Help me out here, what was the point of the .22 Long cartridge?

[WR Moore]

Those had to be very interesting days with the ammo and weapons on hand back then. They still had ten to fourteen years before the primer was invented.

Gee, I've never seen a .22 wheel or flint lock

 

[Jswiney9]

Interesting thread, my LGS has boxes of the .22 long and .22WRF on the shelves and I never really knew what the point of either was. I figured it kind of went along with some of the cowboy action loads.......... just a niche that not many people are shooting regularly but still had a following

 

[Roundsworth]

The 29 grain bullet of the Short and Long required a different rifling twist than the Long Rifle. In many cases where a Short chamber was reamed for the LR, accuracy was not as good. This was true eons ago, as with my 1885 Winchester. The rifle is not in very nice condition, so I considered rechambering for LR, but found many references to rifling specific to the shorter, lighter bullets. I know that many rifles were made to handle all three cartridges, but I wonder which of the three performed best. Cheers!

 

[drinva]

Fine reading guys, I have learned much!

 

[rwsmith]

At first mostly revolvers.....

Revolvers were chambered for .22 short and .22 long. Because shorter was cheaper if you didn't need the extra velocity. Longs were adequate for what most people used a .22 for for a long time. When .22 LR became common, they probably cost a nickel more per box, but then a nickel was a substantial amount in those days. I'll bet you have to search a bit for .22 shorts today. I see they are supposedly carried by WalMart.

Update: I see that at one point there was a .22 Extra Long, too. People just want more power and the price differences became insignificant.

 

[Narragansett]

We used to buy 22 shorts on the Navy base for 10 cents a box. I have some longs around, and a 582 remington that will shoot them, as well as a single shot. I imagine that there are rifles that will still handle them being made today. I know the Remington 552 Speedmaster still does shorts, longs, and long rifles

 

[Buford57]

Another little known .22 round was the 22 WRF, also long since obsolete. I bought a couple of boxes of them 40 years ago, and shot some of them in my .22 magnum rifle....they chambered and fired just fine, and were less expensive. Not sure who chambered rifles for them, but am guessing Winchester. And I also have a 1930's, very early Model 62 Winchester pump action that will also load and handle .22 shorts, longs, and long rifles. It is a wonderful little .22 and has a take down action with exposed hammer.

The .22 WRF was also known as the .22 Remington Special. I came into a brick of those at a bargain price (about the same as .22LR) about 40 years ago and shot them up in a .22 WRM revolver. Found them to be a good small game and plinking round, but inadequate for porcupines, which responded better to .22 Mags, .357s and large rocks.

I have an old Stevens Visible Loader .22 pump that I would shoot more if only I could find some longs. It is chambered for .22 LR but the modern high speed rounds tend not to extract and shorts don't feed well. It is a very fast, short-stroke pump when appropriate ammo is available and really fun to shoot.

 

[bmcgilvray]

The long actually slowed down in the rifles due to the friction of the barrel from the low fps of the load. One reason the long rifle was designed.
Those had to be very interesting days with the ammo and weapons on hand back then. They still had ten to fourteen years before the primer was invented.

Center fire primers were developed in the 1860s.

 

[k22fan]

bmcgilvray & WR Moore,

I believe Nevada Ed was using Kentucky long rifles to be humorous. Even when some members like myself choose words carefully humor and sarcasm don't work out as intended.