Can I shoot 22 short in a 22 LR chamber?

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In general, yes. With semi-auto's, you may or may not get the action to cycle reliably with the odds going against it if the semi is set up specifically for long rifle. With revolvers and bolt actions, you'll probably never have a problem.
 
Yes, you can. The gun may not feed them from the magazine, especially with an autoloader. In a revolver or bolt action single shot they are A-ok. Watch-Six
 
I'd have been lost if not - - -

My Dad gave me a Remington 512 when I was about 11, I think. Marked ".22 S, L, & LR" right on the chamber. With it came two boxes of Remington .22 Shorts. Only stipulation was that I had to buy my own ammo, and, for a time, shoot and hunt only with Dad present. He had a Stevens-Springfield Model 87 which only used LR, and he would sometimes give me a few of his cartridges to shoot. Man, it was like shooting a magnum! Of course, I kept a box of LR HP for rabbit hunting, but the shorts were fine for plinking cans and lizards at the dump.

Some will tell you that "excessive" use of shorts in an LR chamber will cause throat errosion. May be true, but it is not so bad as shooting hot .38 Spls in a .357 mag chamber, and we ALL do that.:p Seriously, though--the bigger problem is that a build-up of lead at front of the chamber may make chambering LRs difficult. Ought to throughly clean with solvent and a brush if you've been shooting a lot of shorts.

Have fun! I certainly did.

Best,
Johnny
 
The throat errosion Johnny is talking about is the result of the unobstructed 'jump' the bullet encounters, within the distance between the cartridge and the chamber's shoulder.

While looking into the breech end of the barrel, you will notice where the chamber ends and the rifling begins. With a standard long-rifle cartride, the bullet sits at, or near, engagement of the rifling, and begins rotation the instant the cartridge begins it's detonation. With a short round, the bullet is sent at full speed into the shoulder of the chamber, producing wear after prolonged practice.

In theory, this 'ledge' encounter will cause minor destabilization and deformation of the non-jacketed bullet, thus reducing accuracy. Although not directly related, a similar result occurs when firing .38 Spc loads in a .357 Mag chambered revolver. But in this case, it is because of the longer travel within the over-bore cylinder chamber. The bullet has a longer distance to become 'off-yaw'. Here, the forcing cone of the revolver's barrel can be compared the the shoulder of the .22 long-rifle chamber.

In both cases, it's the extended 'free travel' that's the diminishing accuracy factor.

All that said, I have fired a couple hundred 'short' rounds through my Stevens Favorite which reads, ".22 Long Rifle Only", on the barrel. I have not noticed any reduction in accuracy or excessive shoulder wear.

Good Luck
 
Throat erosion is not a problem with modern cartridges in .22.
Shooting shorts in a LR chamber will leave a build up in the chamber that causes the LR round to hang up. Simply cleaning the chamber well will alleviate this.
 
My older brother had a J.C. Higgins Model 30 (had a pull-out strap), that shot shorts, longs and long rifle cartridges. It was a tube fed, autoloader. We seldom shot anything other than shorts in it inasmuch as shorts were the cheapest. It burned-up when the mobile home I was living in at the time caught fire.
 
The throat errosion Johnny is talking about is the result of the unobstructed 'jump' the bullet encounters, within the distance between the cartridge and the chamber's shoulder.
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Neat idea, except there is no "shoulder" in a 22LR chamber, the bullets are the same diameter as the case. Look at a reamer: no "shoulder". Nope, none. What causes the loss of accuracy is that the bullet goes wherever it wants to becasue it is not in the rifleing for a short distance, and the bullet gets misaligned with the bore.
 
Yes, .22 Short can fire thruogh a .22 LR, Long chamber, enough will lead to a carbon ring forming THAT may hang a long er case from seating in the chamber.

Take a pipe cleaner , dipped in solvent and swab the chamber, is the simple way to avoid.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
Throat erosion is not a problem with modern cartridges in .22.
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Rimfire match barrels erode near twice as much today compared to the 1970's and earlier. Used to last 50 to 60 thousand rounds before the dark throat erosion starting at 6 o'clock worked its way to 3 and 9 o'clock. Nowadays 30 thousand rounds is normal.

Ammo today ain't as accurate either.
 
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My brother bought a Remington 514 that he passed down to me. It had a rotating safety at the rear of the bolt. I bought LOTS of Sears .22 Shorts and fired them in it. After over 3,000 rounds, long rifle shells wouldn't extract from the chamber, which I found was belled ahead of the Shorts case length.

I had a blacksmith in town mount a Weaver 4X scope on it and it proved quite accurate.

The steel on that very cheap single-shot was very soft and though it shot quite accurately with a scope on it, I traded it for a repeater when I earned enough money to do so.

JP
 
I just bought a 5000 assorted shorts. I got Wins, Rems and CCI in bricks. I haven’t shot a short for years. I’ve got several rifles that will shoot them. I’ve got a 61 Win that loves them.
I haven’t bought them since they cost more than LRs. Use to buy them as a kid because they cost 1/2 as much as LR-HV. I only bought these because they were a steal. Cheap ammo for kids to plink up. Best squirrel and Bull frog ammo you can get,
 
"I bought LOTS of Sears .22 Shorts and fired them in it. After over 3,000 rounds, long rifle shells wouldn't extract from the chamber, which I found was belled ahead of the Shorts case length. "

If the chamber was "belled," it wouldn't affect extraction. As I said, shooting shorts can cause a buildup in the chamber. Sometimes it can be difficult to remove.
 
If the chamber was "belled," it wouldn't affect extraction.
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If the chamber is "belled, ringed. or jugged" meaning the steel has been eroded just in front of the shorter case mouth, it definitely CAN affect the extraction of the longer case after firing. And how much, depends on how deep the "pits, or ring of eroded material is.

If deep enough, the longer case will swell into them on firing, and brass spring back might not be enough to overcome the "locking lugs" formed on the case.

The same effect for an opposite reason can happen if you fire longer cases in a heavily crudded up chamber, (assuming you can get them to chamber).
 
I guess you're correct about that. The point of my comment is that chamber erosion to that point is exceedingly rare. It's usually just crud build up in the chamber.
 
I've done "lots and lots" of renovations involving Remington Model 12 slide action rifles. Many of these rifles were called, and used as, "gallery guns" at local county and state fairs back in the day when "live-fire shooting" was much more acceptable than what's going on these days.
ALL, of the ammunition used in these gallery rifles was .22 Short ammunition, which was intentional by those who ran the gallery. To be anywhere near accurate enough, .22 Shorts should be shot from a rifle involving 1:20 rifle twist rather than the 1:16 those pump rifles were made with.
I've inspected bores, and chambers, in these rifles with a borescope, no other way of doing that properly otherwise, unless the barrel is slit lengthwise for inspection. While there was indeed a "carbon ring" build up where the .22 Short bullet left the cartridge case, it could only go so far, and I never found enough erosion that pitted the chamber.
 
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