The Evolution of The Popular .22 Rimfire
TODAY, ammunition is loaded all over the world and in some instances to the highest level of technical perfection.
The .22 rimfire started out as one of the most primitive of cartridges. Introduced in 1887, and loaded with a 40gn bullet and five grains of black powder, the .22 Long Rifle was the first entirely successful form of fixed metallic cartridge. However, another cartridge appeared in the 30 year interval between the introduction of the Short and the Long Rifle cartridges. The .22 Long came along in 1871 and featured a 29gn bullet propelled by a similar charge of five grains of black powder.
The loading companies have spent millions of dollars on its development - to make it shoot accurately and consistently, to keep it from leading the barrel, and to increase its velocity and flatten its trajectory.
The .22 is, at the same time, the most overrated and underrated of cartridges. On one hand people try to kill deer with it, although it is entirely unsuited for the job. On the other hand some reckless guy will take a crack at a crow on a limb without bothering his thick head about what is at the other end of the little bullet's trajectory path. Many assume that because the .22 has a mild report, it is far from dangerous. The guy who shoots at the
