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Posted: 7/15/2002 6:28:02 AM EDT
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Can someone explain to me the advantages of rim fire cartridges? Never understood why any cartridge would be better as a rim fire. Can someone enlighten me? |
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Rimfire was a system long ago abandoned, since it is indeed inferior to centerfire. It was originally truly perfected as an Eley idea, and as i'm sure you know, many big bore rifle and pistol chamberings were rimfire for a long time. It was just one available system "back in the day"... With the smokeless powder era and needs for hotter priming, centerfire cartridges rose up, and erased the now inferior rimfires. Of course, the .22 series of rimfires make sense, since the available brass is too small to prime with an in-line centerfire primer. mcUZI |
| The only rimfires I'm aware of are the .22 long rifle family (short, long, long rifle), .22 Magnum, and the new .17 Hornady. The Long Rifle has the advantage of being very cheap, shoot all day for a couple bucks. Plus, in a rifle it's quiet enough to shoot without ear plugs. The other two, Magnum and Hornady, are actually about as pricy as some of the less expensive centerfire. These two are pretty loud. You don't want to shoot any of them in a pistol without hearing protection. |
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Just off the top of my head, I can think of a few advantages of the rimfire: Relatively inexpensive way to sharpen shooting skills. More than enough "firepower" for dispatching small varmints without "overkill". Farmers are more willing to allow you on their property to help lower the pest population. (vs high power centerfires) Ruger 10/22s are alot of fun to tinker with and customize. Accuracy (with-in their distance range is amazing) I'm a big fan of the .22WMR and have a few "Customized" rifles. Lot's of fun! |
You talking about certain advantages of the rimfire your familiar with, namely the .22LR. I think that evades the question of the mechanics/physics behind the rimfire/centerfire. You know: manufacturability, flame travel, reliability, cost, etc. |
| .22 LR may not be as loud as 150 decibels, but it'll damage your hearing just the same. The higher pitch of the report will destroy your high frequency hearing. That's the part that lets you distinguish a particular sound when surrounded by a lot of background noise (listening to someone in a crowd). I even wear hearing protection while in a rifle pit. |
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