Sub sonic 22 LR cartridge

Even sub-sonics in a pistol will be loud. I think you have to get along barrel to use up all the blast.

'Standard Velocity' is another name for Subsonic. Anything labeled as such should not have a supersonic 'crack'... and will be significantly quieter than High Velocity. Out in the open, hearing protection would be optional unless you're shooting a ton of it.

And yes... Pistols are a lot louder than rifles... sometimes a LOT louder. I had an old R&G 22 mag revolver that was ridiculously loud.

Good Luck

Aguila Super Colibri is about quiet as you'll get.

Anguilla colibri or super colibri are what you are looking for. They are primer fired and have no powder. Will not cycle a marlin mod 60 or a Ruger SR-22. Will drop a squirrel with a headshot at 30’ tho and very accurate in both my .22’s.

CCI quiet are 40gr LRN moving at 710 fps I use these in a rifle for pest control, not so quiet from a short barrel. I will a say these are consistent but will print about 1 1/2" low at 25 yrds from a rifle vs 22 lr hv.

CCI Quiet-22 #960 is very quiet, accurate in my guns. I have been using them for several years with great success. No hearing protection needed.

CCI also has an ammo named Sub-Sonic HP but I have never tried it. (#56)

Catpop said:

I’m looking for some super quiet 22 LR cartridges to use in my RUGER SP101 when I take my 1/4 mile daily walk through the woods to the RFD each day.
I sometimes have to defend myself against a vicious attacking pine cone or savage tin can lurking to get me on my way.
I would like something that won’t require hearing protection for that occasional shot or two. And also something in long rifle to keep from having to clean the chambers so often.
I’ve used 22 shorts a very long time ago, but really can’t remember how quiet they were.
I would like to hear from those who have actually used such a cartridge
Thanks in advance!

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As some have commented, out of a long barreled rifle, something like a CCI standard is subsonic; out of a pistol I am not so sure. I would tend to just use 'sub-sonic', or 'quiet' .22lr to defend against those tin cans, or pine cones, with a pistol.

The SSS colibri tumble out of just about everything I have shot them in. CCI CB caps have been better for me at distances further than you can throw a rock.

The subsonic 22 lr I tried (Remington) ran about 900-1,000 fps and standard velocity normally runs around 1,125 fps. (Subsonic just means below the speed of sound the bullet is traveling, below 1,100 fps). The muzzle blast for the two were close with SS slightly lower, but the subsonic doesn't have the "crack" of standard velocity ammo (over the speed of sound "crack" or small sonic boom). I only tried a couple boxes and because they didn't shoot to the same point of impact as my CCI standard velocity 40 gr ammo, I didn't try any more (10-22, Ruger SS, Ruger MkII).

Colibri for pistols , super colibri for rifle. You won't find a more quiet load. They are a light bullet and fairly inconsistent , won't stabilize generally. The best option is to use them in a completely worn out barrel . with little to no spin they do a little better .
Cci CB long is decently quiet and much more accurate but will give a pop from a pistol , I consider it hearing safe - may or may not be.


If you can't find any colibri ammo, you can make some. Pull the bullet of a standard 22 lr, dump the powder, clip the nose off the bullet to bring it down to 20 grains and put it back in the case. I've done it, it works but it's a bit of work to make some. No powder, just a primer.

For better accuracy, you can leave a little powder in the case and skip cutting the bullet down. It will take testing to ensure you don't get squib.

Aguila at least used to make the SSS, which was a giant 60gr bullet in essentially a 22 short case. Was the size of a LR round. Nice and quiet.

The Colibri rounds are super quiet. But I would never use them in a rifle length barrel.

22 shot shell rounds are pretty quiet, and certainly would be safer than a normal 22 round for whatever is beyond your target.

I did a test a few weeks back in my single shot Stevens to see what worked best. The CCI Standard velocity wasn’t much quieter than the nominally supersonic Aquila super extra from a pistol barrel. The Aguila colibri was quieter than a pellet rifle. It still has enough stopping power to defeat a feral beer bottle or Coke can too.

tmd16556 said:

I did a test a few weeks back in my single shot Stevens to see what worked best. The CCI Standard velocity wasn’t much quieter than the nominally supersonic Aquila super extra from a pistol barrel. The Aguila colibri was quieter than a pellet rifle. It still has enough stopping power to defeat a feral beer bottle or Coke can too.

