22wrf in revolvers?

Looked at a box of 22wrf today and noticed a warning on the box that said " not recommended for revolvers". What is the reasoning for this?

Because it has excessive muzzle blast and/or the company has another more expensive version they want you to buy.

LuckenbachTexas said:

Because it has excessive muzzle blast and/or the company has another more expensive version they want you to buy.

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He asked about WRF, not .22Mag.

The .22WRF works fine in revolvers, despite the silly legal disclaimer on the box.

My bad

CraigC said:

LuckenbachTexas said:

Because it has excessive muzzle blast and/or the company has another more expensive version they want you to buy.

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He asked about WRF, not .22Mag.

The .22WRF works fine in revolvers, despite the silly legal disclaimer on the box.

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The 22 WRF will work in MAGNUM cylinders. On older guns, the casing may split if the chamber is a little sloppy. Will be too long and larger diameter than a 22 LR.

For several years I used my Ruger Super Single Six for squirrel hunting in west Tennessee. I had the .22 Magnum (WMR) cylinder in place and loaded with .22 WRF cartridges. The .22 WRF performed exceedingly well for the task. My reason for this was that the slightly larger .22 WRF (compared to .22 L.R.) cartridges were easier to handle with cold hands.


Bob Wright

Thank you for the information

I use the WRF because it's usually a $1 a box less than WMR/MRF and hard to tell the difference in performance. There are some pretty spiffy loads, especially by CCI.

It works great for me. One of my luckiest 25 yard off hand targets was with 22WRF in a 6 1/2" Single Six.

Hondo44 said:

I use the WRF because it's usually a $1 a box less than WMR/MRF and hard to tell the difference in performance. There are some pretty spiffy loads, especially by CCI.

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+1

Hondo44 said:

I use the WRF because it's usually a $1 a box less than WMR/MRF and hard to tell the difference in performance. There are some pretty spiffy loads, especially by CCI.

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Where do you get WRF???

I have some left, but haven't seen any for sale for a year now. My wife likes them at the range, because they are tamer than WMR.

A local shop has a bunch of new production Winchester with the old style artwork on the box.. Nobody seems to buy it. I find CCI at local gunshows mostly. Companies will gear up and make a short run. Then as inventory dries up, they'll make another every few years. When I do find it. I stock up to hopefully accelerate their next production run.

I suspect that right now they are running standard .22s full time to catch up with demand. Ask your local store to order it or look here: ammoseek.com

Since I haven't seen any actual .22 LR on a store shelf since Sandy Hook... I went to look at ammoseek.com just for fun. That scares me more than anything. Are people actually routinely paying $50++ for a brick of just plain vanilla .22 LR? No wonder it never seems to come back into stock at regular prices!

Some .22 WRM guns are more accurate with .22 WRF than the "magnum" rounds they were made for. I have a bunch of ".22 magnums," and two of them, a 1960 Win Model 61M pump rifle and a 1998 4" S&W 651 .22 WRM "kit gun," shoot noticeably more accurately with .22 WRF.

I also find that .22 WRF seems to kill medium-sized critters (jackrabbits, possums, raccoons, woodchucks), much better in a handgun than any .22 LR except the CCI SGB (Small Game Bullet) load.

I have NO idea why there is that warning about using .22WRF in handguns, since Colt chambered handguns specifically for it ("Police Positive" and "Police Positive Target"). I suspect a legal counsel who didn't know much about guns.

I can scarcely believe I've lived 60 years and never encountered WRF cartridges. What's it mean - Winchester RimFire? From REP1954's picture the rounds look to be the same size as the .22 magnum (WMR). Could someone explain to me the genesis of these? I'm completely stymied and tickled, too. It's 3:48 am so that might explain my semi-blown mind that this post and thread have caused. From this day forward I simply have to search for a box of them.

The .22 Winchester Rim Fire came out in the Winchester 1890, a hammer pump .22 that was the ancestor of the Model 62 (and the Brazilian copies of that which are still made). It was popular because of its increased killing power over the blackpowder .22 shells of the time--it had more velocity and a heavier flat point bullet and was used by many trappers and other backwoodsmen as a "do all" cartridge in somewhat the same way that the .25-20 and .32-20 were at that time. And the 1890 was a takedown rifle, very attractive if you live for long periods out of a backpack or a canoe. The old name for the blackpowder version of the .22 WRF was ".22-7-45:" a .22 cal 45 gr bullet with 7 grains of black powder.

A little later Remington adopted the same ctg., but called it the ".22 Remington Special." And THAT name stuck for some reason (I guess they all wanted to be "special" back then, too....). Many, perhaps even most, people even up into the 1950s, called the .22 WRF the ".22 Special."

There weren't a lot of different rifles and handguns made for the .22 WRF, but the ones that were made were popular up until the .22 LR Hi-speed ctgs. became common. I can think of these model rifles: Win Models 1890, 1885, 67, 68, 61, Rem 12, Stevens 44. There were certainly a few others I don't remember.

Revolvers were few: the only ones I remember were the Colt "Police Positive," and "Police Positive Target," and a VERY few SAAs. The H&R "22 Special" model is actually chambered for .22 LR, Long, and Short, and I've never encountered one in .22 WRF. There may be some.

The principal use of the .22 WRF now is as a subload for .22 WRM chambered guns, mainly for hunting small game. It is VERY good for that, and gives "just enough" power in a .22 WRM handgun to kill reliably without meat loss, as one of the previous posters pointed out.

Mike,

Great history, thx. The biggest surprise was the SAA. I've never seen anything mentioned in all my study of the Colt SAA, I must have every book there is. Was that other brands of SAAs or after market conversions of Colts?

I believe there were only one or two, but don't remember where they were cited, and they possibly may have been aftermarket conversions of .22 LR SAAs, which are rare enough, or ammo testing "mules".

adam12 said:

I can scarcely believe I've lived 60 years and never encountered WRF cartridges. What's it mean - Winchester RimFire? From REP1954's picture the rounds look to be the same size as the .22 magnum (WMR). Could someone explain to me the genesis of these? I'm completely stymied and tickled, too. It's 3:48 am so that might explain my semi-blown mind that this post and thread have caused. From this day forward I simply have to search for a box of them.

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I spoke 'way too soon. This has already been handled better than my reply, but will leave this in place since I don't know how to delete it.

As I understand, WMR is the "original" .22 magnum. It is a "kinder, gentler" load... if a round that agressive could be so-described.

I'm looking at one of each side-by-side.

The wrf case is case is about 5/8" long, bullet wt is 45 grains.

The wmr that I'm looking-at is a .22 Winchester Magnum jacked hollow point. The case is 1" long, and the bullet is 40 grains.

The exposed bullet length is about the same on each.

My wife carries a S&W 351C, practices with the "tamer" WRF, and carries the "magnum" -- Yes, I know it's too small, and underpowered, but it's all she can handle with arthritic hands and fingers.

I'm sure the "older hands" on this forum can be more helpful than I, and I'll learn more from their replies

Fountain,

Not to criticize, but you may have meant 7/8" for the WRF. Or if you measured 5/8" you may have picked up a .22 Winchester Auto cartridge.