quietest .22LR rounds?

[hqmhqm]

I am looking for the very quietest .22LR cartridges possible, for my eight year old daughter to shoot rifle with.

I don't think the ear muffs we are using are completely sealing, and she doesn't like the foam plugs.

We are not allowed to use suppressors in our state.

We have a .22 lever action , a 10/22, a single shot bolt, and a Marlin 60. Can anyone recommend what might be the quietest round that could still cycle the semi autos? How about something that would be for the bolt or lever?

 

[Third_Rail]

No idea on the semis, but for the bolt and lever, use Aguila "super colibris". You can get a brick for $20 or so shipped through www.ammunitionstore.com


All you'll hear is the firing pin and then the bullet hitting the target. They're only good for about 50 feet for target shooting, though.

 

[Geno]

Foam plugs are too large for 8-year-olds

Foam plugs are even too large for my 12-year-old ( LilSureShot1994 ).

For low-noise, I like the CB long rifle.

Doc2005

 

[270Win]

50 feet is optimistic for the Aguila Super Colibris, in my opinion. I like them, and shoot them all the time out of my Henry H001 lever-action, but usable accuracy in those things is maybe 30 feet at best. I've even had some on the very edges of an 8x8 paper, aiming dead center, at only 15 feet. Of course, your mileage may differ.

If your gun can feed them, I've had great luck with CB Longs... only slightly louder than the Super Colibris, but quite accurate.

 

[Starter52]

We use thirty thousand CCI Target Shorts at camp each summer. Very accurate and quiet. They are superior to the CB caps, IMO, because the CBs come coated with a wax that gets messy in hot weather.

CCI Target Shorts are not cheap (6 cents a round), but it's great ammo. Be sure to get the Target shorts, not the other ones.

 

[Critter183]

It must be a girl thing. I had same trouble with my daughter. I used CBs.

I think part of problem is psychological though.

I called the CBs "the quiet bullets" and we went to the range a few times with the quiet bullets. Then one day she made a mistake. She forgot to ask me if these were the quiet bullets, so I had handed her 5 stingers instead. She fired them and never said boo about the noise. I told her about the switcheroo I pulled, and she just smirked, and gave me that "Dad! You're a moron!" look. hehehe

She's been using hotter rounds ever since.

 

[Lupinus]

I'd find a pair of muffs she can deal with, if you are worried about her not being able to hear you get some electronic muffs. You can get cheapos for 20 or 30 bucks that work fine.

Shes gonna have to get used to hearing protection if shes shooting. Even if you use real quiet 22 for now Im assuming she'll eventually move up to something where that isn't an option, be on a public range, etc.

Part of learning to shoot is learning proper safty and gear to wear while shooting. Wearing muffs is part of shooting if you do more then a shot or two durring deer season. Better she gets used to it now then to be pushing the edge later and damaging her hearing.

 

[SkunkApe]

50 feet is optimistic for the Aguila Super Colibris, in my opinion. I like them, and shoot them all the time out of my Henry H001 lever-action, but usable accuracy in those things is maybe 30 feet at best. I've even had some on the very edges of an 8x8 paper, aiming dead center, at only 15 feet. Of course, your mileage may differ.

-270Win

The super colibris work very well for me. I commonly get 3-shot/same hole groups at 8 yards, and can make 1-inch groups all day long if I want at that range. And I'm a pretty crummy shot. This is achieved with a Ruger 10/22, Rossi single shot rifle, and Taurus revolver. The super colibris won't cycle the bolt at all on the Ruger, and the rounds are too short and pointy to feed reliably from the magazine with manual bolt cycling, so I just manually load them one at a time without the magzine. Its a hassle; that's why I bought the single shot.

As far as noise; they're very quiet in the rifles; making far more noise from the impact of hitting a tuba fur or steel bullet trap than they do from the gun. The revolver (4" barrel) is quite a bit louder and I expect would require ear protection if one were to fire these indoors.

By the way, I've never had a single instance of the bullet failing to exit the barrel.

270Win, my guess is your accuracy problems come from your lever action deforming the pointy bullet when chambering. My Ruger wants to do this if I try to feed from a magazine and manually cycle the bolt. The round gets caught at a funny angle, and I'm sure if I applied more force (like with a lever) I'd deform the bullet pretty badly.

 

[OpFlash]

In my experience the colibris are accurate in some rifles and wildly inaccurate in others. My Marlin won't shoot them worth anything and my Savage will shoot the Super Colibris well but with the regular one's they wing off dramaticaly as can be seen through the scope.

I hate it that Colibris and CBs are not available in the LR format. That means that virtually any removeable magazine gun won't feed them and its very difficult to chamber them manually, at least for my fat fingers. The only reason I can think of for the manufacturers to be cutting out at least 50% of the firearm market is for fear of liability if they made them look like the common 22LR people will shoot them in rifles and get them stuck in the barrel. I can see how tat might be true for Colibris but I still would like a LR length CB.

 

[SkunkApe]

I hate it that Colibris and CBs are not available in the LR format. That means that virtually any removeable magazine gun won't feed them and its very difficult to chamber them manually, at least for my fat fingers. The only reason I can think of for the manufacturers to be cutting out at least 50% of the firearm market is for fear of liability if they made them look like the common 22LR people will shoot them in rifles and get them stuck in the barrel.

Also, that's a lot of extra empty brass to just take up space, especially considering today's metal prices.

