I marked this thread O/T because, even though it is technically abut shooting, it's not about trapshooting.

A week or so ago, I bought a new Ruger SR-22 pistol from one of the posters here. The deal went great, and I thank "deercreek" for that.

I took it out today for the first time and put about 150 rounds through it, mostly Federal bulk pack, but also some Aguila 60 gr subsonic rounds and some CCI 29 grain subsonic rounds. Not one single failure to feed. The CCI rounds had to be cycled manually because they aren't powerful enough. But after manually racking the slide, they fired every time.

This offering from Ruger is relatively new to the market and I'm very happy with it. Anyone looking for a nice 22 LR pistol should seriously consider this one. I am not affiliated with Ruger. Just a satisfied consumer. Thanks again deercreek.

Gene Batchelar Wheaton, IL

Thanks Gene! I thought my desire for one of these had gone away. You fixed that!

Jim Skeel

Jim: It's fairly easy on the pocketbook at @ $300 or so. And a bonus for a Ruger 22 - it's easy to dismantle, clean and reassemble. (Something I could never say about my prior Ruger 22s).

Gene Batchelar Wheaton, IL

Pity Ruger doesn't make a threaded barrel for it.

Gene, you scared me for a minute...thought you might have had a problem or something. We have only sold around three of these because that's all we have been able to get. I did have a chance this late winter to shoot about 50 rounds thru one on our local range from a customer. It functioned perfect and I was surprised how well it shot for a short bbl. Bryan

Bryan: Maybe I should have titled the thread "O/T - Why I love my new Ruger SR-22". Didn't mean to get your heart going. It's a great little pistol. I'm no great pistol shooter, but I was getting pretty good groups with it.

Gene Batchelar Wheaton, IL

Gene, what caught my eye was your testing with subsonics. I've seen other reports of these pistols cycling subsonics. I'm hoping Ruger makes a run of these with threaded barrels. I'd like a compact .22 pistol as a suppressor host. Right now my suppressor host is full size.

Brian: Those CCI HP subsonics you have look a lot like the Aguila subsonics that the Ruger cycled just fine. With the Aguilas I assume the 60 gr bullet provides enough 'blowback' to help cycle the pistol. The baby CCIs that are only 29 grains shot fine, but would not cycle. I'm going to shoot the CCI babies I have and stock up on the Aguilas. More fun to shoot.

Gene Batchelar Wheaton, IL

The problem with the 60 grain Aguilas is that they need a 1:9" or 1:10" barrel to stabilise. I would not shoot them through a 1"16" .22LR barrel that had a suppressor on it, because it invites baffle strikes or worse.

The CCI and Rem subsonics you see in the pic are 40 grain hollow points. They put more whack on target than the 29 grainers, and they cycle my Buckmark, 10-22 and CMMG .22LR AR15 upper just fine, with or without suppressor.

The truth of the matter is that just about anything you put through that barrel is going to be subsonic. That 3.5" barrel just is not long enough to allow loads, even CCI Mini-Mags, to develop velocities that break the sound barrier. Mini-Mags won't go supersonic in my 5.5" Buckmark barrel.

Unless you are using a suppressor, there is little reason to use subsonic ammo in a handgun. With a suppressor, the main reason is the muffled report is quieter than with standard, high and hyper velocity ammo. While higher velocity ammo still won't go supersonic, it does have higher velocity than subsonics do from pistol barrels, so they are more effective on varmints. So for varminting with a suppressed .22 handgun, I use CCI SGB or Mini-Mags, and if I need to be very quiet, I switch to subsonics.

The subsonics were suggested by a fellow I met who hunts coyotes around here (Chicago area) and gets paid for it. Keeps the neighbors from asking what's going on. <:) The only reason I have them is I thought I'd try them. Guess I could shoot them in my basement.

Gene Batchelar Wheaton, IL

Subsonics for coyotes? He must either be calling them in very close, or is emptying a whole magazine into them, or both. I've had a lot of ground squirrels crawl off leaving blood trails after hitting them with subsonics.

I've got a suppressor rated for .308 (paid for and waiting the tax stamp on) that I'll use for both .223 and for the .300 AAC Blackout. The latter is a .223 Rem or .221 Fireball case altered to take a .30 cal bullet. It is supersonic with 125 grainers (left two cartridges, below), and subsonic with a 220 grain bullet. The two cases to the right are .223 Rem and 7.62x39. This cartridge puts vastly more whack on a coyote than a rimfire.

