Subsonic .22 ammo

SimpleMan

SimpleMan

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So after years of not paying any attention when the term “subsonic” was mentioned, I’m now very intrigued. Why? Because I’m not so patiently waiting for a can for a Ruger Mark IV. The desire to kill squirrels in my yard, off the front or back porch, while only me and the squirrels will know, is absolutely overwhelming. So I ran across some stuff yesterday that I’ve never seen, and I bought four boxes of it. I’m wondering if anyone else has used this? Is it too light or does it work very well in a suppressed pistol? Do I need to go back today and wipe the shelf clean? I’m speaking about this Aguila 20 gr stuff.

I also have several boxes of 45 gr Federal American Eagle, advertised at 970 fps and some CCI “Target” 40 gr advertised at 710 fps. The Aguila just seems odd the it’s half the weight of most everything else out there. Curious if anyone has shot the Aguila 20 gr stuff?

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Almost all .22 ammo is subsonic out of a pistol. But CCI SV 40gr will be all you need.
I have some Colibri, neat stuff for very close range. Various other 'quiet' labeled loads out there too including Long and CB varieties in the LR brass.

SV should cycle your Mk IV but Colibri will be single shot mode. Cannot speak to whether or not cans impact cycling on blowback actions vs on gas guns.
 
It has no gunpowder, functions off primer ignition alone if I remember correctly. It's a fun novelty that makes unsuppressed guns sound suppressed. They will not have enough umph to move your slide/bolt.

They will kill a squirrel, especially if you beat it up a little bit first and stand on it in triumph and shoot it execution style, 3 or 4 times.
 
Like thrillhill said. Those are primer only rounds and are quieter/as quiet as a pellet gun. Work great on squirrels out of a bolt rifle out to about 15yards or so.

No hope of cycling a semi auto and may not get enough velocity from a pistol to dispatch bushy tails. But I keep a few boxes around.
 
These rounds are great to teach young people to shoot. I use them in my 6 year old grandson’s Cricket rifle. It teaches trigger control and gives him a sense of where the round goes. He loves it!
 
Have not used those, but shoot a lot of CCI CB 22 shorts out of a Winchester 67 bolt action for squirrels. They also work pretty well out of a semi auto Winchester 74 made for 22 shorts.

This year I have also started using Conibear 110 traps for squirrels and liking them so far. They are working 24/7 when I'm not around to see the squirrels. Just bought a 2nd batch to put out around the blueberry orchard.
 
No suppressor needed, they are nearly silent. In my Savage MKII rifle I can hear the firing pin hit. Target impact is the loudest thing you hear. Squirrels are easily taken out to 15 yards.
 
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WW used to make a great subsonic 22 rnd. I dont know anymore. They were problematic in semi autos but of course work fine in a bolt gun. CCI made or makes Quiet 22. I was an early purchaser and they had some dud lot numbers. The rnds would not go bang.
 
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I sometimes forget to take into account, city squirrels are weak, spoiled, and soft. 🤣

All jokes aside, I do like the Colibri rounds and wish I had more of them. Down to half a box from 2 bricks.

I don't shoot them as much as I did before getting a .22 suppressor. But they are super fun out of a lever action shooting little plastic army men on Saturday night for money. And bourbon is never ever involved because that would be bad. We'd never do that.

About 15 years ago I had a neighbor who was leasing his pasture to some clown from town who thought he was a cowboy. Neither party would repair the fencing where it was damaged. Every time I saw an escaped cow that would get near one of my fruit trees I'd lob a Colibri out to 150 yards with like a 6 foot holdover and shoot the cow in the ass. It wouldn't penetrate but you could hear it hit and the cow would scoot back through the fence.
 
Trevillian said:
may not get enough velocity from a pistol
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I’d think their velocity would be higher from a pistol than a rifle.

Isn’t the point of a longer barrel to give more space/time for powder to burn? With no powder, it wouldn’t be long until more barrel starts slowing the bullet.
 
All the advice is on point, but ... where did you find these?

They have been 20 cents each, for a while, when you could get any at all.
I've paid less for high end match grade 22lr.
 
