CCI stingers V.S. Mini-Mags

[Hunter2011]

My pistol is not a pocket pistol, it's a 6'' S&W 422. But I feel you do need all the power you can get. So why go with lesser ammo? I'd say shoot with CCI Velocitors. In all honesty, they don't give much more power in a handgun than Mini Mags. But like I said, use the most powerful you can for SD. You can still shoot with Minimags etc for training and to be more gentle to your pistol, but load up with Velocitors.
Another round that performs extremely well, accuracy wise and shows good expansion out of my pistol is Remington Yellow Jackets. They are much more accurate than Stingers so for me, I will never shoot Stingers again. Power means nothing without accuracy.

 

[Orion8472]

Really, even the Velicitor is best used in a rifle. In pistol length, they pretty much react like the Minimag. Perhaps a tiny bit better. Out of a rifle, on the other hand, . . . they are [IMO] the best 22lr round.

Just stick with the Minimags for optimal pistol performance. At this point, you'd probably have better luck finding Minimags over Stingers or [especially] Velocitors anyway.

 

[jmr40]

Stingers use a slightly longer case for increased powder capacity and a lighter/shorter bullet to keep overall length the same. They shoot lighter bullets faster than you can get from standard 22's. The longer case fits in most guns, but many with match grade chambers or even some standard chambers will not reliably cycle them.

I played around with some a few years ago and found accuracy to be unacceptable. The Mini mags have proven to be the best mix of price, accuracy, and reliability for me.

 

[25cschaefer]

Stingers are pretty hot, in my experience in semi auto handguns, it feels like they are beating it to death and the slide doesn't always strip a new round from the mag. I suspect this comes from too fast a slide speed.

Mini mags, on the other hand, have been both reliable and accurate plus they com in solids.

 

[mrbig381]

I like the mini mags, either the 36gr of the 40's are reliable in my 22's.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

Whenever you buy a new firearm, it's my time-tested opinion that you should buy a variety of different brands/types of ammunition for it and see how they shoot in the weapon.

Only extremely rarely will you find a firearm that's exclusively designed around a single existing cartridge manufacturer. In fact, the only example I can think of is the Automag II, a .22 magnum pistol originally designed for proper function around the Winchester .22WMR.

There are two things of utmost importance with any ammunition in a semi-automatic:

1. Reliability (both for the ammunition and the proper cycling of the weapon)

2. Accuracy

Terminal ballistics on the baddest, super-wham-o-dyne zombie slayer all amount to exactly nothing if your pistol will not function reliably with the killer ammunition or that ammunition can't hit what you're shooting at.

So try a variety of ammunition out and then choose what you want to shoot from those that you know by practical experience meet these two criteria.

 

[jrdolall]

I run Stingers through my Buckmark and Mark II with no problems at all. Mini Mags also work fine in both guns and both have had thousands run through them over the past 20 years or so with no mechanical damage to the guns.

As with any 22 I think reliability is going to be the main issue. All of my semi auto .22s seem to want something different which makes it hard to keep quality ammo for each gun. The bulk ammo works MOST of the time but if you are using it for defense then most of the time is not good enough. I would feel equally good with either of these rounds in MY guns but terminal ballistics might ultimately make the decision for me if I chose to use them for that purpose.

 

[45crittergitter]

Velocitors or Power Points.

 

[loose noose]

CCI Velocitors, but try them first, second CCI Mini-Mags.

 

[Shawn Dodson]

CCI 40gr SGB (Small Game Bullet) - http://www.cci-ammunition.com/products/detail.aspx?use=2&loadNo=0058

 

[stressed]

CCI 40gr SGB (Small Game Bullet) - http://www.cci-ammunition.com/products/detail.aspx?use=2&loadNo=0058

So all that is is a flatter shooting trunated cone mini-mag.

BTW, Velocitor makes the same ft lb energy at 50 yards that that round makes at the muzzle. Velociator also makes same ft lb energy at 50 yards that the Mini-Mag makes at the muzzle... MiniMag isn't even listed as a game round, it's listed as plinking.

/

 

[Shawn Dodson]

So all that is is a flatter shooting trunated cone mini-mag.

