Over 100 years after its introduction, the .22 Long Rifle cartridge remains an important part of the shooting world. The .22 LR is among the most used, most respected and predominant features of the shooting world. There have been many developments in the cartridge.
Some have centered upon a clean powder burn. Others, such as the CCI Green Tag, have improved accuracy, while the CCI Stinger has improved velocity and game-taking ability. CCI designed cartridges such as the CCI CB Cap for low noise, low velocity, and low stress plinking.
The new CCI Quiet .22 is a great example of a specialized cartridge. Designed to break about 710 fps from a rifle barrel, CCI developed the Quiet .22 load to deliver about 68 decibels. This is much less than the crack of a high-velocity .22 LR loading. Subsonic loads are great accuracy loads, yet are often expensive and designed as match grade loads.
While a high velocity load has a flat trajectory, CCI intended the Quiet .22 for use within 50 yards. Just the same, this load is accurate to at least 50 yards. I cannot stress the quietness factor enough. While we are often used to the modest clap of a .22 LR, young shooters are not. Even with the obligatory hearing protection, the crack of a high-velocity .22 can be disconcerting.
The .22 Quiet load is a good option for training. Moreover, let’s face it, the world is more crowded than it once was. A rifle that doesn’t have an offensive muzzle blast is neighbor friendly.
With velocity low, the 40-grain Quiet load does not function in the self-loading action of either a rifle or a handgun. The majority of the test loads were fired in Henry lever action rifle. And it isn’t a real problem to use the loads in a Ruger 10/22 rifle or a SIG 1911 22. Simply cycle the action one at a time. If you are training young shooters, this is not a bad program.
When testing the Quiet load at the range, it was, well really quiet! I always wear hearing protection and, when firing heavy loads, I use plugs with hearing protection over the plugs. The load’s muzzle signature is mild, clearly not the sharp crack that we are accustomed to with high velocity ammunition.
In order to broaden my understanding of the relative merits of the quiet .22 loading, I also test fired a number of loads designed for different purposes.
- Among my favorites is the CCI SGB or Small Game Bullet. This bullet features a flat nose. It is less destructive of the meat or a pelt and is very accurate.
- The CCI Blazer round nose is a great recreational load, affordable and inexpensive.
- The American Eagle copper plated 40-grain hollow point has proven feed reliable, accurate and effective in both pistols and rifles.
Velocity Comparison
Fired from a 5-inch barrel SIG 1911 – 22, five-shot average
| Cartrige | Load | Velocity |
|---|---|---|
| American Eagle | 40-grain HP | 1148 fps |
| CCI SGB | — | 970 fps |
| CCI Blazer | 40-grain | 1056 fps |
| CCI Quiet-22 | — | 675 fps |
NOTE: The American Eagle load showed a standard deviation of 5 fps!
All loads burned clean and proved accurate. The Quiet-22, of course, had to be manually cycled for each shot. The report was noticeably subdued.
Accuracy
As for accuracy, most of my firing is with handguns. The Quiet .22 is like all .22 LR loads—at its best from a rifle. However, there is little difference between the velocity from a handgun or from a rifle with loading.
Other loads may gain several hundred feet per second. In this case, the small charge of fast burning powder used in this custom grade loading burns quickly. As a result, the bullet does not gain much velocity at all from an additional powder burn.
So, I proceeded to test the Quiet 22 at 25 yards in two of my favorite handguns, the SIG 1911-22 and the Ruger Single Six .22 with 4.75-inch barrel. The results were in common with those I have posted with quality ammunition in the past. Each grouped five shots into about 2 inches, with the Ruger having a slight but noticeable advantage in accuracy.
CI Quiet-22 and ProChrono: Pistol velocity is right at 675 fps average.[/caption]
I also tested the Quiet 22 at 50 yards in a Henry rifle. This time, the results were also on a par with other loads, with the average of three groups being 2 inches. The bullet drooped several inches in comparison to the high velocity American Eagle loads the Henry is sighted for, and this is simple correct.
