Posted on 04/14/2020 6:13:44 AM PDT by marktwain
Hollowpoint CCI Velocitor and Solid Aguila Interceptor cartridges courtesy Dean Weingarten
Five years ago, in 2015, Dr. William Harper, Ph.D+, writing in the popular forum, rimfirecentral.com, made these observations about the Aguila Interceptor .22 Long Rife cartridge, which was advertised at 1470 feet per second. From rimfirecentral.com:
March 10, 2015
My Fellow Shooters:
In my CZ Ultra Lux Super exclusive in quiet air from a supported position Aguila Interceptor 40 gr. .22LR has grouped 1″ at 100 yards, 2.5″ at 200 meters, 3.3″ at 300 meters, 6.5-7″ at 400 meters, 10″ at 500 meters, 12″ at 600 meters. The muzzle velocity was remarkably consistent 1462-1468 averaging 1465 fps- better than any match load from the 28.5″ barrel. This is a remarkable performance. I would not use this load from a semi-automatic or a weak action like a pivoting block.
I have a CZ Ultra Lux, although not the Super exclusive. The performance sounded very good. A few months ago some Interceptors were on sale for about $3.50 a box, with free shipping. That was an exceptional deal, so I ordered a thousand of them.
In comparison was a couple of hundred CCI Velocitors which were about 10 years old. I was curious about how the Interceptors compared to the Velocitors out of the same guns. The CCI Velocitors are advertised at 1435 feet per second.
A dozen guns of various barrel lengths were assembled. It is very difficult to compare velocities from different barrels. Chambers vary. In .22 rimfires, muzzles are choked or not. The bore can vary by a couple of thousandths of an inch in diameter. The bores may be very smooth or slightly rough.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Aguila ammo is made in Mexico, where if you are caught with one round of their .22LR, you go to jail.
.22LR loadings...meh...If I had to write a new article about a single subject 5 days a week continuously, I’d probably run out of interesting things to write about too...
Thanks, Dean. We shoot quite a bit of .22LR.
L
Don’t denigrate the .22LR. I’ve downed many a full-sized hog with them.
Agreed.
From the article:
I would not use this load from a semi-automatic or a weak action like a pivoting block.
...
I think this means that if someone wants high velocity, they should buy a rifle made for the purpose, not a 22lr.
This just reminds me of how foolish I was for not ordering another 5k rounds of CCI Mini-Mag 22LR when prices had come back down. Arggh.
I’m no Ph.D+, but my CZ452 Trainer hits gongs at 200 yards like candy with my standard load.
I haven’t tried the ammo listed. The only high-vel stuff I’ve tried are Stingers. They worked well enough, but weren’t as accurate as my standard load, which is Federal American Eagle 38g HP. Obviously, I can get better accuracy with match loads, but I found the Fed-Am to be at the sweet spot of accuracy, price, and ease of use (match loads can be tight to chamber) across most of my .22’s. A few prefer Winchester White Box 36g HPCP, so I keep some on hand.
not denigrating anything. Just saying the authors are reaching for material.
Reloading them is a pain. :-) Thanks for a little distraction on a Tuesday morning. I’ve got some velocitors but no Aguila. Need to go out in the desert and pop off a few rounds.
It’s important to try several types of ammunition, in any firearm you own - one may be more accurate (or reliable) than the rest. That’s particularly true (in my experience) with .22 rimfire ammunition. Years ago, I owned a .22 target rifle that I tried out with 15-20 different types/brands of ammunition. It initially performed the best with CCI Green Tag. When I swapped the laminated wood stock out and replaced it with a carbon fiber stock, I retested it - and it shot more accurately with Winchester T22 ammo. And don’t just assume that your firearm will be reliable with every factory load, just because it’s not an auto-loader; my wife’s S&W .22 revolver has trouble ejecting some fired PMC rimfire cases, but is 100% reliable with the Remington ammunition we’ve tried...
I use the CCI Stinger 1640FPS. I wonder why he didn’t mention this round?
I would not use this load from a semi-automatic or a weak action like a pivoting block.
One of the test firearms mentioned was a Sig Trailside, a very accurate but somewhat delicate pistol based on a Hammerli target pistol design. It's perfectly happy with Eley match-grade standard-velocity ammo, but the high-speed stuff will eventually damage it. That's probably a poor choice for "hyper-velocity" ammo tests.
Most semi-autos can use these cartridges without problem. If someone is concerned about their Ruger 10/22 taking too much of a beating, there are polymer bolt buffers to cushion the action - those just cost a few bucks. In reality, though, using semi-autos sort of defeats the purpose of these cartridges. Same thing with short barrel lengths. A locked-breech action type and at least 20" of barrel length are both needed to see the advertised muzzle velocity.
I have one too. I usually shoot CCI standard velocity. The best accuracy I ever had was using Wolf Match Extra.
From my Ruger Mark III, I always shoot CCI mini-mags.
Probably because he was interested in accuracy.
My bests have been the Wolf Match Target and RWS Target.
I haven’t tried the Mexican loads but the CCI Velocity rounds. They are a little energetic for my Rugar pistol but they work great in my modified 10-22 Rugar rifle.
My upgraded barrel has “No Stingers” warnings stamped all over it.
“No Stingers!”
Yup,
Me Too.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.