The “22 Long” cartridge – uses today?

[besk]

My 1968 copy of Gun Digest shows the 22 short to shoot 29 gr bullets at 1045 fps (or 1125 fps high velocity), the long shows the same 29 gr bullets at 1240 fps.
The long rifle 40gr bullet at 1245 fps while the 37gr hollow points are at 1365 fps. These figures are for Remington, Winchester and Federal ammo.

[dtknowles]

I shoot a fair number of .22 longs and I consider Aguila Kolibri in this category as well. I would shoot more shorts but they are harder to find than .22 long. I shoot them indoors at home for practice and teaching. I like the CCI CB longs better than the Kolibri's. Since I am only punching paper at short distances power and trajectory are not important. That said, the .22 long is everything a .22 short is plus some except it is longer. Airguns have mostly replaced .22 for indoor shooting for me but I still have boxes of .22 longs.
Tim

[barnetmill]

I have a couple of old rifles that will only shoot shorts or longs. Back in the late 50's all I was allowed to shoot was shorts. When I was old enough to buy my own I shot a lot of longs. I still have a little Browning take down auto that only shoots shorts.

A cousin has such a browning. I think some of those might have also been used for galley guns, but also good for shooting rats and pigeons around farm and factory buildings.

[barnetmill]

I shoot a fair number of .22 longs and I consider Aguila Kolibri in this category as well. I would shoot more shorts but they are harder to find than .22 long. I shoot them indoors at home for practice and teaching. I like the CCI CB longs better than the Kolibri's. Since I am only punching paper at short distances power and trajectory are not important. That said, the .22 long is everything a .22 short is plus some except it is longer. Airguns have mostly replaced .22 for indoor shooting for me but I still have boxes of .22 longs.
Tim

I have a lot of quiet .22 CCI type of ammo. It is long rifle external dimensions and fires a 40 grain bullet at about 720 ft per second. Said to be 80 db out of a full length barrel. Sounds about like a pellet rifle and does not require a NFA can to be quiet. There is also segmented load for it that breaks in three pieces.

[uscra112]

I was shooting Quiet out of my Ballard at a range in Idaho several years ago. Guy came over and wanted to see my silencer.

[barrabruce]

Cci CB longs with 29 grain bullet shoots well at the lower velocity in some guns.The fact that the 29 grain makes way less noise when it hits something as apposed to the 40 grain and less pass through makes it better for backyard pest removal out of long barrels.
Or so I’ve heard.

[45_Colt]

I have a few boxes of Remington & CCI in longs, CB type. Even in a K22 6" they are quiet. That and unlike a short don't carbon up the cylinder where a long or LR can't be chambered.

Other then CB longs I don't think I've seen them around. What I find interesting about the CB longs is that they are a HP.

45_Colt

EDIT: arg, wrong info, the CB longs (CCI & Rem) are NOT HP. But RN. The sub-sonic Rems are HP, but not the CBs. Still can't go wrong with them when looking for quiet...

[Finster101]

I have a Remington 550-1. It shoots short, long or long rifle. It also does not care if you mix them up in the tube magazine either. It just runs. My dad picked up an old Winchester gallery gun a few years ago. It is a pump and chambered for shorts only.

[Bazoo]

I'd be interested in a rimfire gun, in a larger caliber, provided the ammo made for it was relatively inexpensive. 25 or 32 caliber, even 38 caliber. But, the market isnt going to support it. A single shot gun, like the stevens, or any of the single shot 22's, in my opinion would be popular.

[Charlie Horse]

I was in my LGS 2 weeks ago and saw CCI 22Long in the 100 round plastic boxes. I commented that it has been years since I saw 22 longs. The own er commented that 20 boxes came in the week before. He has a standard order with his supplier and they ship him whatever they get in.
Why CCI made 22 long when they can't make 22LR fast enough is weird.

Those 22 CB Longs are more accurate than the shorts in some guns, and they will feed through some magazines. I would take the longs over the shorts any day.

[alfadan]

Bought a box by accident. Actually shot well enough in a Ruger mk3, though I didn't notice anything special.

[Digital Dan]

About 25 years ago I purchased a Contender and had a barrel made with a match chamber for shorts. Had my eyes on a few squirrel and perhaps some other obnoxious critters. It was about this time that I became aware that CCI was making CB Shorts so I grabbed some and set about seeing how they worked.

