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Very common in the later black powder era, early cartridge firearms time period to be precise. When S&W intro'd their #1 chambered in .22 Rimfire, they really started something. It showed that cartridge firearms were a viable idea, and people really latched onto it hard. The (for the time) insanely quick reloads and much greater reliability factor really sold those little guns like crazy.
There was also a meanness factor in that the nasty little things were very heavily lubed, and thus tended to gather all sorts of particulates. When shot into a human body, they were hard to find and thus those particulates would stay in the body, usually producing a nasty, and frequently fatal, case of blood poisoning or other nasty infection. The lil .22 was considered a VERY deadly gun as a result.
The various other rimfire calibres were attempts to increase the power of the cased load to the point where it might be useful for hunting, and to appeal to those that simply could not fathom the idea of a defensive round that pathetically small, infection or no. The .44 Rimfire was even used by units of the Army (cavalry) in one of the odd lever-action formats, I believe.
Centerfire cartridges were developed and the death of large calibre rimfire was assured. The little guys still use rimfire, but that is simply because the case diameter at base is such that even small primers would be tough to put in.
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