Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Quietest ammo for ground squirrels

I use CCI CB Longs around my house. They are very quiet and accurate out of my Marlin 39A. I have killed truck loads of chipmunks and red squirrels. Also one large skunk and one woodchuck. Both with head shots at 25 to 30 yards.

I use CCI CBs to shoot out of my bathroom window sometimes. They are quiet enough to not require hearing protection.

I have had trouble with the Aguila rimfire ammunition as it gets older though. I had a brick that I shot up over a two year span and towards the end of the second year it was becoming unreliable. I stored it in the locker right next to the CI and Federal ammo which was quite a lot older but worked fine. The S/V Aguila shot good when it was new, but as it got older I began to have misfires and some hangfires which would sit for sometimes 20-30 seconds before going off. At that point I gave up and chucked the last couple boxes.

I use these, and CCI shorts, with great accuracy in my Rem 512-X out to darn near 50. Wisper quiet too, my air rifle is much louder.

Why do you keep shooting your bathroom window out?

I agree with Subsonic ammo as an assist to the noise problem. Here is a more elegant solution, depending on local ordinances on such things. It does well with std vel ammo, such as W/W Wildcats, and with Rem. Subsonic.

This is a 10/22 with Clark barrel (Walther) with an Advanced Armament Corp, Aviator suppressor. With the Subsonic, the loudest noise is the bullet strike. With the Wildcat, one hears the "pop" typical of supersonic ammo.

These targets were shot on an indoor 50' range. Rifle has a trigger stop and Clark/Volquartsen fire control parts. Leupold 3-9x33 A/O EFR, rings and base.

DF

Frankly,I think it's a poor bargain to pay several hundred dollars to the ATF and then deal with having the Feds up your azz for owning a silencer from then on just to gain a small bit of sound reduction over a 24" barreled 22 with good subsonic ammo.

Dealing with the AFT and doing all the paper work is a pain, no doubt. But a really good suppressor (silencer is a misnomer) can make a real difference. I enjoy mine, especially shooting Subsonic Remington ammo. It's really quiet. The bullet hitting a limb, or anything solid, makes more noise than the gun.

There are different grades of these things. You need to try one of the really good ones and see what you think.

DF

Don't need one.

I have a 25" barreled Cz452 I use with RWS subs for quiet "wet work" in more open areas.

I have a $500 PCP Marauder.22 Airgun with a built in moderator that does everything I need a .22 to do inside 50 yards. I have already taken some pretty large animals with it using head shots.

It does les than 90 DB and it also does not shoot through stuff and endanger any other persons, animals or property in close quarters.

No $500 ++ for the can and tax stamp.

No having the US government camped up my ass the whole time I own it.

And no reporting to the feds if I take it across state lines or sell it.

My neighbors and I use a lot of Remington Subsonic HP's that we can get at Wal-Mart on our local ground squirrels. We have found them to be very accurate in several guns. We use CB Longs (CCI) inside the barns and to kill squirrels in traps, but they have an awful lot of drop as the range gets out there, like a few inches at 50 yards. With my rifle sighted in at 50 yards with the subsonics, the CB's never get up to the line of sight, and then go down quickly from there.

I recommend the Rem Subsonic HP's. I don't think you will find the noise level a problem and you can still add a bloop tube if you thought you had to. I never have. Have fun!

PCP air rifles are noisier then 22LR. You can get a 17 cal air rifle with a suppressor though. The Feds allow that.

The best choice for quiet shooting would be a 22 CB Long in a bolt action or single shot. You get decent effectives and its relatively quiet.

CB longs aren't even as loud as a cough. Just a little fftt. Someone 50' away wouldn't even know you were shooting.

I shoot alot of different 22 rifle ammo off my front porch. I have several different boxes of sub-sonic ammunition.

The Super Colibri is very very quiet. But would only be adequate to 25 yards or so. Just not alot of energy there.

I also shoot the CCI sub's and the Remington sub's. Both have about the same noise level.

IMO as long as you stay sub-sonic you will be OK in one of your everyday rifles. But still you are limiting yoursef to 50 yards, possibly a few more on full head shots. Without crawl offs.

I would stick with Long Rifle ammunition. Just go with sub-sonic Long Rifle ammunition. I shoot and hunt with the Remington sub-sonic. But that could just as easily be the CCI. I just ran across a great deal on the Remignton so I stocked in a bunch of it.

The other Aquila recommended above would also be a great choice at 900 fps. And would give a touch more distance with the 60 grain bullet. I am going to buy a few boxes of those and try them myself. But I shoot at ground hogs, which I believe are a good bit larger than the target you are speaking of?? Tom.

If your friends property is in the Condor zone, no lead...at least don't get caught.

The 60 gr. bullets gave very poor accuracy in the two rifles I tried them in. Probably the twist rate isn't enough for them. They seemed to be a solution looking for a problem, to me.

I always liked the CB Longs.


ddj

I have used various subsonic .22 loads for the same purpose, and the ones I like the best are the new Remington CeeBee long rifle HP's. (not the subsonic HP's mentioned previously) I normally don't care for Remington ammunition, but this stuff is super quiet, and is accurate and deadly. It is limited to about 50 yds though. The truncated cone HP expand well on ground squirrels and kills way better than the solid point subsonics.

The .60 grain SSS seems more prone to crazy ass ricochets, which might not be a good idea if shooting with other folks in the area.