maximum possible 22lr. ME out of a 4,5 inch barrel

S

simonrichter

New member
while there is a lot of talk about .22lr effectiveness, I could nowhere find the actual maximum muzzle energy that is achievable out of a mean length pistol barrel (let's make that 4,5 inches). Any ideas of what we are talking about here? 100 ft/lbs? More? Less? Since HV-loads don't make too much sense out of shorter barrels, I guess the spread between the average and the maximum performance is not going to be too large...
 
Ballistics by the Inch gives the velocity for several common loads at different barrel lengths determined by cutting off an 18" barrel an inch at a time down to 2". This eliminates gun to gun differences. They also show velocities from from several different factory guns. You may calculate the energy for yourself.
http://www.ballisticsbytheinch.com/22.html

Unfortunately, they concentrated on the high velocity loads, no standard velocity given.

CCI Velocitor has one of the higher velocities and with a full 40 grain bullet; therefore will have a high energy.
 
ah, I see... So it seems to be up to 140 joules if you use something very hot... That's not too bad for a .22 pistol, after all.

Is there, btw., any HV .22lr round that is specifically designed for pistol barrels (say: using a faster burning powder). Stingers and Velocitors and the like are still rifle rounds, afaik...
 
CCI makes a Pistol Match in .22LR, but that's the only pistol specific ammo I know of. I usually just look for HV round nose, myself.

Out of curiosity, are you looking for ammo for that bug-out bag gun you posted about awhile back?
 
CCI (I think, might be another manuf) is making some .22WMR ammo optimized for use in short barreled handguns. But I am not aware of any .22lr like that.
 
BUT DO NOT FORGET, the gun itself makes as much difference as any particular ammunition you may select. For instance, I have a NM Ruger BEARCAT 4" 22LR pistol that is 125 to as much as 150FPS faster than any---ANY!!!---other 22 pistol of ANY BBL length we've ever tested. It is a fast as most but not all 22 rifles. When this was first discovered while Taffin and I were testing 22 sixguns we thought the dang chronograph had gone kerflooey. NOPE !! It was this gun specifically that was 150fps faster than the other pistols we had along to test, a Ruger OMFT 5 1/2", a Ruger Bisly 6 1/2", and a Ruger Super Single Six 6 1/2" pistols. Since then I've ran it against all my Ruger MKII pstols, 4 3/4", 5 1/4", 6", and 6 7/8"; the Bearcat was faster than all of 'em and no other was even really close.
LET me note this also' I have clocked other 22 pistols that were so damned slow a Whammo slingshot might have tossed the bullets harder. NO Fooling !!!
THe only way to know is to run a lot of ammo from YOUR 22 handgun acrossed the chronograph screens. ITS gun edgumakashunh at it's finest !
And so it goes...
 
Out of curiosity, are you looking for ammo for that bug-out bag gun you posted about awhile back?
Click to expand...

not exactly, I bought myself a 22lr conversion for my G17 (with a 4,5" barrel). I think out of a 2-and-something-inches mousegun barrel, the difference between different loads will become negligible...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top