Subsonic plinking ammunition

[Odd Job]

As others have said, you don't have to buy .22LR dedicated subsonic if you are firing through a moderator. I've fired a bunch of rounds and I have a bunch of moderators so take my advice on this. Here is one of my rifles with some of my moderators:



Here is a labelled image. Not shown are the Wildcat Predator 12 which is the big one in the image above and three other moderators that were in my safe:



Okay, so what have I found?
These are the rounds that will perform at a hearing safe level through an R55 Benchmark rifle (as in the picture above) with all the moderators seen in the picture:

RWS Target Rifle
RWS Rifle Match
Eley Sport
SK Magazine (in the bulk tin)
CCI Standard

Those all cycle my semi-auto R55.

These also work, but with problems noted:

Aguila Colibri. These are dedicated subsonics and will not cycle
Aguila SSS. These are dedicated subsonics but produce a lot of noise, sparks and flash from a semi-auto action. They also key-hole in all three of my semi-auto rifles. I do not recommend them, not for safety reasons but because they are poor performers.

Another issue is with the last batch of CCI Standard I got. The bullets were not secure enough in the cases and I had a lot of failure to rise in the magazine, failure to leave the magazine and failure to feed. So I'm off those for a while.
Same with Eley Sport (hard case with light strikes a few months back) and SK Magazine, which I have fired 1000 rounds of and had failure to fire in several properly struck cases. But I have fired them on one rifle only so far.

Other rounds I have tried which worked:

Eley Tenex
Eley Subsonic
Fiocchi Subsonic

But for plinking I think your best bet is RWS Target Rifle overall, and possibly SK magazine (I'll report back when I have fired that through a different gun).

[Blackstuff]

You’re likely better off with solid nosed standard stuff as lots of clubs don’t like/permit the use of HPs due to the increased damage they can do to the splash curtain

[Mattnall]

I have found SK Standard Plus is very consistent and just sub sonic, although it is not sold as such. It is also very affordable for the quality.

We have been using Eley Force (not subsonic, I know) but keep getting blown cases, in an Enfield No2 particularly, we got this to replace Eley Semi-Auto Match which was doing the same thing.
Someone said the cases were now aluminium (anodised to look like brass?) but whatever they are made of it is weak enough to keep failing so we went back to SK Std+ and will have to put up with the oily lube.

[walesdave]

Just picked up 500 CCI standard and 500 Ely action from my local(ish) gunshop - Keens tackle and guns gets a thumbs up for combining both brands to give me the 1000 round discount

I'll get a good chunk of this downrange next Saturday and will update with how things go

[GlockworkOrange]

You’re likely better off with solid nosed standard stuff as lots of clubs don’t like/permit the use of HPs due to the increased damage they can do to the splash curtain

I've never heard of this in regards to .22LR, I can't see how the damage could be that much more if the energy output is the same. My club doesn't permit jacketed ammo for this reason, but as long as the ammo is lead, bullet shape isn't a factor.

[greenshoots]

Keens tackle and guns

son or dad

greenshoots

[Blackstuff]

You’re likely better off with solid nosed standard stuff as lots of clubs don’t like/permit the use of HPs due to the increased damage they can do to the splash curtain

I've never heard of this in regards to .22LR, I can't see how the damage could be that much more if the energy output is the same. My club doesn't permit jacketed ammo for this reason, but as long as the ammo is lead, bullet shape isn't a factor.

Pretty common near me and the clubs I've visited for comps. I'm presuming they're thinking HPs dump more of their energy as the go through the material and therefore cause more damage?

[walesdave]

Keens tackle and guns

son or dad

greenshoots

The son I guess. They've always good for a chat and their prices are good - £70 for the CCI and Eley felt more than reasonable.

[walesdave]

Well, put 300 rounds of CCI standard and 300 of Eley action downrange yesterday.
All cycled well, couple of failure to feeds I think were down to my mags needing a clean rather than the ammo not being pokey enough to cycle.
Amazingly quiet through a moderator, things started to get louder towards the end of the day but again I think this is down to things needing a clean.
Accuracy of both brands was very good (for me) with one hole groups at 50m, using a scope.
Overall I wasn't too fond of the Eley, nothing specific it just didn't do it for me. CCI standard was definately my favourite, and at the same price as Blazer, I'll be buying a lot more of it in future.
Cheers all