High Velocity rimfire for Bullseye Pistol

Currently I have a couple bricks of CCI std. vel. that is giving me way too many malfunctions in my 41. I have since found out that this ammo is not typical CCI SV, but ammo that was run on the Federal line, for whatever reason. This issue, combined with the ammo shortage has prompted me to look at other options with ammo I already have. I reviewed notes on experiments I ran back in 1994 with rimfire muzzle velocity in pistol length barrels. It turned out that when compared to a 16" rifle barrel, most brands of ammo tested, shot 160 to 200 fps slower from a 5.5" barrel. With the exception of some of the hyper velocity brands like CCI Stingers, all of the regular H.V. ammo was subsonic from the shorter pistol barrel. Some of the examples were:

Fed Lightning 1002 fps
CCI Mini Mag 1053
Rem HV 1062
CCI Std Vel 958
PMC Sidewinder 1038 (this ammo produced (3) 10-shot group average at 50 yards of 1.50" from a Ruger MK-II sand bagged w/scope)

I know that aside from the higher cost match ammo, CCI std vel. is one of the more popular brands with BE shooters. If a brand of H.V. is reliable and accurate from a given pistol, would there be some other reason not to use it in BE comp. ?

Steve

As long as the recoil spring is appropriate with good accuracy, go for it. Rugers and Buckmarks do well with high velocity.

The only trouble could be going transonic. Your groups will let you know.

I dont think your FPS listings are even close to correct, SV 22 runs at 1050-1080 for almost every brand, CCI, Wolf,Aguila, federal, a few SV run a little higher like Remington at 1125 , regular 22 run at 1200 and above, hyper velocity can run as high as 1400 in the CCI velociter. The best way to tell if the 41 likes it is to shoot it, if it functions then the only downside if accurate is a little more recoil.

DavidR wrote:I dont think your FPS listings are even close to correct, SV 22 runs at 1050-1080 for almost every brand, CCI, Wolf,Aguila, federal, a few SV run a little higher like Remington at 1125 , regular 22 run at 1200 and above, hyper velocity can run as high as 1400 in the CCI velociter. The best way to tell if the 41 likes it is to shoot it, if it functions then the only downside if accurate is a little more recoil.

Those are the FPS your getting out of your gun, or is that the advertised velocity ?
I took it he meant that was the FPS he got out of his guns with that ammo, I could be wrong though.

Kurt

I've been shooting the Federal Lightning as my .22 match ammo out of my High Standard for 10 years and my Marvel since I got it 3 years ago. I love the stuff. Super reliable, accurate, and consistent. It even used to be available at most Wal-Mart stores.
I've never chrono'd it but I doubt its much faster than 1100 out of either of my pistols.

expendable wrote:

DavidR wrote:I dont think your FPS listings are even close to correct, SV 22 runs at 1050-1080 for almost every brand, CCI, Wolf,Aguila, federal, a few SV run a little higher like Remington at 1125 , regular 22 run at 1200 and above, hyper velocity can run as high as 1400 in the CCI velociter. The best way to tell if the 41 likes it is to shoot it, if it functions then the only downside if accurate is a little more recoil.

Those are the FPS your getting out of your gun, or is that the advertised velocity ?
I took it he meant that was the FPS he got out of his guns with that ammo, I could be wrong though.

Kurt

These were the actual velocity readings out of my 5.5" barrel. From my 16" rifle barrel the velocity matched closely to the manufactures published velocity. Example: In my testing Fed. Lightning from a 16" barrel chrono'd @ 1176, PMC Sidewinder @ 1198. I was making the point that most of the published velocity is from test barrels with longer rifle-like barrel lengths so in a shorter barrel even the high velocity ammo will most likely be subsonic at the muzzle (excluding the Hyper velocity ammo) Steve

Some more records I found that illustrates the point of barrel length vs velocity is when I fired the CCI Std Vel thru my Ruger MkII 5.5" barrel, I also tested it thru my Dads 6.5" and 10.5" Rugers.

5.5" barrel 958 fps
6.5" barrel 983 fps
10.5" barrel 1043 fps

I did not have 16" barrel length test data for CCI SV but I would have expected it to be very close to the manufacturers published velocity which I think is 1070 fps. Steve

Oh, ok I don't chrony 22 stuff, if you have a good gun, almost every brand will be under 2'' at 50 yards, its only the functioning and recoil that is of any consequence as to if i use it or not.

David,
I have to agree with you. After lunch today, despite the soggy, windy, cool weather, I headed out to the range to try some of the HV ammo in my Smith 41. All rounds functioned (including the crappy lot of CCI SV that's been giving me fits-go figure). I had a less than perfect rest, but at 25 yards, (3) 10-shot groups of each brand ranged from 1.0" to 1.35". I tried Federal Bulk 36 gr HP (I use to buy this at one of the Mart stores for $8.88 for a box of 550 rds), CCI Mini Mag, and for comparison I shot my crappy CCI. I would have shot 50 yards, but the 25 yard range was more protected from the wind. The recoil difference between the HV and SV was noticeable, but not too distracting.
Steve

Rob Kovach wrote:I've been shooting the Federal Lightning as my .22 match ammo out of my High Standard for 10 years and my Marvel since I got it 3 years ago. I love the stuff. Super reliable, accurate, and consistent. It even used to be available at most Wal-Mart stores.
I've never chrono'd it but I doubt its much faster than 1100 out of either of my pistols.

Rob,
Do you know what the Fed. Lightning would group with your guns from sandbags or ransom rest?
Thanks,
Steve

I did a sand bag test with 25 rounds of Federal and CCI. Federal first, then CCI