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 relatively quiet, low velocity cartridges, designed for indoor target shooting.

History

Designed to be a cross between the .22 BB and

.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 ...

, and first catalogued in around 1888 (though probably first made before that), it "managed to combine about all the disadvantages... f bothinto one generally useless cartridge",Barnes, p.273, ".22 CB Cap". being no more accurate than either while being noisier than the .22 BB cap, and penetrating much deeper, requiring a backstop as strong as for the .22 Short, thereby negating the CB cap's advantages for shooting indoors. American ammunition manufacturers dropped the .22 CB cap in the 1940s. In Europe, the .22 BB cap and .22 CB cap are both called "6mm Flobert" and are considered the same cartridge. In Europe, the cartridge is still used in cheap rifles meant for short-range pest control. Although RWS in Germany, Eley-

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in Britain, and

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stopped making the 6mm Flobert in the 1970s, it is still manufactured and sold in some European countries. For example, in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Flobert guns fall within the same weapon category as air rifles, which are usually unaffected by gun laws. 6mm Flobert ammunition is also used in antique firearms chambered for the .22 Short and the .22 Long, as most modern ammunition has much higher pressure than the old black powder cartridges these guns were chambered for.

Description

The .22 CB cap has a very small

propellant A propellant (or propellent) is a mass that is expelled or expanded in such a way as to create a thrust or other motive force in accordance with Newton's third law of motion, and "propel" a vehicle, projectile, or fluid payload. In vehicles, the ...

charge (usually no

gunpowder 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). T ...

, just the

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), resulting in a low muzzle velocities of between 350 and 853 feet per second (107 and 260 m/s).''Cartridges of the World 11th Edition'', Book by Frank C. Barnes, Edited by Stan Skinner, Gun Digest Books, 2006, p. 476 Due to their low power, classic CB rounds used in indoor target practice can be trapped by many pellet gun traps since some modern pellet guns exceed the velocity of the CB round (however, this depends on the limits designed in the individual pellet trap). In longer rifle barrels the CB has a ''very'' quiet, seemingly non-existent report due to the lack of residual pressure at the muzzle (see

Internal ballistics Internal ballistics (also interior ballistics), a subfield of ballistics, is the study of the propulsion of a projectile. In guns, internal ballistics covers the time from the propellant's ignition until the projectile exits the gun barrel. The s ...

). The CB loses velocity fast in longer barrels, due to the lack of anything other than the primer as a propellant.

Modern rounds

The original .22 CB cap has the same tiny case as the .22 BB cap and the two cartridges are interchangeable. There are now .22 rounds sold as .22 CB Short and .22 CB Long which come in the standard .22 Rimfire cartridge case sizes to allow the rounds to be used in standard magazine-fed firearms which would likely jam with the tiny BB or CB cases. The CCI .22 CB Short and .22 CB Long use the same 29-grain bullet as the regular .22 Short and .22 Long. The CCI CB rounds have muzzle velocities of 720 feet per second (ft/s) for an impact energy of 33 foot/pounds (ft-lb). The standard .22 Short and .22 Long fire the same bullet weight at 1,045 ft/s for 70 ft-lb. The CB rounds are relatively quiet for short range target practice, control of small pests, or use in older .22 guns that might not be safe with modern high pressure rounds. For trapping these CB Short and CB Long rounds in indoor target practice, a standard .22 bullet trap is needed. Other modern CB type rounds, such as the .22 Aguila Colibri and .22 Aguila Super Colibri, have bullets in the same weight range as the original CB cap with velocities in the 300 ft/s to 500 ft/s range using the Long case.

Specifications

*Case length: **BB and CB cap: **Short: **Long: *Bullet weight: **BB and CB cap typically 18

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(1.15 g) **Short and Long typically 29 grains (1.9 g) *Muzzle velocity: **BB Cap typically: 780 f/s (240 m/s) **CB Cap typically: 853 f/s (260 m/s) **Short typically: 900 f/s (275 m/s) **Long typically: 1060 f/s (320 m/s)

Literature

*Barnes, Frank C., ed. by John T. Amber. ".22 CB Cap", in ''Cartridges of the World'', pp. 273, 282, & 283. Northfield, IL: DBI Books, 1972. .

References