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Quietest .22 Rimfire Ammo

Yesterday the TEA party hosted a silencer demonstration at the VFW post in Cumming.

They tried to get a Ruger MK4 pistol in .22lr to work as a semi-auto with CCI Quiet ammo (710 fps) but that cartridge would simply not cycle the bolt. The shooter had to manually caulk the bolt in between shots .

With standard velocity or subsonic ammo (1030 fps), the pistol cycled just fine .
 
Yesterday the TEA party hosted a silencer demonstration at the VFW post in Cumming.

They tried to get a Ruger MK4 pistol in .22lr to work as a semi-auto with CCI Quiet ammo (710 fps) but that cartridge would simply not cycle the bolt. The shooter had to manually caulk the bolt in between shots .

With standard velocity or subsonic ammo (1030 fps), the pistol cycled just fine .

Yeah, the quieter ammo won't cycle a semi. You need a Henry or a bolt action.
 
The semi's work fine, they just don't feed, so it becomes a defacto straight pull bolt action. That's a good thing for keeping the squirrels from discovering your firing position and setting up an ambush.

I hit a ground hog in the front yard a week ago with segmented Quiet. the bullet impact sounded like a threw a hammer at him. He is no longer with us, and is no longer trying to dig a hole under my shop.
 
CCI is quiet but theres better options. Out of most pistol barrels your CCI standard velocity is going subsonic. Coupled w/ a can and you are shooting pretty quiet. I've but CCI quiets in one of my semi's and it wouldn't cycle. CCI did introduce a new 22 suppressor ammo which will cycle. I believe it has a 45gr bullet as well which is nice.
Gemtech also has a nice quiet ammo that will cycle.

If you don't have a can, I think arguably Aguila Super Colibri will be your most quiet round.
I've shot it out of my Ruger Wrangler and its a joke how quiet they are.
 
GrumpyGus said:
Note: I wouldn't try these in a semi-auto because they won't kick hard enough to rack the slide........., but for any bolt/single shot/lever action rifle you can cycle them fast enough to melt the barrel down and make a new one.
I have used shorts on occasion in Beretta Bobcat as a single shot.
Tip up barrel often kicks out shell when flipped open. If not easy
enough to pluck it out, reload, close barrel. Nice to have that option.
 
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Today at sunset I tested these three kinds of low powered
quiet 22 ammo from my favorite Ruger 10/22 rifle
that has a 22 inch stainless steel barrel and wears a fixed 4X scope.

But this wasn't an accuracy test. I shot from the unsupported
standing position 50 feet away from the target.

The Super Colibri (20 gr. bullet at 590 ft./s )
was quieter than the other two rounds.
It was truly "pellet gun quiet"-- the kind of pellet gun
that you can pump up to 10 times, or a CO2 powered pellet gun.
It would not feed from my rifles magazine
even when I cycled the bolt by hand.
The bullet was just too short, barely sticking out of the case
by a couple millimeters.




The CB Long (29 gr. bullet at 710 f.p.s.)
was slightly louder, but it did feed up from
the magazine and up into my rifle's chamber.

The CCI Quiet round (40 gr. bullet at 710 fps)
was the same noise level as the CB long,
but the bullet hit harder. I could hear it thump the target
with more authority, and it penetrated nearly twice as deep
into the stack of newspapers that was my backyard backstop.
These "Quiet" cartridges did not cycle my guns action,
but they did feed reliably when I ran the bolt manually.

All three of the tested rounds seemed plenty quiet for backyard practice
without bothering the neighbors, and I don't think any of my neighbors
would have even heard the shooting had they been inside their homes
with the windows closed.

If you need to fire a really weak round so as not to endanger people
or damage property, then the Aguila Colibri's are the clear winner.
From 50 feet distance, they only penetrated 1/3 of an inch
in dry stacked newspapers.

The CB longs penetrated twice that far,
and the CCI Quiets penetrated even more than that.


Some other day, I'll do an accuracy test,
shooting from the supported prone position
out to 25 yards and go for a small group size.
I will also see how much of a difference there is
in bullet drop.
 
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