22 Quiet Ammo

[earlmck]

I bought a new toy the other day -- one of those "radar chronographs". Pretty slick! It is so easy to check velocities that I've been chrono-ing stuff I hadn't bothered with previously -- pellet guns, 22's with different ammo.

Anyway, I recall some time back folks here discussed the use of the "Aguila sniper subsonic" 60 grain stuff. Some guns didn't stabilize the 60 grain bullet enough to get accuracy. Can't seem to find the thread when I search -- I am badly search-handicapped for stuff here on "Leverguns". But I had bought a carton of it several years ago and finally got around to trying it out today and was very impressed. Out of my little Ruger 77-22 with the suppressor it seemed like all I heard was the firing pin strike. Didn't have paper target set up but the tin cans at 100 yards were bouncing nicely with maybe a 3" higher hold than my regular CCI stuff. 967 fps with SD of 9. And the CCI standard velocity was almost as quiet, 1063 fps with the same SD of 9. GGkid looked up at me -- said "sheesh! we could shoot this tuff in the living room!".

Going to the Ruger auto pistol though the 60 grainers are quiet enough but not real consistent in the accuracy department. The CCI standard, however, was great.

While I had kids shooting stuff I set the chrono down by the son who was wondering why his 22 was so poor on the tin cans everybody else was bouncing around. His Thunderbolt 22's chrono'd 1210 fps with a SD of 53 and extreme spread of 228 fps!! Now that is some terrible crappy ammo. He then broke out a bulk pack of Federal hollow points, 1248 fps with SD of just 10. And his bad-shootin' 22 started to get the tin cans jumping much more satisfactorily.

[Walt]

Earl, I bought one of those about 6 months ago and I'm impressed. I love it!

[Ysabel Kid]

Interesting report! So no baffle strikes with the 60-grainers - that is good news!

[Bill in Oregon]

Earl, I recall getting poor accuracy when I played with that 60-grain Aguila ammo some time back. Sure looks cool.
Did you get the Garmin or the LabRadar unit? I wish the Garmins would come down in price.

[GunnyMack]

I have a brick of those around here somewhere, the stability was poor at best from the few guns I tried them in. However they are quiet.
At one time I believe Green Mountain made a faster twist barrel for these for the 10/22 I think. Or maybe they were just blanks...

I've heard nothing but good about the Garmin units. I'd be willing to try one out if Bill would send me one!

[Rockrat]

Try the CCI Subsonic, called nowadays I think CCI Suppressor. 970 fps with a 45gr HP. Shoots well and fairly quiet out of a 27" barrel.

[Pat C]

I shot my New Frontier with CCI QUIET 710FPS Friday at
25 yards offhand and 10 yards offhand .Had one misfire ,double strike finally pulled the bullet.

[earlmck]

Interesting report! So no baffle strikes with the 60-grainers - that is good news!

I made sure they shot straight before I screwed on the suppressor. I'll do the same with the pistols where maybe they aren't stabilizing as well.

Earl, I recall getting poor accuracy when I played with that 60-grain Aguila ammo some time back. Sure looks cool.
Did you get the Garmin or the LabRadar unit? I wish the Garmins would come down in price.

It's just a standard Ruger barrel on my 77-22 and obviously stabilizes these 60 grainers to the 100 yards at least.

I have the Garmin, Bill. There is one "design flaw" in the Garmin (I don't know how the LabRadar is set up in this department) -- when you tell the unit you are firing a rifle (or pistol) it requires you to select a velocity range of either 600 - 1700 fps or 1700 to 5000 fps. If you guess wrong it won't record velocities outside your chosen velocity range. And us cast bullet shooters are gonna' be messing around with velocities right at the 1700 fps range on a regular basis. And the Garmin won't record velocities over 1700 fps if we choose the lower range and won't record velocities below 1700 fps if we choose the upper range. So I do anticipate occasional frustrations with this unit. But it has yet to fail to record a single shot when I give it the correct velocity range. It even picked up the pellet velocities from my 177 cal airguns without a single miss. After fighting with skyscreens for these many years (which were a couple steps above the old "shoot through" Ohlers I used for a jillion years), I am really enjoying the easy life with the radar unit.

[Paladin]

Earl, I used the SS 60 Gr in an MCA adapter in my suppressed M-16 for food addition to MREs. Very quiet, accurate, and handy when you fired the .22 you just cycled the action for 5.56.

