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
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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.

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.