Why no high capacity .22LR pistols

You may find some answers here: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=644540&highlight=why+no+high+capacity+22+pistols

Hunter2011 said:

I would love to own a 30-35 round double stack .22LR pistol.

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Me too, but the magazine would have to shaped something like the horn of a Dahl sheep.

Originally Posted by Hunter2011

I would love to own a 30-35 round double stack .22LR pistol.

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Why? I never could understand this mentality. I can reload a magazine after 10 rounds, not that big a chore. Not nearly as big a chore as reloading 30 or reloading my cap and ball revolvers.

I have an old Charter Arms Explorer II that I have a 25 round mag for. It's a straight stick mag, too. I really prefer my Rugers, though, plinking or any other use. Looks a little like a Broomhandle with the 8 round standard magazine in place.

Any rimmed cartridge does not "stack" as well as a non-rimmed one. That is the reason that they don't make double stack or even higher capacity magazines for them.

I think you'd need like 200 rounds to approach the energy of a good centerfire defensive pistol payload. I wouldn't bother with such shenanigans.

At the rate my kids go through a 10 round mag in their .22s, I would be out of ammo in less than a month if they had high capacity mags. For now 10 rounds is more than enough and they have plenty of extra mags to reload if need be.

Never said I want to use it for SD. Just for plinking fun. 10 shots does not last very long.

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Patience, my son. Maybe some day you'll discover the joys of black powder shooting and reload time, nay, even clean up time, will not mean so much to you.

But if a PMR-30 can make a 30 round pistol magazine for a .22 magnum round, why don't we see such high capacity handguns in .22LR?

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The radius of a magazine holding .22 WMR cartridge can be greater (less curved) than the radius of a magazine holding a .22LR cartridge because a .22 WMR cartridge is much longer than a .22LR cartridge.

I think you'd need like 200 rounds to approach the energy of a good centerfire defensive pistol payload. I wouldn't bother with such shenanigans

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Well, if I had a 200 round .22 I'd probably try something like this:

http://what-if.xkcd.com/18/

The radius of a magazine holding .22 WMR cartridge can be greater (less curved) than the radius of a magazine holding a .22LR cartridge because a .22 WMR cartridge is much longer than a .22LR cartridge.

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A .22 mag does NOT have to be "curved". The rims stagger almost like a double column magazine, but load in a straignt magazine. For instance, the Mrk 2 mag. It's 10 rounds, but it if stuck out farther out of the grip, it could be 25 rounds. I had a 25 round straight mag for my Explorer II, not sure where it went. I think I may have sold it to my ex-SIL when he bought my AR7 from me.

I have 15 rounders for my 1911 conversion, and it's a blast all day long. Not sure why anyone would NEED to have more than that, but we're all in this for our own flavor of fun. If I just HAD to have more than that, I would look at a GSG 22. (I already have an M-4 .22 upper as well.)

A .22 mag does NOT have to be "curved".

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Yeah - that's what I was getting at. Because of the shape of the cartridge (ratio of the length to the rim diameter), higher-capacity .22WMR magazines don't need be curved at the rate of a higher-capacity .22LR magazine.

10 rounds of .22LR is about the limit you can get in a straight mag. It's possible to have many more rounds (my Black Dog AR mags will hold 25 rounds) be the mag will have to be curved and will not fit in a pistol grip.

I always thought it was for a diferent reason,,,

Up until just a few months ago,,,
10 round magazines were legal in all 50 states,,,
I thought it was so the manufacturers could make one gun for all 50 states.

I have nothing to back this up with,,,
Just something I always thought made sense.

Aarond

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Why not go with a helical fed 100 rounder like this;

http://calicolightweaponsystems.com/home/index.php?page=22-2

I considered one of the Calico guns but, after watching videos on Youtube, I decided I didn't want to spend 10 minutes loading a magazine that I could empty in 1 minute. I have never fired one but they do look interesting.

I had a Ram-Line Exactor that held 15 rounds. It wasn't a double stack. It was a long single stack that had a constant force spring. It was fun when it didn't jam, but I think it was because of the gun rather than the # of rounds it held.

I too wanted a 22LR pistol that held 30 rounds or more so I got a Ruger Charger and drop it into a Blackhawk Axiom pistol stock. Sure, it's not a conventional pistol, but I can blast away and cut 2x4's with it. I liked it so much that I got a MOA receiver and built another one in an Archangel stock.

Alas, that was back in the good ole days when 22LR ammo was plentiful...............

There are plenty of hi capacity .22 handguns. Some examples are the TEC-22 by Intertec, the Galco shown above, the Umarex HK 416, the Chiappa M4-22 and others. All are military like or sub gun type models that are hi cap magazine fed.

Yes, but every single one of them has a large curved single stack magazine, and not one of them feeds through the grip. Although those examples are legally pistols, they seem closer to cut down carbines. Except for the TEC-22.

If you feed a magazine like that through the grip, you end up with something like the USFA Zip Gun.



Something resembling a PMR-30 is a very different animal indeed.

Steve C said:

There are plenty of hi capacity .22 handguns. Some examples are the TEC-22 by Intertec, the Galco shown above, the Umarex HK 416, the Chiappa M4-22 and others. All are military like or sub gun type models that are hi cap magazine fed.

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Umarex HK 416 - rifle....
Chiappa M4-22 - rifle...

10 rounds of .22LR is about the limit you can get in a straight mag. It's possible to have many more rounds (my Black Dog AR mags will hold 25 rounds) be the mag will have to be curved and will not fit in a pistol grip.

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My ceiner Taurus PT-conversion does 15 rds in a straight mag without any issues whatsoever.

^^Yeah. Someone forgot to tell that to my Ciener 15 rounders.

Another issue would be a magazine spring that would function over such a wide load range (full to empty). You can build a magazine any length you want but you still have to power it with some type of spring (and deal with people who insist on loading it full and leaving it that way for extended periods).