 

[hqmhqm]

We use thirty thousand CCI Target Shorts at camp each summer. Very accurate and quiet. They are superior to the CB caps, IMO, because the CBs come coated with a wax that gets messy in hot weather.

CCI Target Shorts are not cheap (6 cents a round), but it's great ammo. Be sure to get the Target shorts, not the other ones.

What kind of rifle are you using to shoot these from?

 

[rangerruck]

any round called a cb round is very quiet, also Aguila colibri and super colibris. these all use little to no powder, and fire off the primer.

 

[270Win]

SkunkApe, that is entirely possible. I'll try to chamber one and extract it and see what it looks like, and report back.

It's also possible the Henry just doesn't like 'em. It also hates all Remington rimfire ammo (except the Eley stuff). It just loves the Aguila HyperVelocity rounds, though.

I've had friends who claim results similar to yours, but I've never been around to witness it.

They ARE quiet as whisper, though. With headphones on at the range, you must depend on "recoil" (like there is any) or more likely a check of the target to know when you've fired.

 

[Starter52]

hqmhqm - We use Anschutz and Remington bolt action .22 rifles.

When we first went to .22 shorts, we worried that the lighter .22 short bullet wouldn't fire accurately from rifles designed for .22 LR. This turned out to be not a problem at all at 50 feet.

 

[Gordon]

If you want real .22LR power that operates semi autos, soft lead and a hollow point that expands nicely- Remington Low Noise .22LR Hollowpoint! These are just a little more expensive than price leader .22lr, they don't ring chambers with lead like .22short(and short cased CBs) in a LR chamber do.They are very accurate, the RWS version is even better but hard to get and twice as expensive. I use these Rem low noise exclusively, in a 24" barrel they are about like a CCI CB in an 18" or shorter barrel- and twice to 3 times as powerful!

 

[Starter52]

Congratulations on the 3000th post, Gordon.

Gordon is correct about the subsonic Remington ammo. It's not quite as quiet as the .22 shorts, but it will usually operate a semi-auto. We tried this ammo and found that it worked with the Ruger 10/22. Good stuff.

 

[taliv]

fyi, there are several types of foam ear plugs. one is cylindrical and is mostly used by adults and does not fit my 8 yr old daughter's ears. another is conical and fits her ears perfectly.


also "colobri" is quieter than "super colobri". i've shot both at 50yrds on a regular basis and had no problems hitting cans or paper targets

 

[Bwana John]

also "colobri" is quieter than "super colobri".

Be careful, the "Colobris" will not exit the 24" barrel on my 77/22, I believe they are intended for pistols.

The best 22 round with the least amount of noise are the RWS 6mm CB caps. They do not feed thru mags and they are expensive and hard to find, but I think they are worth it. I did not like the RWS BB caps, however.

 

[taliv]

yeah, good point. i mostly shoot them out of a youth rifle and an AR15 with ceiner kit, both of which have 16" barrels, and one is really for .224 diameter projectiles, so i've never experienced stuckage

 

[Dain Bramage]

I just went shooting this week with my Glenfield Model 60 and some CCI CB Longs. The noise and recoil were so minimal that it was hard to tell if the rifle had fired. They also did not have enough power to cycle the action.

I tried some CCI Subsonic LR, and they were only marginally louder, but cycled the action and improved the accuracy.

 

[rockstar.esq]

I'm surprised to read that the 77/22 won't let a colibri exit. I was worried about that with my Tula and found it never trapped a bullet even when the bore is dirty. The colibri's are profoundly quieter in rifles not nearly as much out of revolvers. Personally I wouldn't enjoy the difficulty of the colibri in lever or semiauto rifles. Single shots and bolt actions would be far more fun. An interesting point nobody's made thus far is that the Super Sniper subsonics aren't too loud in their own right. Personally I've found them to really reduce the noise in handguns however my Beretta 87 Target won't feed them. Thats a shame since my old Buckmark would put them into wee groups. The heavy 60 grain bullets also smack spinners with the authority of a .22 mag. I second the cone shaped ear plugs, and add the "Macks swimming plugs". The Mack type use a waxy feeling substance that is pressed against the ouside of the ear opening. They don't take much work to seal properly and they don't expand to create pressure. They do however seal out air so you can get a bit of ear popping when you remove them. Either way the Macks are reusable and work well enough to protect hearing at .22R sound levels. One final observation about .22LRs is that the enviornment makes a huge difference to the sound signature. I was once shooting a .22LR pistol in a valley and the noise was unbelievably loud! Frankly the echo effect was worse than shooting indoors with low ceilings and concrete floors. Many ranges have ridiculous amounts of concrete in the shooting area, sometimes an old carpet swatch near the muzzle (if shooting off a bench) will reduce the noise tremedously.

 

[Reloader]

Check with CCI. They used to carry CB Longs in 100 round pack.

 

[19-3Ben]

I was using the super colibri's for a while, but stopped. I can't believe nobody has mentioned yet how FRIKKIN DIRTY that ammo is. Every time I shot the stuff, it was like someone had poured little bits of corn meal into the action of my gun when I was done. I was shooting a blot action, and the grittines that those rounds leave actually made it difficult to cycle the bolt. I will never use them again.

Instead, I prefer Remington .22 short CBee's. They are very slightly louder than the Aguila rounds, but are more powerful, more accurate, much cleaner, and still pretty darn quiet. Love 'em.