Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires .22 shorts

I'm thinking we need to band together send a message to the gun makers. Something like "Hey, what are you, stupid?" We get repetitious presentations of largely equivalent cartridges these days, SAUM/RUM/DUMB etc., each seeking to up the ante a few FPS, maybe with a BC that's .004 better than yesterday. Bletch! How about trying to remember, it weren't broke and it supported future generations for over 100 years. It needs no tweaking and it likely more useful than a Barrett .50 to the average person..... Little Johnny needs a gun.

I'm thinking drum fed Ruger 10/22 chambered for .22 short. Could clean up all the rats at the city dump in half an hour.

Yep. Buzzards and crows think it's a grand idea!

Had a flashback re Rem 572. Dang thing held half a box of shorts, maybe a few more. Doesn't even need a detachable mag.

Liberals are having migraines.

im kinda partial to the standard velocity .22 lr myself ... (boo! hiss!)

Yep, Winder Musket is correct. Made as a training rifle of sorts for the Army. No, I probably am not worthy.

From Wikipedia:
"The Winder musket was the brainchild of Colonel C. B. Winder, who advocated marksmanship training with a rifle of similar size and weight to a service rifle but chambered in .22 rimfire, which was both economical and suitable for indoor ranges. The Winder musket was based on the Winchester Model 1885 single-shot rifle.

Although it was never officially referred to as the Winder musket, the weapon was informally named in honor of Colonel C. B. Winder and has since generally been referred to as the Winder musket.

Winder muskets were used for target and training purposes well into the early twentieth century. Many were purchased by the United States Ordnance, and many were issued to American N.R.A. affiliated rifle clubs. The Winder musket was superseded by the 1922 Model bolt-action training rifle, and remaining Winder muskets were sold."

Mine has the U.S. Ordinance "flaming bomb" stamp.


Hell on squirrels too.

Don't be hard on yourself Boo HIss, the LR has a place in our universe too. What you been shootin' with the LR that you haven't with the short? (That's a loaded question BTW)

Thanks Mitch, that's a nice squill you got there. Haven't seen any of the red fox version for a long time.

Yep, he was a bigun but no match for a .22 short to the noggin

I use it mainly to practice for Buff huntin'. (still need practice)

I have one of those & found you get powder burns on your trigger finger because it's so close the the front of the cylinder. I still like the proportions of the 22 Short version over all the others.

I've been looking for 22 Short only guns for years but am mainly interested in vintage repeaters, and pumps more than others. I have had a Winchester Model 1890 for years, still haven't go a Winchester 1873, early Model 1906 or Model 61 in 22 Short - not as affordable as the 1890.

Here's a list of my 22 Short chambered guns -

Atlas single shot - '22 SHORT BLACKPOWDER ONLY' (not a very robust deign!)
Bayard Model 1912 - single shot semi-auto, it automatically ejects and the bolt holds open, you put in the next round and press a button to chamber it.
Febiger No 1 semi-auto, these never functioned well
Batavia Automatic Rifle semi-auto, made using modified Febiger parts, functioned better
Nitro-Hunter (house brand version of the Batavia)
unmarked pump only version of the Batavia semi-auto, again using modified parts from the Febiger's
Hamilton Model 39 pump
Marlin Model 25 - 22 Short & C B Caps
Marlin Model 25-S - 22 Short & C B Caps
Remington Model 12B (with optional full length magazine tube, 25 round)
Remington Model 24
Savage 1903
Savage 1911, only available in 22 Short
Savage 1914
Savage 1919 NRA first version
Savage 1919 NRA 1923 version
Savage Model 602 (22 Short version of the Model 6 semi-auto)
Stevens Gallery 80
Stevens Model 70½ Visible Loader
Winchester 1890

Thanks Gene. I am humbled.

Do you have a license to have that much fun ?

That’s a very cool and rare little rifle. Color me envious 🤠

I had the same experience with mine. I’ve got long fingers and want to keep em that way. So mine went down the road. 🤠

A slight problem is that many of these early guns should be shot with standard velocity 22 short or lighter. The Winchester 1890 certainly can handle any 22 Short load and probably the Remington's and Savages'. The semi-auto's are a problem, some didn't function reliably to begin with, CB's seldom cycle and standard velocity 22 Shorts are getting hard to find, I just got a brick of CCI and as far as I know they might be the last to make it. I'm afraid Hi-Speed loads would put to much strain on the actions and you can't find many parts for some of these.

I posted pictures of some of these a few years ago but used photobucket and I see they are playing games again, the pictures show but are blurred to the point they are not usable. Here's the link but the pictures display is very bad - 22_puzzler

I forgot about the Savage Model 1911, 22 Short only, 20 shot bolt action and a Remington Model 24.

Beretta Minx

Gene, take a look here: https://ammoseek.com/ammo/22-short

Dan, in that whole list there are only 6 listings that include the word 'Standard' and none are 'standard velocity', all are Aguila "Standard High Velocity", 1095 FPS - 22-short-29 ; and the one that just says standard is actually 22 Short Super Extra High Veloicity and has the same UPC code as the others - aguila-standard-22-short-29gr

Up until a couple years ago when they changed the rule that you could only use 22 Short for some pistol competitions there were a few making it, CCI 22 Short Target is the last I could find - target-short-ammo-29gr 830 FPS and "Designed to cycle IRF-class firearms".

I still find some older boxes for sale occasionally at gunshows, it's hard to find it for under $5/50 though.

I hear ya, just tossing it on the fire. I have been using CCI CB shorts and Target exclusively for the last 20 years, mostly the CBs since the Target stuff is fairly new on the market. In my Contender they are the same, both from a precision and velocity perspective...the HV ammo and I use the term loosely serves OK for odd application, but I'm not trying to feed old horses.

im afraid to answer!

Heck, it's only loaded with shorts.

They don't hurt much I've heard.

I copied most of the pictures I had on photobucket over to the photo gallery here - Rifles chambered in 22 SHORT