The .22 in Australia: Choosing Your First Rimfire Rifle
Magnum Sports — NSW Firearms Dealer Licence No. 413159984. Last reviewed: 12 October 2026.
A .22 rimfire is the rifle most Australian shooters should buy first. In NSW a rimfire rifle that is not self-loading sits in Category A, the broadest licence category, and it still needs a licence and a Permit to Acquire. The .22 LR suits rabbits and small vermin inside about 75 metres; the .22 WMR and .17 HMR extend that to foxes at moderate range.
What “rimfire” actually means
The name is literal. In a rimfire cartridge the priming compound sits inside the folded rim of the case, and the firing pin crushes that rim against the edge of the chamber to set it off. A centrefire round carries a separate primer seated in the middle of the case head.
That one difference explains almost everything about the rimfire. The thin rim can only take low pressure, which is why rimfire cartridges are modest performers. The case cannot be reprimed, so rimfire ammunition is not reloadable — if you want to reload, you want a centrefire, and our reloading guide covers that road. And because the cartridge is small, cheap to make and quiet, a rimfire is the only firearm most people can afford to shoot often enough to actually get good.
That last point is the real argument. Marksmanship is built on round count, not on calibre. A shooter who fires a few hundred rimfire rounds a year will out-shoot one who fires twenty centrefire rounds, every time.
Which licence category a .22 sits in
In NSW, Category A covers rimfire rifles other than self-loading. A bolt-action, lever-action or pump-action .22 is therefore Category A, the same category as an air rifle and a break-action shotgun. A self-loading rimfire rifle with a magazine of ten rounds or fewer is Category C, which is restricted to primary producers and a narrow set of other holders with a demonstrated need.
For almost every new shooter that means the path is the ordinary Category A one, and it runs in this order:
- Complete the firearms safety course and apply for the licence. See how to get a firearms licence in NSW.
- Have your storage ready and inspected. Since 1 July 2026 a safe storage inspection sits in front of every Permit to Acquire, so the safe needs to be bought, installed and signed off before the permit can issue. Our safe storage guide sets out what passes, and the safes are at Category A/B/C gun safes.
- Apply for a Permit to Acquire for the specific rifle. The PTA guide explains the wait on a first permit in a category.
- Collect the rifle from us and have it registered.
If the category question is what brought you here, the full category explainer walks through A, B, C, D and H. If you are buying from interstate, see how a dealer transfer works.
.22 LR, .22 WMR or .17 HMR
Three rimfire cartridges account for nearly all Australian use, and they are not interchangeable — a rifle is chambered for one of them.
.22 Long Rifle. A 40-grain bullet at roughly 1,050 to 1,250 feet per second depending on the load. Cheap, quiet, almost no recoil, and the most widely available cartridge in the country. It is a rabbit, hare and small-vermin round, and inside 50 metres it is lethally precise in a decent rifle. Past about 75 metres the bullet is dropping hard and arcing like a thrown stone, which is why honest .22 shooting is close-range shooting.
.22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire. A 40-grain bullet at roughly 1,875 feet per second. Noticeably louder and dearer than .22 LR, and a genuine step up in reach and effect. It handles foxes and larger vermin out to a bit over 100 metres in the right hands. It is also the round people most often buy without needing, having been talked out of a .22 LR they would have shot ten times more often.
.17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire. A 17-grain bullet at roughly 2,550 feet per second — by far the flattest of the three. Inside 130 metres the trajectory is forgiving enough that holdover stops being arithmetic. The trade is wind: a very light bullet at that speed drifts badly, and in open paddocks on a breezy afternoon the .22 WMR often lands closer.
One practical note. Several rifles we stock, including the Bergara Rimfire BMR Steel and the BMR Carbon, are offered in all three chamberings on the same action and stock. If you want to feel the difference rather than read about it, that is the easiest comparison to make at the counter.
