BIT? .22 cal charges

[Rumpshot]

Has anyone used the .22 caliber charges used in concrete nail guns in a .22 cal rifle/pistol?

What was/will be the outcome?

Noisy blank charge? Damage to firearm?

[Aglifter]

Er... If you need blanks, can't you just buy blanks?

[rightisright]

I use them at work quite a bit. There are different levels of powder in the different colored "shells". I have no idea how much cordite is in them compared to a .22 LR. I suppose with the lower powered loads in a revolver there may not be a problem, but I am not volunteering any of my guns, hands or face.

Heh, I just googled the subject and found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powder-actuated_tool

Of particular interest:

In Australia, these tools are classed as firearms, since they fire a projectile with potentially lethal force. As such their ownership and use is regulated in Australia. The owner has to register the tool, and an operator of one of these tools is required to have a license and to have undergone training in their use.

When I was younger, we fired them out of a strip fed Hilti gun into a lake. I don't remember what color load we were using, but the nails only went about 100 feet.

Oh, and I should add, they can't fire unless the tip is depressed (like a pneumatic nail gun) or, erm, pulled back by vice grips.


Edited for clarity.

[mekender]

i have heard stories of them being lethal after going through a board and across a street.

[rightisright]

i have heard stories of them being lethal after going through a board and across a street.

When I first started in construction many moons heard those stories and dismissed them as urban legends. I was wrong.

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2002-123/2002-123c.html

A 22-year-old carpenter's apprentice was killed when he was struck in the head by a nail fired from a powder-actuated nail gun (a device that uses a gun powder cartridge to drive nails into concrete or steel). The nail gun operator fired the gun while attempting to anchor a plywood concrete form, causing the nail to pass through the hollow form. The nail traveled 27 feet before striking the victim. The nail gun operator had never received training on how to use the tool, and none of the employees in the area was wearing PPE.

In another situation, two workers were building a wall while remodeling a house. One of the workers was killed when he was struck by a nail fired from a powder-actuated nail gun. The tool operator who fired the nail was trying to attach a piece of plywood to a wooden stud. But the nail shot though the plywood and stud, striking the victim.

[Fivetoes]

I think the powder charges are too big to chamber in a 22lr.
I have heard the stories of them firing a nail thru a dry wall wall with fatal results.

[Frankingun]

Are you talking about the charges with the narrower neck so the new nail guns can't use .22 blanks, or be converted into a .22 firearm?

[Combat Controller]

I would hope they would be a different size.

[FastRope71]

I've used them to set anchors in concrete. I think they are a bit different in their diameter, I didn't pay much attention as I was trying hard not to get concrete chips in my eyes.

[Bill Heinbach]

Remington Power Load Level 4 (yellow) compared to a Federal "value pack" .22LR. Level 4 is the most powerful of the 4 grades they sell, the box says "Extra Hard Concrete or Steel".

It looks like anything that will chamber a .22LR will take a Power Load. The PL is just a bit longer than the brass on the Federal, but it is necked down. I don't have a micrometer and the difference in the rim is too small for me to measure with my calipers, but using the brass like a feeler gauge in the calipers there is a very slight difference, the PL feeling tighter (bigger). Cartridge diameter seems to be exactly the same (within the limits I can measure) so they're within several thousandths.

I will not try to put the Federal in my power hammer, sorry. Nor will I attempt loading a PL in a .22, but I know it will fit. However, if you give me your gun I'll fire it and take pics