Fugger Nutter
Member
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2006
- Messages
- 5
The below is something I wrote awhile ago, alot of people have really liked this it so I thought I would post it here too.
This is a cut and paste from my blog so the formatting and links were all stripped, however the text is all present, I re-linked the pics, and fixed some of the formatting. This is not meant to be at all argumentative and I hope no one takes it that way.
This is one of my first posts here in ages so if this is not appropriate please delete with my apologies. Likewise if some of ya all like it I will add a few more little articles as time allows.
- Fug
-----------
This is an introduction to .22 rimfire. It is written so that someone who does not know alot about rimfire ammunition and concepts can understand all the fundamentals - however even some folks who have been shooting .22's awhile may learn a little from it. --
Many of the top "experts" will tell you the .17HMR has made all previous rimfire ammunition obsolete. Well this is just one more of the many times in History that the "experts" are wrong
The breadth of different ammunition available for .22RF is overwhelming and it is an advantage that will hold the .22 over the .17HMR and HM2 for many years to come. That's not to knock the .17 ammo at all, but the .17 does not take away the goodness of 22RF please read on to learn a little more about it.
If people enjoy this and leave me some comments this will become a "living, breathing" document and I will add to it as time allows. This will be basic, but will cover lots of material. So here goes...
Intro to .22 Rimfire Ammunition!
(inspired by the Dummy series)
Table of Contents
What is it?
Current Varieties
Some Thoughts
Additional Reading
Don't Forget
What is it?
Caliber by definition is the diameter of the inside of a round cylinder, such as a tube, measured in inches. So a "fifty cal" or .50 caliber firearm is a firearm that has a barrel (the tube) that has a diameter that measures 1/2 inch across from the inside of one side across the opening to the inside of the other side.
So ".22" means that we are speaking about firearms that have a .22 Caliber or a barrel that measures .22 inches across.
So what is rimfire? Well let’s describe the term "cartridge" first - a cartridge is an assembled item that we put into a firearm. It has a case to hold everything together, with a bullet sticking out one end. The opposite side of the bullet gets struck by a firing pin. That happens irregardless of whether the firearm is a pistol, a rifle, a pump, lever, semi, bolt, fully automatic, or gattling gun. You have a bullet sticking out of one side of a cartridge and a firing pin hitting the other side of the cartridge.
Now that side of the cartridge that does not have the bullet sticking out of it is going to have what is called “primer” in it. It is small explosive mix that ignites when hit hard (like by a firing pin!). After the primer comes the gun powder, then comes the bullet.
So the firing pin hits the cartridge right where the primer is which makes the primer go “pop”. If that “pop” happens to be next to a bunch of gun powder the spark from the primer makes the gun powder go BOOM!
This BOOM! is an explosion (Please Note: the gun powder is technically not exploding it is just burning really fast. Engineers will tell you there is a big difference but either way "it goes boom!").
The "explosion" pushes in all directions with a bunch of force but it cannot go backwards because the bolt is in the way (then the rifle, and the rifle’s stock and then your shoulder which is why you feel recoil) the only direction that does not have a piece of metal in the way is down the barrel (which is .22 inches wide).
Now let’s get back to the original question: What is rimfire? Well simply stated “rimfire” is referring to the type of cartridge that has the primer in the rim of the cartridge on the side opposite of that bullet sticking out we mentioned earlier. This is opposed to “centerfire” ammunition which has the primer in the center of the cartridge it will make much more sense when you look at this picture.
As you can see the picture on the left has a dent right in the center of it. That is a “spent shell” or a used cartridge from a centerfire round (a .45 Colt to be precise). The one on the right has a rectangular dent in it at the top at about the 12:30 position, on the rim. Making rimfire ammunition is really cheap because they just roll the metal over making a rim, then fill that rim with primer! (a slightly more advanced topic: you can not reload rimfire because the cartridge is a one piece construction as opposed to the centerfire cartridge which is actually a separate piece of metal the primer is under, once dented you can replace it). Low cost is a huge benefit that should never be forgotten, there are millions of people in the US alone who can handle $10 for a brick (500 rounds) and enjoy a whole weekend of shooting for the whole family with very little recoil at all. Our young shooters need lots of practice, thousands and thousands of rounds. If you are an older guy try to remember how much you fired when you were learning. Cheap ammo = goodness.