If you are deciding between a rimfire and something larger for goats, deer or pigs, that is a different conversation and the .223, .308 and 6.5 Creedmoor comparison is the right page.
What a .22 will and won’t do
A rimfire is a precision tool with a short reach, and most of the bad outcomes come from pretending otherwise.
It will do rabbits, hares and small vermin cleanly, with a head or high-chest shot inside its range. It will do that quietly enough to work around sheds, silos and yards where a centrefire report would be a problem, and with little enough recoil that a new shooter can see their own shot land. It will punch holes in paper all afternoon for very little money, which is how people actually learn to shoot. Our targets are the cheapest improvement available to anybody.
It will not reliably take a fox at 150 metres, and it should not be used to try. It will not take goats, pigs or deer, and in NSW it is not a lawful choice for them. The ethical limit is always the shorter of two distances: the range at which the cartridge still carries enough energy, and the range at which you can place every shot in a vital zone from the position you are actually shooting from. For most shooters with a .22 LR that second number is 50 metres, not 80.
For fox and feral cat work specifically, the setup matters more than the calibre, and we have written both up: fox control — calling, timing and the right rifle setup and feral cat night rigs. Callers and whistles are at prey calls.
Choosing the rifle
Five things decide whether you enjoy a rimfire, and the price tag is not one of them.
The action. A bolt action is the default and the right default: simple, accurate, cheap to maintain, and it teaches deliberate shooting. A lever-action rimfire is a pleasure to use and fine on moving rabbits; our lever-action guide covers the family and, importantly, the difference between lever action and lever release.
The trigger. The single biggest influence on how well you shoot, and the most commonly ignored. Pull it in the shop. A gritty, heavy, creeping trigger will cost you more accuracy than any barrel ever gave you. Many current rimfires have adjustable triggers; ask us to set one before you take it away.
The barrel. A heavier barrel is steadier off a rest and holds its point of aim as it warms, which matters if you shoot strings at paper. A light sporter barrel is far nicer to carry all morning. Choose for the shooting you will actually do, which for most people is walking.
The stock and the fit. A rimfire that fits a shooter’s length of arm and height of cheek will be shot well. One that doesn’t will be shot badly forever, and no amount of glass fixes it. This is worth doing at the counter rather than online.
The magazine. Detachable magazines get lost. Buy a spare with the rifle, because finding one for a discontinued model two years later is a miserable errand.
Three in stock worth handling: the Ruger American Rimfire as a straightforward first bolt-action .22; the Bergara Rimfire BMR Steel where accuracy matters more than weight; and the BMR X Steel with an Element Iris 4-12x44 if you would rather walk out with the rifle, glass and rings already matched. Our full rack is at firearms. Everything on the wall needs a licence and a Permit to Acquire, and we will not sell one without both — come and talk to us before you commit to a model.
Ammunition: the part people get wrong
Rimfire rifles are strikingly fussy about ammunition. Two brands of 40-grain .22 LR, both correct on paper, can group very differently in the same barrel. This is normal and it is not a fault.
The practical method is to buy single boxes of three or four loads, shoot five-shot groups of each at your intended distance on the same afternoon, and then buy the one that wins in bulk. Note the lot number. Rimfire lots vary, and a shooter who has found a load their rifle loves buys deep.
On choosing between types: subsonic loads stay under the speed of sound, so there is no crack from the bullet — markedly quieter, and the right choice close to houses and livestock, at the cost of range. High velocity gives you flatter flight and more effect on target and is the general-purpose choice. Match ammunition is made to much tighter tolerances for paper and will usually out-group both, at a price that makes it a range-day round rather than a paddock round.
Our rimfire loads are at rimfire ammunition and the full range at ammunition.
Ammunition is collection only from our Roseville Chase store. We do not ship ammunition of any kind, to anyone. You will need to show your licence. Buying ammunition in NSW sets out how that works and what the storage rules require once it is home.
Scoping a rimfire
A rimfire does not need a large scope and is actively worse with one. At rimfire distances, magnification beyond about 9x buys you a shaking picture and a narrow field of view.
