22LR ammo question.

B

bspillman

New member
Hello everyone. I’ve been away from the 22 platform for many a years now and I’m wanting to get back into it. My problem is that I live in an area where noise from shooting is frowned upon by the liberals who share property boundaries with me. I remember as a kid buying some 22LR ammo that made not much more noise than a pellet gun but can’t remember what kind that was or even if it’s still being sold. Can anyone recommend a quite type of 22LR ammo? Thanks in advance
 
Aguilla makes Colibri and Super Colibri. Primer powered, might not have enough
oomph to make it out of a rifle barrel, won't feed through many actions, but it is very quiet.

CCI makes 22 QUIET. Under 800 fps, won't operate a semi auto, but it will hand cycle.

Just about everybody makes a sub-sonic load. CCI sub-sonic will cycle my semi-autos,
Aguilla sub-sonic will not. Either will be quieter than a supersonic load.
 
A primer powered .22 is a CB or BB. One is primer only. The other has a very small powder charge. I can never remember which is which.
CCI calls 'em .22 Short CB. They make a CB Long and a couple subsonic LR's too. Plain .22 Shorts are that quiet too though.
Mind you, if the neighbours are whining about noise(sounds like you should be testing Nascar motors in your garage. snicker.), your property is probably too small for any kind of range shooting anything but air powered stuff. Even a Short is dangerous out to at least a mile. So is any .22 LR whether it's subsonic or not.
 
So many variables. If you are shooting a rifle and have the kind of space that lets you shoot outside, a regular subsonic load shouldn't bother any neighbor with closed windows. Obviously, the longer the barrel the better.

Aquila Colibri is quiet, but I've never gotten it to produce a decent group.

You can make the sound of shooting modest, but is it the sound that annoys your neighbors, or is it the fact that you shoot in your yard?

The best set up I ever saw was Paul Kopsch's; it was an underground range in which he tested loads. Even that wasn't silent to neighbors when he tested rifle loads.
 
I do have a safe area to shoot that’s what aggravating. I have 8 acres mostly wooded that backs up to a mountain. However the layout of my property I have 2 neighbors realativly close. It’s the noise.
 
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If it's safe and legal, yours is (at least in part) an etiquette question.

If you explain that you will restrict shooting to a reasonable range of hours and employ reasonable strategies to reduce any sound nuisance, you sound like a reasonable neighbor.
 
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You may want to talk with your neighbors to ask when it might be a good time for you to shoot, like if they're going to be away at work, etc.

If they know when and where you're going to shoot, it may not aggravate them. You could also invite them to join you.
 
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My problem is that I live in an area where noise from shooting is frowned upon by the liberals who share property boundaries with me
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This is a very common situation and more than one way to resolve. What kind of shooting do you intend to do? Have you considered a pellet rifle? There is still some noise but really not much. Mine came with "somewhat" of a silencer and is rated at 1320-FPS. It's legal in our town and I take whistle-pigs from time to time. I also do not shoot out in the open and instead, shoot out of my garage and watch my backstop. This keeps a lot of sound inside. Coyotes are really starting to move into town and have no doubt that my pellet gun, can kill one. ..... :)

Adding a silencer is expensive and not 100% quiet. ..... :cool:

Another point is to make sure whatever low powered .22 will not get stuck, in your barrel. ..... :eek:
 
Not so much what you ask but how and when

+1 to talking to the neighbors and inviting them to shoot as well.
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Ideal and by now, you know which ones to ask and which ones, not to ask. Like I use to tell my crew, Think about how you want to ask a question cause the answer is probably .... No !!!

I live in a small town and it's very common to hear gunshots. Not Ganstas, just a hunting/gun community. Most times, we an differentiate between pistol and rifle. Also 16-round magazines and revolvers. .... ;)
 
CCI Mini Caps are nearly silent from a rifle. They are available in short and long configuration.
Shorts are very loud by comparison.
My experience with the Aguila stuff is that it's louder than the CCI.
 