For now on we will refer to rimfire as RF. So .22 Rimfire is ammo that is .22 inches across, in a cartridge that has it’s primer in its rim, designed to go into a firearm that is made to hit a cartridge on its rim.
OK, now let’s talk about the length of the .22 rimfire ammo. There are many different lengths to .22 rimfire ammunition. I want to separate these into two classes, which is an obvious segmentation – there are .22 magnums and .22RF
.22 magnums include both the older .22WRF and the newer .22WRM. The .22WRM is very popular and still widely in use, and maybe someday I will write about it, but the .22WRF and .22WRM will not work in firearms designed for all other .22 rimfire cartridges. So though they are rimfire they are enough of a different beastie that they are not included in this article.
So now we are up to the vast majority of .22 rimfire ammunition. What we call .22RF ammunition. In other words all the various .22RF ammo that will typically work in all of the many .22 rimfire firearms out there. I say typically because there are exceptions of course and we will discuss some of these exceptions towards the end of this article when it will make more sense.
Current Varieties
Ok, I did not run to the store and buy a whole bunch of varieties, nor have I saved up different ammo over the years, this is just some of the .22 ammo I had around my house when I got the urge to write this. I think it represents a great cross variety of the current .22RF on the market.
First off there is hollow point, rounded point, pointy point, lead and copper varieties
The above should be self explanatory, but if it isn’t just leave a comment and I will edit this to add in whatever part I left out, NEVER be ashamed to ask a question (especially when you can do it anonymously).
When you put a cartridge inside a firearm, and the bolt closes and pushes that firearm into the barrel it goes into what is known as the “chamber” doing this is called “chambering a round”. That round has to be designed to fit into the chamber. It also has to be designed in accordance to specifications so that the explosion the gun powder creates is not so strong that it damages the rifle (or you!). It also has to be within certain specifications in order to be accurate. In other words some engineer has to do lots of math, or some redneck like me has to do lots of trial and error. Thankfully the ammunition manufacturers have a whole bunch of engineering geeks doing the math for you. So you can just go buy the ammo you want.
Alright Already – here is what you really want to see:
Let’s explain these one by one.
A) This is a CB Short made by a company called CCI. It has a fairly light bullet and just the teeniest bit of gun powder in it. It is a very quiet round, just a little louder than a very strong air gun. Due to it’s short size, and the fact that it has very little gun powder in it this round will not cycle the action properly in semi automatic rifles because it does not have a strong enough explosion from the teeny bit of gun powder to blow the bolt back hard enough to bounce forward and chamber the next round. In a tubular magazine (like in most levers and pumps) you get the great benefit of being able to store many rounds at once. Most levers and pumps will cycle this ammunition properly. A single shot bolt action will of course cycle this fine as well.
A.2) Not pictured but looking the same as A is a .22 Short. The .22 short is the grandfather of all rimfire ammunitions being originally made in the 1800’s! The difference between the CB short and the .22 short is that the .22 short has gun powder, is louder, and is much more powerful.
B) This is called Super Colibri and it is made by the manufacturer Aguila. There use to be regular Colibri ammo but they upped the power a little to fix some issues and now it’s Agila Super Colibri. This .22RF ammo has no gun powder in it, it is a very light and small bullet and the cartridge has a little extra primer, so the primer alone is strong enough to throw the little bullet downrange with the approx power of a bb gun. It is as quiet as a bb gun too, there is no gun powder making any explosive sound. Due to it’s short size, and the fact that it has no gun powder in it this round will not cycle the action properly in semi automatic rifles because it does not have any explosion from gun powder to blow the bolt back. It’s also so small that it will not stay put in many detachable magazines. In a tubular magazine (like in most levers and pumps) you get the great benefit of being able to store many rounds at once. Most levers and pumps will cycle this ammunition properly. A single shot bolt action will of course cycle this fine.
