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The .22 Automatic Rimfire was introduced by Winchester in 1903 for their new M1903 semi-automatic rifle.
At least 300 of these rifles were purchased by the Ministry of Munitions on behalf of the Royal Flying Corps for the purpose of training air gunners. The rifles were attached to the side of Lewis guns and arranged to fire when the trigger of the Lewis was pulled. Gunners sat in mock cockpits which ran on rails or cables and shot at balloons.
Winchester Model 1903 (Courtesy IWM)
Enfield inspection stamp on Winchester M 1903 (Courtesy IWM)
Method of attaching M1903 to Lewis gun
Ball Mark I
"Cartridge .22 inch Rim Fire Smokeless Winchester Auto-rifle Mark I" was approved to design IDW (A)17 but was not shown in Lists of Changes paragraph 23783 until October 1920 for record.
The rimfire case was slightly longer and fatter than the .22 inch Long and was made of copper alloy. the headstamps were the normal commercial one of the supplier.
The bullet was lead and weighed 45 grains
The propellant was about 4 grains of Winchester smokeless powder
Muzzle velocity was 1,055 fps
Comparison of .22 inch long (left) with .22 inch WRF
The bulk of the ammunition was purchased from Winchester and the Western Cartridge Company but small quantities were also purchased from Remington-union metallic Company.
Typical headstamps (Left to right) Western Cartridge Co., Remington-UMC, Winchester.
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