What to expect from 22 short and 22 long?

[BullRunBear]

Not sure if this is the right subforum but ...

I found a surprise in a box from a swap meet I got last year: some Remington CBee 22 longs (NOT long rifle) and some Winchester Super-X 22 shorts. I've never shot either. I'm going to try some in an old 10" Contender, a Henry lever action and a S&W K-22 . These will be strictly for targets, not hunting of any kind.

My question is what range is reasonable for these rounds and what kind of accuracy are they capable of? I'll be shooting from a bench with a rudimentary rest to try to keep my marksmanship out of the equation.

Thanks for any help.

Jeff

 

[dogtown tom]

..... some Remington CBee 22 longs (NOT long rifle)

.22 Long and Long Rifle use the same case. The difference is the OAL of the bullet.....Long Rifle has a longer, heavier bullet.
Currently Remington markets the CBee as Long Rifle:

and some Winchester Super-X 22 shorts. I've never shot either. I'm going to try some in an old 10" Contender, a Henry lever action and a S&W K-22 . These will be strictly for targets, not hunting of any kind.

Both are excellent for hunting btw, very quiet.

My question is what range is reasonable for these rounds and what kind of accuracy are they capable of?

50yds is perfect.

 

[12Bravo20]

CB caps use to be my goto in my single shot rifle for pest control in the garden without disturbing Grandma. I had no problems taking out the pests that were eating the vegetables with CB caps.

 

[chicharrones]

Best answer is to go shoot the ammo and find out.

I pretty much save .22 shorts for my Ruger Bearcat and Marlin 39AS. I can't say I've actually fired shorts expecting fine accuracy, but they seem to do just fine as a plinking load to 10 yards in the Bearcat and maybe 25 yards in the Marlin.

Speaking of long barreled handguns (the Contender in the OP), I took my 9.5" barreled Ruger Single Six out for some shootin' using CCI Quiets, which have the speed of the slower .22 shorts but in a Long Rifle case. Using my unstable homemade shootin' sticks* and an old fuzzy Tasco 2x scope, those Quiets were capable of punching one ragged hole per cylinder in that gun at the 15 yards I was shootin' at today.

I know 15 yards ain't squat, but sometimes short range opportunities is all I can get this year. The real point is the slow speed Quiets were not the accuracy limitation today.

*Reminds me that I want to come up with a better solution.

 

[J-Bar]

If you ever take a person shooting for the first time, these are great! Low noise, no recoil. Allow the newbie to shoot at 5 to 10 yards over a rest, teach trigger squeeze and tight groups, and revel in their joy of accomplishment!

 

[Barbaroja]

I like 22 shorts. Works fine for squirrels from my Remington model 34

 

[Sistema1927]

No experience with a Henry lever gun, but my Marlin 39A handles shorts and longs just aw well as LR. You can put a lot of shorts in the tube.

You might just find that one or more of the loads that you mention outperform LR in the accuracy department. As you probably already know, every .22 has its preferences for ammo, and that isn't limited to LR.

 

[Phantom 309]

I have my grandpa's old Winchester 1890 in .22 short (1905 manufacture) and it is ridiculously fun and accurate. I've surprised many friends with the bullseye potential out to 50-75 yards.

 

[ozarkhillbilly]

I have killed all kinds of pest with 22shorts out to 50 yards. I dropped a groundhog with a head shot at 25 to 30 yards last year with CCI 22shorts. Don't under estimate what they are capable off.

 

[buflow]

I was raised in dairy farm country, S.E. Kansas. I got a 1 cent for each rat I shot in dairy barns on five or six farms close to ours. I used 22 short to limit damage and noise, black powder shorts were 15 cents a box of 50 and I usually made 25 to 30 cents with each box. I used a Stevens My Friend rolling block and cleaned it after each shooting time. Range was from 10 100 feet. I also hunted squirrels and rabbits with the 22 shorts.

 

[TTv2]

.22 Shorts are capable of very good accuracy and are great for tube mag rifles, revolvers, and single shots. The CB Longs are a quiet ammo with a light bullet. I would think CCI Quiet is as quiet as CB Longs are, but with a heavier bullet and are more available and cost less.

 

[Barbaroja]

My model 34 will fit 21 shorts in the magazine tube if I remember correctly. That’s one of those load on Sunday and shoot all week situations

 

[BullRunBear]

Folks, Thank you so much for your help. This site always comes through. Now I have a realistic idea of what to expect. Also, I have some grand nephews coming up to shooting age. I'll keep several hundred rounds of the shorts available for when their folks visit. It has become a Big Deal to take them to the range. (They like my 'old' weapons and love the muzzleloaders.) The kids will be old enough to use the Heritage Rough Riders at that point.

Jeff

 

[bersaguy]

Here's a decent video of some folks comparing 22short to 22lr. I was pretty surprised, 22short isn't nearly as anemic as I thought. I've fired plenty of shorts, long and long rifle out of my grandfather's old wards western world bolt action, but never really got to see the terminal effects on anything more than paper and aluminum cans.

 

[12Bravo20]

My old Winchester 190 will actually cycle fine with longs and shorts but not the CB caps. As kids, we would get the shorts or longs since they were cheaper than LR plus you could get more rounds in the tube.

 

[Hookeye]

My daughter first started shooting when Rem CB shorts were 15 a brick.
My Anschutz target single shot liked em well enough, big diff in POI.
Adjusted 12X Leupold for them, and it was neat rig for polite pest control.
Accuracy was good to 25 yards. Not great, but good enough.
Had a Rem 572 that didn't shoot em for diddly. Had a pre 68 that loved em.

Bought the new CBee in .22 lr length, idea was to run them in a 10/22 as a straight pull bolt action.
That poor rifle didn't shoot anything well.

My CZ455 isn't fond of the CBee .22 lr stuff either.

Have not tested them in the ol lady's 10/22. Yet.

 

[MacAR]

Shot a lot of shorts in my life. Out to about 50 yards, they're great. Much past that and they run out of steam. Longs weren't very common around here. Our local store had either shorts or long rifles when I was a kid. The shorts were cheap, and my old Crackshot would put them where I wanted them most of the time. That rifle and them shorts put a lot of meat on the table and fur in the shed. Just had to get close enough.

A little "short" story, from years ago. When Mrs Mac and I were first married, I had 3 guns: a 1894 30-30, a 10 gauge hammer gun, and a little Remington 24, 22 short only. Well, we were young and poor in them days. Every night a herd of deer came out under or street light. 13 yards from the kitchen door. The little 24 kept us in meat a lot more than the 10 gauge or the Winchester ever did.

Mac

 

[Jim Watson]

An old book recommended sticking to .22 Short for 50 yard Scheutzen instead of trying to take the Long Rifle to 200.