22 Long Rifle has a very long history going back to the late 1800's and roots with the earliest cartridges when self contained metallic cartridges were first being developed. 22 Long Rifle stands out for being accurate, capable and cheap to shoot. I would wager that 22 LR is the most prevalent cartridge in the civilized world and here in the U.S., the cartridge comes in a variety of configurations from bulk box high velocity to high quality target to no-powder, extra quiet loads.
Like many Americans, I learned basic firearms handling with a 22 rimfire rifle. In my case it was a Winchester 90 in .22 Short followed by my first rifle a Stevens 62 in 22 Long Rifle. Back then, I didn't much care about what ammunition I used. A Wal-Mart, $25 500 round bulk box of high velocity was more than enough to keep me happy.
It wasn't until this year I really started to put a lot more consideration into my rimfire ammo choices when I started playing with suppressors. Sure, when I was trying different rounds for the Ruger American Rimfire back in 2014, I was looking for the best rounds for that rifle but I hadn't considered everything. In this case, I refer to velocity specifically.
My first foray into quieter shooting started back in 2018 when I took my Henry H001 with 18 inch barrel out to WV and tried shooting the CCI CB Short 22's along with a few boxes of the Aguila Super Colibri 22 Long Rifle no-powder rounds. The CB Shorts would work in the Henry's lever action and fire just fine with much less noise. I had thought I would keep these handy since they were easier to find in stores compared to the Aguila options but the Aguila worked great. On that same trip to WV, I had purchased a 500 round case of Super Colibri's off the internet for playing with later on. I later found that the CCI CB Shorts don't seal well in my CZ 457 Scout (probably since the rifle is chambered for 22 LR instead of 22 Short) and like to
gas me in the face prompting me to focus more on the Super Colibri's. When I want to shoot as quiet as possible, I go for the Aguila Super Colibri.
Once I had the tax stamp for the Dead Air Wolfman and later picked up the CZ 457 Scout, I started tinkering more with different ammunition. It became immediately obvious that the high velocity bulk box ammo was louder than what I wanted. I played with both the Gemtech subsonic ammo and the CCI Standard Velocity loading and found that the CCI was the better option simply for its cost and availability. Both of these are labeled as mid 1000 fps and are fairly quiet with the high volume suppressor and 16 inch barrel. The bullets hitting steel spinning targets is significantly louder than the suppressed gun shot. It should be noted that sealed suppressors and exposed lead bullets don't go well together over a long period of time. Exposed lead will leave bits of lead in the baffles and sealed cans can't be taken apart. This is why most manufactures don't include .22 on their supported list and that .22 cans are usually serviceable meaning you can take the baffles part. Also, .22 is crazy dirty.
The no-powder rounds such as the Super Colibri's are very quiet and ultimately the quietest you'll ever realistically get to, though they are about as powerful as a .177 caliber air rifle (I can prove it mathematically) and should not be shot from longer barrel lengths since they might get stuck. I haven't tried anything longer than 18 inches yet.
While there are several options for subsonic 22 LR on the market, once I found out how well the CCI Standard Velocity rounds worked and how quiet they are, I stocked up when Brownell's had a great deal for under $0.05 per round. They are fairly quiet and have no sonic crack from my CZ 457 Scout. They mostly work in my Ruger MKIII 22/45 with the Tactical Solutions Paclite barrel and other semi auto and manually operating rimfire guns with little fuss. I have noticed that they don't always burn all the powder so I have to clean the suppressor and gun regularly. CCI also makes what they call the Clean-22 Subsonic which is subsonic loading with a polymer coated, 40grain bullets. I may switch to those when I use the Wolfman. Then again, using the Wolfman was only supposed to happen until my next tax stamp came in.
Between bulk box high velocity rounds, the CCI Standard Velocity and the Aguila Super Colibri, I feel that I have enough variety for everything that I want to do. But since there is always something new coming out I felt like I'd keep looking.
CCI released a new version of their Quiet-22 called Quiet-22 Semi Auto. The idea is similar in that the bullets are moving well under 1000 fps (835 fps according to the box) which should keep the noise to a minimum. What makes the new ammo great is they should operate the action of semi-auto firearms unlike the original CCI Quiet-22 load operating at a claimed 710 fps. The Aguila Super Colibri's claim around 590 fps making me wonder if the CCI load actually has a small amount of powder since it has a higher velocity and heavier bullet.
These new Quiet-22 Semi Auto rounds seemed like they could be a very good option as a plinking round to keep on hand as they might be the quietest ammunition that would cycle a semi auto firearm. I ordered several boxes for testing though I don't have any semi auto rifles that can support a suppressor at the moment. So far those rounds have worked well in my Ruger MkIII 22/45 with PacLite 6 inch barrel and are quiet.
I'll need to pick a few boxes of the Clean-22 Subsonic for use with the Wolfman. When I get a chance I will swing over by the gun shop that has my 22 suppressor to see how the Quiet-22's work with the Walther P-22 I have.
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