Pulling for the 22 short...

[KentuckyLevrgunr]

22 long rifle is still the cheapest ammo to buy but it's sure gone up a lot over the past few years. 22 short has been more expensive than 22 lr for as long as I can remember and I've always been under the impression that it's because of a lack of demand. Obviously, 22 short could never replace 22 lr, but if it were 30%-40% cheaper than than 22 lr, would you consider switching to 22 short for your plinking ammo?

[rjohns94]

sure I would. But I use my .20 cal pellet rifle for most of my plinking.

[Sixgun]

Not me. The .22 short is almost worthless after 50 yards. The lighter 29 grain bullet drops like a sack of potatos, more wind sensitive, and is generally less accurate. Life is too short to worry about saving $200 over a lifetime.-----------Sixgun

[Kansas Ed]

Not me. The .22 short is almost worthless after 50 yards. The lighter 29 grain bullet drops like a sack of potatos, more wind sensitive, and is generally less accurate. Life is too short to worry about saving $200 over a lifetime.-----------Sixgun

I don't use a .22 at more than 50 yards anyway. Personally I would prefer to use shorts in all my .22's. They are quieter, do less damage to squirrels and rabbits, birds and frogs, kill just as effectively, and are easier to just load the mag tube and have enough. Besides, the ricochet factor is quite a bit less.

Now if my .22 shooting was for snapping turtles, coyotes, foxes, skunks and those sized critters, I will step up to the hornet or 25-20 or 32-20 anyway, so no loss there. I keep several thousand rounds of shorts handy, and have several thousand LR's as well, but the shorts get more attention.

There are good shorts and bad shorts, Aguila makes a good one, Remington is not nearly as accurate, nor is Winchester. I really haven't made a determination on CCI shorts yet.

Ed

[Blaine]

When I was a kid, late fifties, early sixties, seems like we used a lot of shorts to plink. Cheaper and worked at 50 feet for bottle caps and such....

[Nixterdemus]

Love the short & the CB and both are more expensive than your bulk L. R.

I shoot CCI short hp. in a rifle and enjoy the CB in a wheelgun for quiet plinkin'.

http://www.cci-ammunition.com/products/ ... oadNo=0028

1050'ps is a fair clip for the little hp. 2.5X, 1" scope makes 'em a joy to shoot w/o disturbing folks in the area.

The CCI site will let you compare the three different short cartridges. I'd like to try some of the target for a wheelgun.

I have an old AC coil box that's 20-22 gauge. At 25 yards the lowly CB uncoated lead from my rifle will burn holes in it like a hot knife through butter.

Now, in a 4-5.5" wheelgun the same will only dimple a 24-26 gauge 1/2 piece of square duct at point blank range.

I'm shooting the short side of the 90 degree bend and it will absorb some of the energy by flexing backwards from the impact. The little CB bullet turns into a flat dollop laying within 6" of the metal.

I'm sure I could create a tear in the metal if I nailed a piece to a support and then shot. Still, the bottom of the barrel CB is quite frisky out of a long brl.

One hundred rounds is eight bucks. Waly-world has CBs, but I have to go to Academy for the short hp.
I've never seen the middle of the road target shorts on shelves.

[Nath]

The only short that impressed me was some winchester super X HV hollow points that were copper coated. They were good performers on rabbit and squirls and as said did not mess the meat up as much as a LR.

However finding a good performer around here is hard. If I see any they are usually solid and slow, more like a CB than anything else.

Nath.

[gamekeeper]

I used shorts in my "Erma" levergun, mostly on Rooks because it increased the mag capacity and the range was short.

[Sixgun]

After reading these posts, well, its a good thing everybody don't think like me because this country would be in a world of hurt. Yep, there are lots of uses for the 22 short and I never gave it much thought.

I do use those little cb caps on occasion but they are used solely for their lack of noise and...........in a Civil War .22 short S&W.

