All of the .22 caliber cartridges can be had with hollow-pointed bullets, which are to be preferred for game shooting. They are also furnished loaded with smokeless powder. When this powder was first used in .22-caliber ammunition the results were far from satisfactory, but as now manufactured the smokeless ammunition approximates very closely in uniformity and accuracy to that loaded with black powder.
There still remains, however, considerable difficulty with the rim-fire smokeless cartridges on account of their liability to rust the inside of the barrel.[7] The novice is therefore cautioned not to use this ammunition until the difficulty of rusting is overcome.
The .25-cal. Stevens is a much more powerful cartridge than any of the preceding, and gives excellent results in the pistol. It is selected by those who wish a more powerful rim-fire cartridge than is furnished in .22 caliber.
Figure 33.
Rim-fire cartridges in larger caliber than .25 are used for derringers (large-bore, single-shot pocket pistols now seldom used) and inferior grades of revolvers. These cartridges sometimes lack uniformity in caliber when made by different manufacturers, are frequently defective, and discharge occasionally in closing the action of the arm in which they are loaded. They consequently lack the safety, reliability, and accuracy of the corresponding calibers in central-fire ammunition. Rim-fire cartridges cannot be reloaded.
Central-fire Cartridges.—This type of cartridge has a brass or copper primer fitted with a skeleton anvil of brass and charged with a small quantity of priming composition containing a sensitive explosive for igniting the powder charge. The primer fits water-tight in a socket in the center of the base of the shell. After being discharged, the primer can be renewed and the shell reloaded.
In all the central-fire cartridges the lubrication of the bullet is inside of the shell, rendering the ammunition much more serviceable and less liable to be damaged.
Mantled bullets designated as “metal pointed” and “full metal patched” can be supplied by the ammunition manufacturers for all the central-fire cartridges at a cost of one dollar per thousand more than the regular lead bullets. The mantled bullets do not deform as readily in handling, shipping, etc., and give slightly increased penetration in soft woods, animal tissue, etc., as compared with the plain lead bullet with the same powder charge.
