Why doesn't someone make a large rimfire rifle???

[Blue]

this has been discussed before, IIRC they dont make it because the ammo isnt as reliable/accurate as centerfire. They did have large rimfire blackpowder cartridges back in the day.

[wilit]

hey guys the reason is quite simple. For rimfire cartridges, the brass must be soft/thin so that the firing pin can crush the rim. This means the cases can"t hold up to high pressure, if you made rimfire 223 or 308, it would be extremely ballistically inferior to its thuroughbread brother.

I asked this question a few years ago and this was pretty much the consensus. You're not going to be able to cope with the same pressures as a centerfire. To be able to make the case hold up to the pressure, you run the risk of making a cartridge that will not go bang reliably.

[xounlistedxox]

I agree it would be a niche market, but think of all of the other niche calibers...
.450 bushmaster
.458 socom
.50 beowulf
.500 s&w magnum
.50dtc
.416
the list goes on and on for niche calibers and/or niche accessories. I figure if the market can support all of the random oddities that are already out there then it would likely support some rimfire high power cartridges

[lawboy]

The reason rimfire is exempt is because it is not seen as an anti-personnel cartridge and so the compromise in the Legislature between the anti-gun crowd and the pro-gun crowd (really more like pro-commerce because Ca has no real pro-gun crowd) was to exempt rimfire because guns chambered for it, regardless of firearm configuration, are not a "threat to the community." If you begin making high powered rimfire cartridges, then you have removed the argument that successfully exempted rimfire and you can bet your bottom dollar that in VERY short order, there would be new legislation covering rimfire and it would cover ALL rimfire, including 22lr. The guy who wrote that the answer it removing the current politicians and getting new ones elected who will support the 2nd Amend. has the ONLY answer.
Besides, there are a lot of problems with high pressure rimfire that make it unattractive to manufacturer for liability reasons.

[xounlistedxox]

If it were possible to as you put it bring legislation in very short order then you can bet your bottom dollar that CA would have already made legislation on the bullet button AR's and would have taken them off of the open market in CA. If someone were to make a safe/reliable high power rimfire it would be many years before CA even had a clue what was going on with it... let alone make some legislation regarding it.