Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 22LR in 22 Mag cylinder

I am considering buying a Taurus 22 mag revolver. The local salesman says that you can shoot 22lr in the the 22mag cylinder wil no ill effects. Is this true?

I really want the 617 Smith, but guess I will settle for the 941 Taurus. I am really not a revolver guy, but I have gotten the wheel gun bug lately.

Shoot 22 lr in a 22 Mag revolver ???

I don't really know ... but I'll guess, that the answer is a big NO!

If that were true why would Ruger, Colt, Charter, etc include an additional cylinder with theirs? And don't get me started about sales guys...very few know any more than the average gun buyer...and normally less than the average hunter..

I agreed with P Weed

NO!!!

It will likely work, just not real well. Accuracy will be dreadful, and a lot of the cases will split. I discovered this by accident, but it was a valuable lesson.

Like Rufus said, No.

The .22 LR uses a heeled bullet, meaning, the bullet diameter is reduced at the shank for insertion into the case. The heel allows the bullet diameter to be the same as the outside case diameter - 0.224".

The .22 Mag uses a conventional bullet with no heel, so the outside case diameter is larger - 0.240".

Firing the smaller diameter .22 LR in a .22 Mag cylinder will cause the case to split with the resulting uncontrolled gas, and can also cause broken pieces of case to obstruct the bore. The next split case can really be a problem.

The salesman is either ignorant or lying through his teeth.

Jog is correct. The rim diameter of the LR is also smaller, so the firing pin may miss it entirely if the smaller case drops as far as possible in the chamber.

They are two entirely different cartridges and are NOT interchangeable.

Buy a set of Ace Dube's chamber adapters and you can easily/safely shoot 22 S/L/LR in a 22 Magnum! I've shot at least 2K 22LR cartridges through a variety of 22 Magnum revolvers and rifles without any issues. You need to load them 1 at a time in most rifles, as I've never had a rifle that would feed them, but that isn't an issue in a revolver.

www.mcace.com

Jeff

Roger that, they work great...

To put it simply, THE DUDE IS FULL OF CHIT!

+1! I bought a Single Six that was listed as a .22 LR.Well, it only had the .22 Mag cylinder in it, so I was really scatching my head on the first two or three shots.Then The light bulb came on.None of the brass split, but it sure looked funny, and there was no way to hit anything past 10 yards.

That is the lovely thing about the Ace Dube adapters, they support the smaller diameter 22 LR case such that it is centered in the chamber and when fired, it has a much better chance of entering the bore straight and centered. Firing a 22 S/L/LR in a 22 Magnum chamber without the Ace Dube adapters is a guarantee of poor results, since there is almost no way for the bullet to be close to being centered in the bore.

Jeff

My older brother told me he drilled out 22 magnum cases and used them for inserts for 22 long rifle ammo. He's dead and gone now, so I can't get any details.
Virgil B.

I didn't think it was a good idea. Thanks for all the replys. I will just keep looking for a 22lr in stock somewhere.

It's not a good idea. But taken in the context of the question, yes you "can" do it, but performance will be lousy. I don't believe it would damage a firearm to do it once or twice. While the cases are of different size, in the cylinder I accidently loaded (both were fluted and unmarked) all six fired and only two or 3 of them split. Still, not a good idea.

In a "survival" situation, if that's what I had to do, I'd do it. But I wouldn't head to the range to deliberately sent a box of LR down range in a mag cylinder.

Dan

Think again. With a 22 Magnum, you have a cartridge that is sufficient for killing most anything that you'd likely to be shooting with a rimfire handgun. With a set of Ace Dube adapters, you can shoot alot of less expensive 22 LR practice ammo. Sort of like shooting 38 Special target loads in a 357 Magnum revolver, except that you have to go to a bit more effort/expense to buy the adapters and a bit more time at the range to account for the extra manual effort required when using them.

Personally, I'd much rather have a 22 Magnum revolver and a set of Ace Dube adapters then I would a 22 LR revolver of equal value.

Jeff

260Rem

Your post: "Think again. With a 22 Magnum, you have a cartridge that is sufficient for killing most anything that you'd likely to be shooting with a rimfire handgun."

Wouldn't a .22lr be sufficient for killing most anything that you'd "likely" be shooting with a "rimfire" handgun?

When it comes to rifles vs handguns, the .22mag has some oooommph advantages for certain. But in a short barreled revolver, it gives a lot more blast, which is not necessarily more "bang" for the buck. The adaptor teal sounds interesting however.

Dan

I feel confident shooting deer with a 22 Magnum, but not with a 22 LR. I also find that CCI's 22 Magnum shot cartridges are more useful then the same in 22 LR. IIRC, I have read that a 22 Magnum fired from a 6" barrel is faster than a HV 22 LR fired from a rifle, but even if not, I know that 22 Magnum bullets are better killers on coyotes and I think that they would be better on deer, but I've never killed a deer with a 22 LR.

I have almost 3x as many firearms chambered in 22 LR (35), then I do firearms chambered in 22 Magnum (13), but I use/carry the 3 Marlin 982S', 3 Rossi 515s, 3 Savage 24s, and 1 Rossi 59 more than I do the other 38 combined. I wonder if a Paco Kelly "Acu'rzr and/or Nastinose" tool might make the 22 LRs more effective in Ace Dube's adapters.

Jeff

You have 48 .22 rimfires? How many .260s do you have? It appears, unless you can come up with a few more, your screen name might need rethinking.

Dan

Only 18, at this time, but I do have finish reamer and a few extra barrels kicking around, so I could make more if need should arise.

Jeff