Rimfire Shooting Can Be Useful And FunRimfire shooting with the 22 Long Rifle cartridge has to be the most popular form of firearms shooting in America. With the extremely low cost of a brick of 500 rounds of only about $15.00 and availability everywhere, this is a very useful cartridge for small game and plinking fun. The first rimfire cartridge made was the .22 BB Cap that was designed for use in shooting galleries in 1857. There was no powder and used its priming mixture that was located in the cartridges rim as the propellant. When shot the firing pin hit the rim,and being made of very thin soft metal, crimping it causing the propellant to go off, sending the round ball down range. Later many other cartridges like the .22 Short, .22 Long, Long Rifle and other larger calibers like the .44 Henry and .58 Miller using the same rimfire principle but with the addition of gunpowder. Nowadays the more popular cartridges using the rimfire principle are the .22 caliber BB and CB Cap, Short, Long Rifle, .22 Winchester Magnum and the newly developed .17 caliber Hornady Mach 2 and Hornady Rimfire Magnum. Shot cartridges are also available in Long Rifle and .22 Magnum for rimfire shooting of small pests like rats or mice at close ranges. There have been smooth bore guns built just for shooting these diminutive shot shells and are a lot more effective than shooting them in a rifled barrel. The most popular of all for rimfire shooting is the .22 Long Rifle which is probably most shooters first real gun. I still remember going from my pump up Crosman pellet rifle to the incredibly more powerful .22 Long Rifle semi-automatic Marlin that I bought from bailing hay all summer. That winter my father traded that semi in while I was at school for a single shot Ithaca lever action rifle so I would not burn up so much ammo that he was paying for. During squirrel season the limit was seven squirrels so he would give me seven rounds to hunt with each time. That sure helped to slow me down and aim more carefully. The .22 Long Rifle is one of the most accurate of cartridges and used in a variety of target shooting competitions with handguns and rifles. For small game there is no better choice when minimal tissue damage is of concern. Solids zip right through without tearing up the edible meat and they are plenty accurate for tiny targets like head shots on squirrels or rabbits. With very low noise and virtually no recoil they can be used in closer proximity to more populated areas for hunting or thinning of varmints. When used around close quarters care must be taken because of the bullets low velocity ricochets are common. Virtually every animal on the continent has been taken with the Long Rifle but its practical uses are limited to small game. Care should always be taken when shooting this small round because misuse could easily end in death. Also on the cartridge box it says dangerous within 1 1/2 miles so keep this in mind and have a backstop when shooting. Many types of firearms have been made for rimfire shooting in all types of configurations from semi-auto pistols, revolvers, pump action rifles, lever actions, combo rifle shotguns, bolt actions, etc. Even the military has used a special full jacketed .22 Long Rifle ammo for sniping and special forces work. High Velocity .22 LR ammo is loaded to 1,255 fps with a 40 grain bullet and the .22 Winchester Magnum is loaded to 2,000 fps with a 40 grain for comparison. With the added velocity useful rimfire shooting is extended out to about 150 yards when using the magnum cartridge while 75 yards is about right for the Long Rifle. Rimfire shooting got a shot in the arm with the development of the .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire round and the Hornady Mach 2. The .17 HMR utilizes a necked down .22 WMR case and drives a 17 grain bullet at 2,550 fps. The HM2 is based on the .22 Long Rifle case and pushes a 17 grain bullet to 2,100 fps. Using jacketed hollow point bullets both cartridges shoot flatter than their parent cartridges and make hitting small targets easier. Also their bullets will have less tendency to ricochet and break up on impact. For use on game animals caution should be exercised in only hitting non edible parts of the animal. In my opinion coyote sized animals are on the large size for any of these rimfires and should be left to centerfire cartridges like the .223 or .22-250. Animals of this size deserve to be put down with more authority and can be quit tough if hit wrong. Rimfire shooting will be around for a long time simply for hunting and fun shooting sport. More Information on Rimfire Shooting
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