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 gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...
cartridge.
Introduced for the
Winchester Model 1903 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, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...
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 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.
See also
*
List of cartridges by caliber
*
List of rifle cartridges
*
List of rimfire cartridges
*
5 mm caliber
References
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
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