Various companies make these. CMMG makes complete rifles and uppers including 8.5" and 12.5" versions, the latter needing a tax stamp for a Short Barreled Rifle lower.

A practical alternative would be a suppressed .45 ACP rifle or maybe one in 9mm using 147 gr subsonics.

Sorry for digressing off your original topic.

No problem. I think the reason this fellow uses subsonic 22s for hunting coyotes is he's usually hunting them in urban or populated suburban areas. The ones he killed near here a couple years ago were on a golf course bordered by homes. Higher caliber s might 'go roaming' into structures, I guess.

Gene Batchelar Wheaton, IL

Well a 22 LR certainly will kill a coyote... eventually. And if eradication is the goal and there are other concerns or restrictions for noise or caliber, then sometimes a clean, humane kill takes a back seat.

One of the coolest rifles I ever saw was a Rem 700 that was factory built in 45 ACP, used 1911 magazines, and was suppressed. It resides in the Oregon Military Museum and was military issue. It would be an awesome coyote whacker.

Getting back to your gun, what material is the slide made from?

From the manual:

"This pistol incorporates a fixed barrel and features an aircraft-grade aluminum alloy slide and glass filled nylon, polymer frame construction."

Gene Batchelar Wheaton, IL

Excellent. Some of their competitors use a pot metal (zinc alloy) slide, and the slide hold open notch has been wearing out on them.

Brian,

How do you like the .300 blackout? looks like an interesting medium range game stopper?

I have no first hand experience with the 300 Blackout, but it's going to be my project this year.

Some friends have them, and they are getting outstanding accuracy, but there are some factors that have to be considered. The barrels for this cartridge are made with two different twists. The slower twist gives better accuracy with the lighter bullets, but it has problems stabilising the heavier ones. The faster twist is ideal for the heavy bullets, but it's not quite as accurate with the lighter bullets as the slower twist is. You have to carefully read the specs for which barrel you want. Some companies are not clear on this.

Some companies have claimed that the accuracy is beneath their standards. Savage, for one, has claimed this. My friends have said nonsense, and have shown their factory and especially handload groups to dispel this.

You mentioned medium range game stopper.... Let's look at some ballistics...

The 300 Blackout 125 grainer is doing 2215 fps.

The 7.62x39 (SKS/AK round) is doing around 2400 fps with a 123 gr bullet.

The 30-30 is doing just under 2500 fps with a 130 grainer and just under 2400 fps with a 130 grainer.

The 30 Remington AR (30 RAR) is pushing a 125 grainer at 2800 fps.

This clearly puts the 300 Blackout in an inferior status with the supersonic load, though the pointed bullet will retain more downrange energy at some point than the 30-30.

The 220 grainer at 1010 fps from a 16" barrel has a lot of momentum. I suspect it's going to be roughly in the .44 Mag handgun class with 220 to 240 grainers, but with extended range and flatter trajectory. I have not worked out the ballistics chart for this, yet. It is clearly inferior to the 44 Mag from a rifle, at least at 44 Mag rifle ranges. But the .44 mag has a lot of drop due to the flat nose bullets, so the 300 Blackout should range further.

Would I use the 300 Blackout for deer hunting? It would not be my first choice with the lighter bullets. There are better cartridges for the AR15 platform, such as the 243 WSSM or the 30 RAR. As far as the heavier bullets go, I don't know whether I would or would not. My main purpose is for a suppressed round that is reasonably flat and is very accurate for coyotes at normal coyoting range.

The main purpose of the 300 Blackout is to shoot it through a suppressor. I think there is little point in messing around with this cartridge unless you are going to suppress it. There are simply better cartridges out there for unsuppressed shooting. I've purchased and am awaiting the tax stamp on a 30 cal suppressor, so it makes sense for me to explore this round. If I did not have a 30 cal suppressor, I would not bother with the 300 Blackout.

Also note that there is a very similar cartridge called the 300 Whisper. This is the original design, but it is a proprietary cartridge with royalties which are on the high side. The 300 Blackout was designed to get around that. My understanding is that the 300 Whisper can be fired in the 300 Blackout chamber.

Thanks,

Wow! You know your rifles.

Thanks again for a very informative answer.

I think I will work on my suppressed .22 first.