What .22 LR rifles shoot .22 Short well?

It's my understanding the Henry 22 levers run pretty good with 22 shorts.

My Remington 572 will usually touch holes at 25 yds. I don’t know if this is good or bad as I have never researched 22 short accuracy but it is acceptable to me when I want to turn trash pandas into fertilizer.

I had a Henry, and it did indeed work well with shorts. It was fun. I think my Red Ryder kicks more. I almost felt the hammer dropping more than the round firing, and it was about as loud as a pellet gun.
They didn't have range for anything, though, but I'm not sure if that's because of my expectations from LR or the barrel was long enough to slow them down.

Remington 550, 552 or Marlin 39A

There is Quiet .22lr, there is CB, and super colibri, all are more available than short and less expensive. All are full length long rifle or .22 long that will be more reliable and will not gunk up your chamber and prevent full power .22lr from chambering... But most rifles that take short will say so on the barrel. My henry golden boy and my old Winchester 9422 both say short , Long or Long rifle on the barrel. I have never shot shorts in any of them. CB ammo is very quiet out of the long barrels and will take out a squirrel.

Midway has these and they get good reviews, but at 1100 FPS they will be as loud as a regular .22lr. and shoot a bullet that weighs half as much. I also see folks doing reviews say these will cycle a regular semi auto!

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1301134092


These guys are 800 FPS and will be quieter:

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1301346111

Got a couple hundred rounds of 22 short here but it's gonna be springtime before I start in on them with my Henry lever and pre WW2 Mod. 67 Winchester. The old iron sighted Winchester hasn't seen any 22 shorts in years but was always good with them. The Henry now has a red dot and despite being almost a year and a half old I've yet to put a 22 short in it. Both guns take short, long & long rifle. Some fine spring morning this year the plan is to chronograph and check accuracy on all three ammo types in both guns. Not an immediate concern. It can wait until spring. .

remington made a 22 auto back in the 50/60 that shot shorts/longs/long rifle. i could load the rifle with a mix and it just shot without no problems.

The browning BL-22 (lever) and Remington 572 (pump) both run on shorts and longs, just as well as they do with LR. The 572 holds 22 rounds of short in the tube magazine

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frankmako said:

remington made a 22 auto back in the 50/60 that shot shorts/longs/long rifle. i could load the rifle with a mix and it just shot without no problems.

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The 550 and 552 are both marked for the 3 kinds of ammo

Mossberg 42/44 series rifles do when you screw the adapter into the magazine.

I have a Remington 514 that shoots shorts very well. Three shots inside a dime at 30 steps. My 572 gives similar performance, and holds 21 of the little buggers. Believe it or not, I also I have a little break-open Rossi that shoots anything you feed it into a quarter at 25 yards. I admit I did swap the rear sight for one from a Mini-14 as the original wasn't elevation adjustable. Another option is the Henry, and the one I had was decently accurate, though I never put it on paper.

Mac

My Marlin 39A and Winchester '06 both feed and shoot shorts without problem.

Agree with Master Blaster about the gunking up chamber thing -- I switched from .22 CB Shorts to Longs and got about the same noise reduction and better accuracy. CCI Quiet and CB Longs both shoot great, though they won't cycle any of my autoloaders.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1301367227
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1301144251

They used to make semi-auto gallery rifles in .22 Short, but I haven't seen new ones cataloged in ages and used ones would likely need relining/rebarreling. There's one in my LGS (Remington, I think) that's been sitting on the used rack for more than a year.

https://www.wideopenspaces.com/sunday-gunday-gallery-guns-of-yesterday/

https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/72/561/remington-model-241-rifle-in-22-short-only-with-box

Volquartsen used to offer a .22 short conversion kit for the 10/22. It's no longer in their catalog, so I suspect they had reliability issues. You still might find a used one floating around:

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1004752625

I remember as a kid going to shooting galleries in NYC, one at Coney Island, one right in Times Square.

They used .22 short pump rifles that loaded through the stock with preloaded tubes of ammo. I have a feeling they were gallery guns made specifically for shorts.

If you could find one that wasn't shot out it would be a neat rifle to have.

I've never even considered a .22 Short barrel actually being "shot out", as opposed to being damaged by corrosive ammo, neglect or improper cleaning.

But I'd never really thought about use in an old fashioned shooting gallery at a huge amusement park either.

I wonder how many rounds a gallery rifle somewhere like Coney Island would have fired in a year?

How many rounds of .22 Short would it take to wear out a barrel?

Volquartsen (spelling may be wrong ) used to sell barrels and magazines to convert the Ruger 10/22 to 22 short. I have one and it is a real tack driver. I have taken crows out of the treeline at a laser range finder measured distance of 70 yards. Seems the 22 short chamber not only improves accuracy but I Suspect it helps with velocity too.

My Henry carbine is excellent with shorts as is my Winchester 62A pump. Both are a blast to shoot with shorts.

gotboostvr said:

It's my understanding the Henry 22 levers run pretty good with 22 shorts.

Click to expand...

My Henry works well out to 25-30 yards with shorts. As good as long rifle.

Speedo66 said:

I remember as a kid going to shooting galleries in NYC, one at Coney Island, one right in Times Square.

They used .22 short pump rifles that loaded through the stock with preloaded tubes of ammo. I have a feeling they were gallery guns made specifically for shorts.

If you could find one that wasn't shot out it would be a neat rifle to have.

Click to expand...

There used to be several semis made by different manufacturers to shoot shorts only. The last I remember is a gallery version of the Remington Nylon 66.

magyars4 said:

Volquartsen (spelling may be wrong ) used to sell barrels and magazines to convert the Ruger 10/22 to 22 short. I have one and it is a real tack driver. I have taken crows out of the treeline at a laser range finder measured distance of 70 yards. Seems the 22 short chamber not only improves accuracy but I Suspect it helps with velocity too.

Click to expand...

If you check you will probably find out your 22 short barrel has a slower twist to it and thats where your accuracy is coming from. The 22 short works best with a 1/20 twist IIRC. Not the common 1/16 twist like found on all common 22lr guns. I have several guns that will handle the 22 short but they all shoot 22lr better, especially at longer ranges.

One of my buds has a Winchester auto chambered in 22 short that I suspect was the same as some of the old gallery rifles except is in like new condition. And no he won't sell it. I have already asked. It belonged to his uncle so stays in the family.

This shows the rifling used to be 1/20 to 1/24.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.22_Short

Yer gonna chuckle,,,
But at 25 yards with iron sights,,,
My WZ-48 Polish Trainer drops shorts into one very small hole.

Once I get that big old heavy thing nestled in the sandbags,,,
The recoil of a short seems to not move the rifle.

I only tried it because I had a half box of shorts in my range bag,,,
After that performance I bought five more boxes.

Aarond

.

Lots of old rifles will be marked 22S, L, and LR. If you find one so marked that may be the best solution. Often cheap unless you find a collectible one.

frankmako said:

remington made a 22 auto back in the 50/60 that shot shorts/longs/long rifle. i could load the rifle with a mix and it just shot without no problems.

Click to expand...

My 550-1 eats everything including CB caps and low velocity long rifles. The CB caps just dribble out of the ejection port but they are absolutely reliable.

I bought a Winchester Model 67 single shot in a pawn shop in 1968 for $10. Killed dozens and dozens of rabbits with shorts. Very accurate and quiet. I just recently acquired a Marlin 39A, but haven't tried shorts in it. I'm told it will handle them well.