.22 caliber, or 5.6 mm caliber, refers to a common firearms bore diameter of 0.22 inch (5.6 mm). Cartridges in this caliber include the very widely used

.22 Long Rifle The .22 Long Rifle or simply .22 LR or 22 (metric designation: 5.6×15mmR) is a long-established variety of .22 caliber rimfire ammunition originating from the United States. It is used in a wide range of rifles, pistols, revolvers, smo ...

and

.223 Remington The .223 Remington (designated as the 223 Remington by the SAAMI and 223 Rem by the CIP) is a rimless, bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It was developed in 1957 by Remington Arms and Fairchild Industries for the U.S. Continental Army Command ...

5.56×45mm NATO The 5.56×45mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 5.56 NATO, but often pronounced "five-five-six") is a rimless bottlenecked intermediate cartridge family developed in the late 1970s in Belgium by FN Herstal. It consists of the SS109, L110, and ...

. .22 inch is also a popular

air gun An air gun or airgun is a gun that fires projectiles pneumatically with compressed air or other gases that are mechanically pressurized ''without'' involving any chemical reactions, in contrast to a firearm, which pressurizes gases ''chemica ...

pellet caliber, second only to the ubiquitous

.177 caliber .177 caliber or 4.5 mm caliber is the smallest diameter of pellets and BB shots widely used in air guns, and is the only caliber generally accepted for formal target competition. It is also sometimes used for hunting small game, like fow ...

Rimfire

.22-inch caliber rimfire variations include: ;In production *

.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 ...

, a cartridge predating the .22 LR, with the same case length but a lighter bullet *

(LR), the most common cartridge type of this caliber, often referred to simply as ".22 caliber" * .22 Long Rifle Extra Long (LR EX), a variant of .22LR with a longer casing but identical overall cartridge dimensions (see CCI Stinger) *

.22 Short .22 Short is a variety of .22 caliber (5.6 mm) rimfire ammunition. Developed in 1857 for the first Smith & Wesson revolver, the .22 rimfire was the first American metallic cartridge. The original loading was a bullet and of black powd ...

, a cartridge used mostly in pocket pistols and mini-revolvers *

.22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire The .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire, also called .22 WMR, .22 Magnum, .22 WMRF, .22 MRF, or .22 Mag, is a rimfire cartridge. Originally loaded with a bullet weight of delivering velocities in the range from a rifle barrel, .22 WMR is now loaded ...

(WMR), a magnum cartridge that is longer and more powerful than the .22 LR *

.22 Winchester Rimfire The .22 Winchester Rimfire (commonly called the .22 WRF) is an American rimfire rifle cartridge. History Introduced in the Winchester M1890 slide rifle, it had a flat-nose slug, and is identical to the .22 Remington Special (which differed o ...

(WRF), a cartridge originally introduced to provide higher velocity than the .22 LR ;Obsolete *

.22 Extra Long The .22 Extra Long is a .22 in (5.6 mm) American rimfire rifle and handgun cartridge. Description Introduced around 1880, the .22 Extra Long was used in Remington, Ballard, Wesson, Stevens, and later (1916) models of Winchester's M19 ...

, a cartridge predating the .22 LR, not offered commercially since 1935 *

.22 Winchester Automatic The .22 Winchester Automatic (also known as the .22 Winchester Auto and occasionally .22 Win Auto) is a American rimfire rifle cartridge. Introduced for the Winchester Model 1903 semiautomatic rifle,Barnes, p.275, ".22 Winchester Automatic" ...

, a cartridge specific to the Winchester Model 1903 rifle ;Special-use * .22 BB (Bulleted Breech cap), a low-velocity cartridge designed for indoor target shooting *

.22 CB The .22 CB cap (conical breech cap) is a more powerful version of the .22 BB cap (aka: 6mm Flobert) rimfire metallic cartridge, which was invented by Louis-Nicolas Flobert in 1845. The .22 BB cap and .22 CB cap are interchangeable and are rela ...

(Conical Ball cap), a low-velocity cartridge designed for indoor target shooting

Centerfire

.22-inch caliber centerfire cartridges include: ;Metric *

5.56×30mm MINSAS The 5.56×30mm MINSAS is a firearm cartridge manufactured by India's Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) for close-quarters combat use. It has an effective range of and good penetration against body armor. OFB claims it exhibits penetration superior to ...

