bought 22 LONG rounds...dang it. Fire in pistol?

W

wild cat mccane

New member
Hi,

I have a P22. Today I grabbed a 100 pack of CCI 22 Long...not long rifle. Didn't even know a 22 long existed.

Will 22 Long work in the P22? Is it dangerous to use? For that matter, can 22 short be safely fired in a 22lr pistol?
 
Probably won't have enough power to cycle your pistol, assuming you mean a Walther P22 auto.

They might cycle by hand.

.22 shorts will not cycle the slide and probably won't feed by hand either.

Both rounds are safe, just likely not functional.
 
Where did you find .22 longs anyway lol? They won't hurt your P22 but they might not have enough pressure to cycle the gun.

Edit: Hammerhead beat me to it, take them back or worse case scenario your out 10 bucks or so. Hey, use this as an excuse to pick up a .22 revolver...:D
 
Today I grabbed a 100 pack of CCI 22 Long...not long rifle. Didn't even know a 22 long existed.
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Likewise. I didn't think anyone still made them. .22LR for almost everything, .22 short and .22cb cap for some oddball applications.

Wikipedia, that fond of all wisdom (YMMV) says otherwise:

The .22 Long is still produced as it survived the change over to smokeless powders. CCI currently loads a high-velocity .22 Long with a MV of 1215 fps and a ME of 95 ft. lbs.[2]
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Which makes me wonder, "why?". Is there some antique out there for which .22LR is not safe?

Midway lists 2 different .22 longs, both "remporarily unavailable". http://www.midwayusa.com/22-long/br?cid=10016

Will 22 Long work in the P22? Is it dangerous to use? For that matter, can 22 short be safely fired in a 22lr pistol?
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Try it and see. It's a lower power cartridge, so it may not cycle the action reliably.

I have shot .22 short in my Ruger Mark II. They shoot fine, but they do not cycle the action.
 
IIRC, .22 Long runs the same pressure as .22 LR, except the bullet is 29 grains instead of the 40 grain (standard) of the LR. I would expect the .22 Long to work most pistols, but there may be feeding problems due to the shorter overall length.

Jim
 
As stated by other responders, a .22 Long will not cycle your slide and it may hang up when hand cycled. Too, the rifling twist for Long Rifle bullets is not suited for .22 Longs due the the latter's shorter length. In my experience, and this is over 50 yrs ago, accuracy suffered when Longs were substituted for Long Rifle bullets. Summing up: they'll be safe to fire, but with reduced accuracy and will probably require that you hand cycle the slide. HTH's Rod
 
The money's not wasted.

It is most certainly NOT dangerous to use in your pistol. The worst that will happen is that it won't cycle the action, or won't cycle it reliably.

Worst case, you could shoot it and manually cycle the action.

If you have a .22LR revolver or a .22LR bolt rifle then use the ammo in that gun instead. Or, if you have a friend with one of those guns, sell/trade the ammo to your friend.
 
You shouldn't be out your $9. Sell them to someone with a .22LR revolver. If you were in east central KS, I would buy them from you. Someone near you will use those.

ETA: like JohnKSa said; a bolt rifle as well can shoot them.
 
They're not CCI CB .22 Longs, are they? CCI does (or did) make .22 Long CBs for manual use in semi auto rifles.
 
Back when I was a kid . . . some 50 plus years ago . . . back when you could buy a box of 22s at the local hardware for fifty cents . . . we always considered "22 Longs" as the "red headed step child. In our single shots, bolt actions and pumps, we either sued shorts for squirrels and rabbits and Long Rifle for bigger stuff like Red Fox.

OP - don't fee; bad. Back wjem the shortage was real bad a few years ago . . . I did the same thing you did. I ended up with two 100 count boxes of CCI "Longs". But, it didn't matter as that was all the store had on the shelf - heck, i didn't even know anybody still made 'em.

Try 'em out and if they don't cycle your handgun . . use them in a rifle or revolver. Like already mentioned, I will use them in my Henry or a revolver when I get the urge to use them.
 
Bedbugbilly is right; the .22 Long was not wanted by anyone and most of us never fired one.

But the .22 Long was older than the .22 LR, dating to 1871, where the LR was only introduced in 1887. But for some time, .22 LR was used only in single shot rifles and the bullets were not crimped, supposedly to increase accuracy. That, not higher pressure, was the reason S&W advised against use of the .22 LR in the Ladysmith revolver; the uncrimped bullets jumped from recoil and tied up the gun.

Jim
 
Bullcookies, I have a Winchester 1890 chambered in .22 LONG. I buy all I can when I see it. CCI makes it in limited runs. I like the .22 long, that old octagon barreled Winchester pump is fun to shoot.
 
Hmmm... if he's upset about a "wasted" $9, how's he gonna buy a revolvolater?
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Because he's afraid he WASTED the $9.00.

Obviously buying a revolver to shoot the ammo, would eliminate the "waste" and therefor can be justified. ;) :D
 
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