Rimfire / centrefire

kkelly77

Hello all,

Was up in Courtlough again last Thursday. Tried the rifle shooting as well as the clay pigeon this time. Great craic. I think we were using .22 ammo for the rifle which were Sako models I think. Can anyone tell me what is the difference between a rimfire and centrfire rifle?

Keith
(Still waiting to find that elusive 2nd hand gun to get me started)

Umiq88

To put it bluntly centrefire big rimfire small

theres 4 rimfire calibres .22lr .22wmr .1hm2 and .17hmr rimfire refers to the primer its around the rim of the cartridge so the firing pin strikes the rim of the round.

Centrefire is everything else you might have heard of .308 (7.62) .223(5.65) standard army cals and the primer is on the centre of the base.

Traumadoc

Firing pin strikes the rim vs firing pin striking the center of the base of the cartridge?

opeldave

Ive pinched this from T'internet for you

A centerfire cartridge case has a depression and hole in the bottom for a primer. The primer is a metal cap with a small amount of percussion-sensitive explosive inside. The primer is ignited by hitting of the firing pin onto it. The primer charge then ignites the powder, thus firing the bullet.

After firing, a centerfire case can be reloaded with a new primer, powder, and bullet.

In a rimfire cartridge, the primer charge is included around the inside of the rim at the bottom of the cartridge case. The firing pin dents the rim, and ignites the primer charge.

After firing, it is not practical to reload a rimfire case because the rim is dented, and it would be difficult to install new primer material.

I know there is a photo out there somehwere which would help but I cant find it at all:(

opeldave

Found it:D