, a cartridge for close-quarter battle use *

, an

intermediate cartridge An intermediate cartridge is a rifle/carbine cartridge that has significantly greater power than a pistol cartridge but still has a reduced muzzle energy compared to fully powered cartridges (such as the .303 British, 7.62×54mmR, 7.92×57mm ...

widely used in

AR-15 style rifle An AR-15-style rifle is any lightweight semi-automatic rifle based on the Colt AR-15 design. The original ArmaLite AR-15 is a scaled-down derivative of Eugene Stoner's ArmaLite AR-10 design. The then Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation d ...

s * 5.7×28mm, a cartridge manufactured by FN Herstal ;.22 * .22 Accelerator, a special loading of the .30-30, .308, and .30-06 cartridges that is manufactured by Remington *

.22 BR Remington The .22 Bench Rest Remington cartridge, commonly referred to as the .22 BR Remington, is a wildcat cartridge commonly used in varmint hunting and benchrest shooting. It is based on the .308×1.5-inch Barnes cartridge, necked down to .22 calibe ...

, a wildcat cartridge commonly used in varmint hunting and benchrest shooting *

.22 CHeetah The .22 CHeetah (both C and H are upper-case, referring to ''Carmichel'' / ''Huntington'') is a .22 wildcat cartridge developed in the 1970s or 1980s by Jim Carmichel and Fred Huntington. The .22 CHeetah is essentially a Remington .308 BR, modifi ...

, a cartridge based on the Remington 308 BR, modified to .22 caliber *

.22 Eargesplitten Loudenboomer Parker Otto Ackley (May 25, 1903, Granville, New York – August 23, 1989) was an American gunsmith, barrel maker, author, columnist, and wildcat cartridge developer. The Ackley Improved family of wildcat cartridges are designed to be easily mad ...

, a cartridge based on a .378 Weatherby Magnum case intended to deliver high muzzle velocity * .22 Hornet (5.6×35mmR), a powerful cartridge variant introduced in 1930 *

.22 Nosler Nosler produces six different hunting cartridges. The first to be introduced was .26 Nosler, followed by .28 Nosler, .30 Nosler, .33 Nosler, .22 Nosler, and .27 Nosler. .22 Nosler The .22 Nosler is a .22-caliber (.224 in; 5.6 mm), reb ...

, a cartridge introduced in 2017 intended for use in AR-15-style rifles *

.22 PPC The .22 PPC is a centerfire rifle cartridge developed in 1974 by Dr. Louis Palmisano and Ferris Pindell, primarily as a benchrest cartridge. The cartridge is based on the 5.6×39mm (.220 Russian) case which is a necked-down version of the 7.62×3 ...

, a firearm cartridge used primarily in benchrest shooting *

.22 Remington Jet The .22 Remington Jet (also known as .22 Jet, .22 Center Fire Magnum, or .22 CFM)Barnes, p.148, ".22 Remington Jet". is a .22 in (5.6mm) American centerfire revolver and rifle cartridge. Developed jointly by Remington and Smith & Wesson, it w ...

, a cartridge designed for the Smith & Wesson Model 53 revolver *

.22 Savage Hi-Power The .22 Savage Hi-Power cartridge (aka: 5.6×52mmR) was created by Charles Newton and introduced by Savage Arms in 1912. It was designed to be used in the Savage Model 99 hammerless lever action rifle. It is based upon the .25-35 Winchester ...

(5.6×52mmR), a cartridge introduced by Savage in 1912 for use in the Savage Model 99 rifle *

.22 Spitfire The .22 Spitfire (Originally the Johnson MMJ 5.7mm Spitfire, also known as 5.7mm Johnson or 5.7mm MMJ) is an American wildcat rifle cartridge developed by Melvin Johnson. In 1963, firearms designer Melvin Johnson developed a conversion of the ...

(5.7mm Johnson), a cartridge introduced in 1963 for use in the .30 Carbine *

.22 TCM The .22 TCM or 22TCM (.22 Tuason Craig Micromagnum) is a proprietary bottle-necked cartridge created from a 5.56 NATO cartridge developed by custom gunsmith Fred Craig and Rock Island Armory (RIA) for semi-automatic pistols and the Rock Island ...

(22 Micro-Mag), a shortened .223 Remington case designed to load into standard 9mm pistol magazines *

.22 Winchester Centerfire .22 Winchester Centerfire (.22 WCF) is a small centerfire cartridge introduced in 1885 for use in the Winchester Model 1885 single-shot rifle. Factory manufacture of ammunition was discontinued in 1936. The .22 WCF was loaded with a 45 grain bulle ...

