"Mind you, I said LONGS, (not Long Rifles), a semi-obsolete .22 round that has very questionable usefulness."
Back when I was in my teens and could buy ammo at the local gas station, longs made a LOT of sense; they were cheaper than Long Rifles and tin cans, empty shot shells and pine cones didn't know the difference.
A friend used to shoot his great uncle's Winchester Model 1899 thumb trigger rifle some. It was chambered in .22 Short and Long. That was a fun little gun. Couldn't get much simpler than that.