Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Quietest ammo for ground squirrels

I've got a chance to help a friend rid 600 acres of property of ground squirrels. Being as he doesn't want me to unnerve the work crews with gunfire, what's the optimum 22 rimfire ammo for such a task? I'm be using scoped bolt and semi auto rifles.

I'm leaning toward subsonic LR or short hollow point fodder.

Too bad you're in CA ....... no suppressors !

Std velocity shorts, as used in target pistols, will kill any ground squirrel that lives and are very accurate in a rifle chambered for them. 600 acres could be a lifetime gig, so setting back a barrel to fit only shorts might make sense.

A high power (expensive) compressed air rifle is also deadly.

Sound like fun !

Pretty much any of the subsonic stuff will work - Use whatever your rifle likes. Going to the Aquila SSS or shorts or some of extremes isn't likely to yield good accuracy at over about 25 yards without a barrel set up for them.

I have one of the CZ 452s with a 28" barrel... Aguila .22 Subsonic ammo is so quiet one can shoot without hearing protection indoors...

Also extremely accurate...

Bob

http://www.cci-ammunition.com/products/detail.aspx?use=3&loadNo=0038
---------------------------------------------------------

I'm going to give these a try -should make a good 'porch gun' bullet.

IF it were me, I would order a 1 in 9 twist barrel for a 10/22 (LTPOWELL here has one for sale, a whole custom 10/22 rifle so equipped) and then buy a couple of bricks of Aguilla SSS (super Sniper Subsonic) ammo with their 60gr bullets at 900FPS. Enough power to reach out there as far as any 22lr ammo or even farther and quiet. In the right barrel scary accurate.

If you are not wanting or able to go this route, any subsonic 22LR ammo will fill the bill and there are some subsonic HP's out there. WARNING, shooting CB shorts or other short cased ammo can leave a nasty and hard to remove ring of residue/crud in a LR chamber making said chamber a bit sticky with 22LR ammo later until thouroughly cleaned. A 22 brush with a patch saturated with 600 grit lapping compound and run on a drill motor works great for removing same but be careful.

Thanks guys. One of my rifles is an older Marlin bolt action. The magazine accepts shorts, longs or long rifles. Does anyone still make short hollow point rimfire ammo?

use what ever subsonic or even stanard vol. ammo that shoots the best for you and fit your gun with a blurp tube

Buy you one of the High Vel Air Rifles

CCI still makes short HPs, if you can find them.

Aguila Colibri. Quieter than an air rifle by a lot.

Yep. Killed a lot of California ground squirrels with a Pellet gun. Stingers work the best, but are noisy. Quietest in a 22 is CB's, CCI's are good. Tough little critters.

I shoot the Super Colibri because it's a few hundred feet per sec. faster, but very quiet and great accuracy

I hate to bring this up, but your buddy's ranch isn't in the Condor lead-free ammo area is it?

Until a couple years ago (last time I looked for the load), CCI did!


Good luck slewing all them VC-squirrels!

Idholton is on the right track with his answer - use standard velocity long rifle ammo and a bloop tube. Bloop tubes are used by competition shooters to add weight to the barrel for improving balance for offhand shooting, and in some cases, when using open sights, to extend the sight distance by fitting the front sight to the extension.

The bloop tube does just what its name sounds like - it changes the sound of the shot from a crack to a "BLOOP", it becomes a hollow sound rather than a sharp crack.

All you need is a piece of tubing that has the inside diameter the same as the outside diameter of your barrel. The tubing can be as simple as a piece of electrical conduit or it can be a piece of pipe. If it is electrical conduit you can saw some splits in the end of it and simply use a strong hose clamp to hold it on the barrel. If it is a piece of pipe then drill and tap a couple of holes in it for set screws, wrap your barrel with a piece of shim stock where the set screws will touch it and you will not mark your barrel. The longer the bloop tube the more effective it becomes, a 12 inch tube quietens the shot considerably.

Another positive aspect of a bloop tube is that it can be used as a tuner, by moving it backwards or forwards on the barrel you have some control over the "sweet spot". Which will generally increase accuracy.

drover

Subsonic ammo in a long barrel bolt gun should work.

I have a Cooper JSR and it is quite with sub's.

But insanely quite with a can.

I use cci green tag.

Last summer I shot about 1/2 dozen ground squirrels that were tearing up my lawn. I used an old open-sighted Remington 512 with CCI CB caps - head shots on all of them. That combination, along with the red-tailed hawk that hung out around my house, helped me get rid of them.

My CZ 452 is the 25" barrel and with RWS Subsonic HPs, it seems to be as quite as a suppressor. I have shot it indoors without hearing protection. It is also very accurate.