(WCF), a cartridge introduced in 1885 for use in a Winchester single-shot rifle *

.22-250 Remington The .22-250 Remington is a very high-velocity, short action, .22 caliber rifle cartridge primarily used for varmint hunting and small game hunting. It is capable of reaching over 4000 feet per second. It does find occasional use by women and youn ...

, a very high velocity cartridge ;.220 *

.220 Rook The .220 Rook, also known as the .220 Long Centrefire, is an obsolete British centerfire rifle cartridge. Overview The .220 Rook is a rimmed cartridge originally designed for use in rook rifles, it was designed and produced in Britain in th ...

(.220 Long Centrefire), an obsolete British cartridge of the 1880s * .220 Russian (5.6×39mm), a 7.62×39mm cartridge necked down to hold a 5.6 mm bullet *

.220 Swift The .220 Swift (5.56×56mmSR) is a semi-rimmed rifle cartridge developed by Winchester and introduced in 1935 for small game and varmint hunting. It was the first factory-loaded rifle cartridge with a muzzle velocity of over , just under ...

(5.56×56mmSR), the first cartridge (1935) with a muzzle velocity of over 4,000 ft/s (1,200 m/s) ;.221 *

.221 Remington Fireball The .221 Remington Fireball, often simply referred to as .221 Fireball, is a centerfire cartridge created by Remington Arms Company in 1963 as a special round for use in their experimental single-shot bolt-action pistol, the XP-100. A shortened v ...

, a special cartridge for use in the experimental XP-100 pistol (1963) ;.222 *

.222 Remington The .222 Remington or 5.7×43mm (C.I.P), also known as the triple deuce, triple two, and treble two, is a centerfire rifle cartridge. Introduced in 1950, it was the first commercial rimless .22 (5.56 mm) cartridge made in the United Stat ...

, the first commercial rimless .22 (5.56 mm) cartridge made in the United States (1950) *

.222 Remington Magnum The .222 Remington Magnum was a short-lived commercially produced cartridge derived from the .222 Remington. Originally developed for a US military prototype Armalite AR-15 rifle in 1958, the cartridge was not adopted by the military, but ...

, a short-lived commercially-produced cartridge derived from the .222 Remington *

.222 Rimmed The .222 Rimmed is a centrefire rifle cartridge, originating in Australia in the 1960s as a cartridge for single shot rifles, particularly the Martini Cadet action. Performance is similar to the .222 Remington on which it is based however loads ...

, an Australian cartridge of the 1960s for single-shot rifles ;.223 *

, a commercial cartridge developed for the ArmaLite AR-15, from which the 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge was derived *

.223 Winchester Super Short Magnum The .223 WSSM (Winchester Super Short Magnum, 5.56×42mm) is a .224 caliber rifle cartridge created by Winchester and Browning based on a shortened version of the Winchester Short Magnum case. History The .223 WSSM was introduced in 2003 by t ...

(WSSM, 5.56×42mm), a cartridge based on the Winchester Short Magnum case ;.224 *

.224 Boz The .224 Boz cartridge was developed in the late 1990s, designed as a candidate replacement cartridge for adoption as the standardized NATO ("STANAG") Personal defense weapon PDW round, originally solicited to replace the longstanding NATO standar ...

, a cartridge developed in the late 1990s, intended to defeat body armor *

.224 Valkyrie The .224 Valkyrie (5.6×41 mm)
(5.6 mm) rim ...

(5.6×41mm), a cartridge similar to the 5.56×45mm NATO, with a shorter case length *

.224 Weatherby Magnum The .224 Weatherby Magnum (5.56×49mmB) is a sporting cartridge that was developed in 1963 by Roy Weatherby after about 10 years of development. It is a proprietary cartridge with no major firearms manufacturers chambering rifles for it other ...

(5.56×49mmB), a cartridge developed in 1963 for use in the Weatherby Varmintmaster rifle *

.224-32 FA Freedom Arms is a Freedom, Wyoming based firearm manufacturing company, known for producing powerful single-action revolvers. The company was founded in 1978 by Wayne Baker and Dick Casull to produce the Mini revolver then later a revolver cham ...

, a cartridge designed in 2009 for use in the Freedom Arms Model 97 revolver ;.225 *

.225 Winchester The .225 Winchester cartridge was introduced in 1964 by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was a prominent American manufacturer of repeating firearms and ammunition. The firm was established in 186 ...

, a replacement for the .220 Swift cartridge, introduced in 1964

Rimfire

Centerfire

See also