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UPDATE August 30, 2011
Please Note that Paco has a new web site for
his tools:
www.pacotools.com
For the past three months, I have been carefully
experimenting with (read that "playing with" ) a new
rimfire bullet tool that was developed by, and is manufactured
and marketed by, Paco Kelly of Tucson, Arizona. I was
first introduced to the new tool, and to Mr. Kelly, at the 2002
Shootists Holiday in Raton, New Mexico. Paco has been
a shooter and experimenter for many years. To him, like many of
us, one activity goes with the other. He is constantly searching
for ways to make something work better, go faster, and hit
harder.
The tool consists of three simple parts; simple
to use, that is, but painstakingly made to exacting tolerances.
The main body of the tool is a round bar into which the .22
cartridge is inserted to have the bullet nose reformed and
resized. The cartridge can be inserted into either end, with a
resulting different bullet diameter, depending upon which end is
selected. This gives the shooter a choice, depending upon the
gun in which the cartridge will be fired. The other two pieces
of the tool are the rods which actually reform the nose and
diameter of the bullet. The only other tool needed is a mallet,
in addition to a flat hard surface onto which the tool will be
used. Since the tool has two distinct and different functions,
we will address them separately.
The ACU’RZR
The first reason for the development of the tool was to improve
accuracy in a .22 rimfire firearm. .22 chamber dimensions vary
greatly among the vast array of pistols, revolvers, and rifles
available. Ammunition manufacturers must make their product to
fit in all of the various chamber sizes, resulting in ammo that
has undersize bullets for the majority of the guns in which they
will be fired. This is fine and dandy for casual plinking, but
sorely lacking to achieve optimum accuracy. Many serious
shooters sort their ammo according to bullet size, but it
occurred to Paco that there had to be a better way, so he
developed his tool to size the bullet to the gun, instead of
searching for a bullet that will fit properly into the
firearm’s chamber. Resizing the bullet to fit the chamber
snugly should, theoretically, improve accuracy.
To test Paco’s theory, I selected a variety of
firearms and ammunition to compare un-sized factory ammunition
against ammo which had been run through Paco’s ACU’RZR tool.
I have tried, over the past three months, Paco’s ammo in other
guns, but for this bench session I selected two rifles and two
handguns. The rifles used were a Marlin Model 39 lever
action, and a Remington Model 581 bolt gun. Neither of
these are considered target rifles, but both exhibit good
hunting accuracy. The handguns used were a new Smith
& Wesson AirLite Kit Gun,
and a Ruger MK-512 bull barreled semi-automatic pistol.
This selection of weapons is representative of most commonly
owned .22 firearms, without getting into specialized target
guns.
The ammunition tested for this article is also
representative of that available commonly on the market, and
consisted of Federal Champion standard velocity solid, Remington
Cyclone lead hollow point, Aguila sixty grain sub-sonic, Winchester
X-Pert high velocity hollow point, and CCI Mini Mag
plated hollow point.
To use the tool, a .22 Rimfire cartridge,
whether it be .22 Short, Long, or Long Rifle, is inserted into
the tool body, the ramrod placed into the opposite end, and the
tool placed on a flat, hard surface. I used the wood surface of
my loading bench, but a piece of plate glass or smooth steel can
also be used. Next, the head of the ramrod is gently whacked
with a mallet. This process bumps up the diameter of the soft
lead bullet and makes a dimple, or cupped area, on the nose of
the bullet. The bullet now fits snugly into the chamber, and the
bullet has a more efficient shape, to impart greater tissue
damage to the target.
When first learning to use the ACU’RZR, I had
a tendency to whack the ramrod with the hammer too hard, as can
be seen by the radical reformation of the bullet nose in the
accompanying photos. I soon learned that it was unnecessary to
reform the bullet this drastically to achieve an increase in
bullet diameter. While the radically reformed bullets worked
well in the Marlin rifle and the Smith revolver, they would not
feed in the auto pistol or the 581 bolt gun.
After learning to use a softer touch, I gently
whacked the ramrod and achieved much better results with the
other two firearms. A little experimenting will give the desired
results without grossly deforming the bullet nose.
After shooting many five-shot groups with all of
the test guns and various ammunition, I came to the conclusion
that Paco’s .22 ACU’RZR will definitely affect the accuracy
of .22 Rimfire ammunition. The results were varied among the
different guns, and according to the ammunition used. In the two
rifles, the Remington Cyclone ammo performed very poorly right
out of the box, and did no better after being run through the
ACU’RZR. The stuff would start to group well, and then send a
bullet into the next zip code. Chronographing the ammo proved
that the inaccuracy was due at least in part to inconsistency of
the powder charge. This particular lot of Cyclone is good for
plinking at large targets. It is poor ammo, and the ACU’RZR
could not improve it. While the Aguila SSS subsonic ammo
performed consistently, it benefited only a small amount from
the ACU’RZR. It performed better in the handguns than in the
rifles, perhaps due to the shorter range at which they were
tested. I tested the handguns at 25 yards, as both were open
sighted. The rifles both wore scopes, and were group tested at a
range of fifty yards. This is the range at which I sight in all
of my .22 Long Rifle chambered rifles. It gives a good
trajectory out to 100 yards. Past that, I use a more powerful
cartridge.
