Aguila Sniper Ammo 22 caliber

[H&R Glock]

Just went shopping at Midsouth and tried some of the strange looking 60 grain subsonic ammo

I wanted a quiet round to use on the tree rats in the woods behind my house without riling the neighbors. They feed fine in my Henry lever action, but the report isn't as quiet as the Super Colibri rounds. Since it's raining now I did not have a chance to test accuracy, but expect the heavy bullet to be accurate.
Has anyone else used these?

 

[Deus Machina]

I've used those before. IIRC, it was also from the Henry I had for a time.
In my case, there were quieter than standard .22LR, but not as much as Shorts.
They also weren't accurate from the gun I used them from. At the range I was making about a 1.5-2" group (unscoped, and my eyes aren't great) with bulk .22LR, these were making a 10" or so group.
It could have been that gun in particular, but they were keyholing. My gun just couldn't stabilize them.

 

[jmorris]

I have, don’t shoot them with a suppressor, test first.

The keyhole out of almost everything I have fired them from.

 

[berettaprofessor]

Not particularly accurate in the gun's I've tried. Also don't cycle well in some semiauto pistols.

 

[Skgreen]

No first hand experience, but have heard your twist rate needs to be 'a bit more than average' to get 'em to fly straight.

 

[bassjam]

I've have a box of those for probably close to 15 years in the old graphics, like other's accuracy isn't great out of a typical 1:16 twist barrel. You need a twist rate of 1:9 for the heavier bullet.

 

[Labguy47]

I just find it amusing how everything has tactical or sniper on it! But to keep it on topic I tried them once with the same response as others stated accuracy is highly suspect. I think I let my nephew shoot them out of his single shot and he wasn't happy with them either.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

If the goal is not to rile the neighbors, I would not use SSS for tree rat squirrels. The 60 grain bullet at 900+ feet per second velocity for 120 foot/pounds energy will carry further than, say .22 CB Short or CB Long both 29 gr at 700 fps for 31 ft/lbs. Muzzle blast of the SSS is also about equivalent to Standard or Target .22 LR which is subsonic but not quiet either. (CCI target is 40gr at 1070 fps for 101 ft/lbs.) I can shoot CBs without hearing protection, but use plugs or muffs with SSS and CCI Target as well as with the more common .22 LR high velocity.

I can't predict whether .22 Aguila SSS will (a) give good accuracy and (b) function reliably with all .22 LR firearms. I have had to try it and see with my guns (with very mixed results). It is an interesting concept because the heavy bullet gives high momentum, if you buy the theory more momentum from a heavy bullet is effective.

(Aguila advertise they use Eley Prime, a priming process that gives even distribution of priming compound in rim of a rimfire cartridge. Aquila rimfire ammo usually goes bang for me.)

Aguila SubSonic Sniper uses a long 60 grain bullet in a .22 short case to give a cartridge with the overall length of a conventional .22 long rifle. SSS with subsonic velocity (~950 feet per second (fps)) that gives muzzle energy (120 ft/lbs) that compares to a conventional .22 long rifle cartridge with a 40 grain bullet at 1180 fps.

The SSS is not at all like the subsonic CB or Colibri rounds which are intentionally lower power (and quieter) than the regular .22 Short, .22 Long or .22 Long Rifle. The subsonic rounds like the CB or Colibri are about the velocity of an air rifle (~700 fps) with very low impact energy. The Aguila SSS is just below the speed of sound but has impact energy comparable to the regular .22 LR at supersonic velocity. "Subsonic" with a 60 grain bullet at 900+ fps is not low power for a .22. The propellent used in the SSS seems to give good velocity from the .22 pistols I have tried it from.

What I was told years ago was that the long heavy bullet was intended to give better accuracy from .223 Rem/5.56 Rem rifles with a .22 LR chamber insert than LR cartridges with 36 to 40 grain bullets.

Whether you get good accuracy or reliable functioning with SSS varies from gun to gun. Most .22 LR barrels have about a 16" rate of twist for 40gr bullets between 1000 and 1300 feet per second. A lot of .22 LR guns have trouble ejecting .22 short casings. I have tried .22 SSS in a number of guns of mine. My Remington Nylon 66 handles them well. My Marlin Model 60 and my Rumanian Army Trainer only eject LR casings reliably, the short casings often don't clear the ejection port. Recoil in my Ruger Mark II is very sharp: I quit shooting SSS in it because seemed the bolt impacted the bolt pin.

