This guy tested the Aguila 22 LR Interceptor Hollo Point and he was really impressed...he talk about "red mist" on Prairie Dogs with this load...
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Building a Faster .22 LR - Aguila Does It Again!
Andy Moe - JHO ProStaff - Outer Montana
March 29, 2007
Over the past Christmas holiday I watched a movie called “The World’s Fastest Indian” starring Anthony Hopkins. It was about an aging New Zealand motorcyclist’s quest to break the motorcycle land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats in the early sixties, using his 1920 Indian motorcycle. As the story goes, the main character took an antiquated motorcycle, modified it, and then pushed it to become a record breaker. It was a great movie and based on a true story. I immediately thought of this movie when I saw that Aguila had introduced its new “Interceptor” 22LR hunting round at the 2007 SHOT Show. I can’t help but think that Aguila has pulled off a similar feat with the old 22 Long Rifle cartridge.
The world's fastest .22lr?
The author was wowed by the terminal performance of Aguila's new, higher velocity Interceptor ammunition. With muzzle velocities advertised at 1450fps, it's a screamer!
Aguila already holds the record for the fastest 22LR cartridge on today’s market with their Super Maximum cartridge that launches a 30 grain bullet at a blistering 1700+ ft/sec. In a market where “speed sells” this round has been no slacker and is one of their best selling 22LR cartridges, both in the US and abroad. Like all light-weight and fast bullets, the trade off for speed is that the energy levels drop as the velocity bleeds off at longer ranges. Aguila has tackled this dilemma in their new Interceptor cartridge and broken all records for speed and power from a 40 grain 22LR load in the process.
The Interceptor is offered in hollow point and solid nose, and flies at speeds of 1470 feet per second. Actual, instrumental velocities from a 24 inch barrel, measured at 15 ft from the muzzle, averaged over 1500 feet per second. Corrected to the muzzle, I’m guessing this would indicate a speed of around 1550 feet per second. Using the 1470 ft/sec figure we can calculate the muzzle energy of this brute at 192 ft/lbs. Compared to the standard 40 grain 22LR load, with the bullet traveling at 1250 ft/sec, we see about a 48% increase in ME with the Interceptor cartridge.
In practical terms, think of it this way: At 100 yards the Interceptor has the velocity and energy that a 40 grain 22LR subsonic round has at the muzzle. At 150 yards it is still moving faster than a hi velocity 22 Short bullet starts out at the muzzle but, of course, due to the heavier 40 grain bullet, delivers more energy. I certainly don’t advocate using any 22LR at extended ranges on game but these examples will serve to put the Interceptor’s power into a frame of reference the average shooter can readily grasp. Not only is the Interceptor the fastest 40 grain 22LR load on the market, it is also the most powerful. Interestingly, the hollow point version of the Interceptor’s bullet remains at 40 grains bullet weight. Usually when a 40 grain round nose is hollow-pointed the weight drops to 38 grains. Not so in this case.
The accuracy of this new round is good. At 50 yards, ten-shot groups from relatively un-tuned hunting rifles averaged less than one inch. Testing was carried out with eight rifles of different manufacture. None carried more than 6X glass on board and most carried a 4X -my favorite hunting magnification for a 22LR. While some rifles showed a real liking for this round, none showed an apparent dislike for it. The most accurate…? My Marlin 880SQ, my Brno #1 Sporter, and a JW-15 bolt action. My least accurate rifle was a TO3-78 rifle built by Tula in Russia. It averaged 1.4” at 50 yards for 10 shots. All rifles delivered minute-of-rabbit head accuracy.
The only problem I had with this cartridge was extracting live rounds from my tight-chambered Brno #1 and my custom Ruger 10/22. The Ruger’s barrel is marked “Live rounds may not extract” and I expected this. The Brno has always had this problem with certain ammunitions and would sometimes fail to extract unfired rounds. If you have a tight chamber in your .22 you may experience the same. Most of my field work was done with the Marlin, the Brno, and a 10-22 Ruger… and in the field the Interceptor really went to work. Over the past summer months I fired 1000 rounds of solid nose and hollow point Interceptor ammunition.
After 45 years of hunting with .22’s you’d think I’d be hard to impress. Not so! The rimfire hunting enthusiasts in the crowd will appreciate this: I made 26 consecutive one-shot kills on rabbits at ranges varying from 20 to 90 yards. Breaking my string was a single rabbit that had been wounded by a hunting companion. My coup d’grace shot from 50 yards off hit too far back. It flattened him for a moment, but the rabbit raised its head and began dragging itself so I hit it with the finisher. After that I killed a dozen or better, each with a single shot before I stopped counting. I have come to take it for granted that a well placed Interceptor bullet will anchor 22LR sized game and that confidence has yet to do me wrong.
Impressive results
This watermelon was shot at 25 meters with the Interceptor hollow-points (shown in prototype packaging in this image).
I usually shy away from graphic description of wound damage but in this instance it has a place, so bear with me. When shooting prairie dogs or rabbits with center fire cartridges you become used to seeing what I call “bio-technic” displays. Prairie dog shooters like to call this the “red mist” that marks a solid hit on your target. This is something you seldom see with a 22LR.
My buddy John Blackman was visiting me from Scotland last June and shot some excellent quality video of the Interceptor in action. After my first kill, a 60 yard shot on a very annoyed prairie dog, I did a quick instant replay of John’s video. Sure enough, you could distinctly see a spray erupting from behind the dog, immediately followed by an explosion of dust as the bullet hit the far side of the mound. Walking out to the victim with my Fuji digital confirmed that the initial puff was a spray of blood that painted the hole and the dog thoroughly.
I was shocked. If I’d been a swearing man I’d have uttered my soberest oath of disbelief. Like I said earlier, after 45 years of .22 hunting you’d think I’d have seen just about everything; yet I have viewed and reviewed that video many times, and the still photo I took of that prairie dog still lies in my office desk alongside my last unopened box of Interceptor ammunition. I can’t wait to get some more.
I won’t have to wait long. Centurion Ordnance has informed me that first shipments of the Interceptor are at the distributors as I write. They also report that distributor interest at the 2007 SHOT show was high so shooters should have no problems obtaining some thought their local dealer. The Interceptor can also be ordered directly from Centurion Ordnance themselves but, be quick. The Interceptor will certainly be moving fast.
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Big Watermelon shot a 25 Meters with the Interceptor Hollow point
Link to the article:
http://www.jesseshunting.com/articles/guns/category8/168.html
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