I was beginning to doubt if the ACU'RZR was
worth the trouble. That was before testing the CCI Mini Mag and
Federal Champion ammo. In the 581, the CCI was pretty accurate
from the start, but improved about 25 percent with the
ACU’RZR. In the lever gun, the ACU’RZR cut the group size by
half. In the 581, the ACU’RZR cut the group size of Federal
Champion from one and three-quarters down to nine-sixteenths of
an inch! That is an amazing change, and well worth the trouble
of whacking a few strokes of the mallet. Winchester X-Pert ammo
also benefited greatly from the ACU’RZR tool. In the Ruger
pistol, all ammo tested showed improvement with the ACU’RZR,
even the Cyclone ammo. The best in this very accurate pistol was
the Winchester ammo. In the S&W Kit Gun, with the exception
of the Cyclone and Champion, which exhibited no change, accuracy
was improved with the ACU'RZR. In no case did the tool hurt
the accuracy of any gun, but it is important to note that the
point of impact does change when using the ACU’RZR, so the gun
must be sighted for use with the tool. This is due to a slight
increase in velocity and pressure, resulting in differing barrel
harmonics than with standard ammo. This was most noticeable in
the rifles.
These tests prove that the ACU’RZR does indeed
improve accuracy, sometimes dramatically, depending upon the
ammunition used. Poorly made ammo is still going to shoot
poorly, but most ammo on the market is good stuff and will
benefit from the use of Paco’s ACU’RZR when it comes to
accuracy.
The NASTINOSE
Now we come to what I consider to be the most interesting part
of the ACU’RZR tool: the NASTINOSE ramrod. The blunt ramrod
discussed in the previous section of this article leaves the
bullet with a blunt and cupped nose shape, which is definitely
an improvement over the factory round nose product, but the NASTINOSE
leaves the bullet with a real, honest-to-goodness hollow point.
While factory hollow points are effective, they are a compromise
to reliable feeding, penetration, and expansion. The NASTINOSE
gives the bullet a deep hollow point with vertical sides to
induce rapid, radical expansion, even with standard velocity
ammunition. The NASTINOSE will even cause some of the lower
velocity ammunition on the market to expand, allowing the
shooter to use a quieter load when necessary, and still get good
expansion. Without going into the full details of the tissue
damage tests, I can state with absolute certainty that the
effect on small vermin is dramatic. Observations on how a bullet
performs on living creatures is somewhat subjective and cannot
easily be measured as can the accuracy of a cartridge, but after
studying the results of the NASTINOSE on several pests and small
predators, I remain very impressed. The NASTINOSE hollow point
bullets kill all out of proportion to what we have come to
expect from a .22 Long Rifle on small creatures.
Conclusions
After testing the ACU’RZR for these few months, I have come to
really appreciate the little tool. As with most really great
inventions, the simplest ones seem to be the most useful. Paco
Kelly has hit on a real winner with this little tool.
You can order Paco's tools direct from Paco.
Prices vary depending on the model selected. For more info,
check out Paco's web site:
www.pacotools.com
Or you can Email Paco at this address: paco@gunblast.com.
PLEASE NOTE: Due to the great popularity
of Paco’s .22
ACU’RZR and NASTINOSE Rimfire Bullet Tool, please allow 5-6 weeks
for delivery.
It is a great little tool at a fantastic price. It is simple,
easy to use, built with craftsmanship, and it works. I highly
recommend it.
Jeff Quinn
UPDATE!!
April 27th, 2006
Paco now has a new .22 Short Accu'rzr /
Nastinose tool -
perfect for vermin and small pests:
.22 Short Accu'rzr / Nastinose
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Click pictures for a larger version.
UPDATE! We just received
this new and improved version made from precision machined
bronze, with steel rods. The newer version is available now at
no increase in price.
Paco Kelly's nifty .22 kit includes the ACU'RZR (left)
and the NASTINOSE (right). Both tools proved very effective
for their intended purposes.
Tool shown with ACU'RZR punch in place and .22 cartridge
partially inserted.
A light whack with a mallet re-forms the bullet.
Bullets reformed with the ACU'RZR, shown along with
unaltered examples. From left to right are Federal Champion,
CCI Mini Mag, Winchester X-PERT, and Aguila SSS.
"Before and after" pictures of groups fired
with federal Champion ammo show the dramatic accuracy
improvement possible with Paco Kelly's ACU'RZR tool.
Author tested the ACU'RZR with several different loads
in a Marlin Model 39 (top), a Remington Model 581 (center), a
Ruger MK-512 (lower left), and a Smith & Wesson Model 317
AirLite (lower right).
In his initial testing of the Paco Kelly tool, Jeff got
a bit hammer-happy and radically re-formed his first batch of
bullets. He quickly figured out that this amount of re-forming
is not necessary, and can lead to feeding problems.
CCI Mini Mag after using the NASTINOSE tool (left) shown
with a standard Mini Mag for comparison (right). The huge
hollow point created by the NASTINOSE leads to greatly improved
killing power.
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