I suspect that Quiet 22 will see most use inside of the 25 yards. The bullet is the segmented hollow point proven effective in high velocity loads, and designed for taking small game at reduced velocity.
My thought is that this load fills much the same niche once filled by the .22 Short hollow point as a game getter for squirrel and rabbit, with greater accuracy.
All in all, CCI has a winner and a useful addition to the .22 scene.
Are you ready to give the Quiet .22 a test drive? Already tried it? If so, what were your results? Share your thoughts in the comments section.
[bob]
I have used the quiet 22 in my colt rail gun. It will not cycle the shell. It is quiet, but don’t expect the gun to be semi auto with this bullet
I just tried quiet .22’s recently. They are as advertised. Very quiet and reliable. I am able to use them in my back yard without my neighbors hearing them. I also shoot a nitro piston air rifle in my yard which is fenced all around and the only noticeable difference is the sound of the 40 gr bullet hitting harder. I recommend these to any one who wants to shoot in a noise sensitive area. Make sure you have a sufficient back stop. They will penetrate 1/2 inch ply wood at 30 yards.
Please tell me where I can order 22 cci hollow points. Thanks
I’d love to try it..if I could find it lol
Hello Bob Campbell
Article is very interesting and helpful, I have knowledge of .22 rifles but I think I got a valued one from yours. Thank you for sharing.
I’ve shot two bricks if Aquilas out my kitchen window, easily kill squirrels with good shot placement…Been shooting them close to twenty years, never lodged one yet, in a Ruko .22, they will not cycle a semi…have to hand rock the receiver. Two noises made, receiver clicks and whap when round strikes rodent….very very quiet.
How much are the rounds for a brick?
I would like a brick of each, could I get delivery before Jan 1.
I tried these several months back when they first came out. I wanted to see what they would sound like in a suppressed 22. Regular high velocity in the suppressed 22 are VERY quiet. The “Quiet” ammo makes virtually NO sound when used in a suppressed weapon. Impressive.
Aguila already makes that stuff, for less $. Called Colibre or Super Colibre, those are primer fired .22LR’s with a 20 grain bullet.
Less noise than CCI, less velocity, perhaps better longer distance accuracy as it’s a lightweight bullet.
If that’s what you are looking for than I might as well use my PCP Benjamin air rifle. The CCI has a 40 Gr. bullet. Twice the knock down energy of the Aguila stuff. I’ll take that all day long.
The Colibris are great, but being some lightly pushed, they sometimes don’t clear rifle barrels. For quiet, neighborhood plinking, I use the Super Colibris in revolvers and CCI Quiets in (bolt action) rifles.
Very reasonable response, I assumed things along this line. Another factor we are up against is exporters. If a company that exports can get a better price from outside the country they will fill those orders first just like diesel fuel futures.
But where there is a demand there should soon be a supply in America pretty quick unless exporters keep getting their prices.
To stay on target (no pun intended) with the article, I love CCI’s Quiet 22’s! I use them primarily indoors in the winter in Illinois, when my fingers and toes can’t stand the cold outdoors for target shooting. I have shot thousands of these rounds since their introduction. To use them in a handgun of any type defeats the purpose. They are loud shot from anything but a rifle barrel. I have several target grade rifles (Winchester 52, 75, and two Anschutz 64’s, and at a range of about 35 feet (diagonally in my heated woodworking shop) using a peep sight five rounds will pretty much go in the same hole. The most amazing thing to me is that the vast majority of the “noise” created is solely by the bullet impacting the metal bullet trap. The actual report from the muzzle is comparable to that of a Red Ryder BB gun. My pellet rifle, even at just 3-4 pumps is much, much louder from the muzzle. So, if you are looking for something to shoot indoors that has accuracy potential, and that your neighbors will not even remotely hear, the CCI Quiet 22’s are for you.
Quiet .22’s are basically a .22 Short in a Long Rifle package. As such I’m not sure what niche it actually filled in the marketplace. I’d rather if they used the production capacity to make something more urgently needed for now.
