.22 Shorts

[georgerkahn]

I "started" my sons handgun shooting with a Savage .22 Long Rifle Single Shot Blue, 4” Barrel “Revolver” (S/n 50xxx), giving them ONLY .22 short ammo. Typical me, the barrel periodically had a bore-snake pulled through it -- I always stressed the need to ensure unobstructed barrels -- but, no more. Jump ahead a few years, I went on a fishing trip where I didn't wish to "hurt" or damage any handgun, but reckoned it would be astute to have one -- so I elected this Savage. Never giving it any thoughts, when we got to location I attempted to load in a plain-Jane .22 long rifle round -- and it would only chamber about 5/8th of the way!
It turned out that from the repeated .22 short firing my boys had done, a crusty ring was formed in the cylinder!
Back home, it took "forever and a day" before I had crud-ring reduced to enable long rifle rounds being chambered -- and there STILL is a very visible ring!
Hence -- in response to OP -- shoot away with shorts if you so wish -- BUT, I strongly suggest you pay attention to cylinder and,at the least, run a solvent-soaked brass bore brush through after each shooting session.
geo

[dagger dog]

I bought a project rifle, 1929 Rem model 12 A pump, mostly all brown, got it home and was cleaning it and felt a loose spot about 4" from the crown, ringed barrel, probably from a 22 short that didn't make it out of the barrel. Shoots 22 short, longs and long rifle. Would like to find some cb or bb caps, so I can kill all of the birds pooping on my cars in the open carport!

[SSGOldfart]

I "started" my sons handgun shooting with a Savage .22 Long Rifle Single Shot Blue, 4” Barrel “Revolver” (S/n 50xxx), giving them ONLY .22 short ammo. Typical me, the barrel periodically had a bore-snake pulled through it -- I always stressed the need to ensure unobstructed barrels -- but, no more. Jump ahead a few years, I went on a fishing trip where I didn't wish to "hurt" or damage any handgun, but reckoned it would be astute to have one -- so I elected this Savage. Never giving it any thoughts, when we got to location I attempted to load in a plain-Jane .22 long rifle round -- and it would only chamber about 5/8th of the way!
It turned out that from the repeated .22 short firing my boys had done, a crusty ring was formed in the cylinder!
Back home, it took "forever and a day" before I had crud-ring reduced to enable long rifle rounds being chambered -- and there STILL is a very visible ring!
Hence -- in response to OP -- shoot away with shorts if you so wish -- BUT, I strongly suggest you pay attention to cylinder and,at the least, run a solvent-soaked brass bore brush through after each shooting session.
geo

geo I'm cleaning the Ruger after every time I shoot,always have and will always clean after using. thanks for the heads up

[Scrounge]

What's the draw back to using 22 shorts vs 22 long rifle in a Ruger Single-six, my new model is marked 22 caliber and not 22LR. it came with a second cylinder marked 22 mag. but the Ranger officer says it's 22 LR only with the first cylinder I've always thought shorts could be used in a firearm that was marked 22LR,kinda the same ideal as 38's in a 357. Am I wrong/missing something?????

You can shoot shorts in an LR chamber, but it leaves a smoke ring at the end of the short case, and will eventually erode the chamber. I've got an 1884 model Stevens Favorite that shows signs of that. We ran quite a few .22 Shorts through it. Dad was born in 1937, and bought the Favorite when he was 13. It was broken, and he bubbaed it to get it shootable again. It started leaking and giving us problems about 20+ years ago, but recently I replaced the screws he brazed and filed to make fit again, and it locks up and shoots well now. Bit tricky getting the brass to extract. I have an extractor that needs to be fitted to it. Someday... Let's see... 1950 to say 2000... So fifty years of use just since my family has had it. And most of of my brothers and sisters learned to shoot a rifle with it. And most of another 50 years before he got it... I think a bunch of people got their money's worth out of it.

[beemer]

When I was squirrel hunting I liked to use shorts but both rifles I had would shoot several shots accurately and then throw a shot. I assume because of the chamber jump. I looked high and low for a 22 short only rifle but couldn't find one. About that time I found some Winchester sub-sonic and never looked back. Bought 3-4 cartons and still have one left.

When my Dad was young, in the 30's he used shorts to squirrel hunt, more of a necessity than anything. Shorts were 15 cents, longs were 20 and LR was 25. He said 15 cents was a days pay work a boy working in the field, the dime made a difference.