 

[PapaG]

Tried them. Poor accuracy out of my 10-22 abdeven had one make two holes in the target when it broke in flight. Needs about one in seven per one gunsmith I talked to.

 

[Mauser lover]

Just went shopping at Midsouth and tried some of the strange looking 60 grain subsonic ammo
Has anyone else used these?

Yep. Of course they are louder than your Super Colibri! But remember, more power is more better ! There won't be a supersonic crack, but the noise from the primer/powder is about the same as normal ammo.

These are not reduced power loads. They are slower because they are heavier. Which means that they have the gumption to cycle blobwack semi-autos. The longer bullet has problems getting bent and feeding sometimes in semi-autos, but it has a much better chance of cycling than other "subsonic" ammo I've tried.

Depending on your barrel length, they can be pretty quiet. Pretty much on par with a good power spring pellet gun in a 22 inch long (or so) barrel on a bolt/lever action. Louder in a 10/22 with a short barrel, due to the shorter barrel! And maybe a little bit of noise from the breech end. Less accurate too, probably the twist rate.

I was getting one to 1.5 inch groups at 40 yards. Pretty sure mine is a 1-9 rifling. Every now and then a flyer, but not too often. I'm happy with that with my gun. Absolute death on the squirrel-vermin.

I bought a brick of it several years ago, so different batches, etc... YMMV, and if it does, that's what I blame! But I like it, use it on the vermin when I don't want the neighbors to be bothered. The neighbors aren't that close, but within hearing if I use the standard velocity stuff.

Oh, really, really waxy! Clean the gum out of your barrel a little more often with this stuff.

 

[chicharrones]

I just find it amusing how everything has tactical or sniper on it!

Lol. They ought to be called "assassin subsonic", but that wouldn't go over very well.

 

[Riomouse911]

I also see them as good for the AR rifles with the .22 LR inserts as stated earlier, the heavy bullet is too long for the regular rifle 1-16” twist rate to stabilize.

I also second the .22 CB or Short for your purpose, out of a rifle barrel they are really quiet... with more oomph than the pellet-gun-like power the Super Colibri offers.

Stay safe!

 

[LoonWulf]

I've shot them, from my buckmark, and infact keep a mag full for my wife to use as an HD gun round. They cycle fine from my gun but do not stabilize properly. 10yds they hit in a rought cluster about 6"
They do produce surprisingly good penetration and wounding even when they come out sideways. I shot a few pigs in traps with them out to about 10ft.

I've also shot them from a buddies fast twist 10/22 and they produced 1-1.5" groups at 50yds. They are not quiet ammo tho.

 

[mag1911]

A friend and I shot some through his prewar Walther single shot target rifle, probably 26" barrel I would say. Noise from that rifle was closer to a 22 pellet gun than 22 LR. He kept pulling the bolt to make sure the bullet left the barrel. We stopped after just a few rounds so don't know how accurate it was.

 

[Odd Job]

The keyhole out of almost everything I have fired them from.

That was my experience also. These are the combinations I tried, and all resulted in keyholed rounds:

1) R55 Benchmark, no suppressor
2) R55 Benchmark (second rifle), no suppressor
3) Rimfire magic (10/22 family), no suppressor
4) Rimfire magic (10/22 family), ASE Utra Dual Rimfire suppressor
5) R55 Benchmark (second rifle), ASE Utra Dual Rimfire suppressor

From the same lot, a friend of mine tested those rounds in his Mauser 201 and they keyholed with that rifle also.

The other thing I noticed in my rifles, was a lot of sparks and fire coming out of the action (semi-auto rifles).

 

[Jerseykris]

My friend has a Ruger 10/22 that he put an EABCO match grade barrel on, which has the 1:9 twist rate. He was getting good accuracy out of them, about 1-1.25"
Granted, he's a better shot then me anyway, but I couldn't get anything under 7-8" out of these at 50yrds with my model 60, nor my XT-22. I didn't try them in my 10/22 which has the standard barrel, that might have been a better comparison.

