Differences in the 22 Rifles that can fire S, L, LR

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deerslayer303

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What is the differences on the 22 Rifles that can fire all 3 rounds? For instance can a bolt gun like my MKII fire the shorts and longs? I'm just curious. I've had a few semi autos that could fire all three. But never really knew why it could.
 
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A bolt gun shouldn't have any problem shooting all three.

The only thing to think of is if you shoot a ton of shorts then jamming a LR in there it might not eject so easy before cleaning. Similar to firing 38's in a 357.
 
Generally most manually operated guns work with all 3. There are exceptions I know. Semi-autos generally won't reliably feed and eject all of them.
 
They should all fire any of the shorts, CB, etc whatever. However many rifles may not feed them reliably. You can hand feed them. Shooting lots of shorts will build up fouling you will have to clean before going back to LR ammo. With a few exceptions I don't see shorts as being useful (or available) enough to be worth messing with.
 
For a tube magazine rifle, the feed system is a bit different. On many guns, the system that limits how many rounds can come out of the tube at one time depends on the cartridge length, and substantially shorter cartridges will come in multiples. With guns made to fire the different lengths, the cutoff is not related to cartridge length, but timing. It then cuts off cartridges one at a time, irregardless of length.
Then, it's just a matter of bolt weight and spring to allow full travel with the different power levels. Some guns used a floating chamber, but not a lot, as it's more expensive to manufacture. A floating chamber is a short length chamber that just sits in the breech end of the barrel. It has a very small gap between the end and the barrel inside where the chamber is. A short cartridge fired in has the end of the shell casing right at this gap. Games from firing go out into the gap, and the whole thing moves rearward just a small amount, dramatically increasing the rearward thrust on the bolt to make up for a weaker cartridge. The longer cartridges have the end of the case past this gap, so it does not come into play.
It had problems though. One, it was more expensive and complicated to manufacture. Another was that it slowly got fouled up, and would no longer move as it should, defeating the design. They generally weren't easy to access for cleaning, compounding this problem.
 
I have a friend that uses CCI cb caps to dispatch unwanted small animals from his yard. Reason why it sounds about as loud as a bb gun and doesn't scare the neighbors.
 
Dispatching problem skunks was the one use I ever found for CB caps and they worked beautifully for that purpose.
 
Shoot-Yes; Feed-Perhaps not ??

A bolt gun shouldn't have any problem shooting all three.
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This is true and most of the time the problem, is in the feed system, such as the magazine. Most magazines are designed to work with LR's but I have seen some that had a feature where you could shoot, the rest. If you read the barrel on single-shot rifles, it will likely list all lengths. When you have a barrel that does not list all three, it's because as a unit, it won't operate. but it will shoot all three. .... :)

Then you run into some semi-auto that reads something like, Shots-Long and Long rifles, in auto. They operate semi-auto for LR's and Bolt action for all others. .... ;)

Be Safe !!!
 
My two Winchester rim fires (190 and 290) will eat .22 S, L, LR just fine. I haven't seen any other Semi Auto's shoot all three as well as they do and they are cheap.
 
My Henry lever action is stamped to shoot all three but my 10/22's and my Norinco JW-15 is stamped for 22 LR. With this being said the Norinco may not shoot shorts is how the round would feed out of the magazine. Now my 22 revolver will shoot all three where my semi's probably would not again due to feeding problems and not enough energy to operate the bolt.
 
A few general rules

  • Bolt/Lever/Pump are most likely to work with all three lengths.
  • Semi-auto is least likely to work with all three lengths [unless fed as a single-shot].
  • Detachable magazine-fed rifles don't 'tend' to work with all three calibers, unless as a single-shot.
  • Tube-fed magazines 'may' work with all three calibers.


For a variety of reasons, I am a 'tube-fed' type of guy for my .22 rifles.

Living in California, I get more than 10 rounds legally, for example.

Only 1 of my tube-fed .22 rifles is finicky, demanding .22long rifle: my Marlin Model 60.

That said, some tube-fed .22 rifles can shoot all three calibers, all at the same time, and others require a full tube of short, or of long, or of LR.

I think the post by Gunfixr gives the best explanation of how that might be: the method of cut-off/timing.


In modern production guns, there is only 1 semi-auto I know of that is supposed to shoot all three lengths, and [supposedly] interchangeably: the Remington Speedmaster 552. It is still in production as the 552BDL.

I have the 552A [from the 1960s] and have fired Long and Long Rifle from it. I don't have the short rounds to try. And I have not tried staggering the tube mag with Long/LR/Long/LR, etc. However, it worked just fine with Long or Long Rifle.

My Model 60 won't.
 
My semi 550-1 does the trio as fast as you can fill the magazine. I have other 22's that are somewhat more selective though.
 
The Remington 550-1 has a floating chamber. You can mix them in the tube, it will run without a hitch. It will still run pretty good even after the floating chamber gets fouled to the point it's not really moving anymore.
Whether or not it's a semiautomatic or bolt rifle, if it's tube fed, the feed system is pretty much the same.
What changes is when the tube is in the stock instead of under the barrel.
But still, the cartridge cutoff is based on timing instead of cartridge length.
Some guns are that way anyways, and may not say all three lengths on the barrel, but may work with all three because of how the cutoff works.
 
My two Winchester rim fires (190 and 290) will eat .22 S, L, LR just fine. I haven't seen any other Semi Auto's shoot all three as well as they do and they are cheap.
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The Mossbergs will. At least the 352 will. Not sure about the 151M, though I think it says so on it.
It was one of the reasons I liked the 352. I've fired them all out of it.
 
All .22LR will fire all three, if you single load them into the chamber. Repeaters with box magazines usually will only handle one length round, short or long, depending on which they are made for. You might get longs to feed ok in a long rifle gun, but that could be an individual quirk.

Tube magazine .22s often handle all three, and some will handle all three mixed together.
 
Rossi 62 sac eats em all.

I recently picked up a really fun to shoot Rossi pump carbine. Little fella is a tack driver with surprising accuracy from the 16.5" barrel. I thought it was a ten shot, until I realized I'd just loaded a dozen LR in the tube. Then went for 14 shorts. It simply gobbled em up and happily spit em down range. Even handled a random mix. If you come across one of these little "gallery guns", do yourself a favor and take it home. So far any .22 I could scrounge up has worked a charm. Now if I could just buy some .22 in qty. and within reason. No worries though, I've been sitting on a fair stash for quite some time. I'm actually not sure how many thousands (10+?) I've got stashed. The single shot bolt rifle really never consumed an appreciable amount. Of course, it too would happily spit whatever you fed it down range.
 
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