The flat point SGB has the potential to produce greater wound trauma, albeit slightly more, with the sharp shoulders of the flat point, than the round nose Mini-Mag or the rounded contours of the Velocitor's unexpanded HP nose.

BTW, Velocitor makes the same ft lb energy at 50 yards that that round makes at the muzzle. Velociator also makes same ft lb energy at 50 yards that the Mini-Mag makes at the muzzle.

Those values are incorrect when fired from the 3.5" bbl of a Ruger SR22. According the following video, Mini-Mag 36gr HP average velocity is 1007 fps, Velocitor 40gr HP average velocity is 1015 fps, and Stinger 32gr HP average velocity is 1073 fps. See - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FByqXBMuoM8

 

[Orion8472]

I wouldn't mind finding the SGB round. Looks good!

 

[camsdaddy]

I have shot a armadillo with CCI Velocitors from my S&W 22a and man that thing made a mess. I was impressed.

 

[Hunter2011]

And they say hollowpoints does not expand from handgun velocities. But somehow results do differ when you shoot with hollowpoints.

 

[Bovice]

Any opinions on the remington high velocity stuff?

I got a few boxes. I think they're called viper or hornet.

In my experience, Remington rimfire ammo is sketchy. If you're going for bulk, the federal 550 packs are the way to go.

 

[PO2Hammer]

I would only use CCI ammo. They always go bang.
Remington has been the least reliable rimfire ammo IME.

I like Velocitor quite a bit, it's the most accurate hunting ammo in both of my rifles. I get 1388 FPS from a 16" CZ Scout, but in handguns it barely beats out Mini Mags for velocity.

Ballistics by the inch

Velocitor vid's:

http://youtu.be/xEDo_PbAvJc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MMpCXpztAg

 

[limpingbear]

One more round you may want to try from CCI is their qwick shok round. Its a hollow point bullet that fragments into 3 equal weight pieces. I have shot them out of my single six and had them function as advertised when shooting into a 2 liter bottle at 10 feet. complete fragmentation and pass through. (one hole in, three smaller holes out) I have a NAA mini revolver that I use them in for a pocket gun. they also work great out of my MKI and my 10/22 so I know they will function a semi auto.

 

[kokapelli]

And they say hollowpoints does not expand from handgun velocities. But somehow results do differ when you shoot with hollowpoints.

Differ in what way?

 

[skoro]

My experience has been that Stingers are really good at removing pests.

I prefer the MiniMags for everything else.

 

[JERRY]

if you must use a .22lr handgun for defense, id recommend a revolver so if and when the occasion dud rimfire is under the hammer a simple stroke of the trigger gives you a fresh round. also, sticky chambers, feed reliability and all that wont mater.

 

[Shawn Dodson]

Quik-Shok - http://firearmstactical.com/briefs27.htm

I don't recommend for defense due to shallow penetration.

 

[Hunter2011]

Differ in what way?

Why shout so much

What I meant by my statement is that you can see the difference in damage, very clearly, if you shoot with solids vs hollow points in a handgun. Even if there are little expansion, for some reason hollow points still deliver more energy to a target than solids. I'm not talking about items like wood etc, but live animals.

 

[kokapelli]

Why shout so much

What I meant by my statement is that you can see the difference in damage, very clearly, if you shoot with solids vs hollow points in a handgun. Even if there are little expansion, for some reason hollow points still deliver more energy to a target than solids. I'm not talking about items like wood etc, but live animals.

Shouting is using uppercase, just don't like so much open space.

I really don't have experience actually shooting anything other than paper with 22cal and that's why I asked.

 

[F-111 John]

What I meant by my statement is that you can see the difference in damage, very clearly, if you shoot with solids vs hollow points in a handgun.

In the controlled testing video by tnoutdoors9 there was zero expansion when fired from the SR22, but a big difference when the hollow point was fired from a 10/22 rifle.

In his test of the CCI Mini-Mag 40 grain solid out of the same SR22, he got about 13" of penetration.

So maybe the extra damage you're seeing is from the slightly higher velocity of the Stinger hollowpoint vs. the Mini-Mag (or other lower velocity load) solid?