Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Backyard quietude

I'm not terribly conversant with what's out there for subsonic .22 ammo. I'm referring to the really quiet stuff labeled "CB-whatever", not necessarily .22LR Subsonic rounds.

I've dabbled with the stuff, and was gifted a brick of W-W .22 Long CB-Match a couple years ago that is wonderful for backyard safaris here in suburban Maryland, but alas it's about used up and I need to find a substitute. (That CB-Match stuff filled the bill perfectly - accurate and quieter when fired out of long barreled target rifles than Pugs' suppressed .22's.) But the stuff isn't around anymore and I'm led to believe it's discontinued. Dunno.

Aguila any good? Something out there I never heard of? I'm all ears.

P.S. Don't suggest the obvious by saying it's time for a suppressor. Every .22 I own is either a rather valuable vintage gun or such that it would be criminal to thread the barrel for a suppressor, and new purpose-built .22's ain't in the cards unless someone wants to donate one.

For the record, my go-to backyard quiet plinker (British Enfield No.2 Mk IV .22 trainer)



And with its recently added vintage target sight:



The extractor neatly plucks empties out of the chamber and drops them in the hollow .303 magazine box. You can fire a lot of shots before you absolutely have to drop that box and empty it. It's a single shot, of course.

CCI makes CB Longs and I have found them to be more accurate in LR chambers than any of the CB Shorts I have tested. Sometimes they're a bit finicky about feeding from a rotary Ruger 77/22 magazine but that wasn't often.

I shot hundreds of the CB Longs over 3 years of living in suburban Virginia without a single complaint. One neighbor was a lawyer and the other was a 91 year old retired lady. She would phone me anytime a squirrel was raiding her bird feeders in hopes I was home to dispatch the nuisance.

CB Longs maybe, or perhaps the Aguila oddity with the short case and 60 grain bullet. My Contender has a 15" twist and shoots them OK.

CCI makes a "Suppressor" LR that advertises a MV of 970 fps. They also advertise a segmented LR with MV of 710 fps. That's ballpark the same as their CB shorts.

Sweet rifle G!

CCI CB's are not as quiet as they once were, at least the last brick I bought isn't
Aguila Colibri can stick in your barrel, depending on the gun used, check your rifle before shooting more than one.

Gnoahhh, that is a very cool trainer. The ammo that I suggest is the Aguila Colibri. I had some given to me and it is very quiet. I was not brave enough to try it in my long barreled 22lr, but it was super quiet in my 10-22..

Equally cool, C!

gnoahhh - I use CCI Quiet a lot for stealthy safaris in the backyard. Out of a rifle it is indeed very quiet - not as quiet as Colibri but sounds like a pellet gun and is pretty accurate out to 25-30 yards. Cool trainer BTW - how does it shoot?

PennDog

Thanks.

As for how it shoots, believe it or not I've never targeted it off the bench. It'll bounce a golf ball at 100 feet so I guess it's ok. I wasn't kidding when I said it's my backyard plinker. I guess maybe I should throw it in the car for the next range session.

G - plenty accurate enough then👍😄!

I enjoy the military trainers only have a couple (Springfield M1922 and a converted Swiss K-31) but they are a lot of fun and always looking for others!


PennDog

I agree that threading a Vintage .22 is never a good idea.I've been making adapters out of brass--they slip over the end of the barrel ( there's a notch for the front sight) and are fastened with set screws.Then I thread the adapter for 1/2-28 and voila my can goes on and the rifle remains pristine

If worse comes to worse maybe build a baffle box like Digital D had on here some time back. If he would be willing to show us again it would be appreciated. At one time I had a rack of tires with carpet lining the inside for my modest rim fire range. Very effective but unsightly. I live out in the country though.

Another CCI Quiet user. Used them in my 77/22 to thin out pests in my father's backyard, was surprised how quiet they were, and accurate/lethal enough for woodchuck head shots at 35 yds.

My issue too with the backyard rabbits. My old Sheridan Silver Streak would have worked well, but it is bigger bucks to get it a valve job than it was using an old Marlin bolt action .22 with quiet ammunition. Last year I gave those Aguila .22 LR Colibri 20 grain 420 fps cartridges a try. Accuracy was so so and yes, they were quiet, but they didn’t kill a rabbit worth a darn. The first one ran half the length of the yard before it died and #2 needed to be dispatched with a shovel. Enough evidence for me to look for something else. There seems to be quite a bit of CCI lead head Quiet LR ammunition around, but then I found a box of the CCI .22 LR Quiet Segmented HP cartridges at a gun show and I think that a 40 grain 710 fps HP will be the answer to any further rabbit problem.

Friend and I are into our 2nd case of Quiet-segmented HPs. We depopulate rats at dairy farms. Thermals and/or NV. No trouble killing them to as far as we can make hits. 35 yds is the longest we've shot a rat using thermal. We do this stuff both inside and outside dairy barns. Cows don't give a crap....(pun)....about the noise. Mostly the 13 gr fragments do not exit, but depends on placement. Between 20 and 120 rats per outing.

CCI Quiet22s are sure mighty darn quiet from this 24-3/4” barreled Stevens Favorite:



Seem quieter than pellets from this Feinwerkbau 124 spring-air rifle:


Actually, a lot of the FWB 124’s noise comes from its large compression piston slamming home under some pretty hefty spring force. The jarring impact can set one’s teeth to rattling.

SK - Standard plus - IF YOU CAN FIND IT.....

10-22, bag rest, DDs backyard range, Nikon M-223 Scope, 50 yards, 10 shots, this morning about 10:00 Eastern time....

the white circle measures .700"

It's quiet on its own, with a can it's stupid quiet......

A smaller version. Sight over the top, shoot thru the box. It is surprisingly effective. And the serial # is BR549.


That flier in Muffin's target happened when I farted. Not because it startled him, but because I disturbed otherwise calm air near the muzzle.

A lot of guys seem to think minimal wind will screw up the best of groups. Next time, point it in another direction..