RMFnLA
Member
I was wondering if anyone would mention the Velodog.
Interestingly enough, that round was developed for revolvers; guess the good colonel had to try something different.
You may hate this one, but I love it!
- Thread starter Tony M.
- Start date
I was wondering if anyone would mention the Velodog.
Interestingly enough, that round was developed for revolvers; guess the good colonel had to try something different.
The Velo-Dog has always been interesting to me. I've made some brass up for a few of the revolvers, so this really wasn't much of a stretch for me... Getting any accuracy from the 1" barrel and DAO action was always a challenge though... 
The 4th squirrel to date was culled this morning with the ladybug K-Frame, about 20-25 yards (didn't measure) and another head shot. That makes 4 dead squirrels with 4 shots fired.
The 4th squirrel to date was culled this morning with the ladybug K-Frame, about 20-25 yards (didn't measure) and another head shot. That makes 4 dead squirrels with 4 shots fired.
SLT223
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It's a .22 ladybug.
"What is 22 ladybug?" you might ask. Essentially it's a CF wildcat cartridge designed to replicate the .22 LR in a reloadable format. For the curious, the name came from my wife when I was explaining that small wildcats were often named after bugs. She thought ladybug was appropriate because they're both "cute" and kill garden pests efficiently.
Right now I'm pushing cast lead 37 grain bullets at about 900 FPS from the 6" barrel.
This is my third gun in the caliber, (the others are rifles) and I'll be happy to explain it in some detail if anyone cares.
The gun started life as a well used Law enforcement trade-in model 15-4. It's been around the block a bit, and I've used it for silly things before. Since this one had no collector value in the first place I didn't feel bad about doing more stuff to it.
The barrel came from a model 48, and the cylinder is a NOS unit from a 617. I would have preferred a blued steel cylinder, but the SS model was less than half the cost of finding a used blued cylinder.
Rather than cut or replace the frame lug on the 15 with a proper RF frame lug, (call me lazy) I cut a small ring from the rear face of the cylinder to match the recoil plate and match the frame lug. The cylinder was reamed .224 through to provide a good throat size for the cast bullets I'm using, and then the cylinder was chambered (.250" diameter .635" deep). I didn't need to mess with the rim cut on the cylinder, s it was already sufficient for the rim on the ladybug.
The ratchet and hand were adjusted to give good carry up and lock, and with the hammer down and trigger back, there is zero measurable play. The flash gap is set at .004".
I haven't yet spent a lot of time wringing out accuracy, but it’s running around 1.5” at 25 yards with the first loads, and a poor rest, so I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to get it down to the magic 1” at 25 yard range that I’m looking for.
So far It works well, I caught this little bugger climbing out of a hole he or his compatriots had chewed in my siding, nailed him when I had the clear shot.
I intend to carry the gun with me when walking the property to deal with the rampant tree rats. It's quiet enough to shoot without ears a little bit (though not something I'd want to do lots of) and seems to be very effective on the vermin.
You've done something very interesting here. Any chance we can get a full right up on development and load data? I would love to load something like that.
I'll be happy to write it up, how detailed would you like the info?
Tony M:
You might enjoy reading a 25-page thread, ".22 RF alternatives," started by DigitalDan, in the Ask The Gunwriters forum at 24hour campfire dot com. Other experimenters have posted to the thread. I've followed the thread since its start, and it's been a fascinating experience.
Your own thread has been equally fascinating to me. Do keep up the creative exploration!
I firmly believe that the two groups of experimenters should respectfully read, consider, and carefully discuss each others' work, reasoning, and results.
The results of such open and extended collaboration could lead to developments which would benefit the world's shooting public!
No small dreams!
You might enjoy reading a 25-page thread, ".22 RF alternatives," started by DigitalDan, in the Ask The Gunwriters forum at 24hour campfire dot com. Other experimenters have posted to the thread. I've followed the thread since its start, and it's been a fascinating experience.
Your own thread has been equally fascinating to me. Do keep up the creative exploration!
I firmly believe that the two groups of experimenters should respectfully read, consider, and carefully discuss each others' work, reasoning, and results.
The results of such open and extended collaboration could lead to developments which would benefit the world's shooting public!
No small dreams!
I bet the round would put the Winchester Model '03 semiauto rifle back in service pretty easily with a firing pin conversion to CF.
Chasing that precious brass around in the weeds might not be so much fun though.
Nice little wildcat round with some interesting possibilitys,,if not just interesting because of what it is.
A roundball and a primer might make for a nice reloadable indoor practice load.
....to the OP,,,are you posting over on CastBoolits as Chev.William and have the threads going about the 22CF conversions using the 25ACP case?
Very interesting reading
Chasing that precious brass around in the weeds might not be so much fun though.
Nice little wildcat round with some interesting possibilitys,,if not just interesting because of what it is.
A roundball and a primer might make for a nice reloadable indoor practice load.
....to the OP,,,are you posting over on CastBoolits as Chev.William and have the threads going about the 22CF conversions using the 25ACP case?
Very interesting reading
Digital Dan and I are in conversation as of recently, and we're working together on bringing our respective projects forward. We actuallly talked last night, and we're planning to have a face-to-face before too long.
Chev.William is another gentleman, I'm also in conversation with him, we've discussed projects in the past as well. The ladybug, for what it is, was my 'invention' if you can call it that (hard to say I invented something that has essentially been around since the 30's, but maybe I re-invented it with a different parent brass?)
I started a thread over there about the .22 ladybug, and Chev started posting on the thread pretty regularly, as well as starting one (or more?) threads of his own about his pursuit of the project. I'm glad he's pursuing the project as well, it sure seems like he's having fun.
