Lee Loader

Very happy with the small critter-getter load that I just tested with my Marlin 1894CL! I'm using the Bee as a 22 Rim Fire replacement. Last year I tired Trial Boss but it is a tough powder to work with given the 22 caliber case neck, it's like trying to drop styrofoam pellets down a garden hose. Decided to give a light load of Clays with and without a filler. My target velocity from the 20" barrel is 1250 FPS, and 3.0-grains delivers that. Velocity ES was awful with the light load (45% of usable case capacity), 178 FPS. I did nothing to try to keep the powder at the back of the case as this will be a backdoor rifle. I will take it off the rest and shoot it.

I used 3.3-grains of BPI Buffer to provide 102% of the usable case capacity, the duplex load being compressed .014". The ES was 8 FPS. At 25-yards, the bullet was just about going into the same hole on the target.



After I exercise the Auto Drum to drop the charge of Clays, I pull the case off the turret press, charge it with the BPI Buffer using the Lee Safety Disk (with the Adjustable Charge Bar), and then return the case to the turret press to complete bullet seating and crimping.



Nothing to it!

The first night after I completed the loading and sight in, I looked outside and saw that a large skunk was approaching my yard. Both my dogs were out cold. I stepped out on the porch and shot the skunk in the head, off-hand, at 25-yards. Yeap, going to work. Nice and quiet too. My dogs looked up and went back to sleep.

Great rifle & load. Just made two head shots on skunks, both at 25-yards!

Well done !
I wanted a smaller case for the RF replacement but had good luck with the 223 and heavies . Sort of a really angry super heavy weight 22 mag .

It ended up that a third skunk came through the fence sometime during the night and my cur dog Zeus got it without being sprayed!

Really smart dog. I rolled one over with my car once. Skunk spray and a hot exhaust is not a pleasant combination.

When my youngest daughter was very young, she mistook one for a mangey black and white cat she had adopted. Sharp kid that she is, peeled off the polluted purple snow suit and left it outside the back door. A .224, 60 grain Sierra HP caught up with the cat impersonator at exactly 300 yards. Any of my CB loads in combination with my degraded skills would have imobilized it too close to my house.