Yea Will, I grew up in southern Ohio ( just above Cinncinnati) and my mother had a constant “need done” list for the kids. You came in from school and looked under your name on the little chalk board and she expected it finished first thing after changing out of you school clothes.
Dad worked all day, Mom had her set routine and the kids did the piddle work, AND you didn’t want to have to be reminded by Dad.
We used to bitch like hell ( quietly) but lookin back now a family is a unit, everybody had their share to do and received the benefits. My parents worked hard and provided well and set good examples for the rest of us. Everyone of us has been very successful and we all attribute it to the manner in which we were raised. Need I say more.
When I was 5 my dad bought my older brother a new shotgun for his birthday. One day several of us were down my the lake and my brother was out on the dock shooting his new gun. I went out on the dock and observed him and my older sister burning shells and finally ask if I could shoot it once. My brother said “sure”, pumped in a shell, put on the safety and handed it to me. Because they were both on the end of the dock I turned to my right, sighted in on a clump on the far shoreline, flipped off the safety and pulled the trigger. The force of the recoil knocked me backward off the dock into the water, gun and all. I came up sputtering WITHOUT the gun for I had dropped it.
After pulling me out, both my brother and sister immediately jumped into the water and after about 45 minuted located the shotgun and got it out of the water. Needless to say my brother was NOT a happy camper at that point and my name was really mud. As sibling will due, it was agreed unanimously mom and dad were not going know about this.
My brother gave the shotgun the best cleaning it probably ever had in it’s entire life and it was back in the gun case, spotless and oiled prior to my dad coming home. I volunteered, for reasons my mother just could not understand, to do my brothers lawn mow chore on his rotation, for the rest of the summer with a very happy outlook.
My parents never found out about the event untill we were all grown and moved out on our own. It was me that told the story at a family gathering because I was the guilty party. We all had a big laugh.
Was yesterday not grand in hindsight…..
Yea Will you have a few on me ( I’m 64 with one more tacked on in March). Your again spot on. My mother used to refer to it as the “Boob tube” and as she walked thru the room she would switch it off, sometimes right in the middle of a show. Her thing was fresh air while the sun was still up. I was left with a ” yes mam” and out the door we would go. Never argue with Mom…..rarely watch it anymore and the only one we own is hooked up to a VCR. We don’t have ( or need) cable. Best to ya !
@ Scott: 4-10 on the Mother / TV scene. My Mom didn’t have to utter a word- not even a syllable sometimes- Her look said it all. But growing up in Key West, there was ALWAYS something to do, right? NOT!
After a while, you can do only so much in so small a town and still stay out of trouble; And yet, we still yearn for those days, do we not?!.
On another matter; I don’t know what this other ‘Will’ character is all about, but look for the similarities in this, and my last post and you’ll know it’d be me. I’m gonna call CTD tomorrow and find out what’s what. Don’t like people pretending they’re me.
Take care: Catch you later………. WILL:
Sorry Will, my age group used to refer to the TV as the tube. Was not referring to U-tube in my comment. Your comment in reference to my popcorn post was spot on. Popping me a bag right now.
I just knew the present Communist regime had a dirty hand in this shortage issue. Makes me want to stock pile a LOT more just in case.
Well back to my popcorn and Fiels & Stream mag. Good luck.
@ Scott: 4-10 on the popcorn- I’m on the 2nd bag as we [speak] Now, as to “your” generation; Just which one would that be? I think I might have a year or two on you (66 is history), but I do vaguely remember referring to the T V as the “boob- tube” back in the day, I still say it’ll corrupt the mind if watched to extreme.
BTW- There is someone else using my name out here; I saw it posted on the Rem. 700 trigger problem site. I’ve notified the People in Charge, or whomever they may be to help straighten things out before things get out of hand. I don’t appreciate someone else using my name.
Take care…………….. WILL::
@ Scotty & Chris; Peyton just answered your question with the truth. Do you want to eat your popcorn now, or wait for further confirmation?
Thanks Peyton; Good timing…. They would never have believed ME anyway.
