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Ryan Nafe

Fellas,

I thought I’d share my experiences over the last 6 months or so with a new-to-me .22LR load from CCI, their “Suppressor” product, a 45 grain lead hollow point (hard wax-based lube, very clean to handle) at an advertised velocity of 970 FPS.

I’ve ran this load exclusively through two different Marlin M60’s after initial accuracy and reliability testing and the results are as follows:

- Accuracy has been as good or better than anything else I’ve tried, including some very expensive match ammo. With the current stainless Marlin and it’s peep sights I can hit golf balls offhand out to about 25 or 30 yards, which is basically the outer limit for this round’s effectiveness anyway.

- I don’t run a suppressor but this is still very quiet ammo, it’s well under the sound barrier at an average of 980 FPS from my rifle. Much quieter than any of the higher velocity supersonic hunting loads. This is obviously nice for both the shooter and the neighbors, as well as probably being less likely to spook game in the area than a louder supersonic round.

- Terminal performance on small game (squirrels, raccoons, and rabbits in particular) has been nothing short of excellent across the entire weight range. I get signs of expansion and kills take mere seconds on small rabbits and squirrels, while penetration on an 18 pound adult male raccoon was through-and-through on a quartering shot that entered the front shoulder and exited just in front of the rear leg on the opposite side. The squirrels and rabbits generally don’t react much to the hit but they never get far and wounding through the vitals is often around 3/8” to 1/2”. It’s certainly a bit light for adult raccoons and similar sized varmints but the penetration is excellent and it will reliably kill them, certainly more than I’ve seen in the past with lighter supersonic hollow points.

- Prices are more than most other .22 ammo, but not at “match grade” prices. I get 1,000 round lots of it for almost exactly $100, which I think is perfectly justifiable when I consider the performance of the round.

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I just wanted to throw my findings out there for you guys as a heads-up, hopefully you guys find it useful or interesting. Here’s a picture of one of the more memorable harvest with the stainless Marlin and CCI ammo, along with a description of the results after impact:



At the shot, about 20 yards, the fox squirrel twitched about and attempted to run up the tree in the picture, only making a few feet upwards before falling back down and dying several seconds later. Not bad for a subsonic load.