questions about subsonic .22 loads

Mongo

Mongo

Joined
Nov 5, 2001
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Greetings all, I am curious about these. I've never fired them so I have no idea how loud they are. Are they still enough to wack a squirrel for example? What about velocities and distance it would travel? I'm also assuming they can be shot through a regular ol' .22 gun.
Thanks in advance for your answers,
Mongo
 
well there's different kinds of subsonic ammo. remington's is the same size as a standard .22LR with a muzzle velocity around 1000 fps, while aguila make one that is actually a longer bullet (with a shorter casing) that travels around 800 fps. muzzle velocity will also vary on barrel length. they are good enough to kills squirrels with, and they are quieter (no sonic boom). if it says "LR" on it then it will work in a .22LR gun.
 
I shoot "standard velocity" almost exclusively. Mostly because of my old target shooting days. They work fine for small game especially if you discipline yourself to sure head shots. Consider the range the same as high velocity for safety. The can travel almost as far. The speed of sound varys with your altitude, but 1200 fps is a general rule of thumb to stay below.
 
I've been using RWS subsonic hollowpoint. If you are inside the house and someone outside fires it ,you won't hear it. These are very accurate and I've shot small game out to about 50 yds effectively.
 
Most subsonic rounds will still travel a good distance, nearly 2 miles if they are fired at the right angle. Of course the slower they are the shorter their range, and there is a lot of variation. CB caps, for instance, are down around 600 fps compared to a maximum of about 1100 for truly 'subsonic' ammo.

They can be shot in any LR marked gun but they might cause cycling problems in some semi automatics because they don't provide as much force to push the bolt back. Doesn't do any harm but it can get annoying.
 
I'm a BIG fan of subsonics! If shot from a 20" barrel, the report is barely discernible and much quieter than a high power pellet rifle. I live in a very rural area and use them to dispatch squirrels all the time. One note of caution though, don't try them in a semi auto rifle. They won't work very well at all. They work best in bolt action .22 rifles.
 
I really like the Aguila SSS(sniper sub sonic) 60 grain ammo. It cycles great through my bull barrel 10/22, and has proven to be very efficient when shooting squirrels to beer cans.:)
 
I fired one from a S&W 422 auto and it's loud. Stick to a rifle for using these.:grumpy:
 
You need to be a little more specific in what type of round and what type of use.
I did a little trial and error last summer with 2 different rifles and found that Remington Subsonic hollow points are good stuff. I plan on buying a brick or two as soon as I can find one.
They launch a 38 grain lead hollowpoint (same bullet as their thunderbolts I beleive) at just a hair under the speed of sound, like 1040 fps. I can't remember all the ballistics listed on the box but they were pretty good all things considered. I found them very accurate in both my rifles (a marlin 81ts and an old remington 121). And more importantly, fairly quiet. Not silent, but there is no sonic crack which is what really seems to carry with a .22.
I haven't tried any long range stuff with them, but I have a feeling they will do very well out to 100 yards as the bullet will stay stable since its not making the transition from supersonic to subsonic in its flight.

Now if you want a really quiet load for close in work, your looking for CB longs. They shoot a 20 grain solid at roughly 900 ft/sec and are reasonably accurate to about 20 yards. You have to crank the sights way up for them from where you set the sights for high speed stuff.Out of my bolt gun, the sound of the bullet impacting the target is louder than the report of the gun. I was shooting at an empty cardboard box the other day and it was literally snap...BOINK :D The downside is this is getting into the ballistics of an air rifle, not offering a good knock down on game without really good placement and not offering the accuracy for good shot placement beyond 15 to 20 yards depending on your gun.
 
I only hunt squirrels with a 22 using subsonic hollow point ammo and I can tell you that they work quite well.
Here are some velocities of some different types of subsonic:


Agulia Sniper Subsonic, .22 LR S, 60 gr GP 950 fps

Aguila Subsonic, .22 LR S, 40 gr GP 1015 fps

Aguila Subsonic, .22 LR HP, 38 gr GP 1015 fps

Eley Subsonic Xtra Plus, .22 LR HP, 40 gr GP 1050

PMC Moderator, .22 LR HP, 38 gr GP 1000 fps

Remington Subsonic, .22 LR HP, 38 gr GP 1000 fps

RWS Subsonic, .22 LR HP, 40 gr GP 1000 fps

Lapua Subsonic, .22 LR HP, 40 gr GP 1000 fps

I have about 12-15,000 rounds of 22 ammo at home that I've acquired throughout the years for testing.
I have tried all of these and many more brands and I have found that although you can occasionally find some cheap ammo that shoots well, you will always get better consistency with the more premium ammo.
Right now I'm hunting with eley subsonic hollowpoints and am Very pleased with their performance.

I've also noticed that when using the quiet stuff, that a single shot does not scare the other game at all allowing for a possible second shot much of the time.
My longest barrel rifle sports a 29 3/4 inch barrel and it sounds like a medium grade air rifle. At 60-70 yards in the woods,you can barely hear it.
I try to stay away from the CB caps for hunting for several reasons.
The biggest one is that they are not accurate enough for head shots (on grey squirrels) at 25 yds in every gun I've tried them in.
They are fun for plinking in the basement though.
 
I haven't found any listed yet, but I haven't looked in my two best spots yet. thanks Draftaman for your extensive list. I'm looking forward to a little field testing.
 
Mongo,

My personal experience finding subsonic 22lr ammunition at the normal retail spots hasn't been too good. Mass market places like Wal-mart and big sports chains ocassionally have some but, they generally don't have anything "premium".

At large gun shows, I can generally find distributors who don't price gouge "premium" sub-sonic 22lr ammunition. Aguila and Lapua can be hard to find for some reason.
 
I LOVE the Aguila Colibri rounds. Something similar to a CB cap. Out of a rifle it is virtually silent - just a *puff* as it comes out of the barrel. In pistols you get a bit of noise from the primer, but still very quiet. No powder in them, and muzzle velocity is only 375 fps. Great for quiet plinking tho... Don't even need earplugs. Out of my revolver it sounds about like a toy cap gun. On one trip to the mountain I sat at the top of a hill and watched as the bullet arced down and made the funniest plop sound as it landed in a mud puddle... I imagine that would make an interesting game of Battleship, trying to sink a soda can in a mud puddle.

As for the more normal rounds... I don't know. I just grab whatever is cheap. That usually means the bulk packaged Remington stuff. I think it's subsonic, but I'm not sure exactly what the specs are. Can't beat it though... Cheap hollow points that work in the gun. Only time I ever had problems was with my Remington 597 rifle, but it's a finicky gun anyhow, and it's not fair to compare something to a 10/22 that swallows everything. OK, I'm getting away from the ammo discussion into the guns... But for a fun plinker, I can't say enough about the Heritage Rough Rider revolver. Single action with a hammer block safety, Mag/LR convertable(mine came with 2 cylinders), shoots straight, and you can't beat the price - when I got mine they were averaging around $130. Best deal for a brand new 22LR revolver around. I keep it loaded with the Colibris for convenient and quiet rat hunting :D
 
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