy, with the fault lying in its method of duce muzzle energy of at least 300 foot headspacing. The .38 Super is classified as Developing wildcat cartridges is always difficult, but how about a bottleneck high velocity pistol cartridge that will function in an re's a "need for a new semi-auto- autoloader? istol cartridge, it seems to me to ere've been some few double-deuce Wesson .22 Jet plus many conver- ing the form of the .22 Hornet in Vickery claimed a muz- The recoil generated by the .22 Super is very similar to that of the .38 Super in a Commander, but the similarity ends there! The muzzle blast is very sharp. Function- The 9 mm/.22 conversion was intrigu- ing proved to be quite reliable, given the right load and properly formed cases. 15 i 1983 GUNS & AMMO ANNUAL a semi-rimmed case; when seated in the the word "super" has a nice ring to it. of the bullet-not a desirable happenstance. chamber, it is supported by the narrow rim The .38 Super case appeared to have The initial cases were jury-rigged using of' its case resting on a shoulder formed by enough boiler room to accommodate a two separate dies-a .30 Luger and a .22 the projecting lip at the top of the barrel. goodly amount of powder to whisk a 55- Varminter for case forming and reducing At best, it is a precarious method of head- grain bullet downrange and provide proper the neck down to .224 caliber. As antici- spacing and is the major factor contribut- bullet expansion. To validate our theory, pated during this embryo stage, an ejection ing to the .38 Super's erratic accuracy. we talked to Mike Bussard of Sierra Bul- problem reared its ugly head. Apparently, But, on the flip side of the coin, the .38 lets, and Mike confirmed our belief that when forming the case using a .22 Var- Super is a potent cartridge and surpasses either 50 or 55-grain Sierra varmint-type minter die ground down to accommodate the performance of the 80-year-old 9 mm bullets would expand properly with muz- the Super case length, the shoulder angle Parabellum. It is just a tad below the ener- zle velocities in the 1,500 to 1,600 fps. was too severe and caused the fired case to gy figures achieved by the popular .357 range. Now we had our bullets. grab the chamber walls and stick. Even Magnum cartridge. While discussing this fascinating project though all our initial gyrations must be la- Another reason why we chose the .38 with our R&D team over gallons of coffee, beled a dismal failure, we learned what not Super case was its name! Like "magnum," we decided our first attempt to make this to do in future attempts. conversion would be to make a simple .22 Next, we solicited the service of a highly caliber barrel insert utilizing the Com- talented .45-smith named Jim Boland. mander's existing .38 Super chamber. The This Panorama City, California resident barrel insert was turned down from a dis- has performed some remarkable Colt auto carded Mossberg rifle and the insert was conversions, including his astonishing gas- held in place with a knurled nut which operated long slide models. Boland, with protruded from the muzzle. This initial at- his more scientific mind, chided us about tempt was both ugly in appearance and our attempt to use a barrel insert and vol- worthless in performance. After a few unteered to take over this project-and shots, the insert would have to be retrieved make it work. We were thrilled with this downrange as it wanted to follow the path heartening news. PRIMER PERFORMANCE INSTRUMENTAL VELOCITY* POWDER BULLET 10-inch 4 'h-Inch PRIMER CHARGE WEIGHT TIC BARREL COLT BARREL Federal 8.5 grains Sierra 2,022 fps 1,504 fps Small Pistol H-110 55-Gr. B.T. The parent case for the .22 Super is the Winchester 8.5 grains Sierra 1,970 fps 1,458 fps .30 Super. The finished round is a bit Small Pistol H-110 55-Gr. B.T. longer than the .38 Super-1.280 inches. CCI #500 8.5 grains Sierra 1,986 fps 1,484 fps Small Pistol H-110 55-Gr. B.T. Federal # 205M 8.5 grains S~erra 2,047 fps 1,495 fps Small Rifle H-110 55-Gr. B.T. Bench Rest CCI #500 8.5 grains Sierra 2,034 fps 1,437 fps Small Pistol H-110 55-Gr. B.T. Magnum Remington #7'h 8.5 grains Sierra 2,043 fps 1,565 fps Small Rifle H-110 5543. B.T. Bench Rest Remington # 1% 8.5 grains S~erra 2,018 fps 1,498 fps Small Pistol H-110 55-Gr. B.T. * Instrumental velocity was recorded with a Custom Chronograph equipped with skyscreens. Muzzles of both handguns were placed six feet from "starting" skyscreen. Not all case-forming attempts come out perfect; these are a few of the cases that had to be discarded after sizing. I This six-shot 35-yard group, fired with From left to right are the steps required to form .22 Super cases: parent .38 Super the aid of a Lee pistol rest, measured case; sized in .380 ACP die; sized in .30 Luger die; sized in .25-35 die; I jusit under two inches-not too shabby! sized in .221 Remington Fireball die; and the finished and loaded .22 Super round. 1983 GUNS & AMMO ANNUAL 159 o days later, we received a phone call Boland telling us that the Com- er was converted and now it was a shoulder angle of 23 de- for our .22 Super Mark I1 ver- o, with anxious hands, we start- and arduous task of making .22 The first field work with the new cartridge was on Idaho rockchucks; this fat "chuck" was the first of several that fell to the hot little cartridge. Using Sierra 55- grain boattail bullets, the compact Commander proved deadly out to about 50 yards. which proved to be both fast Only one more operation was imming the cases to an over- anneal the cases, and for that we the tutelary spirit of handloading. It takes a lot of elbow grease to make a wildcat cartridge. Tools needed were, left to right, .380 sizing die, .30 Luger sizing die, .25-35 sizing die, .221 Reming- ton Fireball sizing die, decapping rod nut as guide for reamer, and sizing/seating die. showed too much pressure as evidenced by tion and headed for the shooting range. bulged cases and blown primers. By trial Nervously, we wedged five rounds into the and error, we were eventually able to elim- magazine and with a firm two-hand hold inate the poor loads and zero in with a par- fired the first round over the chronograph. te the slide to exact opposite ex- ticular (55-grain Sierra B.T.) bullet and a For those of you who have shot an experi- s. Bottleneck pistol cases create a dif- couple of powder charges which we felt mental cartridge for the first time, you'll set of problems for the handloader. would work well in the Colt Commander. appreciate and understand the feeling of sults of given experimental loads are Our starting loads for the .22 Super/ accomplishment when that moment of Commander were 8.0 grains of Hercules truth arrives. One never hears the report Blue Dot, 8.5 grains of Hodgdon's H-110 or is aware of the recoil because the body and 10.5 grains of Winchester Ball Powder system's adrenalin is flowing like a ram-. #680. We loaded ten rounds of each selec- paging river. 160 0 1983 GUNS & AMMO ANNUAL It would be terrific to report that our lirst shot was a howling success, but in re- itlity, our test load of 8.0 grains of Blue ]Dot created so much pressure in the Commander that it blew the bottom out of ' t.he case.