different guns...

[leeds chimp]

As someone quite new to the sport...could someone please explain all these different numbers and letters when people are talking about guns and what they can be used for the most....

 

22 hmr

22 rimfire

.243

.244

etc

 

cheers

 

i have been looking on google but rather get the answer in plain english

[fortune82]

.22 hmr does not exist.

.17hmr = 17 caliber Hornady Magnum Rimfire. The fastest rimfire cartridge you can buy. A 17 grain bullet at around 2550 feet per second. Ideal for rabbits and close range foxes.

.22 Rimfire or .22LR is the most common rifle calibre. A 40 grain bullet at either subsonic speed or supersonic speed. Ideal for rabbits and hares.

Rimfire means the primer is contained in the rim of the cartridge and not in a seperate primer like in a shotgun. The firing pin crushes the rim to cause detonation.

.243 is a centrefire cartridge. IE it uses a seperate primer in the base of the cartridge. It Fires anything from 55 grain bullets up to 100 grain bullets and is probably the most common centrefire cartridge in the UK. Can be used on all deer species and foxes, bullet weight permitting.

 

.244 - Never heard of this caliber - .204 is a fast shooting fox caliber made by ruger.

 

There are literally thousand of different rifle calibers in existence. To give you an idea of caliber a .22 bullet is 5.5mm in diameter. A .17 bullet 4.5mm and a .243 6mm. .22 Rimfire can and will ricochet like a tennis ball.

 

.17 and .243 are usually used with expanding ammunition that has a lead core covered in a copper jacket. When the bullet hits an animal the jacket peels back like a bannana skin and causes more shock to the animal causing a much quicker kill. This also reduces the risk of ricochet as the bullet tends to break up.