Why I Don't Shoot 22lr Through 22wmr

First off, I really wish H&R made a 22lr barrel for their Handi Rifle SB2 platform. That would make my day. I guess it is the offset pin on the rimfire (22lr, 22wmr, 17hmr) that requires those be run on their SS1 frame.

The 3rd H&R rifle I picked up was a 22wmr. I really bought it as a way to get my hands on a laminate stock set. I intended to turn around and sell the barrel and receiver locally. And then I took it shooting… My dad and brothers were in town from Texas, and that morning I decided to sight in the 22wmr while we were all at the range. Shooting paper targets and then dropped clays at 100 yards, I fell in love with that rifle/caliber combo. It was pinpoint accurate with almost no recoil at all. The problem though, is I don’t keep guns that don’t serve a purpose for me. I have a 30/30 that is my mid-range rifle, a .22lr for small game, a 20ga for small game and clays, and then handguns for CC and home defense. As best as I could tell, 22wmr is too much for squirrel and too little for deer. It is pretty well regarded for bobcat, groundhog, beaver, and coyote, but I am yet to go after any of those.

Then one day, I thought I bet that just as you can shoot a .38 round through a .357 revolver, I could shoot a .22lr through a .22wmr rifle. Not the other way around because of case length, but I bet that would work! That night, I pulled out the rifle, popped in a 22lr, and sure it enough, it seemed to be a perfect fit.

The next morning, with the idea still in my mind, I started doing a bit of research. Come to find out, the 22lr IS NOT the identical, only shorter, version of the 22wmr as it seems to be when you eyeball it. It close, but there are some measurement differences that keep this from being the easy caliber exchange that .38/.357 is. The bullet, case, and rim are all different, but it is the case neck that is the real potential problem here. The case neck on a 22lr is .226″. The case neck on a wmr is .242″. Not the same. Close enough that it doesn’t feel loose in the chamber, but significant enough that the casing can rupture when the gases inside a fired round expand and the brass casing lacks the supports of a tight fitting chamber.

So what does this mean? In a large caliber rifle, this could cause a catastrophic failure, A rupture casing causes the energy to be expended in all directions, rather than down the bore of the rifle as intended. That misdirected energy can be sufficient to crack the receiver and destroy the gun. It can also be dangerous to the shooter. On the small scale of a 22lr, I am really, really doubtful that that is a concern, especially in a sturdy receiver like the Handi Rifle’s. But think about this – any loss of bore-directed energy means the bullet itself has less umph behind it. It’s moving slower and decelerating quicker. My bigger concern is that the 22lr bullet won’t have enough energy behind it to exit the barrel, and the bullet itself with obstruct the bore just like a squib load. Anything stuck in the bore is bad stuff, especially if you fail to notice and then shoot again.

So then, I’m hanging on to that 22wmr barrel, useful or not, and am really left with no choice other than to pick up yet another barrel for the Handi SS1- a 22lr this time. I guess I just need to take up predator hunting and give it a purpose!