Quietest 22 rimfire ammo for a revolver? Do the 22CB's work? Accurate??

The old RWS BB or CB Caps were virtually silent from a rifle. In High School I shot a few hundred of these from my Model 75T Winchester and all you could hear was the striker fall! Modern Remington & CCI CB Caps aren't quite so quiet from a rifle.

Nothing is quiet from a handgun because of the shorter barrel and Barrel-Cylinder gap in revolvers. Not as loud as a .22 Long Rifle, but far from quiet. This includes the RWS caps.

At reasonable ranges for extremely low-powered ammunition, less than 50', they are quite accurate from either a rifle or handgun in my experience.

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Gunsmithing since 1961

BB Caps would be the most quiet. CB caps are probably easier to find on store shelves. The Aguila .22 Kolibri makes very little sound, I have regulated scopes on .22 rifles in my back yard using those, not much more noise than a pellet gun. I have recently seen .22 CB at Wal-Mart and .22 Aguila Kolibri at Academy. Academy seems to stock numerous Aguila-made calibers.

While elk hunting in northern Idaho years ago, I carried a .22 revolver in a shoulder holster. Had it loaded with CCI Green Tag Pistol Match ammo.
Match ammo doesn't break the speed of sound (about 1,088 fps). Much of the noise produced by .22 rimfires is the bullet "crack" from going faster than the speed of sound.
I used this .22 revolver as my Grouse-Getter. In the woods it was darned quiet, and plenty accurate to plug a Ruffed Grouse in the head or neck, without spooking nearby big game.
Before going to the much weaker .22 BB and CB cartridges, try some subsonic or match grade ammo.

AS mentioned above, try CCI Standard Velocity. You can get boxes of 50. Try one out.

The BB and CB caps are very quiet as well as all sub sonic ammo.
Even the little .22 short ammo can used to keep the noise down
but these all have a small defect.
Being so short, the bullet is out of the case, has to go down the
cylinder, unsupported, then enter the barrel.

The longer LR with a 40gr bullet, being closer to the barrel will
give better accuracy in most revolvers or pistols than the 29gr bullets or smaller.

The new cci 40gr "Quiet" is what I use in my revolvers, for the
best accuracy and low noise, even though the CB makes less noise.

I had the same question, in the end I switched to an automatic with a can. Now I shoot squirrels without waking the neighbors.

Don't know if you get this over your way, but this Aussie made Z ammo is very quiet with a 29gn bullet!

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I bought a brick of 22 LR Aguila Super Colibri by mistake when 22 ammo was hard to find. The only weapon I have shot it in is my Rurger Single Six Convertible with a 4 3/4 inch barrel. It is very accurate at short ranges and very quiet. You don't need ear protection as it is not much louder than my old 22 caliber Benjamin Franklin Air Pump Gun which I scare squirrels in my front yard with. Haven't had the nerve to shoot the 22 revolver in my yard yet. The only bad thing is that my grandsons snicker and giggle when I shoot the Colibri with them at the range! They are used to a much louder bang when shooting.

Don't know if CCI still makes the CB-long. It's the CB load in a long rifle case, the only thing I heard with a rifle was the click of the firing pin. Never shot em out a revolver but I suspect the report would be rather low.

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Stay safe people!

"Match ammo doesn't break the speed of sound (about 1,088 fps)"

I strongly suspect that even a high velocity .22 bullet fired from a revolver would not break the speed of sound. Much of the noise would emanate from the gas escape at the cylinder-barrel gap.

Not a revolver but here is a rifle test I did a while back with
different ammo to get the fps +/- 10fps and the impact area
of the bullets, as the scope was set, later changed.

The ICC subsonic 40gr LHP was a lot louder than the 29gr bullets.
However there are high speed shorts that are just as loud as the 40 S/S.

As a note, if you do buy the CCI 40gr "Quiet", they generally will not
have enough energy to cycle an automatic rifle.

I use the Aguila Super Colibri to kill tree rats invading the bird feeder outside my den window. SWMBO only hears the slide move on the 22 while she's in the kitchen. Plus it's fast enough with enough power to go thru a coffee can at 40 yards.

The CCI CB short & long both make a lot more noise than "the click of the firing pin" out of my 10-22.

^^^^what he said. The CCI CB Long is much noisier than the old RWS .22 CB cap ammo,both fired from the same 24" bbl Model 580 Remington. As it is illegal to shoot any animal here in the valley, air rifles are the tools of choice for quietly dispatching local vermin.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

CCI Quiet-22
40gr lead round nose
710fps
68dB @ your ear - up to 75% quieter than standard .22lr ammo

CCI CB caps can be fired indoors without ear protection if fired in a rifle. Accuracy was dime size groups at 30 yards (max range of intended targets) but point of impact drops dramatically after that range. If the bullet hit the target, death was very quick.

The noise is very loud if fired in a Ruger Target Mk II or S&W M41. Your decibels may vary.

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S&WHF 366

This is also my answer. It's very quiet yet will cleanly kill varmints you can normally kill with a .22LR round. They do not sound like ammo going off.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

Do your Rugers and Model 41 cycle reliably with this stuff ? I've yet to find a so-called sub-sonic round to cycle mine (same pistols as yours) consistently. But I've never tried the CCI CB caps

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John

CCI Quiet-22, .22LR, LRN, 40 Grain, 50 Rounds

CCI Quiet-22 .22 LR 40-Gr. LRN 50 Rnds - $4.27 (Free S/H No Minimum w/code "BRSH0117") | Slickguns

Personally, I find one of the great joys of rimfire revolvers is their ability to digest anything. Given the current availability of a wide variaty of ammo, I'd try several and then stock up on what works for your needs.
That said, it really depends on your quarry and distance to be shot. A bullet moving too slow may not have the energy to kill humanly or may drop too much over a distance to allow effective use of your sights.
Lastly, FWIW While I haven't tried it myself, we've been selling a metric butt ton of CCI quiet at the shop ( to suburban critter gitters). They rave about it.

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Dave