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A rimfire cartridge is a type of ammunition where the priming compound is located within the hollow rim of the shell casing. This design allows an external hammer to crush the rim at a specific point, igniting the primer and firing the round.12

Rimfire cartridges were among the first successful breech-loading cartridges and were particularly effective in pistols and smaller repeating carbines due to limitations in case strength for high-powered rifle cartridges. While center-fire cartridges now dominate larger calibers, rimfire ammunition, such as the .22 caliber, remains popular for small-bore, low-powered applications.23

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