[Tony from Finland]

One of these is for sale at a gun store over here. It's been for sale for some time due to its unusual caliber. The rifle is in .22WRM (Winchester Rimfire Magnum). Now, I can get quality .22LR ammo for 20 pennies per round. On the other hand .22WRM ammo costs something like 1.5 Markkas (that's 7.5 times more expensive!) per round. So you can perhaps see why no-one wants to buy the rifle. Now, I got to thinking that isn't the .22WRM just a lenghtened .22LR? Wouldn't this rifle work with .22LR ammo? Unfortunately even the clerk in the store wasn't sure, and I'd hate to drool over this weapon only to discover after I finally buy it that I can't afford to shoot it much... So I turn to you, lever action rifle experts of the Internet. :D

[jimfox]

If you don't mind split and ruptured brass, badly leaded throat and misserable accuracy.

The .22 RFM case is slightly larger in diameter than the .22 LR. The .22 RF round would lay slightly to the bottom of the chamber and you might, or might not, get occassional mis-fires as well as the other problems.

The action is strong enough so that if you tried it you'd merely have problems. Under no circumstanses should you try the LRs in an auto or revolver chambered for the magnum round as the rupturing of the case head might spray unpleasant things into your hand or face.

[ 09-03-2001: Message edited by: jimfox ]

[Tony from Finland]

Damn. Well, no wonder the rifle has been for sale so long then. Oh well. I really couldn't afford another gun anyway.

[1-1917]

Hammer him down a lot on the price since it's sooo expensive to shoot.
Then order a set of 22wmr-22lr chamber adapters and shoot 22 lr's!
chamber adapters are available here:
http://www.mcace.com/adapters.htm

[Tony from Finland]

Cool! I did not know that such products existed. (Someone at TFL thought about cutting an empty WMR cartridge and using it as a "sleeve" for the LR cartridge. Didn't see what others thought of such an idea, didn't seem like an idea I'd be willing to try first... :p )

So has anyone else used one of those adapters? How well do they work? Hot damn, I just might have to find a way to buy that rifle... :D

[1-1917]

In a repeater like the winchester, I'm not sure how the extractor works and that could be the only snag. Instead of getting a bunch of this and that answers like mine, just email MCA direct and explain what you have. They are VERY service oriented. I'm sure they would give you an answer for the specific application you have in mind.

[Tony from Finland]

FYI: Got mail today from MCA that the insert wouldn't work in the rifle.

[1-1917]

Sorry for getting your hopes up. adapters worked fine in a contender, thought the extractor might cause problems for the winchester though..