This is just a super nerdy article on what if when John Browning invented the .25 ACP it supplanted .22 Rimfire and Rimfire ammo went the way of Pinfire.
Go have a read, but it makes perfect sense!
And for the nay-sayers this is the big take-away:
But what else would this mean? Well, a few things I think. And most of these things make me wish we lived in that alternate universe.
Scalability: This is probably the most important thing for most shooters. Rimfire ammunition has to be produced on special machinery, designed specifically for producing rimfire ammunition. This means that when there is a huge run on the market for .22, ammo makers cannot simply “scale up” production; they are limited by the capacity of the equipment they own (or obviously, any huge additional investment they are willing to make). This isn’t the case with centerfire ammunition.
Centerfire ammo lines are much more versatile. The ol’ .45 Auto ain’t selling so well but we’re outta .38 Special? No problem; let’s tool up half of those machines for .38 Special and increase output. Half the reason for the massive price hikes and lack of availability of .22 a couple of years ago was due largely to an increase in demand, but a very finite production capability. Having our plinkers loaded up with a centerfire round would help alleviate this a little.
Also remember that .25 ACP is semi-rimmed, that means it can work in a revolver just as easily as semi-auto, but with less rim to allow rim-lock in the latter.
And Centerfire is just a better technology than rimfire, hence why .22 LR. .22 WMR, and .17 HMR are pretty much the only rimfires left in a world filled with a rainbow of centerfire cartridges!
Give it a read!
