How does rimfire work

The first rimfire cartridge was developed by the French gunsmith Louis-Nicolas Flobert in The cartridge he created was referred to as the 6mm Flober or the. It consisted of a percussion cap and a bullet without any additional propellant. All other rimfire cartridges after evolved from the.

Historic rimfire cartridges have been available in multiple calibers from. Modern rimfire ammunition is currently only available in. Unlike the. An older design, the. The same bullet was used from the. Using the. The introduction of the. With an effective range out to yards with proper loadings, the. As the.

Utilizing a. With proper loadings,. Once ammunition was mass produced along with firearms, cartridges became uniform as well. There's the bullet, which is the actual projectile, the main gunpowder charge, the casing usually made of brass, hence the slang term for expended shells , and the primer charge.

When a gun is fired, the hammer slams down on the primary charge, which ignites the gunpowder, firing the bullet. Rimfire cartridges are one type of cartridge that aren't used as often as center-fire cartridges. Rimfire cartridges have the primary charge inside the rim of the casing. As such, the hammer of a firearm that uses rimfire cartridges is usually round, so that it strikes the outside of the cartridge, which then ignites the gunpowder and fires the bullet.

Manufacturers make round nose and hollow point bullets in rimfire cartridges — just like centerfire rounds. Rimfire ammo. Centerfire shooters also use rimfire firearms as training platforms because of the lower cost. Some manufacturers, for example, have released rimfire variants of the popular AR These rimfire ARs are great to train with because their manual of arms is identical to their centerfire counterparts. They cost less and are much cheaper per round to shoot than the 5.

While the higher pressures and velocities of centerfire ammo generally make it the preferred choice for self-defense, there are many valid reasons for using rimfire ammunition. Elderly shooters sometimes prefer to use a rimfire handgun because of the reduced recoil. Rimfire rounds may not pack the punch of a centerfire round, but because of their smaller size, you usually have more rounds available to you as compared to a centerfire firearm of similar size and function.

As a competitive shooter, I compete in both rimfire and centerfire divisions within Steel Challenge. Having both rimfire pistol and rifle divisions available makes Steel Challenge a unique competitive shooting sport and a nice entry point into the sport. Rimfire vs.

Centerfire Ammo. By John Holbrook.