The Rimfire Report: Armscor Still Makes 22 Short. Is It Worth It?

The .22 Short cartridge is pretty outdated just by virtue of it being the first American self-contained metallic rimfire cartridge. As I’ve covered in a previous article and in my interviews with firearms historian Michael Helms, .22 Short dates back to 1857, when Smith & Wesson introduced it for the Model 1 revolver. It went on to help feed what would become one of the largest industries in the emerging American firearms industry. Everything from mini revolvers to Olympic rapid-fire pistols used 22 Short until the ISSF moved that event to 22 LR in 2005. Ammo makers have thinned their Short catalogs over the years, and plenty of rimfire shooters have never bought a box. Armscor is one of the few companies that still loads one in the Philippines: a 29-grain bullet sold under the Armscor label here in the US. Today we’re going to check it out to see if it's worth it.

More Rimfire Report @ TFB:

• The Rimfire Report: Remington’s Discontinued Standard Target 40gr RN 
• The Rimfire Report: PMAC Supernova .22LR Tracer - Plink In Color 
• The Rimfire Report: The FarrowTech Ruger Mark IV 22R PDW Kit 

The Rimfire Report: Armscor Still Makes 22 Short. Is It Worth It?

Product Link: https://advancedtactical.com/armscorprecision-22-short-29gr-solid-point-50rnd-box/

Right out of the gate, I’ll tell you that it 100% costs more than Long Rifle. It’s not in any way shape or form cheaper or more economical than regular 40-grain round nose. Advanced Tactical, Armscor’s retail arm, lists the 22 Short at $5.18 per 50, while a box of the company’s 36-grain high-velocity 22 LR goes for $3.42. People who shoot Shorts usually own a rifle chambered for them, like a Winchester 1890 or Remington Model 12, or want a lighter load than a Long Rifle cartridge delivers.

• Caliber: 22 Short
• Bullet Type: SP
• Grain Weight: 29gr
• Velocity FPS: 1080
• Quantity / Rounds per Box: 50

Armscor follows the Remington style of packing 50 rounds per box in an orange and white sleeve with a slide-out paper tray. The box lists the bullet as a solid point, and similar to CCI Mini-Mag and the like, it’s a copper-plated/washed round nose with a ringed band just above the case mouth. Some retailers list this load as bare lead, but that’s more than likely a listing error. The brass cases are bright and clean, and each case head is stamped with the Tuason family “T” symbol (the Filipino family that owns Armscor).

This is 22 Short Ammo, so while I do have a special 10/22 magazine meant to feed this stuff, don’t expect it to work well or feed well out of any of your magazine-fed .22 LR firearms. This ammo is best reserved for .22 LR lever guns, gallery guns, and single-shot bolt guns in that order.

Velocity Results

I chronographed 50 rounds through my Integrally Suppressed Ruger Precision Rimfire. They averaged 974.9 fps, about 105 fps under Armscor’s 1080 fps rating, and the ported barrel likely accounts for some of that loss. Velocities ran from 930.7 to 1,019.7 fps, an 89 fps extreme spread with a standard deviation of 19.4. That spread is wide for match ammo but in the range bulk plinking loads usually produce, so nothing looks out of place.

Accuracy Results

The ammo is fairly accurate out of the Ruger Precision Rimfire. I half expected it to be all over the place based on how it shot in the Savage Revel Tactical. Each group measured about 1 to 1.5 inches at its widest, which is still minute-of-squirrel and plenty for casual, quiet plinking. Results will vary between guns, and you should expect these to group wider than a good subsonic Long Rifle load. For reference, these groups were shot at 25 yards rather than the 50 I typically do for regular rimfire ammo tests.

Maintenance Considerations

Shooting Shorts in a Long Rifle chamber has a maintenance cost over even regular uncoated .22 LR. The Short case ends well before the chamber does, so the bullet passes through a section cut for a case before it reaches the rifling, and fouling builds up in that stretch. Shoot enough Shorts, and that ring can make Long Rifle cartridges hard to chamber and extract, especially in a Bentz chamber as I used here. Scrub the chamber before the next box of Long Rifle goes in.

For most shooters, the answer to the question I proposed in the title is probably a resounding and obvious “no.” A box costs about 50 percent more than Armscor’s own dirt-cheap high-velocity Long Rifle. Armscor’s 40-grain subsonic Long Rifle is listed on their website at $2.83 a box when I checked, though it was out of stock, and subsonic Long Rifle from any maker fills the quiet-load role without fouling your chamber.

Despite it being the cartridge that gave the United States rimfire, 22 Short is destined to live out the remainder of its existence as a lightweight subsonic option for manually operated rimfire guns, or for those of us lucky enough to own one of the original pieces meant to work with the ballistically challenged cartridge. As always, happy to hear your thoughts and comments on this rather odd ammo. I’m not sure why they still make it (it can’t be profitable), but I’m glad they do! Thanks for stopping by to read The Rimfire Report, and we’ll see you all again next week!