common round before 1910 for wheel guns???

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Deanimator's listing of the .22LR brings up an interesting point. I, as I'm sure many others, have always assumed that it was a given that the .22LR (developed in 1887) topped any overall "most popular" list. (I responded to this post thinking only of SD pistols and didn't even consider the .22 rimfires.)
Anyway, after a little research, I find that S&W, at least, produced NO .22 LRRF handguns in the timeframe under discussion. (1880-1910). In fact, they produced very few .22 rimfires at all. Production of the Model 1 in .22 Short stopped in 1881. No .22's of any kind were produced until 1902 when the LadySmith (Model M) started in 1902 and they were in .22 Long, not Long Rifle. Less that 15,000 or these were made through 1910. .22 LRRF's were introduced in 1911 with the 22/32 Hand Ejector (or Bekeart Model).
I find it interesting that S&W would not be producing a .22 LR (or any .22 RF) if they were popular at the time.
So much for assumptions......:D
 
Another note about power of these loads. When Teddy Roosevelt was rumming for his third term I beleive someone shot him in the chest before he was due to give a campaign speech. He refused medical attention and went on to gve the speech that was over an hour in length and only after this did he go to the hospital. I think the gun was somewhere around a .32 and there was the fact that where he was hit was where he had the paper draft of his speech pocketed. It couldn't have hurt his persona of as being as strong as a bull moose.
 
38-44 Target

The 38-44 Target and 32-44 Target did not extend into the barrel ala Nagent. The case reached only to the front of the cylinder running the full length of the chamber. Thus the cylinder gap remained as in any other conventional revolver. I only mentioned the Nagent cartridge as an example of one with the bullet loaded entirely inside the case.

The long case would protect the bullet from handling damage. But I have always heard the primary reason was to reduce bullet distortion by eliminating the chamber mouth stage as the bullet goes directly from case to barrel forcing cone.
 
Slight correction to my earlier post. I should have specified revolvers. S&W did make some .22 LRRF's in the time period in question. They made a series of single shot, top break target pistols with 6, 8 and 10" barrels. Not a whole lot of them and not exactly pocket pistols.;)

Dean
 
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