Odd calibur

I

imountain

Inactive
My son was given an old revolver, circa early 1900's. Thought it was a 22 but the 22 rounds are slightly too large to fit the chamber. Does anybody know what this caliber would be?
 
I can't help you directly, but posting some pictures of the gun will help those that can greatly. At the very least a bit more description.
 
What type of .22 cartridges were you trying to load it with and were the cartridges too long, too wide, or both. While .22 Long Rifle is about the most popular .22 Rimfire today, .22 Long and .22 Short were both popular cartridges in the past and guns made specifically for them are not particularly uncommon. If your son's revolver is chambered for .22 Long or .22 Short, then .22 Long Rifle cartridge will probably be too long to fit in the cylinder.
 
If the revolver is a very small framed S&W, it could be one of the original Ladysmith .22 revolvers. These were chambered for the now-obsolete black-powder .22 S&W (long) cartridge.

Warning: Never use any modern .22 ammunition in these guns! These guns will not stand up to the modern ammo.
Besides, they're much too valuable.

LadySmithMFrame1.jpg

Example of the .22 Ladysmith

Key ID points are the small frame (smaller than a 5-shot .38), 4-sideplate screws with the top screw larger than the others, the "hump" on the topstrap near the hammer, a 7-shot cylinder measuring .975" long and a larger diameter knurled knob on the ejector rod. First models had a round cylinder release on the left side of the frame. Later models did not have this feature, the gun was opened by pulling on the knurled ejector knob.

If your gun is not a S&W Ladysmith, it may also be chambered for an early black-powder .22 Long cartridge. In that case, warnings about modern smokeless ammo still apply.
 
If it's Belgian, it may also be chambered for 6mm Flobert, a cartridge that is no longer made; we'd need to see pictures to figure out what you've got.
 
Several possibilities:
5mm Velo Dog
5.5mm Velo Dog
As stated above, we would need more info to be more helpful. Make, model, where the gun was manufactured, etc. Pictures help, too.
 
It would really help to know in what way the .22 cartridges " too large ". Too long?, too fat? If too long then it is probably a 22 short, to large in diameter, ( too fat ) then as Scorch posted, probably a 5.5 Velor Dog.
 
Mike, I do believe you are right, imountain posted just enought to pique everyone's curiosity and is then gone into the fog of night.:D
 
A .22 round is more that slightly too big when compared to a Kolibri round.

Then there's the issue that, as far as I know, the Kolibri rounds were chambered in semi-autos. They were rimless.
 
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