C) This is a CB Long, it is exactly the same as a CB short but it is in the .22 Long Rifle (LR) case. For those rifles that have mags and actions that will not hold, load, and cycle a CB short CCI makes a CB Long. It has a fairly light bullet and just the teeniest bit of gun powder in it. It is a very quiet round, just a little louder than a very strong air gun. Due to it’s short size, and the fact that it has very little gun powder in it this round will not cycle the action properly in semi automatic rifles because it does not have a strong enough explosion from the teeny bit of gun powder to blow the bolt back hard enough to bounce forward and chamber the next round.
C.2) Not pictured. .22 Long, pretty much obsolete now though there are still lots around the world moved to Long Rifle (LR) and that’s the facts. The case is in between the Short and the Long Rifle (LR)
D) Federal Bulk Pack, box of ammo, cheap at the store for 550 loose rounds in a box. .22LR, the standard of the .22RF lineup. Standard Velocity, I buy 10,000 rounds at a time and keep it loose in ammo cans. I have been doing this for years with no problems.
E) Winchester Dynapoints, copper plated bullets, bought in a bulk box of 500 rounds at any Walmart anywhere in the US fo under $10. Another staple of the rimfire world. I keep an ammo can or two of this around all the time to. .22RF rifles are funny, some like one type of ammo and some like a different type, so try lots and use the one your rifle likes. Two exactly the same rifles, off the assembly line one after the other may like different ammo. So don’t ask others, go see what your rifle likes.
F) Federal Lightning, an example of High Velocity ammo. More gun powder throws this 40 grain round down range faster than standard rounds.
G) Remington Yellow Jacket, an example of Hyper Velocity ammo. Even more gun powder and a lighter 33 grain round down range really fast. Speed equals a flatter trajectory. Speed and a heavy round means it will hit harder and shoot flatter. This is an extreme angled conical bullet with a big hole in it’s hollow point meaning this ammo will expand quickly on thin skinned game – however hyper velocity ammo is not accurate in all weapons and is more greatly affected by wind.
H) Super Maximum from Aguila – an example of extreme speed and punch in a .22lr round, 30grains, and a full charge of powder.
I) NOT Pictured because it was out in my truck – subsonic match grade ammo. Lapua makes a great example because the World Records were shot with it (and it is what is out in my truck). Subsonic means the bullet stays below the sound barrier. With standard, high velocity, and hyper velocity ammo they all make the loud cracking sound that any high caliber rifle makes when fired. It is not the explosion of gun powder that causes the crack, the gun powder makes the boom but it is the bullet breaking the sound barrier making the crack. Unfortunately breaking the sound barrier causes disturbances to the bullet – therefore it is not as accurate. It gets less accurate passing through the sound barrier as it leaves the muzzle (the end of the barrel) and when it drops back down below the sound barrier it destabilizes its flight again. For things like hunting and plinking the disturbance is so small it is not worth paying attention to. However when shooting paper targets (evil paper that deserves to be shot) that teeny bit of difference could be the world record, therefore rimfire match ammos is subsonic.
Some Thoughts:
So what’s next? Does the new .17HMR and even newer .17HM2 spell the end of the mighty .22RF – NO SIR!
Maybe when that ammo can be had for under $10 for a brick of 500 rounds and they offer CB and Super Colibri variants just as cheap but that will probably never happen due to the technical limitations of the .17HMR design. I can see two major developments happening down the road.
1) new metallurgy and process improvements allow a new type of case to be made thus allowing the rim to be dented and the case to be strong enough to hold together thus giving us better ammo in .22lr
2) Have you seen the new polymer tipped LeveRevolution ammo? No direct corollary but there is a concept, how can we change the bullet to be better yet keep the billions of .22 firearms already out there ready to use them. Kids have been cutting X’s into the tops of rounds and other ideas for years, and there are now tools for sale that cut the tip of ammo into certain patterns for you. Who knows what someone will stumble on!
Finally, here is a nice size illustration. On the left is a spent .22 CB short and on the right a .45 Colt
Additional Reading
If you are looking into rimfires to teach a youth please read this article I wrote on Youths and Guns.
Chuck Hawks wrote a good article on the History of Rimfire (PLEASE NOTE: This is an different person's website and I take no responsibility for it's content).
