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Thursday, June 01, 2023

Making Remington Rimfire Ammunition

 VIDEO HERE  (8:33 minutes)

The .22 Long Rifle is one of the most used cartridges on the planet. Billions of .22 LR rounds are produced every year, and Remington Ammunition in Lonoke, Ark., produces a significant chunk of the rimfire ammunition used by shooters around the world. Watch our "American Rifleman Television" feature segment above to learn how they make it and the people involved in that process.

"Here in Lonoke, where all the Remington ammunition is made, we have some of the fastest rimfire-making equipment on the planet," said Nick Sachse, director of product management, Remington Ammunition. "It's mind-boggling whenever you watch that equipment run. That was all in-house designed equipment, those shell-makers, those things are really spitting out product."

At the start of the process, making rimfire ammunition doesn't look all that much different from the process of producing a centerfire case or a shotshell cap. Brass cups are stamped out of large sheets of brass, and the cups then move onto have the headstamps applied and rims formed. Unlike centerfire cases, though, this is where the case-forming process ends for .22 LR. Next, the rounds move on to be annealed, washed and rinsed. Then the cases move onto priming.


"The manufacture of rimfire mix, we make it in about 20-pound batches, it's got certain chemicals in it to make the mix, and it's in a wet form, there's around 20 percent moisture, so it's really wet, and we put this mixture into 1-pound cups, so we will transport it from our mix area up to the rimfire area," said Ronnie Evans, unit leader, Remington Ammunition. "We're getting pellets out of that mix and putting it into a tray, or plate. That plate is a certain thickness and it has a certain hole diameter for a volume. That volume in that hole is what we get a pellet from, and those pellet weights are what's important to get the proper amount of mix into each one of those primed cases."

The wet priming pellet is then pressed into an empty .22 case, and the case is spun rapidly, which spreads the pellet mix into the hollow rim of the cartridge. The primed cartridges are then sent to a drying house, where they'll sit for several days to allow the priming mixture inside the cases to dry. Once the cases are dry, each primed case is then examined by a camera, which peers into the open mouth of the cartridge and examines the case to ensure that each case is primed. Unprimed rimfire cases can be separated out during this quality-control check.

Once the cases are filled with powder and topped with a projectile, then comes the step of test-firing a sample size from each batch in order to ensure that the rounds are accurate, consistent and safe.

"Rimfire production follows a similar suit to the other loaders in our factory. The different being for rimfire testing, the sample sizes are generally higher. Our loading equipment is fairly unique, where we really need to shoot more per test than even SAAMI tells us we must," said Jimmy Lawrence, ballistics engineer, Remington Ammunition. "So, to assist with that, we actually have barreled actions on a Remington 40X single-shot platform, and the gunners don't have to manually insert and eject a cartridge like they would in a universal receiver, so they can gun with a handful of ammunition and load, fire and eject that ammunition almost as fast as you can fire from a magazine, once they get their dexterity tuned. The whole time they're firing, we're collecting the data through the transducer and across the velocity screens, and within no time, they have 50 or even 100 pieces of velocity and pressure, and we're concurrently measuring accuracy with those tests."

Ammunition is then packaged and shipped out to distributors, with those rounds joining billions of other rimfire cartridges on the planet and heading to target ranges and hunting fields across America.

"You know, CCI is the world's leader in rimfire. Federal's certainly a great, great brand in rimfire, too. Having the Remington brand in rimfire, it's just going to help the consumers," said Jason Vanderbrink, president, Remington Ammunition. "Rimfire is in high demand right now. Our job is to bring some expertise of how we think we can help Remington rimfire, but at the same time, don't change it. So, in the short term, our rimfire business is just to load as much as we can."


25 comments:

  1. "..Once the cases are filled with powder and topped with a projectile, then comes the step of test-firing a sample size from each batch in order to ensure that the rounds are accurate, consistent and safe..."

    I think Remington pencil-fucks this step and if you've ever shot much Remington .22 ammo, I think you'd agree.
    Ed

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  2. I love .22LR and have been shooting it for more than 55 years. While Remington 22 ammunition has never been the most accurate I’ve fired, it’s always been acceptable and I’ve never had a misfire with it. Not once, ever. Can’t say that about Winchester. Here lately, they’ve been producing some junk. Bought a new Sig 322 and couldn’t get through a magazine without 3 or 4 duds. Thought there might be something wrong with the Sig, but broke out some old Remington ammo and the gun ran like a Swiss watch. Tried the Winchester in several other 22’s and had the same problems. About a 20% dud rate. Just my observations. Eod1sg Ret

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    1. You should buy some lottery tickets

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    2. Did you put them in the magazine "pointy end first"?

