.22 short long or long rifle

[moosemoose]

Due to the absence of .22 long rifle bullets in my neck of the woods a few months back I rediscovered the joy of shooting .22 shorts. I have my Dads old Remington model 512 and a CZ 453 American. I bought the CZ used with some crown damage and purchased a piloted crown facing tool and several pilots. With theses pilots I was able to determine that the bore of the model 512 is .217 and the CZ is .212.

My Question is: Why would one rifle,512) have the capability of shooting short long or long rifle cartridges, and the other,CZ)only capable of the long rifle rounds. By capable I mean the manufacturer stamped barrel. I don't know if bore size is relevant. Maybe some of you know the answer.

 

[1000yardstare]

Just looked at my Rem 597 and it only says '.22 Long Rifle'. Had an old box of CIL 'WhizBangs' .22 shorts and tried them a while back in the 597 with no problem. I think that shorts and longs have sunk below the horizon of modern firearms manufacturers. After WWII, they may never have had any relevance in Europe where the CZ is made.

That Rem 512 is a great rifle. My second cousin let me plink sparrows on his farm with his brand new 512 back in the 1950`s when I was 8 years old and I have been hooked on rifles ever since.

 

[moosemoose]

My Dad bought this one used when he was a teenager and said he brought home many rabbits and prarie chickens with it. This rifle was the first rifle I ever shot, and my son too. Thanks for the response.

 

[PaperSniper999]

I thought the issue with shooting shorts in a 'long rifle' 22 RF was some,temporary?) deformation of the chamber that would make chambering long rifle rounds difficult after shooting 100s of shorts. But I have zero experience with shooting anything but the LR rounds.

By the way, here in west TN in early September 2009 I have found plenty of 22 ammo once I got out of the Memphis area. For instance, Gander Mountain in Jackson, TN has a decent supply,Lots of Rem, Wolf, CCI, etc) of 22 LR and even some 22 Shorts. Nothing too exotic, but I'd not expect that at a general purpose sports store.

 

[jthyttin]

Since 22 rimfires headspace on the rim, you can use 22 Short, Long and Long Rifle in a gun chambered for Long Rifle,22LR being the longest).

Like Papersniper said, using 22 Shorts will probly eventually clog up the front half or so of the 22LR chamber. Nothing a good cleaning cannot cure. Using 22 Longs shouldn't do this, since it has the same case as 22LR.

22 Longs will also feed more reliably on most repeaters. The bullet also has less jump to the rifling, which may produce better accuracy,on the other hand, low fill ratio may produce problems).

Re: CZ stampings, 22 Short and Long are mostly obsolete so newer firearms are only stamped for LR. A few years ago Olympic Pistol rules were changed, until that they were using 22 Short and thus some was available. Now it's declining all the time, at least this side of the pond.

Nowadays I try to get a hold of some 22 Zimmer rounds or equivalent from time to time. They're basically 22 Longs with even lower powder charge, and are thus more suitable than 22LR for some specific uses...

 

[rayjay]

The shorts may not feed reliably from the magazine.

 

[Preacher]

Shooting shorts is not a problem at all just be sure to clean the chamber really good before shooting long rifles in it again.
Actually you should clean it really good before using the shorts too.
You may have a problem with build up at the very end of the chamber and it needs to be removed before shooting long rifles again...

 

[j_22250]

i've been shooting cb shorts at my farm and switched to cb longs. the feed well and for some reason the shorts seem more accurate in my old glenfield. i like the longs cuz i can fit more than 1 in my 10/22 magazine.

shoot anything from stingers to shorts in any .22lr, even if it's not stamped on the barrel. be sure that gun is in good condition, other than that the only problem you'll have are feed and ejection issues.

 

[moosemoose]

Thanks boys I appreciate your input.