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Powderless .22 ammo

10K views 28 replies 16 participants last post by  SteveM 
#1 ·
I have a need, and I don't know where else to look for help. I need some .22 lr that looks like real ammo but with no powder. I have an 82 year old father in law who refuses to give up his Ruger Bearcat revolver that he's carried around for decades. He keeps it by the bed in a nightstand and we now have a grandson (his great-grandson) in the house. He never shoots the gun but insists that it be loaded "just in case". No problem unless your hands shake so bad you couldn't hit a person 5 feet away IF you could get the hammer back. He's not the man he once was. I'd like to replace his live ammo with something else, but don't know where to find anything.
Got any ideas or anyone out there willing to help?

Thanks-Mark
 
#2 ·
#6 ·
Hey Reflex! You might be right about shooting them in rifles, but the manufacturer says they won't! I do shoot the subsonics, at 710 fps. I haven't tried the 20 Grain Lead Solid Points.
 
#4 ·
Academy has some "sub-sonic" powderless ammo if you have one out by where you live. Buddy bought some for a nuisance ally cat in his neighborhood that had put out his dogs eye while it was in his back yard and the city didn't want to do anything about the cat. So he bought some of that ammo and shot it out of his 10-22 and he said it just scared the cat and he could actually see the bullet in flight after shooting it. So he got some regular 22's and took care of the cat.
 
#5 ·
Mark, Sorry, I know nothing to assist in your your situation and feel for your family.
Only thing if you do this be sure you have collected all old ammo.
I am old and slow these days. I made it convenient for my limitations by having a collection of fully loaded moon clips for 45 revolvers in most rooms of our home and mags for other guns as well.

Carver, I had to follow your link to see that. Mama got a good laugh about those "no powder" 22's, too.
 
#7 ·
I have a suggestion. Fire a hand full of .22 long rifle ammo. Pull some bullets from some unfired rounds and put them into the fired cases, and super glue then in. They will look OK if they are not examined to closely, and won't fire at all. You could crimp them in with a small socket, or something like that.
 
#11 ·
Well there's a second vote for shooting them on rifles! As I said, I haven't tried them myself.
 
#13 ·
Carver, I'm very familiar with Aguila ammo which has been backyard ammo for me for years. The normal Colibris are the ammo that won't make it all the way through a rifle barrel, but the Super Colibris on the other hand will. And it goes without saying that both types won't cycle an auto action.
 
#17 ·
Yeah, there's two different kinds, there, folks.

There is the first one - the Colibri. No powder, primer only, 20 grain bullet, supposed to get up around 350, 400 fps. They said it got stuck in some rifles - either barrel too long or bore too tight. So you should not shoot Colibri in rifles.

Then they came out with the next one - the one Carver linked to. SUPER Colibri. Still no powder, still primer only, still 20 grain bullet, but they doubled up on the primer charge. They say over 5oo fps. I've shot them out of six different rifles, from a 16" Crickett to a 22" Remington 572 pump. Work fine, never got stuck.

But as to the original question - he's apparently looking for dummies. They do make dummy 22 rounds, but they are bright orange, so you know they are not real.

Where to get fake, non-fireable, 22 ammo, that LOOKS LIKE normal 22 ammo, so as to fool Grandpa - I got no clue. Far as I know, nothing like that exists.
 
#19 ·
Thanks for all the suggestions. It seems that the primer would still present a danger at close range from a revolver. I asked a guy who gave me the best response yet. "Since the old guy never shoots it why not just take the firing pin out?" I'll take it out as soon as I get the chance, put it in my safe, and replace the firing pin down the road sometime. It doesn't matter what's in it. Problem solved.
 
#20 ·
Now why didn't I think of that!
 
#21 ·
I am going to dissent and say that you do a great disservice by tampering with his firearm.

It makes my blood boil to think about some whippersnapper that married into my family sneaking around in my night stand instead of talking to me like a man. How about you show him a lock box that he can unlock with his thumb print and see if he's ok with using that? Then take little Johnny out for some shooting lessons the moment he's strong enough to pull back the hammer on a Bearcat.

Maybe you have had these discussions with him, I only know what you tell us. If you own the house then lay down the rules of him staying there. If it is his house then you need to respect that and approach the topic as diplomatically as possible.
 
#25 ·
Colibri--depends on the rifle. My experience is that they will exit my 10-22's, but are visible
in flight and horrible inaccurate. No exit on long barrel older 22's, especially Marlins with
Micro-groove rifling. I have a Winchester model 1900 boys rifle--and it's a blast with Colibri's.
Quiet, and VERY accurate at across the room ranges.
 
#27 ·
Don't mess with his gun that would just not be right.
If this is his house then move out into your own house. If it is your house then set the rules and tell him NO GUN.
Take him out side and have him shoot the gun and if he can still handle it then no problem but if he can't then you can tell him it is time to hang it up.
But messing with his gun IS NOT THE WAY TO GO.
Mike
 
#28 ·
Ok, first of all SteveM, as the "whippersnapper" who married into the family-my wife is the one asking me come up with a solution, and "little Johnny" is only 3. Not strong enough to pull back the hammer yet-I don't think. Second, he lives in his house, we live in ours, but go over there twice a day to make sure he eats and takes his meds so he doesn't get screwed up. Third, I can't remove the firing pin anyway because it doesn't have one, a detail no one caught. The bearcat is a revolver with a hammer, which I'm not going to mess with. Fourth, we've tried to get him to go shooting but he won't. Fifth, he has no-zero-none-vision in one eye and limited-poor vision in the other. But I will agree that more diplomatic discussions may be the way to do yet. The Berlin wall didn't come down the first time it was discussed either. As an 80+ year old man with no vision it was a job to get him to get up driving but we did finally accomplish that before he managed to kill someone. And he only hit that one lady.

The first gun I ever owned was a Crossman 760 and It's leaning against the wall right now. It's one of the late '60's, early '70's vintage with all wood stock and forearm. It has no plastic or aluminum. I've been shooting since then and have a great deal of respect for guns and the people who own them, but I hope when the time comes I'll have the common sense to know when it's time to set them aside. Even a lock box that uses a thumbprint may not work, although I will look into it. He would have to be able to hold his hand still enough for it to read the print.

Thanks for the suggestions, advice and criticism. All is noted and considered and will be passed on to my wife (the boss) for her to look at and decide. It is her Dad after all.
 
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