Work as single loaded, fine.
Cycle the action? Maybe. Depends on the gun and the specific ammo.
Feed from the box magazine? maybe, a few, most often, not, again depends on the gun as much as anything.
Box magazines are notorious for not feeding well with rounds too short, or too long (and really too long won't even fit)
Winchester, and some others had tube magazine rifles that would feed short, longs, and Long rifles, interchangeably. Levers, pump, and even semi autos (though the semi was not listed as being able to use shorts).
Altering a box magazine to feed a shorter round is fairly simple when you're dealing with rimless cartridges, a spacer blocking off some of the magazine box length will usually be all that's needed.
Rimmed cases, such as the .22rf which need a box mag with a fairly steep slope in it, make the process much more complicated. rounds have to stack at a sloped angle to avoid rimlock, and this may put the shorter round out of position for the regular feed lips, requiring alteration that may, or may not be practical, or easily done.