Difference between centerfire and rimfire

Dannyboi3k

?? As above, newbie here!!

IRLConor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimfire

All the info you can eat.

Short version:

rimfire -> primer around the rim of the base of the cartridge
centre-fire -> primer in the centre

Dannyboi3k

which is better, rimfire or centrefire

thehair

hi as a first firearm i got a .22 rimfire i shoot target of my own in a field
ammo is cheap IE 7.00euro for 50 rounds also cheap to buy a rifle and scope. steve:)

IRLConor

Dannyboi3k wrote: »

which is better, rimfire or centrefire

There's no "better" really in general. They're just two ways of accomplishing the same thing and each has advantages and disadvantages.

It's usually cheaper to make a rimfire round, but they can only be used once. They can't be reloaded with new primer, powder and bullet.

Centre-fire cases can be made from thicker brass which makes them able to take bigger loads of powder to drive bigger bullets.

Usually, rimfire rounds are smaller calibre and centre-fire rounds are larger calibre.

Paddy Diver

Dannyboi3k wrote: »

which is better, rimfire or centrefire

As has been mentioned their advantages & disavantages to both, each for different purpose.

e.g centre-fire (the apporiate calibre) for shooting deer for instance while rim-fire (again apporaite calibre) for shooting rabbits.

If its your first firearm/licence then you'll probably want to look at a rimfire as its rare (correct me here if IM wrong) for someone to be given a licence for a centrefire rifle as there first gun

Ian

IDon'tKnow!

Paddy Diver wrote: »

As has been mentioned their advantages & disavantages to both, each for different purpose.

e.g centre-fire (the apporiate calibre) for shooting deer for instance while rim-fire (again apporaite calibre) for shooting rabbits.

If its your first firearm/licence then you'll probably want to look at a rimfire as its rare (correct me here if IM wrong) for someone to be given a licence for a centrefire rifle as there first gun

Ian

I know people who got centrefire first, But would be best getting a rimfire as a first rifle as the ammo is cheap 500 round for about €30 and the rimfire firearm will be cheaper to buy then a centrefire. There is also more clubs that have .22 rimfire ranges then there are centrefire.

revan23

my first rifle was a swift :cool:
but i did have a shotgun first, anyway here's a pic for clarity -

johngalway

Like Revan I also had a shotgun for a while before my first rifle which was a .223. Personally, I think it depends a lot on if you're well known (in a good way now) to the Garda you're applying to.

The differences in rimfire and centrefire have already been explained, rimfire rifles are good for dispatching vermin like rabbits, greycrows and magpies etc. .22lr, .22WMR, and .17HMR would be popular rimfire cartridges capable of doing much the same jobs, just differently (cheaper or quieter or farther away, or safer in one case (HMR rarely ricochets).

Centrefire then you're moving up in scale in what you can hunt, fox (for shooting fox, it's best to have centrefire calibre rifle, though within the right set of conditions rimfires and shotguns will do the job perfectly well - just a lot closer and with substantially less room for error.) onwards up in size to red deer I suppose in Ireland, bigger elsewhere. Naturally, what you can shoot and however close or far away will depend a great deal on the calibre of centrefire rifle you would choose. Within the centrefire range of cartridges they will differ considerably in power, bullet drop, bullet size and expense of the cartridge itself. .223, .22-250, .243, .308, 6.5x55 would all be popular centrefire calibres capable of doing different jobs correctly.

Some ammunition makers have parts on their websites where you can compare ballistics to give you a better idea of all this. What they will show are things like how much the bullet drops over a certain range (usually out to 500 yards), how much power in foot pounds the bullet will have at the rifle muzzle and how much it will have at certain ranges, what the bullets velocity will be, again at certain ranges. There's more information on some than others, and naturally each maker will claim the best (within reason) for their own cartridges, so I'd suggest taking with a small grain of salt but it will give you a GOOD idea of differences. Sites to visit would be..

Hornady,
Remington,
Federal,
Eley.

Hope that helps a bit. If you intend on getting a rifle and tell us what you'll be doing with it I'm sure we can help.