Over the years I have done a lot of experimentation with various guns and ammunition. I have recorded my results in a small notebook. I thought I would share a couple of things I learned through my testing.
I fired several brands of 22 ammo (shows how long ago I did this as I was able to walk into a store and buy several brands of 22 ammo) through numerous firearms with different barrel lengths to see what effect it had on velocity. I assumed given the small powder charge in a 22 Long Rifle cartridge that it might max out at a fairly short barrel lengthy. I really expected around 16" to be the end of the line in velocity for the 22 LR.
Well, sort of. The results were a mixed bag with a couple of ammo brands maxing out with the 29" rifle and one doing best with the 18" gun. Others chose between the 20" and 24" barrel lengths. Mostly the differences between them wasn't much at all. For example, CCI Mini-Mags ran a high of 1193 in the 24" tube and a low of 1128 in the 29" barrel. Velocity was at 1173 for the 20" length. So for the most part ignore velocity when choosing a barrel length for a 22 rifle.
Speaking of CCI Mini-Mags, despite the high performance sounding name this ammo was consistently the slowest of all the brands tested in the rifles. However, using a 7"auto pistol and a 4" revolver all of the tested ammo was virtually identical in velocity in these two guns.
I know it's a lot of numbers and it's easier to read from the charts I made. But I found it somewhat interesting.
I fired several brands of 22 ammo (shows how long ago I did this as I was able to walk into a store and buy several brands of 22 ammo) through numerous firearms with different barrel lengths to see what effect it had on velocity. I assumed given the small powder charge in a 22 Long Rifle cartridge that it might max out at a fairly short barrel lengthy. I really expected around 16" to be the end of the line in velocity for the 22 LR.
Well, sort of. The results were a mixed bag with a couple of ammo brands maxing out with the 29" rifle and one doing best with the 18" gun. Others chose between the 20" and 24" barrel lengths. Mostly the differences between them wasn't much at all. For example, CCI Mini-Mags ran a high of 1193 in the 24" tube and a low of 1128 in the 29" barrel. Velocity was at 1173 for the 20" length. So for the most part ignore velocity when choosing a barrel length for a 22 rifle.
Speaking of CCI Mini-Mags, despite the high performance sounding name this ammo was consistently the slowest of all the brands tested in the rifles. However, using a 7"auto pistol and a 4" revolver all of the tested ammo was virtually identical in velocity in these two guns.
I know it's a lot of numbers and it's easier to read from the charts I made. But I found it somewhat interesting.