What is the diffence between a rimfire rifle and a centrefire rifle?
Centerfire cartridges are now made with solid heads, in the center of which is a pocket with a hole in the bottom. In this pocket, called the primer pocket, is place the primer, aka cap. It is struck by the firing pin, causing the priming compound in the primer to explode and igniting the powder charge of the cartridge. Rimfire cartridges are made with hollow rims and thin heads. The priming compound is inserted into the case and the cases are spunt to distribute the priming compound into the hollow rim of the cartridge. The firing pin strikes the rim, crusing it and causing the priming compound to explode and igniting the powder charge. In the early days of metallic cartridges, there were some pretty large bore rimfire cartridges, up to .58 caliber. However, all the rimfire cartridges were relatively low pressure and not terribly powerful. As rifles and handguns improved in strength, it was found that rimfire cartridge cases were not strong enough to contain the pressures of heavy pow
