Rimfire cartridges are best understood by speed. A slow bullet is gentle and quiet, a fast one is flat and loud, and the speed decides what each cartridge is good for. The ladder below runs from the lowest velocity to the highest. The slow rungs: about 700 to 1,250 feet per second The .22 Short, with bullets of about 27 to 29 grains, runs from roughly 700 to 1,100 feet per second depending on...