Small caliber

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.22 lfB caliber cartridges

Until the 1950s, all cartridges with a bullet diameter below 7 mm were referred to as small caliber . Today we mainly refer to cartridges in caliber .22 (5.6 mm), provided they have rimfire ignition . Small caliber cartridges are also characterized by their low price and low recoil.

Cartridges

Display with different cartridges of caliber .17 and .22

This includes in particular the cartridges (non-exhaustive list):

Rimfire

  • Rimfire cartridge

  • .17 HMR
  • .22 short / .22 short
  • .22 long / .22 long (not to be confused with .22 long for rifles)
  • .22 lfB (long for rifles) / .22 long rifle
    • .22 lfB HV (High Velocity), high muzzle velocity
    • .22 lfB Subsonic ( subsonic ammunition , suitable for weapons with silencers )
    • .22 lfB Z (room cartridge) with the weakest propellant charge for 10 m shooting distance
  • .22 WMR (Winchester Magnum Rimfire)

Center fire

  • Center fire cartridge with boxer ignition

  • Centerfire cartridge with Berdan ignition

use

The caliber .22 lfB is mainly used for sport shooting .

Outside of the disciplines in the DSB , her focus is particularly on inserting barrel in weapons with a larger caliber and as an inexpensive training option.

When hunting the caliber to Germany on small animals ( small game except deer used). Small caliber pistols are only allowed as catching guns in trapping and construction hunts .

definition

In Germany, the colloquial term small caliber is not defined in laws or regulations. Reference is made here to the caliber itself (diameter) as well as the shell shape, bullet materials, speeds and energies.

Small caliber in the military sense

In connection with military weapons, the term small caliber has often been used since the 1960s to refer to the change from larger calibers ( 7.62 × 51 mm NATO , 7.62 × 39 mm , ...) to smaller calibers ( 5.56 × 45 mm NATO , 5.45 × 39 mm ). Smaller caliber ammunition has a flatter trajectory so that sight adjustments are rarely necessary. The ratio of the speed to the mass of the projectiles is greater than with larger calibers (the energy comes more from the speed).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ BJagdG § 19 Paragraph 1: "It is forbidden [...] 2. d) to shoot game with pistols or revolvers, except in the case of construction and trapping as well as for firing catch shots [...]"
  2. ↑ Jan Boger: The Soviet infantry and their weapons 1945 to today. Motorbuch, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-87943-779-3 .