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  3. Heh. Winchester Wildcats. A missfire in every box. Collect all 50 and win a hat.

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  4. Back in the 90s the Remington golden bullets seemed to have acceptable accuracy out of my dad's single shot. But there were at least a dozen duds in every bulk pack. A friend of mine loved the federal bulk packs back then. Very few duds back then. Unfortunately there's a lot more now.

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    1. Because of the covid ammo drought, I got a 1400 count bucket of Rem. Golden boolots because they were available at Wally world for $84. They work very well, miss fires are not common. Accuracy is minute of hanging 3" silhouette target at 60 yds out of a bone stock 10/22. Good enough for yard pests up to coyote.

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    2. Back around '99-2000 Bass pro had a big sale on remington gold .22 (about $10 a brick) so I bought 10-12,000. I get more miss fires per mag with the remington than most other brands. I'm down to my last brick of gold but still have about 20k of other stuff.

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  5. Used to work at the public range in town. Everybody bought the green snd gold Remingtons. Near 10% failure. I think they’re better now.
    Paul J

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  6. The duds are good. When in a shooting class teaching, the duds are better than snap caps. As the student needs to cycle thru the dud. At some point the expense will negate that brand from the purchase pile. And another FUSA company will flush themselves down the shitter.

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  7. I've used virtually every brand of .22LR. don't think I've had 10 misfires in 50yrs of shooting. Then again, maybe I'm lucky as I also own a PMR-30 and it has eaten EVERYTHING I have put through it.

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  8. Remington .22 WMR 44 grain accupoints. Best ammo I have ever used in my Savage bull barrel. Love them bullets. They are hell on groundhogs and I have consistently killed them at what I estimate to be 140 yards.

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    Replies
    1. There is no such thing. Why yall make stuff up?

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    2. AcuTips, Anon. There is such a thing.

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    3. Other anon is correct. Never ever been a 44 grain WMR made. Sorry Kenneth.

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    4. Um, the only people that call me Kenneth are the women in my life, my wife and mother, and only when they're pissed at me. What are you trying to tell us?

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    5. That there has never been a 44 gr WMR manufactured. Try and keep up

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    6. Okay, I thought the original commenter was talking about the AccuPoint /AcuTip thing and not the measly 4 grain (or whatever) difference in weight, but you just have to be a dick, don't you?
      If I 'kept up' on every single comment left here, you might get one post a day while I thoroughly researched every comment.
      If you think you could do a better job, go to blogger and start your very own blog.

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    7. I am sorry, I spoke from memory. I just looked at the box and they are 33 grain Accutip V bullets. As I age, my memory is not what it used to be. I will sit in the corner and flagellate myself with wet noodles until I am appropriately chastised. I guess that some of you folks have never misspoken before.

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    8. Oh, and by the way. I am looking at a box of Hornady 22 WMR Critical defense that are stated to be 45 GR FTX, loaded with the patented FTX bullet.

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  9. Back during the 2010? ammo shortage, I bought one box of Rem golden whatever. One. Haven't bought any rem .22lr since. My go-to is now CCI Mini Mag. It produces terrific accuracy out of my Marlin 60 and cycles that, and my Browning Buckmark very well. Aguila also runs very well, th 38gr copper plated stuff, but is quite dirty compared to others.

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  10. Remington 22 lrs get a bad rap (mostly from people that don't use them).. I have shot a metric buttload of Goldens and they are a great bullet

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  11. I shoot Steel Challenge and I shot about 700 rounds each month between competition and practice I use the Remington Thunderbolt 500 rds per package and they work great in my Browning Buckmark and my S&W AR15-22. I have done a bit of 50 yard benchrest shooting .22LR and for that Remington is not too good and I use Lapua. For years I cannot remember having a fail to fire shooting .22LR out of clean, well lubricated firearms.

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    Replies
    1. I prefer the Golden over the Thunderbolts just because they are plated. A bit cleaner

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  12. Always had a few duds in Rem Goldens, also with Win Wildcats and Umarex. Never had any with CCI Mini-Max for Federal Match. You get what you pay for.
    FYI: my Son&Heir, who shoots 50-meter Free Pistol competition, has never used anything other than Federal Match, has never cleaned his Pardini, and has shot well enough to be nationally ranked.

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