5 shots each beginning with a clean barrel.
https://i.imgur.com/ah8rkFz.jpg

Without belaboring the fine details, the state retained my services to thin the feral hog population in my neighborhood, but restricted me to rimfires. Well, OK.

https://i.imgur.com/5FjJlCN.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/45NsJo9.jpg



With that out of the way, a few months ago a friend passed along a couple of buckets of ammo from the estate of an old friend, and he had no need for any of it. Amidst the pile I found about 500 shorts and 2 boxes (full) of Remington longs that dated from the 60s/70s era. They will kill hogs also.

[uscra112]

????? Would a CB, (short or long) even penetrate the hide of one of those piggies? Did you shoot 'em through the eye?

[Digital Dan]

Roughly 150 hogs died from a single shot with the CBs. All but one required only a single shot. Hogs up to 125# +\- got shot broadside thru the neck, bigger ones took a hit in the brain whilst wondering what I was. The CBs would fully penetrate the neck or brain. Range varied from 15-35 yards. Killed 5 hogs one day w/o taking a step, two were over 200#. CBs are quiet and hogs aren’t that bright.

If you look at the skull pic you will see the entrance hole.

[uscra112]

The one time I can remember making a head shot on a woodchuck using a CCI CB round it bounced off the skull. Are pig skulls that much thinner than a 'chuck's? Still skeptical.

[Digital Dan]

Your skepticism is understood, but the path to success is governed by placement.

The first hog I killed with a CB Short was taken at a measured distance of 38 yards. I assumed the CB Short would do little more than annoy it, but it happened that A) that was what I had in my hands and B) I was annoyed as well. I don't like them rooting up my yard. So along came the pop, followed by a flop, and the piggy was dead. What surprised me greatly was that the bullet passed through its neck and exited on the off side. A shoat of about 40#.

For the record, there are many rimfire rounds out there. Some from my collection, from left to right: .17 BB cap, .22 BB Cap, .22 CB Cap, .22 short, .22 long and .22 Long rifle.
https://i.imgur.com/FehcQ3Y.jpg

The .17 is used in this rifle: https://i.imgur.com/ZGhgfpo.jpg
I have no doubt it could kill a hog.

A few more pictures follow, notably some skull pics of the boar that contributed the previous pictures. The bullet was found about 6" deep in the neck muscle behind the skull.

https://i.imgur.com/EcoAg5d.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/S4s0u8c.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/zcWlSRW.jpg

Curiously enough, I have used the .22 LR round on a couple of hogs and though it was successful I observed that the LR round will not exit on a neck shot. I assume but do not know for certain that the LR bullet begins to tumble and thus loses energy quickly.

As far as bullets bouncing off the skull, I use the CB Short by waiting for the larger hogs to turn to face me, and as they are want to do, lower their head with nose close to the ground. Thus the impact angle is near 90* and they don't ricochet. Pop'n Flop, done deal.

Like you I was not expecting such performance, but have since learned much about bullet performance at the low end of the performance spectrum. If you ever have the opportunity to use CB Shorts, do not assume they can't hurt anything. They can and do. They also work just fine on possum, skunks, squirrel, armadillo, feral cats, raccoons and most anything else you want to shoot with them.

My other guns use LR rounds....

[uscra112]

I guess I'll have to take you at your word.

I use Quiet, which has the same published MV as your CBs,, but with the 40 grain segmented bullet, on opossums and raccoons around here. They come in the cat door after the cats' food, and are executed at point-blank range using an Iver Johnson revolver. I use lung shots exclusively, so as not to have to clean up blood. Lung shot, they'll make it out onto the porch before collapsing. I do not see any exit wounds.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Long ago, 1960's, shorts, longs, and long rifles were all available. Prices - shorts were cheapest, longs a little more, then long rifles at several levels with standard, target and hollowpoints. Some early .22's were chambered for shorts and longs and did not handle the longer long rifles. My father would buy longs in error when long rifles were requested. I still have a couple very old Sears Longs around. CCI did make a 22 Long as one of the earliest 'quiet' versions, probably because some rifles do not feed shorts very well. Other than low powered rounds that won't build a carbon/lead ring in a chamber like shorts can, there is little purpose today. With the quiet and sub-sonic rounds, longs again have little purpose. The 22 Long Rifle did evolve from the Long. Longs used the 29 grain bullet like the short, the Stevens bumped the bullet to 40 grains....

[schutzen-jager]

fwiw - back in my youth at my aunt's farm in Yardley PA. large hogs, sheep, + even veal calves were done with an old .22 + shorts from a work bench drawer - 1 shot would do it -

[Bigslug]

If a Long Rifle chamber is what you have, the Long ammo option puts the 29 grain bullet closer to the rifling than a Short case will, so probably more accuracy potential if Short speeds or bullets are what you want. The CB / CB Long is still a pretty useful thing.