Blunt 22lr pills.....why is it they still live in the BC stone age?

[ironglow]

  Sure, some improvements could be made (IMO)
  1) Federal bulk could make their hollowpoints rather deeper and wider

 2) Remington could make their .22 LRs more dependable in the ignition dept.

 3) CCI and others could make a subsonics with really large hollowpoints

    These suggestions come from myself as primarily a hunter rather than a paper puncher...plinkers would probably care less about gaping hollow points.
  Beyond that, little is left to be done...except to keep the prices down. 
    If we want something more, we will have to move up to mag, 17 HMR or centerfire.

[darkgael]

"I doubt there is a round out there on which more R&D money has been spent than the lowly .22LR."

Very true. Despite the apparent simplicity of the .22LR  cartridge, there is a great deal of sophisticated development that continues to take place. I suspect that much of that is not evident to the casual shooter/plinker or the hunter, nor is it obvious in the production of bulk ammo. The most sophisticated stuff - and the most expensive - is for smallbore target shooters - a large international market.
Also, I wonder if the shape of the .22LR bullet as we know it is determined to a large degree by the fact that it is a heeled bullet.
I am not very familiar with the .17 rimfires but do not believe that the bullet is heeled. The .22 magnum as far as I know is not heeled.
Correct me if I am wrong about that.
Pete

[ohiobenito]

I haven't shot them, but I saw an ad for winchester's new fancy .22 ammo.  They use some sort of copper plated tin alloy for the bullet and loose a few grains of weight. get a higher velocity. ect, ect.    As an analogy, I do have some experience with the Hornady plastic tip ammo for the 45/70.  it shoots real nice, I don't know if that's the powder they're using or their selection of a mid weight bullet?  I  imagine a little air cone on the front of that rock helps more than  it would with a 22. 

[ironglow]

OhioB;

  Perhaps that is some of that new "green" ammo for California...made from material other than lead. 
    Winchester has come up with an exciting round which I will try as soon as I can get my hands on some. With a full 40 grain subsonic having a huge hollowpoint it has to be a great squirrel and varmint round.  The reviews sure make it look good.

   http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=255464
   

[BruceP]

I have only skimed some of the posts so if I have missed it I'm sorry. But, one thing I have not seen mentioned is that the 22 lr is designed different than the other rimfires. The 22 lr has a healed bullet. The full bullet diameter of .223 is about the same size as the outside diameter of the case. The base of the bullet is recessed to fit inside the case. To make lead or plated bullets would not be as expensive but to produce jacketed bullets would be more costly. Even the 22 mag. has a full diameter .224 bullet allowing minor modification of exising bullet design.

Bruce