Two things genuinely matter. The first is parallax: many full-size rifle scopes are factory-set to be parallax-free at 100 metres, and at 25 metres that leaves a small aiming error if your eye is not perfectly centred. Scopes made for rimfires are usually set nearer 50 metres, or have an adjustable objective. The second is mounting height: a rimfire’s low line of sight and slow bullet mean a high-mounted scope needs a lot of holdover at close range. Keep it low.
We mount, torque, level and boresight at the counter, which removes the most common cause of a rifle that “won’t shoot”. Scopes are at rifle scopes, and for closer, faster work a red dot or reflex sight is worth a look.
When your .22 stops behaving
Rimfires foul in a particular way and the symptoms are predictable.
Misfires and light strikes are almost always a dirty bolt face and chamber mouth. Rimfire priming leaves a hard ring of residue exactly where the firing pin needs to crush the rim, and once that ring builds up the strike is cushioned. Clean the bolt face properly — not just the bore — and the problem usually disappears.
Groups that open up over a few hundred rounds are usually lead and wax fouling in the bore, not a worn barrel. Rimfire barrels last an extremely long time. And a rimfire that was shooting well and suddenly isn’t should have its scope mounts checked before anything else: loose base screws are the most common cause of a rifle that has “gone off”.
Frequently asked questions
What is a rimfire rifle?
A rimfire rifle is chambered for a rimfire cartridge, where the priming compound sits inside the rim of the case and the firing pin fires it by crushing the rim. The common ones in Australia are .22 LR, .22 WMR and .17 HMR. They are low-pressure, quiet and cheap to shoot, and the cases cannot be reloaded. In NSW a rimfire rifle that is not self-loading is Category A.
What is a .22 WMR rifle?
A .22 WMR rifle is chambered for the .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire, a 40-grain bullet at roughly 1,875 feet per second. It is louder and dearer to shoot than a .22 LR, and it reaches foxes and larger vermin out to a bit over 100 metres. The two cartridges are not interchangeable: a .22 LR rifle cannot fire .22 WMR, or the reverse.
Can you hunt deer with a .22 rifle?
No. A .22 rimfire does not carry enough energy to take deer cleanly, and in NSW a rimfire is not a lawful choice for deer, goats or pigs. For deer you need a centrefire; our .223, .308 and 6.5 Creedmoor comparison is the place to start.
Is a .22 rifle Category A in NSW?
A rimfire rifle that is not self-loading — bolt, lever or pump action — is Category A. A self-loading rimfire with a magazine of ten rounds or fewer is Category C, which is restricted to primary producers and other holders with a demonstrated need.
Do I need a Permit to Acquire for a .22?
Yes. Every firearm purchase in NSW needs a Permit to Acquire for that specific firearm, on top of the licence. Since 1 July 2026 a safe storage inspection also sits in front of the permit, so get the safe installed early.
Can you post .22 ammunition to me?
No. Ammunition is collection only from our Roseville Chase store, and we do not ship ammunition of any kind. Bring your licence.
.22 LR or .17 HMR for foxes?
Neither is ideal, but of the rimfires the .22 WMR is the honest fox round. The .17 HMR is flatter and excellent in still air; it drifts badly in wind. A .22 LR is a rabbit cartridge and should not be stretched to foxes.
How far will a .22 LR shoot accurately?
In a good rifle with a load it likes, a .22 LR will group well to about 75 metres. The ethical limit for live quarry is usually shorter than that and is set by the shooter, not the cartridge — for most people, 50 metres from a field position.
Is a .22 a good first rifle for a new shooter?
It is the best first rifle for almost everybody. Low recoil, low noise, low cost per shot and no bad habits taught. Come in and we will fit one to you.
This information is general information, not legal advice, collated from various online sources by an LLM assistant. In all cases refer to the NSW Firearms Registry for any legal or ownership matters. E&OE.