# Rifles in general



## ohhunter (Dec 19, 2005)

I don't own any rifles, only shotguns so I know nothing about rifles. I have been reading some threads regarding coyote hunting and they mention suitable rifles to hunt coyote. What is the difference between a rim fire and a center fire?

Also, what's the difference between a 22 rimfire, 22 long rifle and a 22 magnum? Will one gun shoot all of these? How do you know what is the bigger rifle, i.e. 30-06 vs 223 vs 270?

I wasn't kidding when I said I was clueless about rifles! :-?


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## SG552 (Dec 19, 2005)

Well.. I'm not a guru myself but I know a little. Rimfire is primeable anywhere on the back of the casing where-as centerfire has to be struck in the center only.. Centerfire is supposed to be safer? 22 long rifle is the most common 22 shell. 22 short is mostly small handguns. 22 magnum has a longer case than long rifle there-for more powder- more velocity= magnum. To get real extreme you also have 22-250, 22-swift and hornet which are.. well deadly in the 22 realm but expensive rounds to purchase. the 250 and swift put you in mind of a smaller 30-06 round. or like a small caliber assault rifle round. As far as shooting all these rounds in one chamber.. no. long and magnum and 250 etc.. will not interchange. dont know if short will fire in a long rifle gun but the others arent compatible. hope this helps a little.


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## OneShotOneKill (Feb 13, 2004)

*Ohhunter,

22 rimfire?

There are three 22 rimfire cartridges:

22 short
22 long
22 long rifle

All three will chamber and are safe to shoot in a 22 long rifle chamber firearm.

The 22 WRM (22 Winchester magnum) is longer and fatter than the 22 long rifle cartridge, so they are not interchangeable.

I own a Ruger single six revolver, which comes with a 22 WRM & 22 long rifle cylinder, so this firearm is capable for shooting 22 shorts, 22 longs and 22 long rifles in the 22 long rifle cylinder, but only 22 WRM can be fired in the 22 WRM cylinder.

Rimfire vs centerfire:

Rimfire cartridges are primed along the rim of the case, and the firing pin strike anywhere along the rim to be fired, and these cases are not reloadable.

Centerfire cartridges have a primer in the center of the case and the firing pin strikes in the center of the primer to be fired. These (boxer style) primers are able to be replaced with new ones when the case is being reloaded.

The 30-06 Springfield case is a parent to many well know rifle cartridges and some unknown wildcats. 6mm-06, 25-06 Remington, 270 Winchester, 280 Remington, 338-06, 35 Whelen to name a few. The 308 Winchester is also from the 30-06 Springfield and many are made from it, 243 Winchester, 260 Remington, 7mm-08 Remington, 358 Winchester. The 22-250 Remington is from the 250 savage and its from the 300 Savage. If it involved the 30-06 Springfield case then excellent accuracy can be easily achieved . The 220 swift has a slight rim, so it is not based of the 30-06 Springfield case. The 223 Remington has a small head, so it is also not based on the 30-06 Springfield case.

I would like to be the first to welcome you to the world of cartridges. Be safe and have fun doing it!*


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## ohhunter (Dec 19, 2005)

It is starting to make sense! I am going to love this site!

What is the difference between the bullet and cartridge, if any? How do you know if a certain gun is a good gun to use (i.e. good stopping power, but not a great deal of distance). Say I want to use a rifle to shoot groundhogs and coyotes, what is a good choice? I would think a 22 rifle is nowhere near big enough to make a clean, ethical kill. But at the same time, I would not want a gun that shoots a bullet that will travel forever, making it unsafe.

I do know that you always have to be sure of your surroundings, with a good backstop, but I would worry more about a rifle's bullet traveling more so than a slug. I take the same precautions with slugs that I would with a rifle, I just assume a rifle has greater range.

Also, is a rifle shot more prone to ricochets (sp?)?

Oh, how do you spell check before posting a message?


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## People (Jan 17, 2005)

The bullet and cartridge are


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## dlip (May 16, 2004)

OneShotOneKill said:


> *Ohhunter,
> 
> 22 rimfire?
> 
> ...


