If you are just starting out with the sport of hunting, there are essential things that you should know in order to enjoy the sport properly. These things would include different knowledge of the field regarding various factors such as clothing, techniques and places to go. However, the most important of all would be adequate knowledge on weapons.

One of the essential weapons for hunting would be rifles. This is why you should get to know the main difference with each kind along with their advantages and disadvantages. For starters, you might always encounter the term Centre fire and rim fire with regard to rifles. So 303 British ammo  what exactly is the deal between the two? Read on and learn.

What’s The Deal With The Two?

If you’re wondering why these two are important, it is because these are the main types of rifles and one way or another, you would have to choose between the two of them, or have both. Although there have been other methods of cartridge priming, these are the only two that have survived through time.

What Are Rim Fire Rifles?

Rim fire rifles are basically rifles that use the rim fire type of ammunition. So in general, when the term “rim fire” is used, this pertains to a kind of firearm cartridge. It’s called so because rather than having the firing pin strike the cartridge’s primer cap, which can be found at its base’s center, to ignite it; the pin would have to strike the base’s rim.

This kind of cartridge’s rim is essentially a widened and percussion cap that contains the cartridge’s priming compound. Also, the cartridge’s case itself contains propellant powder along with the projectile bullet. As soon as the cartridge’s rim is struck and the bullet is discharged, the cartridge could not be reloaded anymore, since its head would have been deformed by the impact of the firing pin.

Because of the thin casing of Rimfires, they are limited in having low pressure calibers. Nowadays, you can only find caliber.22 (5.5 mm) and smaller for this type. Because of these low pressures, it means that they could be very light and most of all, inexpensive too. Such kind of characteristics became a factor to its popularity, which until now continues.

What Are Center Fire Rifles?

A centre fire rifle, on the other hand, would be a rifle that uses the centre fire type of cartridge. This cartridge would have its primer located at its cartridge case head’s centre; unlike with rim fires where the primer would be a replaceable and separate component.

This type of cartridge has replaced rimfire types in all categories except for the smallest sized cartridges. Except for low-powered.17 and.22 caliber cartridges, and a number of antiques, all modern rifles, pistols and shotguns have centre fire ammunition.

The advantage of this type is that it could be reused after you replace the projectile, primer, and gunpowder. This would be a great advantage for rifle types that use obsolete or hard to find cartridges like the 6.5×54 Mannlicher or the.458 Lott, which has quite expensive ammunition can. These are also generally larger in size and have the capability of having higher powered loads. They are more powerful because they could hold higher pressures compared to rim fire cartridges. Hence, they are also much efficient in regard to their size. If you’ll be using this for target shooting, then you may find them to be expensive. However, if you’ll be using it for large game hunting, then you could definitely benefit from it.