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thrillhill said:
I sometimes forget to take into account, city squirrels are weak, spoiled, and soft. 🤣

All jokes aside, I do like to Colibri rounds and wish I had more of them. Down to half a box from 2 bricks.

I don't shoot them as much as I did before getting a .22 suppressor. But they are super fun out of a lever action shooting little plastic army men on Saturday night for money. And bourbon is never ever involved because that would be bad. We'd never do that.

About 15 years ago I had a neighbor who was leasing his pasture to some clown from town who thought he was a cowboy. Neither party would repair the fencing where it was damaged. Every time I saw an escaped cow that would get near one of my fruit trees I'd lob a Colibri out to 150 yards with like a 6 foot holdover and shoot the cow in the ass. It wouldn't penetrate but you could hear it hit and the cow would scoot back through the fence.
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Looks like Academy in Apex and Knightdale have it for in store pick up.
 
mostly22lately said:
All the advice is on point, but ... where did you find these?

They have been 20 cents each, for a while, when you could get any at all.
I've paid less for high end match grade 22lr.
Click to expand...

Academy Sports. Six or Seven dollars a box.
 
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mostly22lately said:
All the advice is on point, but ... where did you find these?

They have been 20 cents each, for a while, when you could get any at all.
I've paid less for high end match grade 22lr.
Click to expand...

If you can’t find any, I’ll go back and get all they have, or what you need, and ship it to you. I have 4 boxes and doesn’t look like I’ll be using them. I had no idea that they were powderless. I just looked, they’re 7.99 a box, 7.59 if you want to apply for an Academy credit card 😂. They had like 20 to 25 boxes yesterday. LMK.
 
Me. said:
I’d think their velocity would be higher from a pistol than a rifle.

Isn’t the point of a longer barrel to give more space/time for powder to burn? With no powder, it wouldn’t be long until more barrel starts slowing the bullet.
Click to expand...
You may well have a point I didn't/haven't thought of there. You made me curious😁

I just discovered there is "super" colibri and just colibri that Aguila sells. I understood it all to only the "super" that I've ever seen. But the regular stuff is even slower at 400some fps and explicitly states it is for pistol only and may not exit the barrel of a rifle.

Even with the "super" at 500some fps, stories abound about the same thing in a rifle🤯.

I've only ever used them in my compact Savage mkii which is what I posted my experience on.


Now I want to dig down through my stash and find my stock of super colibri ammo and test it over the chrono. I have many flavors of .22lr firearm from pistol to rifle in semi auto, single action, revolver, pump, bolt, single shot from 2"-24" barrels.

THAT would be a fun experiment if I can find the time for the range as well as figuring out just which stash that ammo is in...
 
SimpleMan said:
If you can’t find any, I’ll go back and get all they have, or what you need, and ship it to you. I have 4 boxes and doesn’t look like I’ll be using them. I had no idea that they were powderless. I just looked, they’re 7.99 a box, 7.59 if you want to apply for an Academy credit card 😂. They had like 20 to 25 boxes yesterday. LMK.
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Thanks.
I'm actually going over to Apex on Thursday and there's an Academy there.
It is a bit of a ride for me which is why I don't just go for the one item.
I'll look to see what they have when I pop in.
 
Went back into the Academy today I originally saw these in, and not one box left. There was a good 25-30 boxes. They actually have a lot of oddball .22 there. A shitload on Norma TAC .22, even 20-25 boxes of .22 CCI rat shot.
 
I have bunch of colibri. Never thought it worked all that well suppressed. Sound almost the same suppressed vs not suppressed. Modern suppressors need more gas to work.
 
SimpleMan said:
Hmmm…sounds useless, about like the two suppressors I’ve already paid for😂. Maybe they’d be fun in a revolver?
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I use Super colibris and colibris in my sons bearcat revolver

Super quiet and fun


I prefer CCI standard velocity 1070fps or the CCI subsonic lead HPs 1050fps for most purposes and CCI segmented subs for hunting (copper washed that break into pieces)

There’s higher quality ammo for precision .22s like Eley or SK
 
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