The .22 Winchester Automatic (also known as the .22 Winchester Auto and occasionally .22 Win Auto) is a American rimfire

rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with bo ...

cartridge. Introduced for the

Winchester Model 1903 The Winchester Model 1903 was the first commercially available semi-automatic firearm made by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. History The Winchester Model 1903 was designed by T.C. Johnson, who had joined Winchester in 1885 and had become ...

semiautomatic rifle,Barnes, p.275, ".22 Winchester Automatic". the .22 Win Auto was never used in any other firearm. It will not chamber correctly in other .22 rimfire weapons, nor will other .22 rimfire ammunition, including the very dimensionally-similar .22 Remington Automatic,Barnes, p.275, ".22 Winchester Automatic", & p.283. interchange with it. This feature was to prevent use of

black powder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). Th ...

rounds, which were still popular when it first appeared, from being used in the M1903, resulting in powder residue rapidly clogging the action and rendering the weapon inoperable. The power of the .22 Win Auto is comparable to the

.22 Long 22 Long is a variety of 22 caliber (5.6 mm) rimfire ammunition. The 22 Long is the second-oldest of the surviving rimfire cartridges, dating back to 1871, when it was loaded with a 29 grain (1.9 g) bullet and 5 grains (0.32 g) of black po ...

rimfire, and while it fires a heavier bullet, it offers no performance edge on either the .22 Long or the very much more common .22 Long Rifle.

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Notes

*Barnes, Frank C., ed. by John T. Amber. ".22 Winchester Automatic", in ''Cartridges of the World'', pp. 275, 282, & 283. Northfield, IL: DBI Books, 1972. . Pistol and rifle cartridges Rimfire cartridges Winchester Repeating Arms Company cartridges Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1903 {{ammo-stub

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