What is your preferred barrel length for 22LR?

Rimfire bolt action rifles, lever action, pump action and self loading rifles. Air rifles.

Re: What is your preferred barrel length for 22LR?

Post by bladeracer » 28 Apr 2023, 2:15 pm

JohnV wrote:In Victoria you can't shorten a barrel to less than 19.6 inch but you can buy a new gun with a 16 inch barrel So which state is retarded ?


We can have folding stocks though so we don't need to shorten the barrels ;-)
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Re: What is your preferred barrel length for 22LR?

Post by womble » 28 Apr 2023, 4:35 pm

JohnV wrote:In Victoria you can't shorten a barrel to less than 19.6 inch but you can buy a new gun with a 16 inch barrel So which state is retarded ?


Oh no I must insist. NSW
rifle barrels minimum 16 inch
Shotgun barrels minimum 18 inch
Combination guns 18 inch
Double rifles may be permitted to be shorter.
Bullpups hahaha as if
Folding or any adjustments to stock including length of pull, no way no how not happening
Minimum length of pull 30 centimetres, no exceptions including youths or midgets,
Small females arguably isn’t an issue in NSW
NSW the retard state.
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Re: What is your preferred barrel length for 22LR?

Post by NorthWester » 28 Apr 2023, 6:06 pm

I can recommend the Aguila .22LR Sniper Subsonic rounds. These are 60gn projectiles and are very accurate in my rifle (old Marlin 25N). Possibly the most accurate that I have used. From what understand a lot of the long range shooters are using them too.

Slightly noisier then the CCI Quiets (710fps), but quieter then most of the other subsonics.

That said seen a few reviews on youtube that hated them... So maybe try and see if your gun likes them.
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Re: What is your preferred barrel length for 22LR?

Post by bladeracer » 28 Apr 2023, 8:34 pm

NorthWester wrote:I can recommend the Aguila .22LR Sniper Subsonic rounds. These are 60gn projectiles and are very accurate in my rifle (old Marlin 25N). Possibly the most accurate that I have used. From what understand a lot of the long range shooters are using them too.

Slightly noisier then the CCI Quiets (710fps), but quieter then most of the other subsonics.

That said seen a few reviews on youtube that hated them... So maybe try and see if your gun likes them.


They generally won't stabilise in a standard 16"-twist .22LR barrel. They shoot fine in my Norincos (I think they're 14.5"-twist) but aren't great, a lot of ammo shoots significantly better for me - the 60gn only gives me about 5.5" at 100m.
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Re: What is your preferred barrel length for 22LR?

Post by joneda1 » 29 Apr 2023, 6:08 pm

bladeracer wrote:
joneda1 wrote:I expect I will buy boxes of 50 Quiet, 50 Quiet Semi-auto and 50 standard subsonic. I'll fire off enough at home to test the noise level, choose one and then stick to it. The rest of the others can be shot at the range. There are a lot more options to choose from in standard subsonic so if the noise is acceptable then I agree that's a better choice for being able to kill foxes.


Noise level is less important than testing their accuracy. There's no point in being 30dB quieter if you're only wounding your targets. As I said before, lower velocity is significantly quieter than higher velocities, but they are still gunshots. No .22LR ammunition is loud enough for anybody to consider it undue noise in a rural setting, having a chainsaw running for a few hours would be far noisier. Your neighbours finding dead and injured animals on their properties will be a worse situation than them hearing you shooting.

This guy did a fairly basic test to see whether CCI Quiet has enough punch for hunting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihXZ1If50Zc
710fps CCI Quiet is essentially identical at 20m to 1070fps CCI Standard Velocity at 320m, or 1235fps MiniMag at 400m with regard to their effect on the target - 40gn lead bullets impacting at about 700fps. Limit your range, hit the brain, and you'll have no trouble. My own testing has the CCI Quiet penetrating corrugated steel wall sheeting at 165m so it's not to be sneezed at.


I mainly want to test these to see what has a tolerable noise level. I will probably get my wife to stand at the road boundary and see what she can hear when I shoot. If I can get away with regular subsonic then that will be the choice, assuming they are accurate.
My problem is the proximity of residential neighbours so I want to stay as quiet as possible but of course I still need to kill the foxes.

I saw that video, quite interesting.
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Re: What is your preferred barrel length for 22LR?

Post by bladeracer » 29 Apr 2023, 6:56 pm

joneda1 wrote:I mainly want to test these to see what has a tolerable noise level. I will probably get my wife to stand at the road boundary and see what she can hear when I shoot. If I can get away with regular subsonic then that will be the choice, assuming they are accurate.
My problem is the proximity of residential neighbours so I want to stay as quiet as possible but of course I still need to kill the foxes.

I saw that video, quite interesting.


