#22

This week on The Rimfire Report I want to briefly touch on a subject that has been the subject of much debate. With .22 LR being a widely available, inexpensive and easy to manage cartridge, it is no surprise people have tried to use it beyond its intended scope. So what exactly is .22 LR capable of and what are the practical upper limits of the long-lived rimfire cartridge?

In yesterday’s article, we took a look at examples of two different methods of design, which I called “preference-driven” and “process-driven”. For these examples, I supposed two engineers from two different cultures – called “Romulan” and “Vulcan” after the aliens from the Star Trek universe.* In the “Romulan” example, we explored preference-driven design, where a final product is outlined by amalgamating preferred characteristics from previous works to create a desired whole. For the “Vulcan” example, we examined the more elaborate method of developing processes that can be fed data to procedurally generate characteristics as an example of process-driven design.

If you were designing the next small arms round, how would you do it? What methods would you use to determine its physical characteristics and performance attributes? How would you know what was too large or too small, too powerful or too weak? Perhaps more critically, how do different methods for answering these questions compare to one another? Could some methods be better or worse than others?

After almost half a decade, the long-standing drought of 22 Lone Rifle ammunition is finally behind us. Confirming this triumph is good old Wal Mart who announced internally that any and all restrictions on purchasing 22 ammo in bulk have been removed.  Up until about a year ago, 22LR was reasonably difficult to find in both bulk and inexpensively.

The North American Arms Revolver is a modern classic that never fails to put a smile on the face of both new and old shooters. This episode of TFB TV, Patrick takes his NAA (or North American Arms) revolver out to the range for some fun. Chambered in .22 long rifle and holds only 5 shots in its removable cylinder, the NAA single action revolver is a perfect range toy, but not the most optimal carry gun.

The ARES Hoplite blog has researched and reported on a growing trend within terrorist groups in Bangladesh using .22 LR cosmetically similar Kalashnikov blowback rifles to carry out violent attacks. This particular attack was carried out on the Holey Artisan Bakery on July 17 2016 and was the most violent terrorist operation to have taken place in Bangladesh so far. ARES has put forth research indicating that the rifles were locally made in Bangladesh, possibly with help from Pakistani gunmakers in Dharra Adam Khel, the notoriously famous home gun-making village in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Previously firearms in Dharra Adam Khel were very localized, most of the usage within Pakistan and Afghanistan. This example is one of the first to show the “weaponizing” of local gunmaking abilities. The fact that Pakistani gunmakers traveled to Bangladesh indicates a larger operation on the part of the terrorists there. I personally find this odd, as acquiring small arms on the local black markets would seem logistically much easier than resorting to producing them locally. The weapon is known locally as the AK-22. From ARES-

Within the United Kingdom, handguns are effectively banned, with the exception of Section 5 owners (armed security), Section 73 (Historically significant pieces), and Black Powder handguns. Thus, due to working around the obscure wording of the law, UK shooters have found a niche “Pistol Rifle” that actually fits within the parameters of both being a rifle in measurement, but for all intents and purposes a handgun in function. The result is essentially an ultra long barreled revolver or handgun, with a “stabilizing support”, designed to counter-act the weight of the longer barrel. The exact specification being that a rifle must have a minimum length of 24 inches, and a barrel length of 12 inches. It must also be noted that there isn’t any regulation against placing the stabilizer of the “Pistol-Rifle” to a shooters shoulders and firing it from that position. Unlike the regulations regarding the pistol stabilizing braces in the United States.

As we wrap up our SHOT Show coverage, we turn to a new company on the US market, but an old name in Australia: Lithgow. This Australian gun company dates back to the Lithgow Small Arms Factory, established before World War I and located in New South Wales. Today, Lithgow brands itself as a high tech manufacturer, advertising its military Atrax bullpup rifle as using a completely novel polymer in the construction of its barrel cradle, for example. Lithgow’s US arm themselves will not be importing the Atrax (that will be handled by Dasan), but rather a line of premium bolt action rifles that have been sold on the Australian civilian market for several years now.

If you are a fan of the World War II German MP40 submachine gun and want to have one of your very own, you are pretty much out of luck unless you are willing to shell out tens of thousands of dollars for a transferable original. However, it has been possible to buy “trainer” replicas in .22 long rifle, made by German Sport Guns (GSG), which for many was as close as they could come to owning an original “Schmeisser” machine pistol.

Brand new and enigmatically named  suppressor company “Q” had a booth at the SHOT Show 2017 Industry Day at the Range, where they showed off their first two suppressor offerings. The first – announced earlier this year – is the El Camino, a tubular .22 rimfire suppressor made from titanium, intended to provide better accuracy than previous rimfire suppressors available on the market, especially the AAC Element. The El Camino is already available for sale through SilencerShop, for less than $400.

While there is a plethora of videos showing how common centerfire ammunition is made, 22LR and similar rimfire ammunition has been kept relatively close to the chest. CCI had a video out a few years ago, but it disappeared from their official YouTube outlet and was not saved anywhere that I remember.

Birchwood Casey designs and manufactures some of the greatest steel targets – and targets in general – on the market. Whether you need something for your air rifle or are interested in some up-close-and-personal trigger time on steel plates with frangible ammo, they’ve got you covered. They recently expanded their line to include a couple new tree stands: Birchwood Casey Dueling Tree Targets.

What was the first military .22 caliber high velocity infantry rifle round ever developed? Many would name the 5.56mm round designed in the 1950s to that title, but that would be incorrect. In truth, it’s probably impossible to know for sure due to the large number of obscure and even totally forgotten experimental rounds in history, but a very interesting candidate for this title was a development of the United States Army in the last decade of the 19th Century, designed at Springfield Armory in late 1894. The round’s official name was “0.22 Inch Caliber Cartridge for Experimental Arm”, but it has subsequently been called the “.22 Krag”, or “.22 1895 Experimental” by the small circle of ammunition collectors aware of its existence.

Suppressors have grown in popularity lately, and for good reason. They protect hearing, create quieter shooting environments – which is a big pro for those near ranges who do not want to listen to gunshots – and make hunting better in more ways than one. When many shooters think of suppressors, though, they tend to think of larger-caliber rifles and pistols. However, there’s more to suppressed shooting than just cutting the report of a .308 to a reduced cough. Which brings us to the newest offering from Wilson Combat: the WCR-22 Rimfire Suppressor.

German Sport Guns, manufacturers of a huge variety of .22LR handguns and pistols has announced the production and importation of their new “FireFly” .22 LR handgun in partnership with American Tactical Imports (ATI). The new handgun should be familiar to those who know Sig Sauer designs, that is because it is the former Sig Sauer Mosquito handgun.