Virg461
Member
I know that others have discussed this round, but I've just learned of it recently. Very strange construction (60gr .22 round). Don't be fooled by the short case into thinking it's a pussycat. The round is slow (850fps) but very heavy. It hits my spinner target with a heavy "thwack".
I had heard that it didn't stabilize in the normal 1:16 twist barrels on most .22's, but I thought I would give it a try. I liked the amount of energy delivered at 50 yards. We keep goats and a free range chickens here on the ponderosa, and I thought it might be just to ticket for dispatching the odd racoon and and maybe even a coyote that might show up looking for a free meal.
I tried it first in my favorite .22, an MAS 45 (basically a Mauser-style trainer). This rifle shoots subsonics and high velocity rounds equally well, has very nice peep sights, and is one of my most accurate rifles. Very well made. But....it hated the SSS. At 50 yards, every round hit the target sideways. No stabilization. Very quiet, though.
Next, I tried my Remington 597. A completely different story. Nice groupings (1 inch at 50), however about one in 20 would destabilize and keyhole. Interestingly, even the keyholed rounds would land within the group. Not sure what a sideways 60 grain bullet would do to a racoon, but I'm sure it wouldn't be pretty. The real problem was that about 1 in 20 rounds would jam due to the short case.
Ruger 10/22.....not worth mentioning. Same as the MAS45. Also wouldn't feed worth a crap.
Romanian M69 trainer - stabilized the round well. Not a single keyhole out of 30 or so rounds. Good groups, but not as nice as the 597. The 597 really shot those rounds accurately.
The biggest surprise came when I tried them in my old Remington Nylon 66. This rifle was not exactly designed for accuracy, but it shot these rounds very well. The rifling on this barrel has either a faster twist (I seem to remember seeing 1:9 somewhere, but I'm not sure). I was obviously using the iron sights, since putting a scope on that loose receiver cover is pointless, and I shot consistent groups of 1-2 inches at 50. Not exactly as good as I would expect from a precision bolt gun, but as good as I've ever seen from this rifle. The other bonus is the way the action works on this tube-fed rifle. The tube feeds from the rear, so each new round is tossed up into the breech by the spring-fed follower. The bolt doesn't have to "strip" the next round out of the magazine like the 597 or 10/22. I fired about a hundred SSS rounds through this rifle, and not one failure to load or fire.
So, the Nylon 66 magazine is currently loaded and awaiting the next barnyard predator. As far as I'm concerned, it's now dedicated to the Aguila SSS.
I had heard that it didn't stabilize in the normal 1:16 twist barrels on most .22's, but I thought I would give it a try. I liked the amount of energy delivered at 50 yards. We keep goats and a free range chickens here on the ponderosa, and I thought it might be just to ticket for dispatching the odd racoon and and maybe even a coyote that might show up looking for a free meal.
I tried it first in my favorite .22, an MAS 45 (basically a Mauser-style trainer). This rifle shoots subsonics and high velocity rounds equally well, has very nice peep sights, and is one of my most accurate rifles. Very well made. But....it hated the SSS. At 50 yards, every round hit the target sideways. No stabilization. Very quiet, though.
Next, I tried my Remington 597. A completely different story. Nice groupings (1 inch at 50), however about one in 20 would destabilize and keyhole. Interestingly, even the keyholed rounds would land within the group. Not sure what a sideways 60 grain bullet would do to a racoon, but I'm sure it wouldn't be pretty. The real problem was that about 1 in 20 rounds would jam due to the short case.
Ruger 10/22.....not worth mentioning. Same as the MAS45. Also wouldn't feed worth a crap.
Romanian M69 trainer - stabilized the round well. Not a single keyhole out of 30 or so rounds. Good groups, but not as nice as the 597. The 597 really shot those rounds accurately.
The biggest surprise came when I tried them in my old Remington Nylon 66. This rifle was not exactly designed for accuracy, but it shot these rounds very well. The rifling on this barrel has either a faster twist (I seem to remember seeing 1:9 somewhere, but I'm not sure). I was obviously using the iron sights, since putting a scope on that loose receiver cover is pointless, and I shot consistent groups of 1-2 inches at 50. Not exactly as good as I would expect from a precision bolt gun, but as good as I've ever seen from this rifle. The other bonus is the way the action works on this tube-fed rifle. The tube feeds from the rear, so each new round is tossed up into the breech by the spring-fed follower. The bolt doesn't have to "strip" the next round out of the magazine like the 597 or 10/22. I fired about a hundred SSS rounds through this rifle, and not one failure to load or fire.
So, the Nylon 66 magazine is currently loaded and awaiting the next barnyard predator. As far as I'm concerned, it's now dedicated to the Aguila SSS.