If it is safe and legal, and your neighbors are approachable, ask them if there's any time that would be better for you to target shoot. Then do your best to shoot during that time frame. If it is safe and it is legal but they aren't approachable, just fire away. If possible keep their residences behind your muzzle blast area. Gun shots are part and parcel of the rural landscape. Those that don't want to hear it can move into the city next to the freeway and have a neighbor 10 feet away who has a dog that barks 24/7. It'd be one thing if it were centerfire rifle blasts all day long, but the occasional rimfire shooting session during the day should not be an issue.
 
Thanks to those who posted the ammo recomendations I appreciate the info. Now not to sound like a jerk here but..... my shooting area is 1000 percent safe,(my back stop is a mountain), secondly I could care less if my neighbors want to shoot with me, again not trying to be a jerk I’m just as in-sociable as they come. (Sorry I work in law enforcement and I just don’t want to be around people on my days off just me). The whole reason for wanting to be quiet is because my deed restrictions say I have to be not my neighbors are gripping. However they are liberals. The silencer is a great idea however out of the budget. Again thanks to those who recommended quieter ammo.
 
bspillman said:
Thanks to those who posted the ammo recomendations I appreciate the info. Now not to sound like a jerk here but..... my shooting area is 1000 percent safe,(my back stop is a mountain), secondly I could care less if my neighbors want to shoot with me, again not trying to be a jerk I’m just as in-sociable as they come. (Sorry I work in law enforcement and I just don’t want to be around people on my days off just me). The whole reason for wanting to be quiet is because my deed restrictions say I have to be not my neighbors are gripping. However they are liberals. The silencer is a great idea however out of the budget. Again thanks to those who recommended quieter ammo.
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I live in Texas,neighbors shoot together,share their game so on and so forth.If any neighbor of mine complained about shooting on my own property........well they'd be told to go **** themselves.

I had a neighbor once walk onto my property and emphatically state they did not give their dogs bones.I gave her the HUH??? look.She said I saw you and your son out here last night butchering a deer and you left the bones on the ground,my dogs drug them home.I told her I had the perfect solution........keep her blankety blank dogs on her blankety property.We never had another problem once she knew where I stood.

I know I most likely didn't help but your problem just baffles me.What state do you live in?or particular area where things like this might exist?
 
Another vote here for CCI Quiet. When fired from a rifle, it's probably quieter than a pellet gun; the loudest part being the bullet's impact. It's like the CB shorts and longs except it is in the LR format. With its longer profile and heavier bullet, it feeds well in guns that only work with the 22LR. It's velocity is much lower than the sub-sonic target ammo, thus it lacks sufficient energy to cycle a semi-auto, but that's what makes it quiet. You will have to adjust your sights a fair amount to compensate, but the penetration is surprisingly excellent. It's a lot more powerful than a pellet rifle. I always keep some around and have used it to shoot rats. The neighbors can't hear it at all. I consider it a must-have ammo, even if you only use it occasionally.
 
CCI quiet comes in at about 68 decibels out of a rifle. The neighbor's lawn mower about 90. Their leaf blower over 100.
 
The CCI Quiet is about the same as a pellet rifle. The Quiet Segmented also drops small vermin quickly and humanely. The accuracy is not up to the CCI Standard Velocity (subsonic) but good enough for the 50 yards the stuff is useful for.

That Colibri stuff sticks in my barrels. BTW, the Quiet is not going to cycle your 1022 or similar auto rifle/pistol.

3C
 
If it is legal in your state, consider getting a .22LR suppressor.
That, especially when used with subsonic ammo, will cut the noise substantially.
 
Eight acres next to a mountain seems like a fantasy to me. I'm guessing this is a skinny lot along a road several hundred feet from the mountain side.

The whole reason for wanting to be quiet is because my deed restrictions say I have to be not my neighbors are gripping. However they are liberals. The silencer is a great idea however out of the budget. Again thanks to those who recommended quieter ammo.
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So for being quiet and cheap is a bit of wood and scrap carpet in the budget? I could imagine a couple of 4x8s with the carpet on the interior soaking up some of the pop from a subsonic 22. You'll still get a bit of sound bouncing off the woods. If you do something like this, I think it is crucial to leave yourself an ample field of view. My anxiety would be that someone could walk into your line of fire without you being able to see them soon enough.

If your lot is oblong, can you reduce the potential for complaint by making your range closer to the mountain side and away from the homes?
 
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