.22 Remington Automatic

The .22 Remington Automatic (also known as the .22 Remington Auto and occasionally .22 Rem Auto) is a .22in (5.6mm) American rimfire rifle cartridge.

.22 Remington Automatic
.22 Remington Automatic cartridge dimensions in millimeters
Type	Rifle
Place of origin	United States
Production history
Produced	1916–1928
Specifications
Case type	Rimmed, straight
Bullet diameter	.223 in (5.7 mm)
Neck diameter	.245 in (6.2 mm)
Base diameter	.245 in (6.2 mm)
Rim diameter	.290 in (7.4 mm)
Case length	.663 in (16.8 mm)
Overall length	.920 in (23.4 mm)
Primer type	Rimfire
Ballistic performance
Bullet mass/type Velocity Energy 45 gr (3 g) 950 ft/s (290 m/s) 90 ft⋅lbf (120 J)
Test barrel length: 22 Source(s): Barnes & Amber 1972

Introduced for the Remington Model 16 semiautomatic rifle in 1916,[1] the .22 Rem Auto was never used in any other firearm.[2] It will not chamber correctly in other .22 rimfire weapons, nor will other .22 rimfire ammunition, including the dimensionally very similar .22 Winchester Automatic,[3] interchange with it.[2] This feature was to prevent use of black powder rounds, which were still popular when it first appeared, from being used in the Model 16, resulting in powder residue rapidly clogging the action and rendering the weapon inoperable.[4]

The power of the .22 Remington Auto is comparable to the .22 Long rimfire, and while it fires a heavier bullet,[2] it offers no performance edge on either the .22 Long or the very much more common .22 Long Rifle.[2] It is not as accurate or as effective as the .22 LR, either.[1]