In winter when the house is closed up I've been measuring .303 velocities a hundred metres from the house and my girlfriend has heard nothing at all. Last week Rose had a client here and I was shooting groups 150m from the house with CCI Standard Velocity (just subsonic at 1070fps) for an hour and they heard nothing even with the doors and windows open. A great deal depends on wind speed and direction and whether there are obstructions between the shooter and the listener. I've been shooting .30-06 here and heard it rolling down the valley, but my girlfriend working with the cows 1200m down that valley heard nothing. A spotlighter in the paddock behind the house fired a shot a couple nights back that was very, very loud - still night air, windows open. It was so close I went out for a look to make sure the cows were okay as we just moved them back to the house that morning. He fired another shot as I went out, but had moved over the crest of the hill, so Rose didn't hear that one. The first shot I reckon was less than 200m from the house, but with the sheds in the way he probably didn't know the house was over the back. My guess is it was a .204 or .223. At night our neighbour walks the creek with a 12ga. gun for foxes, those shots come up to the house very clearly at 400-600m on night air. A month or so back he fired something I would guess to be .308/.30-06 at a fox in the evening that echoed right through the house due to the open windows. A few weeks ago our neighbour slaughtered three steers, 400m from me with a .243. I was outside preparing the compost heap for the leftovers and heard nothing at all. I was surprised at that as .243 is loud, and there is nothing between us to block sound, but I guess the near-contact shots muffled most of it. Hearing shots is perfectly normal in the country.

As I said, assume you will be heard, even with low-subsonics or an air-rifle. Perhaps 90% of your shots will go unnoticed, but if you have problem neighbours I can guarantee some will be.
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Re: What is your preferred barrel length for 22LR?

Post by straightshooter » 01 May 2023, 8:07 am

A large proportion of the radiated noise of a HV 22 is the sonic crack of the projectile in flight. The longer that flight distance is the more apparent noise and an observer at a distance is more likely to perceive the direction the noise is coming from.
A standard velocity projectile makes no noise and the muzzle blast from a 24" barrel is fairly subdued and diminishes with distance.
I suspect that an observer at 200 meters away would not be reliably able to tell which direction the sound comes from if he were unable to see the shooter due to obstructions such as trees or hills.
Over the years when there were plenty of rabbits around I used T22's and they were very effective with head and upper body shots and worked just as well on hares. No different to HV ammunition.
Any standard velocity target ammunition should be comparable.
I have never shot a fox with a 22 so can't comment on their effectiveness in that situation.
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Re: What is your preferred barrel length for 22LR?

Post by bladeracer » 01 May 2023, 11:05 am

straightshooter wrote:A large proportion of the radiated noise of a HV 22 is the sonic crack of the projectile in flight. The longer that flight distance is the more apparent noise and an observer at a distance is more likely to perceive the direction the noise is coming from.
A standard velocity projectile makes no noise and the muzzle blast from a 24" barrel is fairly subdued and diminishes with distance.
I suspect that an observer at 200 meters away would not be reliably able to tell which direction the sound comes from if he were unable to see the shooter due to obstructions such as trees or hills.
Over the years when there were plenty of rabbits around I used T22's and they were very effective with head and upper body shots and worked just as well on hares. No different to HV ammunition.
Any standard velocity target ammunition should be comparable.
I have never shot a fox with a 22 so can't comment on their effectiveness in that situation.


For years I've wanted to experiment to determine how far somebody has to be from the flight of a supersonic bullet to hear the sonic crack. You can certainly hear the crack if it passes within about 20m of you but I'd like to find out the maximum distances, I suspect you need to be fairly close. I would agree that I wouldn't hear any of my neighbours shooting with subsonic .22LR at several hundred metres, I regularly ask whether they heard me shooting and none of them can hear the hundreds of rounds I send during a silhouette practice or ammo test, even with high-velocity .22LR. They generally do hear me shooting centrefire stuff, especially the faster ones - over about 2000fps. I doubt they would hear my 2500fps 32gn .204 loads, but I've never specifically tested that. Perhaps the perceived noise is also due to bullet mass, not just velocity? A heavy bullet at very high velocity dissipates the sonic crack further perhaps? If it's very quiet it is sometimes possible to hear a subsonic bullet pass by but I think you need to be very, very close to hear those.

Rose's dad was also a fan of the T22, I guess it must've been the cheapest stuff available here in the eighties when he bought his last brick, I still have a few boxes of his old stuff as well as new T22. It was his do-all ammo, rabbits, foxes, birds and fish.

I've taken foxes with CCI Standard Velocity with head shots and a side-on chest shot. Head shots are preferred, the chest shot was a mover that wouldn't stop for a head shot, but it took out the heart and both lungs so was effective. Ranges were not more than 40m max. Throw a carcass under a tree, hang a spotlight in the tree above it and let the foxes get used to it. Once you know they're feeding off it you can sneak out downwind of them and drop them without needing additional light.
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Re: What is your preferred barrel length for 22LR?

Post by SHV » 28 May 2023, 9:49 am

I like 16 inch heavy barrel because it is very handy and looks cool especially with long mag
I had savage 16 inch barrel rifle sold it due to some issues
I’m very glad now CZ has the new model synthetic varmint with the heavy 16 inch barrel and comes with 15 round long mag
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Re: What is your preferred barrel length for 22LR?

Post by SHV » 29 May 2023, 10:36 am

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Re: What is your preferred barrel length for 22LR?

Post by Lazarus » 04 Jun 2023, 10:28 am

Finding The Perfect .22LR Barrel Length: https://youtu.be/xB6izQ8bkq8
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