The .22 WMR — the .22 Magnum — occupies a strange shelf: dramatically outrunning .22 LR on every ballistic line, while costing enough per round to make you do arithmetic at the counter. In rifles the debate is well-worn. In revolvers it has its own shape, because short barrels change what the magnum actually delivers and snub-size guns change why anyone's asking. Here's the honest map.
What the WMR actually adds
The .22 WMR runs a longer, larger-diameter case at substantially higher pressure than the .22 LR — the two are not interchangeable in either direction — and uses jacketed bullets where the LR world runs plain or plated lead. From rifle barrels the result is dramatic: far more velocity, flatter flight, and genuine authority on small-to-medium varmints well past .22 LR's comfortable envelope. The magnum was built as a field cartridge, and in the field role it is exactly as advertised: the rimfire that hits like it means it.
What a revolver barrel keeps — and spends
Short barrels tax every cartridge, and they tax the WMR's headline numbers hard: a snub-length tube captures a fraction of the velocity a rifle produces, and the unburned balance exits as genuinely impressive muzzle flash and blast. The magnum from a two-inch revolver is still meaningfully hotter than a .22 LR from the same gun — the gap doesn't close, it just shrinks — but buyers imagining rifle-table ballistics from a pocket gun are buying a brochure. What survives the short barrel intact: better performance per shot than LR, jacketed bullets, and the WMR's flatter-shooting confidence in longer-barreled field revolvers, where the cartridge's revolver case is strongest.
The cost line changes everything
Here's the number that settles most versions of this debate: WMR typically runs several times the per-round cost of bulk .22 LR, and it never goes on the kind of sale that fills bricks. That's survivable for a field gun fed a box at a time. It's fatal for the training mission — because as our .22 revolver argument lays out, the rimfire revolver's greatest value is cheap repetitions, and the magnum prices the repetitions like centerfire. A .22 WMR trainer is a contradiction in terms.
So who should buy the magnum?
The field-first owner. If the revolver's job is varmints, pests, and trapline or homestead duty — especially with a four-inch-plus barrel — the WMR's extra authority is real and worth its price per use. This is the cartridge's home turf.
The ultralight-carry experimenter. A niche but real category: tiny magnum rimfire revolvers as deep-concealment or backup guns, where the WMR's jacketed bullets from short barrels outperform LR meaningfully. The Pathfinder Lite in .22 WMR — a two-inch alloy magnum at a working price — is exactly this idea in metal. Go in eyes-open: rimfire primes remain less certain than centerfire, and the flash and bark from a snub magnum are memorable. It's a considered choice, not a default.
Everyone else: the LR keeps the crown. For training, plinking, new shooters, and general woods-loafing, .22 LR's cost, availability, and adequacy are untouchable. Feed the mission from the .22 LR board and bank the difference.
Never interchange them. .22 WMR and .22 LR are dimensionally different cartridges — LR rounds in a WMR chamber are dangerously loose-fitting, and WMR rounds don't belong anywhere near an LR cylinder. Convertible revolvers solve this properly with two dedicated swap cylinders, one per cartridge; if that flexibility appeals, our convertible revolver guide covers the breed. Absent a purpose-built convertible, one gun means one rimfire cartridge, full stop.
Bottom line
The .22 WMR is a genuine performer with a specific address: field revolvers with barrel length to use it, and the ultralight-carry niche that values its short-barrel edge. The .22 LR remains the volume king that makes rimfire revolvers worth owning at all. Buy the magnum for a mission, the LR for everything — and if you find yourself wanting both, that's not indecision. That's just the correct two-revolver safe.
Frequently asked questions
Can I shoot .22 LR in a .22 WMR revolver?
No — despite the similar names, the cartridges are dimensionally different. .22 LR cases are dangerously undersized for WMR chambers. The only safe way to run both is a convertible revolver that ships with two dedicated cylinders, one per cartridge.
Is .22 WMR worth it from a snub-nose barrel?
It keeps a real edge over .22 LR from short barrels — jacketed bullets and meaningfully more energy — but delivers only a fraction of its rifle-barrel ballistics, with substantial flash and blast. It's a legitimate niche choice for ultralight carry, not a pocket rifle.
Is .22 Magnum good for self-defense?
It's a compromise choice occupying the floor of defensible options — chosen mostly for ultralight revolvers where recoil tolerance or hand strength rule out centerfire. Within the niche, its short-barrel performance beats .22 LR; anyone who can run a centerfire compact well is better served there.