are these the same size as the actual 22 LR? I purchased a snap cap recently, but they were shorter than the actual 22 LR ammo

Milcor, These snap caps are the size of actual 22 ammo. I say that with .22 cal. ammo by Federal being noticeably taller than .22 cal ammo by Remington. These snap caps do the perfect job of protecting the firing pin during dry-firing.Dave Rogoz

Maybe a stupid question but can't you use the empty brass casings from the firing range and put in the bore to protect the camber bore and firing pin?

Yes and no. Yes, if you understand that brass thins every time it is hit and you should not hit the same place twice. You can damage the firing pin. No, if you want to load a magazine. You cannot load it with your old brass. And the used brass can be difficult to remove from the chamber. Finally using brass makes it possible to confuse live ammo with used brass. A very bad accident waiting to happen.The snap caps will break down, but are not very expensive especially from Amazon.Because of the potential problems I personally would never use used brass, too many problems can occur.

Can I use this as a .22 lr round?

If you mean, "is it a real bullet?" The answer is no. It is just a piece of plastic molded in the shape of a 22 LR round. It is for practice loading and unloading. If you plan to use it for dry firing your firearm so that you do not damage the firing pin, each snap cap will only last a few tries. The rim breaks off.

For ruger lcr22? what is rim fire? i want to practice firing and this is a better price but...

Rimfire is an actual mechanics of discharging the explosive charge in a cartridge which releases the bullet. In 22 LR ammo a strike plate is used versus a firing pin (centerfire). In 22LR it is imperative to not discharge an empty chamber which most probably will cause mechanical damage.The Ruger LCR 22 is a light weight handgun and these snap caps allow you to test fire (dry fire) your trigger and or magazines without causing damage to the weapon. I use snap caps in all of my weapons when "dry firing" to prevent any possible damage. I hope this helped? Garwa