There is little doubt that the most popular rifle and handgun cartridge in this country is the .22 rimfire round. Annual ammunition sales also state that it is the most fired round in America, and it is extremely versatile for being used from target shooting and simple plinking, to small game hunting and even personal defense. The fact that it isn’t overly loud with its report and lacks any noticeable recoil causes the .22 rimfire to be the perfect round to introduce new and young beginners into the shooting pastimes. Having shot the .22 rimfire in competitive shooting, I can also state that it is an inherently accurate round.
The fact that the .22 rimfire ammunition remains economical to purchase doesn’t hurt its case any, either. I shoot enough .22 rounds on a regular basis that I usually buy the ammunition by the (500 round) “brick”. I learned a long time ago that continual practice with my .22 rifles and handguns keeps me right in tune with using the centerfire and bigger bore versions, and at a lot less cost.
The .22 Short is the oldest self-contained cartridge in America still in use today having been created by Smith and Wesson in 1856 for use in their new “pocket” revolver (I was able to handle one of these historical S&W revolvers recently that was an heirloom of a friend). The .22 Short would become the parent of a long line of large bore rimfire rounds to come, most notably the .44 caliber lever-action Henry Rifle which saw use during the Civil War.
Although centerfire rounds would quickly start displacing the rimfires in this country starting in the 1870’s, the .22 rimfire round maintained a strong following which lasts still today. In 1887 the much more powerful (and still most popular) .22 Long Rifle cartridge was created by Stevens Arms. During this black powder cartridge era, FFFFg black powder was used for its fast combustion rate in the small .22 case. With the advent of smokeless powder, a very fast burning version was developed specifically for the .22 rimfire, and this is a very “hot” propellant, to say the least, as it takes a very minute amount to achieve the desired result. For a fact, it doesn’t take a very long rifle barrel to fully utilize these small, hot powder charges.
Black powder .22 rimfire rounds were notorious for fouling up bores after just a few shots. Smokeless powder changed that, but firearms still had to be cleaned after firing due to the corrosive priming compound being used. Remington remedied this when it came out with its “Kleanbore” priming in 1927 and other ammunition manufacturers followed suit.
The .22 rimfire high-speed ammunition we are familiar with today became possible when brass instead of copper was used for shell casings. The brass allowed for higher pressures and just a very tad more powder. Lubricated bullets also allowed for cleaner bores, shot after shot, which meant a lot less fuss with cleaning a ”twenty-two” after every use.
Over its long history, the .22 rimfire has taken just about every game animal in North America, including the big bears. I can remember legendary gun writer, the late Jack O’Connor, writing about a Native American woman who killed a record-sized grizzly bear with a single-shot .22 rimfire rifle. This no doubt was a very close-range incident brought about by absolute necessity, but in this case, a well-placed .22 round beat the alternative.
The youngest .22 rimfire cartridge is the .22 Winchester Rimfire (WRF) Magnum round that was developed shortly after World War II and it is the only member of this old family not to have been originally used with black powder. The first rifle to be chambered for it was a Stevens over/under combination gun, where it featured the rifle barrel stacked on top of either a 20ga or .410 shotgun barrel. Soon other firearms manufacturers started producing rifles for this hot little rimfire round and it could be had in single-shot, bolt-action, lever-action, pump-action or semi-auto versions.
The development of the .22 WRF Magnum was possible due to the progress in metallurgy, because if the brass shell casing was too soft, the shell would burst at the rim, and if it was too hard, it would misfire. The result was a very versatile .22 rimfire round which had more reach and a bit more wallop.
In my personal experience, the typical .22 Long Rifle rimfire round is efficient for point of aim work to about 75 yards (although I have successfully made hits at 100 yards and slightly beyond). The .22 WRF Magnum on the other hand is easily double that (150 yards), with a little more oomph when it gets there. It is my favorite cartridge for local woodchucks, fox and coyote, because it does the job with a bit less noise and expense than a centerfire .22. While I look upon it as a minimum for handling tough coyotes, when properly placed with the right bullet (I prefer jacketed hollow-points), it will anchor them with definite authority. Wintertime predator hunting is a passion of mine and my favorite calling times entail a half hour before and a half hour after typical daylight shooting hours, and this timeframe is the cup of tea for my scoped .22 WRF Magnum rifle. My favorite .22 WRF Magnum rifle is a vintage Ithaca lever-action, 10 shot (butter smooth) repeater that I have topped with a 1.5 – 5 X Weaver scope. I also have a couple revolvers which feature interchangeable cylinders that allow the use of either typical .22 rimfire fodder or the more potent .22 WRF Magnum rounds, causing them to be very versatile handguns.
The .22 rimfire round has had a noticeable shooting presence in this country in its various forms for almost 170 years, and there is very little doubt it will be around for quite some time yet. While other rimfire rounds have fallen by the wayside, the dependable and versatile “Double Deuce” keeps trudging faithfully along at its own pace and covering a wide range of shooting applications for generations of satisfied target shooters, plinkers and an outstanding amount of small game hunters.
Yep, folks, it all certainly works for me!
than 40 years and has had his weekly radio show, “Tom Lounsbury
Outdoors” for more than 20 years. Tom grew up on a farm in
Michigan’s Thumb, and it is where his first outdoor adventures began
as a kid accompanying visiting pheasant hunters into the field during
the “pheasant hunting heyday” of the 1950’s and 1960’s. It is a passion
he still has to this day and being the 4 th generation to own the family
farm, he has put most of it into conservation programs with a focus on
wild pheasants, which in turn helps all wildlife.
Being an outdoor communicator, Tom appreciates all the outdoor
adventures he experiences in different places, and especially the
people he meets in which to share them.
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- Whenever hunter-pressured whitetails go nocturnal, nothing beats an old-fashioned deer drive. - December 20, 2024