Dont Forget
God Bless Ya.
This is a cut and paste from my blog so the formatting and links were all stripped, however the text is all present, I re-linked the pics, and fixed some of the formatting. This is not meant to be at all argumentative and I hope no one takes it that way.
This is one of my first posts here in ages so if this is not appropriate please delete with my apologies. Likewise if some of ya all like it I will add a few more little articles as time allows.
- Fug
-----------
Intro to .22 Rimfire
This is an introduction to .22 rimfire. It is written so that someone who does not know alot about rimfire ammunition and concepts can understand all the fundamentals - however even some folks who have been shooting .22's awhile may learn a little from it. --
Many of the top "experts" will tell you the .17HMR has made all previous rimfire ammunition obsolete. Well this is just one more of the many times in History that the "experts" are wrong
The breadth of different ammunition available for .22RF is overwhelming and it is an advantage that will hold the .22 over the .17HMR and HM2 for many years to come. That's not to knock the .17 ammo at all, but the .17 does not take away the goodness of 22RF please read on to learn a little more about it.If people enjoy this and leave me some comments this will become a "living, breathing" document and I will add to it as time allows. This will be basic, but will cover lots of material. So here goes...
Intro to .22 Rimfire Ammunition!
(inspired by the Dummy series)
Table of Contents
What is it?
Current Varieties
Some Thoughts
Additional Reading
Don't Forget
What is it?
Caliber by definition is the diameter of the inside of a round cylinder, such as a tube, measured in inches. So a "fifty cal" or .50 caliber firearm is a firearm that has a barrel (the tube) that has a diameter that measures 1/2 inch across from the inside of one side across the opening to the inside of the other side.
So ".22" means that we are speaking about firearms that have a .22 Caliber or a barrel that measures .22 inches across.
So what is rimfire? Well let’s describe the term "cartridge" first - a cartridge is an assembled item that we put into a firearm. It has a case to hold everything together, with a bullet sticking out one end. The opposite side of the bullet gets struck by a firing pin. That happens irregardless of whether the firearm is a pistol, a rifle, a pump, lever, semi, bolt, fully automatic, or gattling gun. You have a bullet sticking out of one side of a cartridge and a firing pin hitting the other side of the cartridge.
Now that side of the cartridge that does not have the bullet sticking out of it is going to have what is called “primer” in it. It is small explosive mix that ignites when hit hard (like by a firing pin!). After the primer comes the gun powder, then comes the bullet.
So the firing pin hits the cartridge right where the primer is which makes the primer go “pop”. If that “pop” happens to be next to a bunch of gun powder the spark from the primer makes the gun powder go BOOM!
This BOOM! is an explosion (Please Note: the gun powder is technically not exploding it is just burning really fast. Engineers will tell you there is a big difference but either way "it goes boom!").
The "explosion" pushes in all directions with a bunch of force but it cannot go backwards because the bolt is in the way (then the rifle, and the rifle’s stock and then your shoulder which is why you feel recoil) the only direction that does not have a piece of metal in the way is down the barrel (which is .22 inches wide).
Now let’s get back to the original question: What is rimfire? Well simply stated “rimfire” is referring to the type of cartridge that has the primer in the rim of the cartridge on the side opposite of that bullet sticking out we mentioned earlier. This is opposed to “centerfire” ammunition which has the primer in the center of the cartridge it will make much more sense when you look at this picture.
As you can see the picture on the left has a dent right in the center of it. That is a “spent shell” or a used cartridge from a centerfire round (a .45 Colt to be precise). The one on the right has a rectangular dent in it at the top at about the 12:30 position, on the rim. Making rimfire ammunition is really cheap because they just roll the metal over making a rim, then fill that rim with primer! (a slightly more advanced topic: you can not reload rimfire because the cartridge is a one piece construction as opposed to the centerfire cartridge which is actually a separate piece of metal the primer is under, once dented you can replace it). Low cost is a huge benefit that should never be forgotten, there are millions of people in the US alone who can handle $10 for a brick (500 rounds) and enjoy a whole weekend of shooting for the whole family with very little recoil at all. Our young shooters need lots of practice, thousands and thousands of rounds. If you are an older guy try to remember how much you fired when you were learning. Cheap ammo = goodness.
