[Gary in Indiana]

I recently acquired a rifle that had been my father's and his father's before him. I had used this gun forty years ago and it recently reappeared and I grabbed it. For all of these years I had referred to this as a .22 caliber rifle but apparently was wrong. It will not chamber a .22 and the barrel opening is obviously smaller than that. The gun has no readily identifiable label and the only thing I found that might be of help is a stamping on the bottom of the barrel which appears to read "54mm" though what I'm identifying as the "4" is not plainly readable.

Does anyone know if there is a conversion from 54mm to a relatively standard ordinance caliber that this might use? I'm thinking if I can find the proper ammunition for this I can use it to eliminate some critters around the barn that might want to do bad things to my bikes over the winter. :wink:

 

[ElBando]

It is NOT a 54 MM for sure. Maybe 5.4 mm

 

[J-mac]

sounds like it might be a .17 pellet gun???

54MM is slightly larger than ½". Thats a rather LARGE cal. :lol:

 

[TexWalter]

Well, first of all I am no arms expert but I do all my own reloading. Fifty four millimeters (54mm) is about 2 and 1/4 inches so I doubt that is what it is. However, 5.4mm is roughly 20 caliber and I do believe that there were some older rifles in that caliber. Try googling 20 caliber and see what you come up with.

 

[JustRalph]

a picture might help.........

 

[dicepilot]

I grew up with a Sheridan .20 caliber pellet gun, and still have it today. Pellets that size are hard to find sometimes. Isn't there a .17 caliber rifle?

 

[galute]

5.4mm does equal 22 cal.

 

[Karl H]

Could it possibly be a "short" shooter? I have one of the old shooting gallery guns and it will chamber only 22 shorts, not longs or long rifle.
Karl

 

[LVWolfman]

Well, it certainly wouldn't be a 54mm caliber considing that a 10mm is about the size of a .45 caliber! :lol:

.22 caliber is 5.588 mm in diameter.
.218 = 5.5372 (Bee)
.177 = 4.4958 (pellet/BB gun)
.118 = 2.9972 (Daily "mini" BB)

 

[TexWalter]

5.4mm does equal 22 cal.

5.4 mm = .212
22 caliber = .224

 

[mr.b]

sounds like it might be a .17 pellet gun???

54MM is slightly larger than ½". Thats a rather LARGE cal. :lol:

I sure hope your furnace fixin, etc is a little more accurate than your mathematical calculations, conversions!!

:roll: :roll: :lol: :lol:

 

[barncobob]

is it a cartridge gun with gunpowder or is it a pellet gun. i have a sheridan that takes a .177 pellet i believe and i have another pellet gun that takes a 22 cal pellet. i dont think a 22 bullet will fit in an air rifle, could be dangerous when you start hammering on it.

 

[Gary in Indiana]

I just did some math based on the conversion offered above. As I'd written above, the "4" in what I read to be "5.4mm" was difficult to read. If I calculated correctly, a .22 would convert to a 5.7mm, which this could easily enough have read. I do remember that the ammunition I used left empty shell casings, which I then set up and used as targets. 8)

I'm going to take it to a local gun shp tomorrow and see what they can tell me. Thanks to everyone for their input.

 

[J-mac]

[quote="J-mac":2reohq62]sounds like it might be a .17 pellet gun???

54MM is slightly larger than ½". Thats a rather LARGE cal. :lol:

I sure hope your furnace fixin, etc is a little more accurate than your mathematical calculations, conversions!!

:roll: :roll: :lol: :lol:[/quote:2reohq62]

hey I'm from rochester, we don't turn on our furnaces till the middle of January :lol: :lol:

For some reason *point* 54 popped into my head, I can't read either :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[aht_six]

Could it possibly be a "short" shooter? I have one of the old shooting gallery guns and it will chamber only 22 shorts, not longs or long rifle.
Karl

I'd bet Karl is right. It's not that uncommon for a old rimfire to be chambered for either shorts or longs not long rifles.

 

[barncobob]

you guys are on it i belive. some old rifles only took shorts and not the long rifle or mags.

 

[MikeInWA]

More info would be nice, such as rimfire or centerfire, straight or bottleneck case, etc.

I was going to guess it is a 5mm Remington Rimfire Magnum, but you said you used the gun 40 years ago and the 5mm Rem. wasn't introduced until 1970.

The only other references I can find to 5mm cartridges are either European sporting cartridges, which are too large to be mistaken for .22 (assuming you mean the .22 Long Rifle), or three handgun cartridges.

One of these is similar in appearance to a .22 Long Rifle. It's called the 5.5mm Velo Dog Revolver. Introduced in 1894, loaded in the U.S. by Peters, Remington and Winchester until about 1940. I kinda doubt it's that, though.

I'd be very interested to know what you find out about this rifle!

 

[galute]

5.4mm does equal 22 cal.

5.4 mm = .212
22 caliber = .224

Ok, my gun math sux. Close though.

 

[richard h]

Come on you ex-military guys!
5.56 mm = .223 cal. (same as .22 rimfire)
7.62 mm = .30 cal.

A little more than 25 mm per inch

.40 cal = 10 mm (more or less)


Of course I cheat, a little. I have been shooting since I was 7 years old. I am 59 now. A little more than a half of a century of experience around guns. I am sure there are several of you out there that can show me up.

 

[Jim B.]

If it is a .22 cal., it might be an old "gallery gun." They were popular in the early 1900s and took a cartridge called a .22 automatic. The .22 cal automatic looked like a .22 short. However, a gun chambered for a .22 cal automatic won't fire .22 shorts or longs. .22 automatic cartridges are very hard to find since they haven't been manufactured for more than 25 years.