Arch's 2010 094.jpg

[Sixgun]

I never could do anything with those 60 grain bullets but there’s so many variables involved I just never got the right combination to make them work. I imagine a custom barrel with a faster twist would be ideal. Plus, the cost of that ammo precludes lots of play shooting and experimenting,

In one of the last produced Winchester Winder muskets with a long 28” barrel chambered in Long Rifle and using CCI “Quiets” they make about the same sound as a pellet rifle but they are so easily affected by the wind they are not worth an empty beer can at much past 50 meters.

After more than a half century using most every gun available and every type of ammo available from CB caps to 1400 fps “long range” CCI’s along with competitive shooting out to 200 meters, I’ve found the best off the shelf ammo for anything from 2 meters to 200 meters is CCI standard velocity. It’s that magical 1080 fps.

Just like scopes and rifles, you get what you pay for with .22 ammo.—-006

[El Chivo]

Fiocchi also makes a very nice standard velocity, similar to the CCI

those two are all I shoot

[EdinCT]

The only time I could get the 60 gr not to tumble was in my Marlin 39a. It was only in a 1 1/2 inch group at 50 yards which is three times what CCI standards shoot.
I use what's left for hog butchering and the box may last the rest of my life.

[earlmck]

Earl, I used the SS 60 Gr in an MCA adapter in my suppressed M-16 for food addition to MREs. Very quiet, accurate, and handy when you fired the .22 you just cycled the action for 5.56.
Arch's 2010 094.jpg

Now that looks like a slick way to use these quiet 60 grainers. The twist on that 5.56 should stabilize 'em as far as they'll shoot.

[AJMD429]

.
Interesting the Federal 'bulk-pack' was good - I have found it to be very reliable versus the Remington gold-plated stuff I have (both old and new vintage).

The 96/22 I have with the integrally suppressed barrel (a Liberty Cans 'Operator' sold for the 10/22 but you can take 5 minutes with a hand-file and cut a second extractor groove and it goes right in the 96/22 just fine) is pretty much SILENT with subsonics of any flavor. Even the lower speed 'high velocity' ones are extremely quiet.

I've had good consistency with the CCI 'Quiet' and 'Subsonic' - I don't know the details of the differences between those and 'Suppressor' versions and just buy as a matter of opportunity whichever I come across, but I suppose there may be both 'marketing' differences as well as some weight/composition/velocity differences.

[marlinman93]

I've purchased a fair amount of the Aguila Sub-sonic 38 gr. ammo, and it's pretty quiet, and also pretty accurate. It also functions well in my Hi Standard Supermatic, and also shoots well in all my .22 rifles.

[earlmck]

I've been playing with a new "soulless side-lever" thingy so was back at the range yesterday. While I had a 100 yard target box set up I thought I'd run some 22's through to see how they looked on paper instead of my usual "bounce of the tin-cans" testing.

The day was warm/sunny and the ammo got hotter on this day than the last time out. The CCI standard velocity ran 1061 fps with SD of 11. But group size of slightly over 3". I had found a box of RWS Subsonic and it ran 1042 but with SD of 26, so not nearly as consistent velocity. Group size however was tighter at 2".

The Aguila Sniper Subsonic was looking nice and consistent but then had the last two rounds (out of five) go up in the 990's to raise the average velocity to 970 and SD jump up to 16. But the group was a nice round 2". I am looking forward to potting some of these Central Oregon rockchucks with this load but may have to wait 'till next year 'cause the fat devils have gone back to bed for the season. Which is normal for these parts.

My last group of 5 I used the CCI mini-mags which are my usual fodder in the Ruger 77-22. 100 yard group of almost 5" at 1286 fps, SD of 17. In my initial testing a few years ago the mini-mags had been among the best but they didn't look so great on this day.

[GunnyMack]

I finally replaced my 77/22 barrel a couple years ago. Like you said, mine would also print big groups but not that big!
I was able to find a factory contour Shilen SS and other than a bit of hard bolt close ( bullet shape) it shoots very well now!
I should try the 60 grainers again.

[Bill in Oregon]

Earl, the rock chucks have gone back to bed already? I see your lows are in the 40s these days. Our lows have been around 80 and lots of triples for highs. Had two 109s in a row then a massive cool-down to 98 yesterday. The local fox squirrels like to lounge on their tummies on the dirt to try to cool off.

[earlmck]

Earl, the rock chucks have gone back to bed already?

Yeah, they seldom stay up much past mid July here. A few will poke their heads out for a few minutes in September but you gotta' be quick to catch those shy fellows.

And this year the sage rats went down about the same time which is quite a bit early for them. And we haven't had an exceptionally hot summer either. Just one of those years.