For now on we will refer to rimfire as RF. So .22 Rimfire is ammo that is .22 inches across, in a cartridge that has it’s primer in its rim, designed to go into a firearm that is made to hit a cartridge on its rim.
OK, now let’s talk about the length of the .22 rimfire ammo. There are many different lengths to .22 rimfire ammunition. I want to separate these into two classes, which is an obvious segmentation – there are .22 magnums and .22RF
.22 magnums include both the older .22WRF and the newer .22WRM. The .22WRM is very popular and still widely in use, and maybe someday I will write about it, but the .22WRF and .22WRM will not work in firearms designed for all other .22 rimfire cartridges. So though they are rimfire they are enough of a different beastie that they are not included in this article.
So now we are up to the vast majority of .22 rimfire ammunition. What we call .22RF ammunition. In other words all the various .22RF ammo that will typically work in all of the many .22 rimfire firearms out there. I say typically because there are exceptions of course and we will discuss some of these exceptions towards the end of this article when it will make more sense.
Current Varieties
Ok, I did not run to the store and buy a whole bunch of varieties, nor have I saved up different ammo over the years, this is just some of the .22 ammo I had around my house when I got the urge to write this. I think it represents a great cross variety of the current .22RF on the market.
First off there is hollow point, rounded point, pointy point, lead and copper varieties
The above should be self explanatory, but if it isn’t just leave a comment and I will edit this to add in whatever part I left out, NEVER be ashamed to ask a question (especially when you can do it anonymously).
When you put a cartridge inside a firearm, and the bolt closes and pushes that firearm into the barrel it goes into what is known as the “chamber” doing this is called “chambering a round”. That round has to be designed to fit into the chamber. It also has to be designed in accordance to specifications so that the explosion the gun powder creates is not so strong that it damages the rifle (or you!). It also has to be within certain specifications in order to be accurate. In other words some engineer has to do lots of math, or some redneck like me has to do lots of trial and error. Thankfully the ammunition manufacturers have a whole bunch of engineering geeks doing the math for you. So you can just go buy the ammo you want.
Alright Already – here is what you really want to see:
Let’s explain these one by one.
A) This is a CB Short made by a company called CCI. It has a fairly light bullet and just the teeniest bit of gun powder in it. It is a very quiet round, just a little louder than a very strong air gun. Due to it’s short size, and the fact that it has very little gun powder in it this round will not cycle the action properly in semi automatic rifles because it does not have a strong enough explosion from the teeny bit of gun powder to blow the bolt back hard enough to bounce forward and chamber the next round. In a tubular magazine (like in most levers and pumps) you get the great benefit of being able to store many rounds at once. Most levers and pumps will cycle this ammunition properly. A single shot bolt action will of course cycle this fine as well.
A.2) Not pictured but looking the same as A is a .22 Short. The .22 short is the grandfather of all rimfire ammunitions being originally made in the 1800’s! The difference between the CB short and the .22 short is that the .22 short has gun powder, is louder, and is much more powerful.
B) This is called Super Colibri and it is made by the manufacturer Aguila. There use to be regular Colibri ammo but they upped the power a little to fix some issues and now it’s Agila Super Colibri. This .22RF ammo has no gun powder in it, it is a very light and small bullet and the cartridge has a little extra primer, so the primer alone is strong enough to throw the little bullet downrange with the approx power of a bb gun. It is as quiet as a bb gun too, there is no gun powder making any explosive sound. Due to it’s short size, and the fact that it has no gun powder in it this round will not cycle the action properly in semi automatic rifles because it does not have any explosion from gun powder to blow the bolt back. It’s also so small that it will not stay put in many detachable magazines. In a tubular magazine (like in most levers and pumps) you get the great benefit of being able to store many rounds at once. Most levers and pumps will cycle this ammunition properly. A single shot bolt action will of course cycle this fine.
