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22 LR & 22 Short

slkhn
I was just wondering, is it possible to shoot a 22 short in a gun made for 22 long rile only? Besides the length and powder loads what is the difference between the two? My line of thinking is you can shoot a 38 special in a 357 magnum.

Hunting monsters is risky business. The danger isn't that the monster will catch you, but that you won't know when you have become one yourself.
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Comments

10 comments

Date Votes
  • buckdeer
    shooting shorts in a long rifle will work fine in bolt actions you will have difficulties trying it in automatics and pumps unless you load singles.
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  • bambihunter
    buckdeer pretty much has it straight... There were a quite a few older pumps that would cycle all 3 (shorts, longs, and long rifle). A few semi-auto's that would do the same (Remington 550 and 552 comes to mind). As far as I know, most single-shot .22's and revolvers will also shoot them interchangeably (some have extra cylinders). I personally wouldn't do it unless the gun lists all of them - better safe than sorry.
    You pretty much listed the difference, length and powder. Shorts work fine for shots under 50 yards but fall like a brick when fired very far. Aside from prairie dogs, shorts would do everything I need them to do.
    If you are a 10/22 fan, Volquartsen makes a nice little lr/short conversion that has the complete bolt and magazine. It is pricey, but pretty neat and I am sure it works like a champ like all thier other stuff.
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  • Xracer
    .....and....there were quite a few older pumps that were made for .22 Short only. These were so-called "Gallery Guns" made for shooting galleries.

    Not many shooting galleries left, but there used to be hundreds of 'em on Boardwalks (such as Atlantic City and Coney Island), Amusement Parks, State Fairs, and traveling Carnivals.
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  • HappyNanoq
    It is worth mentioning - as with .38Special and .357Magnum - it would be adviseable, that before you change back to the longer cartridge for instance the .22LR cartridges - you ought to clean the chamber and barrel for any visible debris, but at least the chamber.

    Shooting .22 Short in a chamber for .22LR CAN deposit some debris in the chamber, because the chamber is bigger in diameter as the barrel itself.
    Not cleaning this debris, it can be a tight fit when you go back to .22LR, because of the debris in the chamber.
    If the debris is not removed, you will have a higher pressure buildup - before the projectile sets off down the barrel.

    I have shot many shorts in my Ansh?ts just for the fun of it (with my silencer) - but before I went back to .22LR, for which it is designed - I always cleaned my rifle.

    Tried shooting a pack of .22 short, and went back to CCI Stinger - they were really tight to chamber - Ejected the CCI and looked into the barrel from the breech side - I could see a ring of debris in the chamber.
    Having always had my cleaningtools with me, the chamber was cleaned and from then on, no problems with .22LR.


    So, yes, you can use .22Short or .22Long in a .22LR chamber - just look into the chamber, before you go back to the longer shells.
    Be carefull - be safe, afterall it's YOU that's hit if something goes wrong.


    Don't do anything that I've allready done - That'd be just plain STOOOOOOPID.
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  • cody45
    the twist rate is the difference. 22 short, for accuracy, require a 20" twist. 22 lr require a 16" twist because of the longer bullet. lots of engineering went into this experiment by the gunmaking firms around the turn of the century.
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  • cody45
    the twist rate is the difference. 22 short, for accuracy, require a 20" twist. 22 lr require a 16" twist because of the longer bullet. lots of engineering went into this experiment by the gunmaking firms around the turn of the century.
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  • slkhn
    I have a Savage 4C and it takes shorts longs and long rifles. It was just something I was wondering about.

    Hunting monsters is risky business. The danger isn't that the monster will catch you, but that you won't know when you have become one yourself.
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  • rhmc24
    This subject has been discussed for ages. Much of the above has been discussed before and is true. One item, much mentioned in the past, is if you shoot shorts a lot in a LR chamber, probably thousands of times, erosion in the chamber will occur at the end of the short case. This would enlarge the diameter of the chamber producing a sort of 'jug' that could cause the LR case to bulge and be difficult to extract. I have seen some horrendous chambers in .22s back in the 1930-40s probably from shooting corrosive primed ammo.
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  • redcedars
    slkhn:

    Marlin lever actions shoot .22 S, L, and LR interchangeably; so do High Standard rifles, and their house brand counterparts.

    Warnings regarding extensive shooting of .22 Shorts or Longs in a Long Rifle chamber are valid.

    redcedars
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  • gruntled
    The main reason for shooting shorts no longer exists. Hard as many people may find it to believe they used to be far cheaper than the long rifle rounds. There is still some purpose in having a less powerful round to use for some applications.
    I would believe the biggest problem with shooting any shorter round
    from a .22 short in a .22 long rifle barrel to a .45 L.C. in a .454 Casull is not a matter of safety but rather that after a lot of the short rounds have been fired it will be harder to extract the longer cases.
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