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Most HV rounds fail to break the sound barrier when shot from a pistol. Speed of sound is around 1100 fps or so depending on weather conditions, and most HV rounds are only around 1250 fps out of a rifle. Standard velocity generally hovers around 1050 fps or so out of a rifle.

'Quiet' ammo is generally around 700 fps, and isn't all that consistent or accurate.

tmd16556 said:

I did a test a few weeks back in my single shot Stevens to see what worked best. The CCI Standard velocity wasn’t much quieter than the nominally supersonic Aquila super extra from a pistol barrel. The Aguila colibri was quieter than a pellet rifle. It still has enough stopping power to defeat a feral beer bottle or Coke can too.

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Is your Stevens rifle a "favorite "? My savage 72 (same gun) does well with slow , light quiet cartridges .

CCI Quiet .22 LR ammo. Plenty accurate enough for your intended use.
But, good luck finding some in 2021.

CCI Quiet and Quiet Segmented. There is also a version for semi-auto, it has a little more punch but still very quiet. It is more quiet than most break barrel air rifles and significantly more FPE and better accuracy than flop barrel spring guns.

What 3Crows said. Just retrieved both. The CCI Quiet-22 LR is 40gr. and advertised at 710 fps. This wasn't enough to cycle the action on my Ruger Standard (pre-Mark series).

The CCI Quiet-22 Semi-Auto is 45 grains and the box says 835 fps. This will cycle the Ruger.

As others have mentioned, both are definitely louder out of a pistol. In a rifle length barrel they are hearing safe, for me, in my opinion. I am more careful about noise than some, but I'd put at least one earplug in and tilt my head firing out of a pistol and see if you find it tolerable before buying a brick to shoot out of an SP101. I don't know if the cylinder gap makes a .22 revolver louder than a semi-auto pistol but I would assume so.

I have been using these to kill armadillos in my yard for a number of years. They are very quiet out of an unsuppressed 572, my wife doesn’t hear the shot inside the house and enough oomph to take out a 10+ Lb shelled animal.

jmorris said:

The SSS colibri tumble out of just about everything I have shot them in. CCI CB caps have been better for me at distances further than you can throw a rock.

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I bought a box of Aguila .22-SSS (SniperSubSonic) once when we and the next-door neighbors were having rabbit problems in our gardens. Those 60gr bullets tumbled so badly out of my normally very accurate Kimber .22 bolt, I'd have been better off throwing rocks at the rabbits as I couldn't even hit one at 15 feet! I didn't know what was going on until I fired one of those SniperSubSonic rounds at a paper target 15 or 20 feet away - the bullet hit the paper, but it was going sideways when it hit it.
Note: These were tame rabbits that one jerk of a neighbor down the road just turned loose when he got tired of them. Someone told me they were "California Giant" breed rabbits, and they might have been, because they were pretty big. Nevertheless, I switched back to good ol' CCI Mini Mags to kill them.

Generally the muzzle blast of subsonic ammo from a pistol or revolver is going to supersonic even though the bullets are subsonic.

When fired from a rifle, the muzzle blast is less intense and further from your ears.

It is always fun for me to shoot CCI CB Long from a rifle and hear the click of the firing pin and impact of the bullet louder than the muzzle blast.

But subsonic from a pistol is loud to me.

Nothing out of a handgun will be hearing safe without a suppressor.

Aguila Colibri sounds like a shot from a pellet gun from a pistol or revolver. In a rifle the hammer hitting the firing pin makes more noise than the round. As was said before, they can kill a squirrel within 30’ with a rifle. Maybe not a handgun. I killed a squirrel and a rat using Colibri and my Savage Stevens Favorite. Bullet drop is about 2 - 2.5” at 25 - 30 feet.

n2omike said:

'Standard Velocity' is another name for Subsonic. Anything labeled as such should not have a supersonic 'crack'... and will be significantly quieter than High Velocity. Out in the open, hearing protection would be optional unless you're shooting a ton of it.

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Sort of but not really. There's no industry "standard" for standard velocity. Some may be supersonic, most aren't. Subsonic is deliberately loaded so as to not break the sound barrier regardless of atmospheric conditions or barrel length.

Any of them are going to be too loud from a handgun to be hearing safe.

Even the ones that are just primer are going to sound at least like a cap gun or louder out of a handgun.