22 rimfire ammunition

[Drew 3]

Eley subs used to be my go to but haven’t been able to get them for ages so tried a brick of CCI. Around every fourth or fith shot would go trans sonic resulting in quite a crack! Ended up taking them back and tried RWS field line which are very accurate and quiet. Nearly through my second brick of these and can’t see any reason to change.

 

[Smellydog]

A couple of years back I happened to have a big tub of water in my garden and thought it would be a great idea to test various subsonic ammo into it to test expansion. Not very scientific but interesting non the less. An a very good way to get soaked!View attachment 357867View attachment 357868View attachment 357869

Always admired CCI ss expansion

 

[Smellydog]

I never understood the belly aching about super sonic ammo, even the odd crack from ammo listed as ss.
Tonight I was plinking before sunset.
Mostly HV ammo when a local came along so I paused and said hello.
I asked him if he minded the noise?
He said " no not at all, sounds great".
I said that I have quieter ammo but he said "yes I heard that too, that's boring"...!

 

[Dodder]

I used to use exclusively the old Eley subs in my original Finnfire and loved them as they were very accurate. I now only use RWS subs, these are slightly slower velocity but very accurate & they bizarrely cycle perfectly through my AMT 10/22 whereas Eley and Winnies won't. Regarding Winnie subs, none of my rimfires have ever shot these accurately for some reason.
Moving forward I am probably going to be trying some match ammo, most of my pest control involves squizzers at close-ish ranges (haven't seen a rabbit in years!) and as I only ever head shoot them I don't imagine it'll make much difference not using hollow points.

 

[DesG]

I never understood the belly aching about super sonic ammo, even the odd crack from ammo listed as ss.
Tonight I was plinking before sunset.
Mostly HV ammo when a local came along so I paused and said hello.
I asked him if he minded the noise?
He said " no not at all, sounds great".
I said that I have quieter ammo but he said "yes I heard that too, that's boring"...!

You’re lucky. These days it’s more likely to be the armed response team alerted by a ‘concerned member of the public’!
That supersonic crack does sound lovely, but it travels a VERY long way.

 

[Smellydog]

You’re lucky. These days it’s more likely to be the armed response team alerted by a ‘concerned member of the public’!
That supersonic crack does sound lovely, but it travels a VERY long way.

Maybe the problem is that the public don't hear it enough and the call outs are rare. I think some police ask a caller more questions now, like is this in Telford shopping center or the countryside?

 

[Wink]

42gr Winchester has been my go to. Shoot them through a CZ with amazing accuracy.
Wink

 

[GrumpyGrandpa]

Although I only use rimfire for target shooting I found CCI subsonic 'small game' (the full-fat ones, not copper coated) really good in my CZ457 when ammo testing.
Shot 700 rounds in the past three months and no misfires. Had a few fail-to-feed but that might be down to operator error or possibly the magazine (when it does fail it is always the last round out of the plastic magazine).
[edit: just found this can be a common issue with the polymer magazines]

 

[old 30-06]

I have used thousands of Eley sub-sonic rounds and I have never had a misfire. I have tried all the other major makes, but in my CZ the Eley are the most accurate. Did you have a bad batch, or have you a rifle problem ?

 

[charlie222]

I've been punching paper with my cz452 this morning.It really doesn't like Eley or Winchester subs. Cci hollow points plenty good enough but the solid cci target rounds shoot better than I can. Think I'll try them on the crows.

 

[GrumpyGrandpa]

Cci hollow points plenty good enough but the solid cci target rounds shoot better

Agree with the above following my testing too. I then moved on to RWS R50 which was another step up in accuracy. However, for small game/pest control possibly a tad too expensive.
It really comes down to what is available too. I'm in the process of trying to replenish my ammo safe but am seeing a lot of "out of stock" notices.

 

[DesG]

A couple of our older club members have popped their clogs recently so we have had a couple of big boxes of assorted 22 ammo appear at the club. Some of it quite literally dates back fifty years. The more common stuff has been handed out to our regulars, but I snaffled a few boxes of the more interesting stuff. Quite a bit of various pistol ammo which still shoots amazingly well. The old army stuff is very accurate.

 

[Squirrelbasher]

A couple of our older club members have popped their clogs recently so we have had a couple of big boxes of assorted 22 ammo appear at the club. Some of it quite literally dates back fifty years. The more common stuff has been handed out to our regulars, but I snaffled a few boxes of the more interesting stuff. Quite a bit of various pistol ammo which still shoots amazingly well. The old army stuff is very accurate.

I remember the eley boxes like the blue one in the picture from the early eighties.

 

[Squirrelbasher]

I never understood the belly aching about super sonic ammo, even the odd crack from ammo listed as ss.
Tonight I was plinking before sunset.
Mostly HV ammo when a local came along so I paused and said hello.
I asked him if he minded the noise?
He said " no not at all, sounds great".
I said that I have quieter ammo but he said "yes I heard that too, that's boring"...!

HV’s are often where the bargains are. I picked up some federal HV’s for next to nowt and they’re really good. Had them before, years ago, and remembered how good they were then. I think a lot of people are missing a trick here as they’ll only buy subsonic. I appreciate the usefulness of subs and also cb’s and shorts as well, but HV’s shoot flatter, hit harder and are usually cheaper. Yes, they crack, but so what??

 

[GGG]

Any recommendations for 22 subsonic rimfire ammunition these days. Will need to buy a new batch shortly. Have been using Eley subs but found an unacceptable number of misfires. Mainly for shooting rabbits. Thanks

Having previously switched from Eley to RWS subs, I came across some Norma Subsonics. Worked very well, but never seen them since ‍♂

 

[Will the chippy]

Having previously switched from Eley to RWS subs, I came across some Norma Subsonics. Worked very well, but never seen them since ‍♂

Norma and rws are made in the same factory. The Norma ones I saw even had the rws R on the head stamp.

 

[KRW]

SK used to do a sub sonic and was the most accurate I have ever used

 

[Deerstalker6]

used to love using the round when i first started out, go to was either eley green box winchester blue & white box subs or SK subs
accurate consistently and dependable compared to the manufactured 22 subsonic ammunition of today.

worst I ever tried for consistency was remington subs green box 100rd pack, that was all over the place poor quality and some hv too not subsonic.

consistency/quality seems to have fallen with 22 subs these days, I did have a CZ 455 synth Carbine that was so ammo fussy about 2-3 brands were acceptable @ 50yd
these days various manufacturer's not 1 in particular can have subs one min and supersonic the next which defeats the object really.

 

[Rake Aboot]

Winchester went downhill to the point of being garbage ( used them for many yrs previously)
I’m now working through some CCI subs and they are fine
RWS are lovely as well , but quite wet to the touch. Not sure how long term use would be regards fouling.

 

[Donkey Basher]

The old army stuff is very accurate.

Back in the 80s a keeper friend of mine used to have LOTS of that Mk2 rimfire ammo, never really said where he got it from but he used to store it in a cupboard by the side of his chimney breast - that was until he had a chimney fire and the 'squirters' were none too impressed about its proximity to the fireplace