.22 LR in a .22 WRF revolver?

[jmorris]

How in the world this compares to shooting a 9mm in a .40 or a .264 Winchester out of a .300 Weatherby is beyond me.

It’s simple, you are talking about shooting ammunition out of a firearm it was not intended to fire. In the above examples no one was injured so one might call it “safe” but that doesn’t make it any smarter…

 

[JohnBT]

"I still just do not understand the mindset that it is acceptable practice to fire ammunition that is not designed for a particular firearm in that firearm. "

There is no excuse for telling people it's safe to use the wrong ammo. And I don't care how many times your daddy did it, etc. It's just wrong.

John

 

[Jim K]

Hi, Gordon,

Most of the situations you cite will cause no problem, but I seriously question your endorsement of using .32 ACP in revolvers chambered for .32 S&W. In some guns, it will be safe, but the .32 S&W runs 12000-13000 CUP and the .32 ACP runs 20,500 CUP, quite a difference in pressure and enough to cause serious problems with many of the old iron revolvers, especially those not even intended for smokeless powder, let alone for a high pressure autoloader round.

Jim

 

[Elmer]

Thanks for the replies. I understood that .22LR and .22 WRF are not dimensionally the same but also doubted the ability of the .22LR to turn the PP's cylinder into a grenade. I was more concerned about slow long-term damage to the revolver. There is virtually no daylight between the cylinder and the forcing cone but I see quite a bit of erosion under the top strap right above the forcing cone. Is this from gas/flame cutting? Is it a result of shooting LR's instead of WRF's? The revolver's in beautiful shape, and as I noted tight as a drum. I probably won't shoot .22 LR's in it but if WRF's should ever become unobtainable I might or one of my sons might. Thanks

If you do, make sure you and everyone around you is wearing good shooting glasses, and wear gloves.

People act like a .22 LR case rupturing is no big deal. An old girlfriend was shooting my S&W Model 63 years ago, and a case ruptured sending shards of brass into her hands, arms, and forehead. Only time anything ever happened like that in thousands of rounds through that gun.

Lots of things work just fine until they don't. Stock up on some WRF ammo, or buy a .22 LR to shoot.

 

[Elmer]

Hi, Gordon,

Most of the situations you cite will cause no problem, but I seriously question your endorsement of using .32 ACP in revolvers chambered for .32 S&W. In some guns, it will be safe, but the .32 S&W runs 12000-13000 CUP and the .32 ACP runs 20,500 CUP, quite a difference in pressure and enough to cause serious problems with many of the old iron revolvers, especially those not even intended for smokeless powder, let alone for a high pressure autoloader round.

Jim

Actually, most of the situations he cited are cartridges designed to be shot in the same gun. Apples and oranges.....