Kind of ticks me off since I'm the one that bought all the SSS ammo we were using.
He says he'll trade me all of my SSS ammo for an equal number of Thunderbolts, that bastage...

 

[chicharrones]

He says he'll trade me all of my SSS ammo for an equal number of Thunderbolts, that bastage...

lmao.

 

[bassjam]

The propellent used in the SSS seems to give good velocity from the .22 pistols I have tried it from.

Good to know, I suspected they used a unique powder. I keep the 60 grain SSS Aguila's in my little NAA .22 with the 1-1/8" barrel, which is my yard-work gun. In marginally-scientific phone book tests they penetrated deeper than CCI Mini-Mags, Stingers, Velocitors, and Rem Yellow Jackets. Only Aguila's Hypervelocity 30 grain's went deeper.

 

[Riomouse911]

All of the Aguila rimfire ammo I have shot has been suprisingly good.. except for the 60 grainers (wrong twist not bad ammo). Interceptor, super extra, pistol match, rifle match, target competition, subsonic solid point, super colibri; copper plated or LRN, ... even .22 WMR...it has all worked great.

With 50 rd boxes of super extra on sale here in Ca for under 3 bucks, it’s about as inexpensive a .22 LR that I can find. The great reliability and good accuracy I have experienced has been a real plus.

Stay safe!

 

[RedlegRick]

The only firearm I had that shot those well was an old H&R Sportsman I used to have. Part of the reason was the rings burned in each chamber from decades of .22 shorts being run through it (it was made in 1936), and somehow, the worn rifling stabilized them right. Everything else I had keyholed with them, but that relic shot them quite nicely.

 

[.308 Norma]

The keyhole out of almost everything I have fired them from.

Not particularly accurate in the gun's I've tried.

The above statements have been my experiences. Probably none of my 22s have fast enough twist rates to handle those l-o-n-g bullets. I couldn't hit a rabbit in my wife's flower patch at 10 yards using Aguila 22 Sniper Subsonic ammo and my Kimber 22 rifle. I'll bet one of those 60 grain bullets would have killed him if I had hit him though.

 

[jmorris]

I have killed lots of armadillo’s with these. They are quiet even unsuppressed out of the 21” barreled Remington 572.

 

[LoonWulf]

The other thing I noticed in my rifles, was a lot of sparks and fire coming out of the action (semi-auto rifles).

I think that might be relates to the short case. it flashes more out the side of my buckmark than any regular longrifle ammo.

 

[Riomouse911]

I think that might be relates to the short case. it flashes more out the side of my buckmark than any regular longrifle ammo.

That makes sense, I will surmise the shorter case is completely out of the chamber a split second sooner than a regular length .22 Lr.

Less time sealed up = less time to burn powder.

 

[DannyLandrum]

As they have been around a long time, there is a plethora of information on them if you care so search around, but a good summary is presented above. Ideal twist is 9 or 10. 11 or 12 should even work just fine. The standard 16, not so much. Thus most rifles won't shoot with them. Get a 10/22 action, a Green Mountain or similar 9 twist barrel, and voila - you have a super-penetrative heavy sub-sonic bullet, suitable for culling deer with close (<50 yards) head shots, if that is your mission.

The other "too bad" on these, in addition to absurdly-inexplicable failure of gun makers to put out even one 12 twist all-purpose rifle which will also handle these - is the fact that vels are around 850-925 from most barrels, and less from really long or really short barrels, which is silly really - why not at least 1050, the speed of sound at 0 deg F (so that they'll be "just subsonic" in any temperature you'd actually be out shooting in)? I mean, if there's not enough powder capacity to do that in the short case, they should have made them 50 or 55 grains and the case a scrunthair longer... could have killed 2 or 3 birds with one stone with such a re-design.

They seem to have so-so but not great accuracy even if twisted right.

Note that ARs with Ceiner type conversion kits and 9 twist will shoot them, since the twist is right, but you'll get some feeding jams due to the front-heavy bullet.

Once upon a time, I wanted to get one of the toggle bolt T3 10/22 actions with a properly twisted barrel for these, for the ultimate quiet repeater (no action noise), but instead I now shoot them in my 9 twist CZ 527 in .223 rem with one of those MCA chamber adapters.