What options for .22 short ONLY rifles?

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HammsBeer

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I have several thousand rounds of CCI .22 cb shorts that are great for shooting without hearing protection out of my old single shot Remington 33.
But the 33 is a short/long/long rifle chamber so the shorts are not as accurate because of the bullet jump, and the carbon is tough to clean out of the chamber.

What brands/models were out there (for $300 or less) that I can look for on gunbroker or gun shows that were .22 short ONLY? Can be single shot, mag fed, tube fed, etc. It would be nice to have a hearing safe dedicated .22 short for plinking with the family and still carry on casual conversation.
 
I am looking for a rifle that can ONLY shoot .22 shorts. Can be new or used.

I have an old single shot that can shoot all three (S/L/LR), but the bullet jump in the chamber makes .22 shorts less accurate, and it fouls the chamber so it must be scrubbed before using .22 LR.
 
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Current production, the only one I am aware of is a Browning SA-22. When I say current production, I mean every so often a new one shows up for sale. $600 and up. There are historical ones, but they tend to be expensive and are often not in great shape.

I'd love a browning, but it has not been in the budget/priority list. I simply note which LR rifles will shoot which shorts well and load accordingly. If anyone is aware of any short-only rifles being produced these days besides the browning, I would be all ears.
 
The Browning .22 Short version of the SA-22 has not been made for 51 years.

According to my book, the last one was made by FN Belgium in 1961.

There may have been a later run of them made in Japan, but I am not aware of any.

rc
 
The browning in 22 short is made in a limited run every so often. Last year there were some of them floating around as new production, but they seem to have dried up.
 
Doubt .22 CB Shorts would cycle the Browning or the Remington 550 Gallery.
I do not know of a dedicated manually operated short shooter since Winchester discontinued their 61 and 62 short only pumps.
 
I purchased a custom, made from a 513T bbl (old coworker built rifles, but has passed), appears chambered for longs as long rifles will misfire due to not always seating fully.

Could have it reamed. But am content to run it with CB's for polite pest control.
 
The Remington 550 is the only semi-auto I know of that is supposed to work with all three.

Most all bolt-actions, pumps, and lever-actions will to.

But all are chambered for LR, or they wouldn't work at all.

Believe it or not, but the cheap .22 Short of bygone years is twice as expensive as .22 LR now, and 4 times harder to find.

You will not live long enough to see a dedicated .22 Short chambered firearm made again.

rc
 
I was hoping there were some quality old .22 short rifles out there, but most of what I've seen are beat up carnival shooting gallery guns.

The other option was to try and find some CCI Quiet .22LR (40 grain bullet at 700fps) but with even regular 22LR hard to find I'm not holding my breath.
 
Perhaps HammsBeer if you think on it a minute, look into some older rifles with collector's cachet? I know they won't be "cheap" but if indeed you get into a nice one at a fair price, chances are you will be able to sell it for at least what you paid for it? To my way of seeing things, the typical quality of the old girls is heads and shoulders above what you are likely to find in a modern firearm.

I have an old early 1900's Winchester "Winder" musket that shoots 22 shorts! That rifle is way over engineered for that pipsqueak round, and is pretty heavy. The rear sight must be adjustable for shots up to 1000 yards or something! LOL. My experience trying to press the short into service at anything beyond about 50 yards has been disappointing, but it is a hoot to shoot it at closer distances.

I agree with you that when shooting CB shorts the muzzle report sounds like an apology. :)

There are some Stevens Crack Shot rifles from time to time on Gunbroker. They run the gamut from poor condition to pretty good. Maybe you can find one that meets your needs for not a lot of money.
 
Another option is to find a rifle that the OP likes that can handle short, long or long rifle. Then have the barrel relined and the new chamber cut for short only. This should be relatively inexpensive and the chamber could be recut for long rifle in the future if desired.
 
If you have a short only gun, it won't shoot LR's....so why worry about cleaning a LR bbl. after you shoot shorts in it?? Dedicate it as a "shorts only" gun...

I have a Henry lever, all I shoot in it is shorts or CB type ammo, it feeds/fires everything I put in it. It's accurate enough to hit a sparrow every shot at 35 yards with factory iron sights (never checked it on paper) and because of that ammo's low power, that's good enough for me. (with that type of ammo)

I do know for certain that rifle is more accurate than that, with LR's though...

DM
 
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Cb shorts

I have used a rem model 33 and has been used mostly with shorts since bought new by my grandfather. Lots of small game bagged using shorts. Dont really care if there is "bullet jump". I think that idea is overstated. Good hunting!
 
My LGS gets shorts, CBs and LR all the time.
Not much call for shorts.......they tend to be the more available type.

CB short and longs (CCI).

Fair amount of std velocity stuff (import).

Did get cleaned out due to Xmas. But should be back to some supply in a month.

I run LR HV stuff most times. But did like filling my 572 with CB shorts.
Get flyers with CB shorts in my TC w 513mod bbl.

Will try some CB longs next. Yanked scope to put on other rifle. Trying to find a Weaver V9 II AO for it.

May yet ream it to reg LR chamber.
 
The OP has a bunch of CB Shorts and wants a short chamber rifle because cleaning the chamber to return to LR is a chore.

I have not seen too many .22 short only rifles in my lifetime. .22 S, L, LR were common in the 1950s, but today .22 LR only is the general rule.

I have found CB shorts and CB longs a fun proposition for shooting in antique .22 S or .22 L firearms (in safe operating condition).

For use in my .22 S, L, LR or .22 LR only, I make a point of buying and keeping CB Longs. If all I had were CB Shorts, I guess I would have to accept cleaning the chamber before returning to .22 LR as the cost of using the .22 S.
 
The only guns generally made for shorts only were gallery guns and those are pretty uncommon, since they plain wore out and were scrapped. Some old .22's were made for .22 Long before the .22 LR became almost the standard, but the few which weren't scrapped a century ago are collectors items today.

FWIW, the reason for inaccuracy with shorts is not the bullet jump; the rifling twist for shorts is not the same as for LR because of the longer and heavier bullet in the latter. A barrel for .22 Long would work since the .22 Long uses the same bullet as the .22 Short.

Jim
 
A .22 CB isn't the same thing as a .22 Short. A .22 CB isn't correctly called a Short CB either. It's called a CB Cap.
http://stevespages.com/amerrimcart.html
"...shooting without hearing protection..." Isn't a good idea even with CB's.
As to a rifle, I think you need to look around for a Gallery Gun. Like the Stevens Crack Shot, stubbicatt mentions. Or a Stevens Favorite. Don't think you'll find any of 'em for $300ish though. Even then most of 'em are .22 LR.
 
I find CCI .22 CB Longs quiet in a rifle, but the muzzle bark demands hearing protection in a 6 inch pistol barrel.

Today's CB rounds are usually a 29gr short bullet in a Short or Long cartridge casing with a velocity about 720 fps for the CCI manufacture. That's about all that is current available commercially.

The original CB was a "top hat" musket cap with a small conical bullet about .22 inch or 5.6mm. About the overall length of modern .22 Short crimped blanks or the powder activated tool cartridges.

Commercial makers of modern light subsonic .22 rounds use the name CB to differentiate them from the .22 Short or .22 Long in standard and high velocity loadings.

The CB/zimmerpatronen topic can get as confusing as what is "subsonic" .22 ammo.
 
I would keep an eye out in places like Cabela's gun room and obviously Gun Broker for a 22 short version rifle. Honestly, I don't think it is worth the hassle of trying to find one unless you just run onto it. You see the old Winchesters in pawn shops from time to time.
 
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