C) This is a CB Long, it is exactly the same as a CB short but it is in the .22 Long Rifle (LR) case. For those rifles that have mags and actions that will not hold, load, and cycle a CB short CCI makes a CB Long. It has a fairly light bullet and just the teeniest bit of gun powder in it. It is a very quiet round, just a little louder than a very strong air gun. Due to it’s short size, and the fact that it has very little gun powder in it this round will not cycle the action properly in semi automatic rifles because it does not have a strong enough explosion from the teeny bit of gun powder to blow the bolt back hard enough to bounce forward and chamber the next round.
C.2) Not pictured. .22 Long, pretty much obsolete now though there are still lots around the world moved to Long Rifle (LR) and that’s the facts. The case is in between the Short and the Long Rifle (LR)
D) Federal Bulk Pack, box of ammo, cheap at the store for 550 loose rounds in a box. .22LR, the standard of the .22RF lineup. Standard Velocity, I buy 10,000 rounds at a time and keep it loose in ammo cans. I have been doing this for years with no problems.
E) Winchester Dynapoints, copper plated bullets, bought in a bulk box of 500 rounds at any Walmart anywhere in the US fo under $10. Another staple of the rimfire world. I keep an ammo can or two of this around all the time to. .22RF rifles are funny, some like one type of ammo and some like a different type, so try lots and use the one your rifle likes. Two exactly the same rifles, off the assembly line one after the other may like different ammo. So don’t ask others, go see what your rifle likes.
F) Federal Lightning, an example of High Velocity ammo. More gun powder throws this 40 grain round down range faster than standard rounds.
G) Remington Yellow Jacket, an example of Hyper Velocity ammo. Even more gun powder and a lighter 33 grain round down range really fast. Speed equals a flatter trajectory. Speed and a heavy round means it will hit harder and shoot flatter. This is an extreme angled conical bullet with a big hole in it’s hollow point meaning this ammo will expand quickly on thin skinned game – however hyper velocity ammo is not accurate in all weapons and is more greatly affected by wind.
H) Super Maximum from Aguila – an example of extreme speed and punch in a .22lr round, 30grains, and a full charge of powder.
I) NOT Pictured because it was out in my truck – subsonic match grade ammo. Lapua makes a great example because the World Records were shot with it (and it is what is out in my truck). Subsonic means the bullet stays below the sound barrier. With standard, high velocity, and hyper velocity ammo they all make the loud cracking sound that any high caliber rifle makes when fired. It is not the explosion of gun powder that causes the crack, the gun powder makes the boom but it is the bullet breaking the sound barrier making the crack. Unfortunately breaking the sound barrier causes disturbances to the bullet – therefore it is not as accurate. It gets less accurate passing through the sound barrier as it leaves the muzzle (the end of the barrel) and when it drops back down below the sound barrier it destabilizes its flight again. For things like hunting and plinking the disturbance is so small it is not worth paying attention to. However when shooting paper targets (evil paper that deserves to be shot) that teeny bit of difference could be the world record, therefore rimfire match ammos is subsonic.
Some Thoughts:
So what’s next? Does the new .17HMR and even newer .17HM2 spell the end of the mighty .22RF – NO SIR!
Maybe when that ammo can be had for under $10 for a brick of 500 rounds and they offer CB and Super Colibri variants just as cheap but that will probably never happen due to the technical limitations of the .17HMR design. I can see two major developments happening down the road.
1) new metallurgy and process improvements allow a new type of case to be made thus allowing the rim to be dented and the case to be strong enough to hold together thus giving us better ammo in .22lr
2) Have you seen the new polymer tipped LeveRevolution ammo? No direct corollary but there is a concept, how can we change the bullet to be better yet keep the billions of .22 firearms already out there ready to use them. Kids have been cutting X’s into the tops of rounds and other ideas for years, and there are now tools for sale that cut the tip of ammo into certain patterns for you. Who knows what someone will stumble on!
Finally, here is a nice size illustration. On the left is a spent .22 CB short and on the right a .45 Colt
Additional Reading
If you are looking into rimfires to teach a youth please read this article I wrote on Youths and Guns.
Chuck Hawks wrote a good article on the History of Rimfire (PLEASE NOTE: This is an different person's website and I take no responsibility for it's content).
Dont Forget
God Bless Ya.
