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rimfire

[rim-fahyuh r]
adjective
  1. (of a cartridge) having the primer in a rim encircling the base.Compare center-fire(def 1).
  2. (of a firearm) designed for the use of such cartridges.
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Origin of rimfire

An Americanism dating back to 1865–70; rim + fire
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for rim-fire

Historical Examples of rim-fire

  • It is also made for rifled small-arms especially for rim-fire rifles.

    The New Gresham Encyclopedia

    Various

  • "What we call a rim-fire saddle," laughed Searles, who joined the conversation.

  • You say, Mr. Hale, the prisoner told you the night you spent at his home that this rifle was rim-fire?

  • In rim-fire cartridges the .22-calibre conical-ball cartridge is used in considerable quantity.

  • The chief faults of the rim-fire cartridges are danger and unreliability caused by the action of heat on the lubricant.

British Dictionary definitions for rim-fire

rim-fire

adjective
  1. (of a cartridge) having the primer in the rim of the base
  2. (of a firearm) adapted for such cartridges
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Compare centre-fire
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012