Topic: question for the gun guys

[my78k]

Folks, I know a lot of you are fairly active shooters. Looking to pick your brain if I may...

Many years ago I was given a couple of guns (300 Savage and an old cooey .22 Sure shot). Anyways, the .22 came from my then girl friend's dad when he passed away (she's now my wife) and it has sat for many years. Inside the bag was some unidentified ammo....I had always just assumed they were 22LR's but after only recently looking at the ammo I realize they aren't. They are far too long...

What I am looking to do is ID the ammo. More to satisfy my curiosity than anything else. He only ever had the 22 that I know of (the Savage came from my Grandfather as it was his uncle's gun maunfactured in '49).  The ammo appears to be eithe r.25 or 7mm (not sure which as part of my question is how to properly measure the calibre) and is 35mm long. It is a lead bullet and not a typical rifle cartridge shape. I will take some pics with my cam later and post.

So, first of all, how do I measure the calibre? Is it at the base of the bullet or the diameter of the casing? The casing is 7mm but the bullet seems to measure .25inch. Aslo, the bottom of the casing is stamped with an "A". How fdo I tell if it is rim fire or centrefire?

I know these seem like simple questions to people who have been shooters their entire lives so please don't point out how silly these questions are! lol...

Thanks in advance!

Dennis

[Duke McDukiedook]

Pics would greatly help.

A rim fire will look flat on the bottom while a center fire will have what appears to be a cap in the middle.

[Damfino]

Rimfire on the left, Centerfire on the right

[my78k]

thnks guys, ok so they are rim fire....

[Skunk Stripe]

Caliber is the measurement of the rifle bore diameter.
I suppose for a bullet, in the US I think it is the diameter of the bullet in hundreths of an inch.

[my78k]

well the widest part of the bullet seems to measure .25 and the casing seems to be 7mm (used my caliper and flipped between metric and imperial to which ever was closer to a whole number)

[bikerbart]

ate too much chili and had a rimfire.ouch.

[Damfino]

I think it looks like the .22 Winchester Magnum. That letter stamped on the bottom is probably a 'D' of which Winchester had a brand called 'Dynapoint'. That's my best guess...

[Kframe]

Caliber is the measurement of the rifle bore diameter.
I suppose for a bullet, in the US I think it is the diameter of the bullet in hundreths of an inch.

For the most part, this is approximately correct.  However, manufacturers take a LOT of liberty with naming specific cartridges.
The .32 H&R Magnum has a bullet diameter of 0.312", or .31 caliber.
The .38 S&W Special is actually 0.358" (lead slug measurement), so that's basically .36 caliber.
The .44 Special and .44 S&W Magnum measure 0.429", or .43 caliber. 
There are many many other cartridges with similar deviations from TRUE caliber measurement. 

Interesting, historically "caliber" was not a bore designation of hundreths of an inch, but rather a ratio of diameter to total barrel length. 

[Skunk Stripe]

I can see why barrel length ratios are not used. That would be about as inaccurate as you could get unless you wanted to use 1 kind of ammo. Barrel lengths are different on the same caliber depending on what style of hunting you are doing.

[pdxPope]

Well, for starters, the 300 Savage is probably .30 caliber (as .300 Savage is actually the name of the bullet that Savage designed for the 'new' line of rifles back in the early '20's, as well as the name of the gun they designed it for.)

If you want a metric equivalent for the bullet, it's probably close to 7.62

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.300_Savage
http://www.hornady.com/assets/files/ftx_load_data/300_savage.pdf

The .22 is probably a .22 Long. They were popular in the 1950's until the .22 Long Rifle came along with better ballistics in a smaller package and wiped out the .22 Short and the .22 Long.

The Cooey should have the acceptable calibers stamped on the barrel someplace. It'll be by the name and mfg. info and should say something like ".22 S, L, LR" if it says that it'll be ok to fire the .22's you have through it.

http://ingunowners.com/forums/general_firearms_discussion/101323-cooey_winchester_22_bolt_action_rifle.html

Both kinds of ammo you have should have the name and caliber stamped on the base of the rim.

If the ammo you have does not match the guns you own get rid of it. It's an accident waiting to happen.

-JP

[my78k]

No I know what the .22 will support and it will take all but the mag round. Same with the .300 and I have the right ammo for it as well.

I am just trying to figure out what the other round is I have that has no stamping at all. I think it is a mag round but to be honest the bullet looks bigger than .22

I have no plans for the ammo I just figured that if I could identify I would try to find a home for it rather than just "disposing" of it.

Thanks for the info all...

Dennis

[Rgconner]

Careful with old ammo...

I inherited a 1906 Springfield, RI barrel, from my grandfather, who also happened to be a Honda/Small engine mechanic =)

(don't get me started with what happened to his CL360. I could kill my cousin and I would walk!)

It came with about 2 dozen hand loaded rounds that he had done perhaps in the 70's. Clearly marked, but with some damn hot loading... more than I have the guts to run through a 90 year old barrel even if it is pristine.

That ammo is put away as a "keepsake", because I know the old man made it himself.