I really need to stop this "tunnel vision" ------------------------Sixgun

[Nixterdemus]

CCI has the bases covered on the shorts. I've researched them and used them quite a bit. I shoot from a Remington Speedmaster.

If you look at the muzzle energy on the CB you'll see it's the energy @ 100 yds on the target round.

The target rounds ME is the 100 yard energy of the short hollow point.

The short hp ME is roughly the LR energy @ 100 yds.

The short hp has a mid range trajectory of 3.9" over 100 yds. You probably would be well served if you sighted for 70-75 yds.

The standard 40 gn LR on has 102'lbs of ME

The short 27 gn hp has 75.

You can get higher numbers w/high velocity, low grain weight of different LR cartridges, but @ 25-50 yds the little hp is nothing but wicked & flat shooting w/much milder report.

They are over the speed of sound at the muzzle and they hurt unprotected ears from a wheelgun or semi-auto pistola that's made for the short round.

That's why I've meant to buy online the 22 target rnds as pistola fodder.

[76/444]

My very first hunting trips were with 22 shorts and long rifles. I was 9yrs old when I went to my Aunts farm in Barton Vermont for summer vacation ,.... a few time periods ago!

I was handed a Stevens 22 single shot bolt rifle and a pocket full of shorts for chipmunk hunting around the grain storage and long rifles for woodchucks and porcupine,... and turned lose on my own to learn what I could about stalking.

The Dairyman paid me .05 for chipmunks and .25 for woodchucks and .50 for porcupine. Back then, he could get his money back on the porcupine ears, since the state of Vermont had a bounty on them. That should date me!

Got a hunting story that still lives in my memory from back then, that seems like yesterday, but I am probably boring ya'll already.

[jdad]

The ammo isn't as expensive as those darn dedicated 22short rifles.

[Terry Murbach]

I LOVE 22SHORT AMMUNITION. I HAVE TWO PISTOLS CHAMBERED IN 22SHORT. I LIKED TO BUY THAT RUSSIAN 22SHORT INTERNATIONAL RAPID FIRE AMMUNITION IN CASES OF 7400 FOR THE STUPENDOUS FEE OF 99 BUX. I HAD TO CHANGE THE RECOIL SPRING IN THE ASTRA CUB TO A WOLFE GLOCK LIGHTWEIGHT TRIGGER RETURN SPRING AND IT WORKED PERFECTLY. THAT LITTLE PISTOL IS LASER ACCURATE, NO FOOLING ONE BIT !! IT'LL HIT TIN CANS OUT TO 50 YARDS ALL DAY LONG OR UNTIL YOUR EYESTRAIN FROM SEEING THOSE DINKY SIGHTS GIVE YOU A TERMINAL HEADACHE. THE COLT JUNIOR IS NOT SO MUCH SO BUT FUN NONETHELESS.
MY BEARCAT WILL PUT 22SHORT AND 22LR AMMO IN THE SAME HOLE AT 40 YARDS.
THERE IS NOT A DOUBT IN MY MIND THE 22SHORT CARTRIDGE IS THE FINEST PLINKING CARTRIDGE OF ALL TIME.

[J Miller]

22 long rifle is still the cheapest ammo to buy but it's sure gone up a lot over the past few years. 22 short has been more expensive than 22 lr for as long as I can remember and I've always been under the impression that it's because of a lack of demand. Obviously, 22 short could never replace 22 lr, but if it were 30%-40% cheaper than than 22 lr, would you consider switching to 22 short for your plinking ammo?

I was at looking at Midways paper add the other day and saw they were charging $4.00 per 50 for Remington .22 Shorts. I about choked on my drink. That is rediculous.

But to answer your question, probably not. There are a couple reasons;
>First, I have only one .22 Rifle and it no longer functions reliably with shorts. It used to, but something has worn and it jams with them now.
>Second, I hate cleaning the fouling out of the chambers. Same with all my .22s it's just a bit pain in the behind. I'd rather shoot longs or standard velocity LRs than clean out the fouling from the shorts.

