Donald Paul
Well-known member
...the .22 special:
A few years ago I took advantage of the opportunity to purchase a few hundred rounds of a recent reproduction of a very old .22 caliber cartridge that I had never previously heard of, and is now almost obsolete. This round is called the .22 SPECIAL. The formal name for this round is the Winchester Rim Fire {WRF}. Remington also made it.
Today, this cartridge is not very well known. Back around 1890-1905 a few firearms manufacturers produced handguns and rifles for this round, {Colt, Winchester, and Stevens, etc.}, Winchester and Remington produced the cartridge. It was, at that time, the answer to the need for a harder hitting small-bore projectile that was not available from the well known .22 Long Rifle cartridge. After about five decades, this round lost its appeal when today's more powerful and better known .22 Magnum Rim Fire {MRF} was introduced in 1959. The old WRF can be fired in a newer MRF gun, but not other way around.
If you have one of these old firearms whose unaltered chamber is designed to fire the old .22 Special {WRF}, you can still fire the other available present-day cartridges {short, long, and long rifle}, but if you do fire these other three rounds in that old firearm, the majority of the cases will split, just the same as if you fired them in a modern chamber designed to fire the MRF. Accuracy may slightly suffer, but this creates no danger to neither the person firing nor to the firearm, provided the firearm is in good condition.
Other obsolete .22 rounds also existed in those early days, such as the {not very popular} .22 xtra-long-rifle, but these cartridges didn't survive the change-over from black powder to smokeless powder which occurred in the mid 1880's.
Just thought I'd pass this on to you for your information and enjoyment. {My pictures are also included}.
-Don
A few years ago I took advantage of the opportunity to purchase a few hundred rounds of a recent reproduction of a very old .22 caliber cartridge that I had never previously heard of, and is now almost obsolete. This round is called the .22 SPECIAL. The formal name for this round is the Winchester Rim Fire {WRF}. Remington also made it.
Today, this cartridge is not very well known. Back around 1890-1905 a few firearms manufacturers produced handguns and rifles for this round, {Colt, Winchester, and Stevens, etc.}, Winchester and Remington produced the cartridge. It was, at that time, the answer to the need for a harder hitting small-bore projectile that was not available from the well known .22 Long Rifle cartridge. After about five decades, this round lost its appeal when today's more powerful and better known .22 Magnum Rim Fire {MRF} was introduced in 1959. The old WRF can be fired in a newer MRF gun, but not other way around.
If you have one of these old firearms whose unaltered chamber is designed to fire the old .22 Special {WRF}, you can still fire the other available present-day cartridges {short, long, and long rifle}, but if you do fire these other three rounds in that old firearm, the majority of the cases will split, just the same as if you fired them in a modern chamber designed to fire the MRF. Accuracy may slightly suffer, but this creates no danger to neither the person firing nor to the firearm, provided the firearm is in good condition.
Other obsolete .22 rounds also existed in those early days, such as the {not very popular} .22 xtra-long-rifle, but these cartridges didn't survive the change-over from black powder to smokeless powder which occurred in the mid 1880's.
Just thought I'd pass this on to you for your information and enjoyment. {My pictures are also included}.
-Don