WILL
@ Scott: The popcorn retort made me hungry…… Made me some and reread your line again. As to the comment RE: ‘the tube’, If you were referring to ‘YOU TUBE’— I don’t watch that Bull st; It’ll corrupt One’s brain.. Perhaps you should take some precaution to avoid watching it.
WILL
And Will……..Should I get my microwave popcorn made and settle into my favorite recliner for the coming broadcast or do I have enough time to split a little more wood before you come on the tube???
Chris and I are ready………
@ Scotty & Chris.: [ IF.].. The truth were to be told; Would either of you believe it? Stay tuned, It’s coming.
WILL
Chris,
That would be good reading!
I am a .22 man all the way, mind you, but any .22 no matter the design i,sonly as worthwhile if its available.
I would love to read a reasonable knowledgeable article about the und e rlying reason for the rimfire shortage. Not a conspiracy piece, but one that doesnt discount any particuler agendas either.
I echo your request for a HONEST explanation to this curious shortage issue.
My thought is the days of inexpensive .22LR ammo are pretty much gone. The government has a purchase option on billions of rounds and the .22lR is included. This is a purchase option so the manufacturers are obligated to keep those rounds available to the government should the government wish delivery. My friend has imported 8 million dollars of .22LR from Aquila, Mexico. But he feels this will not ease the shortage much as the demand is so high now.
He is an international ammunition broker and should have a good idea what will take place in the market. His feeling is .22LR will become more available in 2015 but will never be as inexpensive as it was in the past,
I have read many articles on the 22 shortage, including interviews with reps from ammo companies. Bottom line it is economics 101.
Factor 1: After Sandy Hook there was a run on everything. This trickled into hoarders. There is plenty of 22lr out there. It’s just the people who usually have a couple hundred rounds and plan on going to Walmart are now stocking 5-10k in their closets.
Factor 2: Once an ammo company adds shifts, there isn’t much they can do without spending millions on capital equipment. Having seen this before and knowing these things generally last a year, they were rightfully hesitant to make the investment.
Factor 3: Your local range, LGS…even Cabela’s don’t buy from Federal and CCI. They buy from brokers. The LGS wants to sell it at $25/500 round brick like they have been doing for years, but all of a sudden opportunists have popped up on Gun Broker and people are willing to pay $75-100 for the same 500 round brick. If you are the aforementioned middleman, whose phone call are you going to return? The LGS who won’t scalp their clientele so they can’t pay over $15, or the con artist that will pay $45?
Factor 4: Every time Walmart, Gander, Bass Pro DOES get some in, the hoarders and the scalpers are there to scoop it up as their buddy called them. I have personally witnessed Gander Mountain employees buying 22lr and then selling it for 2x the price out of their car. I knew the guy for years. We aren’t friends anymore as this behavior only fuels and perpetuates the issue.
Factor 5: People keep paying .20-.25 per round.
Factor 6: There is just flat more shooters and the 22 is popular. Throw in suppressors, guns like the M&P 15-22 and the supply line is strained without all the idiocy. I have a Browning Buckmark and a Marlin 60. You put my wife and I on a rimfire gallery for 60 minutes and you can kiss 500 rounds good-by. Multiply that times the MILLIONS of active shooters with kids and a billion rounds of production a day gets eaten up quickly.
Companies like Aquila and CCI are finally making the capital investment necessary to alleviate some of this as they recognize the long term demand is there- apart from the hoarders and scalpers. But that takes time.
We can all put a stop to this but just doing two things:
1. Don’t hoard more than what you actually plan to shoot in the next 3-6 months.
2. Under no circumstances pay scalper prices. 500 Remington Thunderbolts are worth $25. A 100 round pack of CCI mini mag is worth about $8-10. If everyone did these two things, in six months you could byg it at Walmart every day because as soon as people say “I’ll go without rather than pay that”, there will be a temporary glut in the market which will allow the manufacturers to get online.
Sadly, human nature is not on our side. But trust me, there’s no conspiracy, just basic market forces in a free enterprise system driven by emotional purchasing coupled with a rapidly increasing consumer base. Boring, but the truth usually is. Give it 1-2 years.