Rimfire Revolution A Complete Guide to Modern .22 Rifles by Michael R. Shea Initial impressions book review

[shakeyhand]

Rimfire Revolution A Complete Guide to Modern .22 Rifles by Michael R. Shea
Published by GunDigest in 2021 and printed in the USA 268 pages

I have had this book for about a week now and will share some of my initial impressions.

First, it is a nice overview of the history of the .22 rimfire cartridge.
Second, it really covers Precision Rimfire Rifles but doesn't cover Speed Steel Challenge rifles.
Third, It heavily relies on interviews when discussing the subject. For example, Chapter 12 is text from the interviews the author conducted for the book.

Here is a list of the chapters:
Chapter 1 Introduction to Rimfires
Chapter 2 Rimfire Rifle History
Chapter 3 Modern Rimfire Ammunition
Chapter 4 Precision Rimfire Rifles
Chapter 5 Rimfire Optics and Accessories
Chapter 6 Rimfire Precision and Accuracy
Chapter 7 Rimfire Cleaning and Care
Chapter 8 Custom Shop: Improvements, Upgrades, and Repairs
Chapter 9 Rimfire Shooting and Sport
Chapter 10 Hunting with Rimfires
Chapter 11 Parting Shots
Chapter 12 The Interviews
Appendixes I Further Reading, II Manufacturers of Note, III NRL22 Gear Survey, IV Common Dope

I will review most of the chapters in a little more detail in a series under this topic.

Today I will discuss Chapter 3 Modern Rimfire Ammunition

Mr Shea opens the chapter with the observation that we are living in the " golden age of rimfire ammunition" where the quality versus price (questionable, considering the current run on ammo) has never been better. He then divides the rimfire ammunition into two camps: good quality, reliable, ammunition at a good cost produced on this side of the Atlantic with great quality match, expensive ammunition produced on the other side of the Atlantic. He observes that The US manufacturers have focused on hitting the manufacturing value sweet spot while the Europeans have concentrated more on "hitting the spot" period. He cites the enormous cost of rebuilding a .22 line as the reason the now 2 US manufacturers don't add precision match ammo. Although the book was published in 2021 it is already dated - the 3 manufacturers he lists are now down to 2. Remington ammunition is now part of Vista along with CCI and Federal. Winchester is the only other US manufacturer now.

He includes specification charts for Short, Long, Long Rifle, and Magnum ,22, and also charts for the .17 rimfire cartridges.

Finally, he hints that new products from boutique manufacturers are beginning to pop up. Exotic alloys and radical bullet shapes and their accompanying ballistic coefficients may soon be commonplace.

I personally use cases of CCI standard velocity clean ammo because it minimizes lead fouling in the compensators on my speed challenge guns but Mr. Shea only includes a photograph of it with the note that it should reduce the fouling in suppressors and no mention of the compensators. This will be a common thread in these reviews - this book is the "complete guide to modern "precision".22 rifles not as the sub-title claims: "A Complete Guide to Modern ,22 Rifles". I would also have appreciated a casual discussion of the properties of the coating epoxy of the clean ammunition and how it effects the velocity and trajectory as well as the fouling.

Finally, in another dated error, he claims that the Ruger 77/17 chambered in .17 WSM is "...the only high-quality production rifle currently available in the caliber" Savage, Franklin, and now Zermatt RimX would probably question that statement.

[buddhaman]

@shakeyhand sounds like you've done most of the homework for us Shakey. Sounds like an interesting enough read, but not as up to date as you might want. It's hard to do so given that the data must first be compiled, placed in a particular format for publication, find a publisher, have the book published & distributed. A rather long road to travel in trying to produce up to date, relative information. But along with footnotes and personal interviews, I would think a much better source of information than searching the internet to see what pops up.
Here's a photo that you may be able to relate to ..... my Grandma trying to help me learn .... abc's, numbers, shapes, reading ..... not quite sure, but she never gave up on me, even upon reaching her age of 98.

[orkan]

@shakeyhand said in Rimfire Revolution A Complete Guide to Modern .22 Rifles by Michael R. Shea Initial impressions book review:

he claims that the Ruger 77/17 chambered in .17 WSM is "...the only high-quality production rifle currently available in the caliber" Savage, Franklin, and now Zermatt RimX would probably question that statement.

I know I would certainly question that statement. lol