JMHO

Joe

[Nixterdemus]

The Speedmaster will shoot s, l & LR although I would like to own a dedicated short semi-auto and a lever and a bolt.

Ain't borin' me. If you type the huntin' story I'll read it...

Ain't like I got a whole lot to do don'tcha know...

They say the optimum brl twist is 1 in 16 for the lr & 1 in 20-24, depending on who's talkin', for the short.

" ...RUSSIAN 22SHORT INTERNATIONAL RAPID FIRE AMMUNITION IN CASES OF 7400 FOR THE STUPENDOUS FEE OF 99 BUX."

Any of that still floatin' 'round? I'd love to buy some bulk short.

[76/444]

Would like to, its a good safety learning story about shorts, but don't want to intrude without OP's permission.

[dbateman]

yes i would use more shorts if thay were cheeper my 9422 loves the winchester shorts

[pokey]

Would like to, its a good safety learning story about shorts, but don't want to intrude without OP's permission.

start a new thread, we like stories.

[Cliff]

When Shutzen style shooting was the vouge a lot of match shooters used nothing but 22 shorts. Range was usually 100 yard. The SingleShot Assoc. Journal had a story of a grudge match between two shooters around the turn of 19&20 Century at a match. They agreed to settle it by having a shoot off using their match rifles with 22Shorts at 200 yards. Would have loved to seen that match.

[76/444]

Would like to, its a good safety learning story about shorts, but don't want to intrude without OP's permission.

start a new thread, we like stories.

Not a GREAT story, just a learning one. Probably just gonna turn out anti-climatic now, so I better not.

[Nath]

" ...RUSSIAN 22SHORT INTERNATIONAL RAPID FIRE AMMUNITION IN CASES OF 7400 FOR THE STUPENDOUS FEE OF 99 BUX."

I bought some cheap Russian shorts when I owned a Rem pump and fooling around shooting from the hip a bullet got lodged in the barrel and the following one ringed the barrel

Did not matter none, the thing shot better after that!

Nath.

[KentuckyLevrgunr]

The vast majority of my 22 rimfire shooting is at soup cans at 20-40 yards so I'd have no problem switching. The only issue I'd have is that my Ruger Standard Model and Taurus 63 won't cycle em', but the rest of my 22s will no problem (Marlin 25, CZ 452, Remington 552 and 572, Ruger Single Six). And I don't care about the Taurus not cycling them that much because it's had a broken firing pin for a couple years now, I'm just too 'ornery to send it in.

Also, 22 shorts are just kinda cool.

[Rusty]

Well Kentuck you should really send it in, they'll fix it for free ya know.

[Hobie]

We used to shoot shorts a lot back when they were cheaper (and by quite a bit as I remember it).

[Nixterdemus]

"shoot off using their match rifles with 22Shorts at 200 yards."

Dang, whatcha figure the drop was @ 200?

[L_Kilkenny]

30-40% cheaper than LRs? That would be tempting wouldn't it? But considering my .22LR shooting leans towards MiniMags and Velocitors I'd most likely not make the switch. We used .22CB a lot while coon hunting over dogs due to noise considerations. To tell the truth, with a well place HEAD SHOT I never noticed any appreciable difference in the killing power of those compared to .22LRs up to and including Stingers.

I do know that shooting mice over bait at 15 yards with em is great fun though!

As for the .22LR destroying more meat..........not if you know how to shoot!

LK

[Ysabel Kid]

If .22 Shorts were less expensive than .22 LR I would probably use them 50% of the time for plinking. Some of my .22's, like the Mark II, Buckmark, and my 10/22's won't digest them, so I would still need .22 LR fodder...

[AJMD429]

Life is too short to worry about saving $200 over a lifetime.-----------Sixgun

Wow, at "30%" price difference, and with four kids who shoot, plus guests, the $200 savings might only be over a year around our place...

What about the ".22 LONG" - wasn't that the .22 short load in a longer case, so it didn't muck up the front of the chamber...?