He hit the nail on the head! That is by far the most informative post I've seen in this forum.


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## Bore.224 (Mar 23, 2005)

When most people need gun info they ask me! If I need info I will ask OSOK he has forgotton more about guns than most of us will ever know!


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## natemil373 (Dec 3, 2005)

OHHUNTER,
Where in Ohio do you live? I grew up and currently live in the Mansfield area. I mainly hunt in the Black Fork river bottoms between Ashland and Mansfield. Nice thick area if you can stand the mosquitos in the summer.


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## mr.trooper (Aug 3, 2004)

Dont worry about "traveling forever" unless your on a populated salt flat.

Rifle bullets actualy penetrate foliage poorly compared to shotgun slugs. there higher velocity rips them apart when they hit solid things like trees and dirt.

All types of rifles can be used for all kinds of hunting! A boys 22 rimfire can be used for any small game, and an assault rifle still works fine to hunt deer!

Mix it up and have fun!


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

Ohhunter

The reason rifle nomenclature is so confusing is that there are no set guidelines for naming cartridges. Back in the years of black powder rifles like the 45/70 indicated this rifle was 45 caliber and the cartridge case contained 70 grains of powder. The caliber and amount of powder was a common way to describe a cartridge or rifle.

With the advent of smokeless powder things begin to change. The 30/30 was one of the last cartridges to be named in the old traditional way. A 30 caliber with 30 grains of smokeless. Soon many kinds of smokeless powder were available and people begin to name cartridges for the year in which they were introduced to the public, or when the military accepted them into service. The 30 U. S. Army (30/40 Krag) replaced the old 45/70 as our military weapon in 1892. It lasted until the 30/06 replaced it in , you guessed it , 1906. Hence the 30/06 designated 30 caliber adopted in 1906.

By the mid 1920's speed was something the public wanted. As a matter of sales new speedy names came about with caliber prefixes. The 218 Bee, the 22 Hornet, the 220 Swift and many others. The 250/3000 named their rifle completely different claiming theirs was the first big game rifle to reach the magic 3000 feet per second. To do this they had to use an 87 grain bullet. Demand for a better deer cartridge dictated that they step the bullet size up to 100 grains. Today we know that rifle as simply the 250 Savage. Named after the company that introduced it.

As you can see ohhunter there are no rules and only reading and experience will familiarize you with the many cartridges available today. I have reloading manuals back to the mid 1950's and there are calibers we don't even talk about today.


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## SDHandgunner (Jun 22, 2004)

A lot of info can be found at http://stevespages.com/table3.html

To help clear things up you may want to click on the tab "Case Dimensions". This in conjunction with the Ballistic Charts found at either the Remington, Winchester or Federal web sites should help give you an idea as to what is what.

Larry


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## RiveRat (Sep 19, 2004)

Spend 20 to 30 bucks on a major mfg. (Speer, Sierra, Hornady, etc) reloading manual. There is simply a wealth of information in any one of them.


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## ohhunter (Dec 19, 2005)

I am glad I found this board. There is a wealth of knowledge you all have to share.

Thanks to all of you for your help. I think I will get some books to help make more sense of it. My curiosity started because I am starting to become interested in hunting coyote. All I have access to right now, is my dad's 22 rifle and I wasn't sure if it is sufficient.

When I think of rifles, I picture the bullets traveling many miles. Of course, I am know slugs travel too. I assume one would want to be a little more cautious and shoot down hill with a rifle, not that I would shoot up hill with my slug gun. I guess not being educated with rifle tends to make me much more cautious, similar to my fear of not wanting a hand gun with small children in the house. A gun is a gun, but hand guns scare me. I do keep my shotguns locked up and also keep trigger locks on them, in case you were wondering.

natemil373, I am in the New Philadelphia/Dover area, south of Canton. I actually briefly worked for a company in Ashland on a contract basis a year or so ago. It was a tough drive taking route 250 the entire way! I just went to Fin, Feathers & Fur a few weeks ago with my 4 year-old. He thought it was pretty neat spending the day goofing off with me. I am not familiar with the Black Fork river bottoms. Is it public land and what do you hunt?


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