How .22LR Ammo is Made

A detailed tour of the Federal Ammunition plant showing how .22LR ammo is made from raw materials to finished cartridges.

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Key Takeaways

The .22LR ammo manufacturing process is highly automated and involves multiple precise steps from raw materials to finished product.
Safety measures such as moisture in primers and banning electronics in the priming room are critical to prevent accidents.
Electroplating enhances bullet quality by adding a copper layer to some bullets.
Quality control is integrated throughout the process to ensure reliable ammunition.
The video serves as an educational and satisfying visual experience without requiring viewer action or skills.

What the video covers

The video provides a full walkthrough of the .22 long rifle ammunition manufacturing process at Federal Ammunition's plant in Anoka, Minnesota.
Raw lead is melted and formed into billets, then drawn into wire and cut into bullet-sized pieces.
Bullets are swaged into shape and some are copper plated via electroplating.
Brass strips are stamped and drawn into cartridge cases, which are heat treated, washed, dried, and rimmed.
Cases receive head stamps and are primed using a wet green clay-like primer to prevent premature ignition.
Primers are evenly distributed inside the case rims by spinning, then dried to remove moisture.
Propellant is added to each case before bullets are seated and the case mouth is crimped.
Finished cartridges are lubricated with wax and undergo several quality checks before automated packaging.
The video is presented in a calm, low-key style with chill house music and no controversial content.
The footage was filmed about a year and a half prior to release and showcases the entire manufacturing process in detail.

Chapters

How are .22LR bullets shaped during manufacturing?

The bullets start as lead wire cut into pieces, which are then gradually swaged into their final shape using specialized machinery.

What safety measures are used during the priming process?

The primer is a wet green clay-like substance to prevent premature combustion, and electronic devices are banned in the priming room to avoid static electricity hazards.

Why are some .22LR bullets copper plated?

Copper plating is applied through electroplating to improve bullet durability and performance by coating the lead bullets with a thin layer of copper.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

Speaker A

Hey everybody, welcome to my backyard. A while back, we were invited to tour the rimfire portion of the Federal Ammunition plant in Anoka, Minnesota. Federal was kind enough to allow us to view and film the process of .22 long rifle being made from start to finish. Now, I've actually been sitting on this footage for about a year and a half, and I just haven't gotten around to editing it until now. I thought this would be a good time to go ahead and roll it out.

Speaker A

Because, let's face it, we could all use something a little more low-key. So, there are no action steps to take here. There are no new skills to learn. There is nothing controversial. It's just really satisfying to watch ammo get made. So,

Speaker A

grab yourself a refreshing beverage. We're going to play some chill house stuff, gets made music, and enjoy. To make the bullets, raw lead is melted and formed into cylindrical [Music] billets. The billets are extruded and drawn into wire and wound into coils. The

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wire is roughly the same diameter as the finished bullet. [Music] Another machine cuts the wire into bullet-sized pieces. Those pieces are gradually swaged into the final bullet shape. [Music] Some of the .22 bullets are also copper plated. The bullets are lowered into a

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bath of metal salts with copper ingots. Through the process of electroplating, atoms of copper are dissolved into the solution and adhere to the lead bullets. In just a few minutes, the bullets are completely plated and pulled out of the

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[Music] bath. The cartridge case starts out with a roll of brass strip. Round pieces are stamped out of the strip and gradually drawn out into a brass cup. [Music] The cups are heat treated and then washed and dried.

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[Music] The cup becomes a case when a rim is formed at the base with a uniform hollow cavity all the way around the inside. Then, each case receives a head stamp. [Music] [Music] The cases are again heat treated and

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washed. [Music] The completed cases are dropped into plates. Each plate holds 300 [Music] cases. The plates roll into the charging room to be primed. The primer comes in the form of a wet green clay-like substance. The moisture helps prevent

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premature combustion. Static electricity is another hazard, so electronic devices are not allowed in the charging room. Small pellets of the wet primer are dropped into the bottom of each case. Back on the main factory floor, spinner bits are lowered into the cases and spin

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the primer so that it's evenly forced out all the way around the inside of the rim. The cases are dried to remove all of the moisture from the priming compound. Next, every case gets some propellant or gunpowder, and then it's time to load the

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[Music] bullets. The bullets are seated, and then the mouth of the case is crimped to keep the bullet in place. [Music] The fully assembled cartridges are taken to the packaging area. Just before being boxed up, the bullets are lubricated with

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a thin coat of [Music] wax. There are several quality checks along the way, but the whole packaging process is completely automated. [Music]

Speaker A

a thin coat of [Music] wax there are several quality checks along the way but the whole packaging process is complet automated [Music]

Topics:.22LRammunition manufacturingFederal Ammunitionrimfire ammobullet productioncartridge case makingammo primerelectroplating bulletsgunpowder loadingammo packaging

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