CARTRIDGE TESTSOne of the reasons I picked up a 22 was because the ammo is relatively inexpensive and there is a great variety of ammo for various purposes to choose from. Yesterday after work I took a run over to my local gun shop and picked up a few 50 round boxes of various ammo types to try at the range today. Here's my findings:
They look like a 22 short with a 60 grain bullet attached that makes them the same length as a 22LR. I tested them at about 30 yards and they were right on target but about an inch low. They really allow you to throw a lot of lead for a 22. Because they are basically a short that has to push a huge piece of lead, they are subsonic and relatively quiet. They should be good for close range hunting of animals with thin skin like squirrels. They also feed well through a 10/22 Ruger clip without a single jam. A big thumbs up for this bullet. I can't wait to try it hunting.
NOTE: I fired a few of these hunting. The first shot was at a chipmunk standing up at about 20 yards. It was facing me and I hit it square in the chest. I would have expected to blow it apart, but it simply stiffened up and rolled over. I found it almost in the same spot where I shot it. The bullet went exactly where it was placed, but it didn't have enough power to roll the chipmunk over or to come out the other side. I doubt these are going to work all that well on squirrels unless they are at extremely close range. Every round jammed when loading from the Ruger 10/22 magazine. The magazine's spring tension causes the long bullet to bend due to leverage caused by pressure on the lead, and the bullet was actually separating from the case. I don't think this would be a problem in a lever gun or a bolt action.
Aguila Super ColibriThese are primer only cartridges with no gunpowder. The first problem was that they didn't feed through the Ruger magazine because the bullet is too small. Did you ever try to hand feed a bullet into a 10/22? It took me about 5 minutes of going through various contortions to get the cartridge chambered. Be sure to bring a pair of needle-nose pliers with you and be very careful. Once chambered, they worked fine, making almost no noise. I was using very small targets today, so I have no idea where the bullet hit. I'm guessing that your target had better be very close if you expect to do any damage. These are quiet enough to shoot in your yard without getting a 911 call in response. I'm very tempted to take out a squirrel that's been cleaning out my bird feeder. In summery, they are a pain to load but have a definite purpose. Also might be fun to target shoot in the basement if you can figure out an easy way to chamber them. They should work fine in a lever action rifle.
UPDATE: I set up a box in my basement to shoot into and once chambered with a pair of needle nose pliers, they shot fine. The only way I could get them to load was to remove the magazine and insert them from the bottom. What a pain! From one end of my basement to the other there was a drop of about an inch. I think most of the noise I heard was the sound of the bullet striking the target. It would be interesting to shoot into jell to see how much sound is generated from the primer.
Winchester XPert 22 Hollow PointI had groups of 2-3 inches with these. They can be purchased in a 500 round box at Wal-Mart for just over $10.00. They're a 36 grain hollow point, but have a flat nose bullet that sometime jam. They're not bad for the price if you're shooting at the range, but I don't trust them to hunt with.
Remington 22 High-Velocity Golden BulletThis is another Wal-Mart special, but with these you get 550 for about $10.00. Believe it or not, these shoot as good as anything I've tried. Groups of around 2 inches. 1280 fps at the muzzle, 1010 at 100 yds. 1.8" drop at 100 yds. when sighted at 50 yds. 36 grain bullet.
Aguila SuperExtra
These are what I've been hunting with. I liked the SuperMaximum HyperVelocity bullets in my other 22, but they were so fast that the bullets always hit about 6" above the target, even at 100 yds. They were too different from anything else to the point that I would have had to shim the scope to sight it in. They made a nice CRACK!, but they were out of sync with everything else I was shooting so I stopped using them. I replaced it with the SuperExtra, which is a High Velocity hollow point. These have a 38 gain bullet, so I've been using them as my standard because they are a bit heavier than the Remington Golden Bullet.
CCI Quick-Shock22LR Segmented Hollow Point. These split into 3 equal parts on impact. I started using these bullets to hunt with after having sighted in my rifle using other bullets, including the Remington, Aguila SuperExtra and others. When I finally shot them at the range, I wasn't even hitting that target! They shot a few inches higher than everything else at 50 yards. The same problem as with the Aguila HyperVelocity. I stopped using them because they were too good.
IN CONCLUSIONAguila SuperExtra is my hunting bullet, Remington Golden Bullet is my plinking at the range bullet, and I have high hopes for what can be done with the Sniper SubSonic bullet. The Winchester XPrert are a bit too squared off to feed well. Did you know that Winchester Rifle has nothing to do with the manufacture of Winchester ammo? They are completely different companies that share the same name. Seems like false advertising to me.
Butler Creek 25 round magazine
It was a fun day at the range and I tried out a new Butler Creek 25 round magazine (with metal lips). I had a couple of jams during the first few rounds every time I loaded it so I wasn't very happy with it. It seemed that it needed to be down to about 20 bullets not to jam. Also, when I unloaded it, the spring wasn't strong enough to always bring the cartridge to the top of the magazine without tap ping it to get things moving. Another problem is that the Ruger 10/22 is beautifully balanced if you put your left hand (if you're right handed) in the area of the clip. It's very awkward having the clip sticking out and your hand has to go into contortions to grab the rifle. It amazed me that this magazine was so long and it held only 25 rounds, when the stock mag holds 10 and totally disappears into the rifle due to the rotary design. I recommend not bothering with these mags and instead buying a half dozen Ruger-made 10 round rotary clips. There's also the advantage that you can switch ammo types quickly by having them pre-loaded with your favorites so you're ready for various scenarios. I returned the clip to the gunshop today.
I had a fun day at the range today just shooting Rimfire. It was a Ruger day, shooting my 10/22 and 17HMR SingleSix revolver. I recorded a short audio report that can see by clicking The 2009 Range Report. The sighting system used is made by Tech-Sights and the mini-gun rack shown above is the MAGnet GUN CADDY. Click the links on this post for more info on these products.
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