.22LR in antique Remington #4 Rolling Block?

F

ffs1942

New member
I just bought a beautiful, refinished Remington #4, with a takedown lever. It says its chambered for .22S and .22L, NOT .22LR. .22LR likely didn't exist when this rifle was made. I have been shooting .22S on my indoor airgun range and its a dream. Its shooting 3/4" grps at 10m off a bench rest. It could likely do better with more ammo selection, better eyes on the shooter or if I wasn't recovering from a broken arm. I'm totally fine with using .22S in this gun fulltime, but might like to use other .22 if shorts aren't around.

Can it safely fire .22LR? The seller says it might stress the takedown pin. It appears it will chamber LR. I should note that when I switched from Aquilla .22S to CCI .22L, the .22L would never extract. It would stick and have to be pried out. BTW, my Ithaca 49 had the same problem with the CCI .22L. My Ithaca otherwise has no problem with .22LR.

BTW, both these rifles seem to favor .22S for function and accuracy.

TIA

Brian
 
I would not try it...

but recalling that the .22L is the .22LR case loaded with the .22S bullet, it MAY be doable. But if the original chamberings do not state the >22LR, then NO!

One reason maybe the #4 was at the transition from Blackpowder to Smokeless, is a concern.

Who did the restoration?
 
The reason the long cases were sticking is that .22 short is very bad about leaving residue/wax in the chambers. It must be cleaned out before using longer cartridges.
The twist rate for short/long is different than for long rifle, so accuracy would probably suffer. I would not use LR in the gun.
 
"The reason the long cases were sticking is that .22 short is very bad about leaving residue/wax in the chambers. It must be cleaned out before using longer cartridges."

That's only partly correct. Many of those chambers were also corroded by priming material trapped under that residue. I've had several Stevens .22 single shots and still have a Krak Shot (that's how they spelled it) that the only way you extract a long or long rifle fired shell is with a ramrod. I did have a Remington #4 that was all original with a perfect chamber. My ex-wife gave it away along with my Colt SAA .45 Colt while I was overseas. One of the reasons she's the EX.
I think you might want to check that chamber with a thin hooked wire in the same manner one checks rifle cases for the ring that tells incipient case head separation is starting to occur. If the wire hooks, that portion of the chamber is most likely corroded. My #4 was chambered to the long rifle shell and handled even the high velocity rounds without a problem. They're really nice little rifles. Wish I still had mine.
Paul B.
 
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