Rimfire verses center fire

[Richard]

In another part of the forum, someone said (and pardon my quoting him here, it's just for illustration) Talking about shooting a groundhog or something. Matters not what is being shot.

Shooting them with a .22 cal centerfire hollow point is the best way to take them out. You can use a .22 rimfire but that will rarely put them down before they get back to their holeShooting them with a .22 cal centerfire hollow point is the best way to take them out. You can use a .22 rimfire but that will rarely put them down before they get back to their hole

What confuses me here (not being a gun owner), I would have told you that a .22 cal is a .22 cal (presuming both a long let's say) and as such, they'd BOTH have same killing power.

What is different about a rimfire verses centerfire that makes the PERFORMANCE of the shell any different? Note, I did not say better, in case this topic riles people up.

I always thought the only difference was the firing pin hit in the center of the shell verses hitting the rim of the shell. I do not see how that can create such a disparity of performance to create the above comment.

Anyone enlighten me on center verses rim?

Can't you get a hollowpoint in BOTH formats?

 

[Dozernut]

Difference in velocity of the rounds, more energy to the target from a faster round. Throw a ball bearing by hand then use a slingshot. Which do you think would do more damage?

 

[MossRoad]

The centerfire has a lot more powder behind it, so it goes faster with more force.

Good analogy about the ball bearing with hand throwing VS slingshot.

 

[Richard]

You guys don't get how dumb I am.

Here's my logic...(though perhaps flawed and that's why I'm asking)

a .22 cal bullet is a .22 cal bullet.

You can put the bullet behind a "short" shell or a "long" shell.

If you put them both behind a "long" shell, you can then get a center fire or a rim fire.

The shell is going to hold the same charge since they're both "longs", so the only difference here is where the firing pin strikes the primer.

If that is accurate, then how does that change a hand thrown into a slingshot thrown? Isn't it merely changing the location of spark?

Can't you get a Hemi engine with "X" horsepower (centerfire) and get a "regular" (off center spark) engine with the SAME horsepower?

What is the magic of center?

Again, in case to some, this is an inflammatory topic (synthetic/dino, gear/HST kinda thing) I'm not asking to inflame. I really don't know.

 

[Dozernut]

In space they have problems with small, sand grain sized particles punching holes in the shuttles and space station. This due to the extreme velocity of the particles which stores a lot of kinetic energy. At slow speeds the particles would simply bounce off, but they build the energy to puncture with speed. This is the same law of physics that applies to .22 caliber rounds, more speed = more energy= more damage.
The same amount of powder behind the bullet will produce the same results regardless of the ignition system. A rim fire cartridge will usually hold less powder than a center fire.

 

[shaley]

What you are really asking is a ballistics question. Caliber is just a measure of the nominal rifle/pistol barrel bore in inches. The cartridge designation usually contains some reference to the caliber and cartridge size and is unique to a set of chamber dimensions.
Gun guy usually use terms that other shooters know but may confuse non gun owners.
22 Rimfire describes a caliber and chamber that will shoot a whole class of shells
22 Long Rifle
22 Long
22 short, CB
22 CB, BB
These are based on a rimfire (primer in the rim) case with various bullet styles (hollow point, round point) (projectiles) all .224 inches dia with varying weights and propellant. These will all have varying ballistics. Roughly speaking a 22 LR is 29 grain lead 1100fps. These are non reloadable and cheap.

Centerfire rifle cartridges (primer in the center) make up almost all of the modern game cartridges.
222
223
22-250
These all shoot a bullet that is .224 in diameter and can range from 40 grains to 80 grains in weight. A typical 223 is 55 grains Full metal Jacket at 3200 fps. These are more expensive but reloadable.

Energy is Mass x Velocity^2 so the velocity term has the greatest effect on terminal ballistic energy.

 

[GaryM]

Yes you can. But that's only part of the story.

A .22 rimfire, most commonly what's called a "22 Long Rifle", but there are others. See pictures here: Remington .22 Rimfire Ammunition

Nominaly fires a 40 grain projectile (there are 7000 grains in a pound) with a muzzle velocity of 1500-1600 FPS.

A .22 (nominal) centerfire, such a .223, same as fired in AR-15/M-16 rifles, fires a 55 grain projectile with a muzzle velocity of 3240 FPS. This give a muzzle energy of 1282 foot/lbs. See here: Remington.com - Products - Ammunition - Ballistics

I don't see any energy values on the Reminton site for the .22 Long Rifle, but I assure you that the values are significantly lower than for the .223

There are of course other .22 rimfires and .22 centerfires that will have slightly different values, but the above is an example of the major differences between the two.

Ask if you'd like to know more.

 

[Egon]

It's in the way action of the rifles work.

A rim fire action cannot withstand the same pressure as a center fire[rimless] action. Bolt action center fire can also withstand more pressure than most other types of actions.

All this means is that with a center fire bolt action you load more/different type of powder into the casing of the shell and get higher velocities on the bullet.

Different gun powders are also used with different actions and caliber sises.

Note: We could into pages long disscussion on the type of action, caliber, loading and bullet weight/type.

 

[KaiB]

Aha Richard, I think I can answer your question (somebody please correct immediately if I'm wrong).

By .22 rimfire, you mean the good-old .22 we are all familiar with; the stuff we all grew up with. No changes over the years to speak of, you know this round.

When the guys speak of .22 centerfire, they reference a raft of rounds such as the .22 Hornet, the Bee, the .222, the .223, the .22-250 and a bunch of other really cool stuff. Same general caliber as the rimfire round but vastly different.

Can I have my cookie now??? Edit to add...oops, in the time it took me to type, a bunch of guys answered very, very well. No Cookie...

 

[shaley]

I must say, I've never seen a website with so many guys with nothing to do.
I'm trying to muster the energy (coffee break) to load the truck and go to the dump so I'm excused from that statement.