Does the military use .22LR at all?

S

SC4006

New member
I was just curious if the US military uses the .22LR cartridge for anything, like possibly target practice? Its just such a popular cartridge I just wondered if it had any use by the military. If they do use it, what do they call it? What I mean by that is you know how they call say the 7.62x51 something like "7.62MM NATO M80", well what is the .22LR called in military terms?
 
I don't know if they still use it,,,

But at one time they did,,,
I have about 18,000 rounds of Military Surplus Remington .22 LR ammo.

Aarond

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I have heard that the military used .22 suppressed Ruger Mark II handguns in the past, but not sure if they still do.
 
When I was in the new York National Guard we had 22LR conversion units for the M-16s. Used them only 1x IIRC to allow the troops to qualify when for whatever reason we couldn't get to the range.
 
18,000 :eek: I wish I had that many .22 rounds lol. Interesting... a suppressed .22 would make sense I guess, for undercover operations.
 
Everybody just about answered my question, thanks. And ScottRiqui, that thread was exactly what I was looking for as far as what the military calls .22LR, pretty interesting.
 
Hello SC4006,,,

I wish I had that many .22 rounds lol.
Click to expand...

I hoard,,, eerrr,,, stock up on rimfire ammunition,,,
I never want another summer like the last election year.

Besides this mil-surp stuff I have another 11,000 rounds of Federal Bulk Pack,,,
As well as close to 5,000 rounds of CCI Mini-Mag.

I shoot a lot of rimfire and now that I have amassed a decent bench stock,,,
I replace it as I use it and have a healthy cushion squirreled away

I stumbled upon a real deal last year,,,
5,000 round foil sealed cases,,,
$50.00 per case.

The stuff is great for any of my bolt rifles or revolvers,,,
My semi-auto rifles and pistols don't like it much.

I dole it out sparingly to a couple of 4-H kids I know,,,
Good kids whose parents have no extra money.

I got it cheap enough,,,
And it keeps them out of the bars. ;)

It's this stuff at the bottom of the page.

Aarond

.
 
The only firearm I fired in boot camp (USN, Great Lakes, 1978) was a 1911 style .22lr pistol.
It wasn't until my first duty station (Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico) that I fired any centerfire arms. (M-14, M-1911)
 
Just recalled that one time when I was in the New Jersey National Guard the troops fired M1911s with 22 conveter units. I remember I supplied the ammunition out of my personal stock as none was officially available due to budget cutbacks.
 
Quote:From aarondhgarham
I hoard,,, eerrr,,, stock up on rimfire ammunition,,,
I never want another summer like the last election year

I stumbled upon a real deal last year,,,
5,000 round foil sealed cases,,,
$50.00 per case.

The stuff is great for any of my bolt rifles or revolvers,,,

I dole it out sparingly to a couple of 4-H kids I know,,,
Good kids whose parents have no extra money.

I got it cheap enough,,,
And it keeps them out of the bars.]"


Great Mentor & all around man aarondhgarham ; )
Y/D
 
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Been a while. Many "remote" reserve units qualify using 22 lr conversions. ROTC units generally have active rifle and Pistol teams using 22lr.

Suppressed 22 are to&e for infantry units. I do not know if they are still issued. We trained to use them on sentry take downs and prisoner snatches.
 
When Francis Gary Powers was shot down and captured by the Russians he was carryind a silenced High Standard 22 handgun. Over the years the US government has issued quite a few 22 handguns and rifles in training roles, especially during WWII. The government ordered from Remington, two batches of 22 long rifle ammunition loaded with full metal jacket bullets, to meet the requirements of the Hauge Convention.
 
Special forces probably use silenced 22lr for taking out guard dogs or lone patrols. Marksmen probably use it just to practice their shooting skills.

I know Israeli Defense Force uses it.
 
I'm enlisted in The National Guard as an E-4 11Bravo (infantry)MOS. So far to the best of my knowledge the .22LR is not in use at all. I am only speaking of my own experiences in the National Guard, NOT for all branches. We see a lot of range time being that we are line infantryman, however, it is always with our primary weapons systems and crew serves in their respective calibers. We do other supplemental training however never with .22s.
 
I don't know about now, I retired in 1992 from the Alaska National Guard.

I ran the AKNG marksmanship unit. We used tons of 22s, As mentioned we used the sub cal device for M16s using 22s.

Besides our state teams, I issued 10 H&R 22 target rifles and 4 Ruger 22 pistols to each BN and Separate company for unit marksmanship training. We also had a biathlon program.

In the 80s when the military was thinking about switching from 45s to 9mm they totally ran out of 45 ammo and were using 22s in just about all of their pistol training. One years (forgot the exact date) the guard fired 22s in all the pistol competition at the Wilson Matches (National Guard Championship)

I cheated, I used state funds to buy primers and powder, we cast thousands of bullets and reloaded to keep our pistol teams in 45 ammo.

Finely the Military got smart and bought 45 ammo from Israel.

I don't know what they use now, I know the idiot who took over the AK Marksmanship unit turned in most of the State's 22s (and most of the other equipment) when I left, he didn't want to be responsible for all the crap I spent years gathering.

22s are a valuable training tool, and I would like to hope the military still uses them.
 
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