Thread: Spent rimfire casing uses?

Those were the years when we had very few toys. Whatever fun you had, you often had to make alot of toys yourself. Bows, arrows, shanghais etc...and some of the games with 22 cases etc were certainly none too safe. I remember the cases went off with a nice bang with a smack from the hammer, and I remember the bolt bombs too - though I didn't do them. Seem to remember we tried smacking an old 303 case full of match-heads too - can't recall what happened. Cousin lost an eye building some sort of bomb - so that put the kibosh on that one!!

I do remember finding couple of nests full of old rotten duck eggs, so little mate and I waited up a bank in the scrub for the local Waikato Times paper delivery car to come past under us. Perfect shot. As he came through cutting he got about a dozen rotten eggs across windscreen and bonnet. Splattered everywhere - hell of a mess - man it would have stunk! He's out of the car swearing like hell while two little 8 years old scarpered through the bush back to the home - laughing fit to bust. Got away with it too... What country boys did before the internet...

However....whacking 22 cartridges in the vice has to get a prize. Strewth that's unsafe - surprised most of us made it...

Originally Posted by Grey Kiwi

Maca49...you must be like me then.
Did you also make 'bolt bombs' with 2 bolts screwed together with a nut and the nut first primed with match heads before screwing the 2nd bolt in?
Big bolts were best!
Throw the whole thing up in the air and run (or duck).
If it all landed just right there was a very nice 'boom' and bolts and nut separated to fly their own path (and not take out your playmates).
Modern youth has so much to learn.

We used to use those paper caps used in cap guns. Just keep folding the caps up until you had enough to fill the gap between the bolts. We couldn't always get matches.

Yep, done the bolt bombs but back when matches where real matches. Also train tracks weren't only used for flattening coins...someone back in the day had a bright idea that if 22's lined up on the track will sound like a machine gun.

Originally Posted by Slug

Yep, done the bolt bombs but back when matches where real matches. Also train tracks weren't only used for flattening coins...someone back in the day had a bright idea that if 22's lined up on the track will sound like a machine gun.

My dad had a schoolmate lose his life to one of those bolt bombs

Originally Posted by Grey Kiwi

Maca49...you must be like me then.
Did you also make 'bolt bombs' with 2 bolts screwed together with a nut and the nut first primed with match heads before screwing the 2nd bolt in?
Big bolts were best!
Throw the whole thing up in the air and run (or duck).
If it all landed just right there was a very nice 'boom' and bolts and nut separated to fly their own path (and not take out your playmates).
Modern youth has so much to learn.

Hot tip: Tie a strip of rag around the head of one of the bolts, (a) gives you something to swing the assembly around before letting it go so you get more hight and (b) tends to cause the assembly to more reliably land end-on thereby making detonation more likely!

Originally Posted by Finnwolf

Hot tip: Tie a strip of rag around the head of one of the bolts, (a) gives you something to swing the assembly around before letting it go so you get more hight and (b) tends to cause the assembly to more reliably land end-on thereby making detonation more likely!

Genius. I just eyeball dropped them off bridges onto railway tracks.

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

You sound like one of those annoying grand parents who gives the grandkids and horrendously noisy toy with a battery which lasts forever, then buggers off laughing.

Is it not a grandparent’s duty to spoil grandchildren, teach them bad habits, encourage them to swear and to inform them of all of the things that annoy their parents? Do you mean to say that I have been getting it wrong? My grandsons seem to find it amusing.

Originally Posted by muzza

locking the case up in the vice and hitting the rim with a hammer made for interesting experiences too....

Or winding the bolts too tight while in the vice,my chin still has the scar 40 yrs later..

Originally Posted by Slug

Yep, done the bolt bombs but back when matches where real matches. Also train tracks weren't only used for flattening coins...someone back in the day had a bright idea that if 22's lined up on the track will sound like a machine gun.

Some kids at my high school tried that one. It made front page of the paper.

Swaging used rimfire cases and loading them was the foundation of Speer ammo company.

Ha! Those of us old enough would remember the days of real fireworks like Double Happies and their bigger variety Thunderflashes.
I, along with my cousins would cut short lengths of copper pipe the same diameter as the cracker and about 12" long, then crimp one end around a nail leaving a small hole. Thread a piece of cotton through the hole, tie it to the fuse then pull the cracker down the tube so the fuse poked out of the hole. Slide a ball bearing wrapped in toilet paper down on top of the cracker and light the fuse.

My old man took most of the skin off my arse when I shot a hole in the drivers door of his brand new Vauxhall Victor 101

Yeah. Guy Fawkes was fun blowing up spuds and such with those.

Got an xray coming up? Swallow 10 for lols

You Guys are cracking me Up, (bolt bombs) made me realise how much mischief (fun) it was growing up in the 60s. Different world than today and thats a shame, afterall we all grow up straight and true. Good Stuff

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

You sound like one of those annoying grand parents who gives the grandkids and horrendously noisy toy with a battery which lasts forever, then buggers off laughing.

Battery powered toys... Pffft! If you truly hate someone, buy their kid a drum set!