ammo for rams

[40-65rl]

Does standard velocity, 1070 fps, .22 ammo have enough energy to knock down .22 rimfire silhouette rams with reliability. Understand we all sometimes ring a ram. thanks.

[DJA]

Mine does.

[cedestech]

1/2 scale smallbore rams... 99% of the time, yes.

1/2 scale Pistol Cartridge rams... 50% of the time, yes.

YMMV.

[Hosspower]

My 1977 39a likes CCI standard but I have rang rams with it. Not many but I have.

Luckily my 39a also likes eley force so I switched. Little heavier and faster.

[IHMSA53393]

My 39 also likes CCI Std and 95% of the Rams go down when hit. I’ve since switched to Eley Force for Rams only. Still use CCI Std for CP&T.

Just for fun I shot Eley Force at PC. CP&T went down easily. Cost me half my hits on Rams. As expected. Tested further and hits high in the back or head takes em down. As I said it was for fun. I really would not recommend it.

[40-65rl]

Thanks all for your replies. I have what I need.

[ppkny]

Ringing anything will eventually cost you the match win. "Don't bring a knife to a gun fight" . Never ringing anything should be what is acceptable.
ppnky

[edgehit]

I’ve never rang a ram with SV SB ammo in 20 years I’ve been shooting lever gun.

[375Short]

Yes - mostly. With rimfire you don’t have all the choices you have in Highpower to effect your own outcome but you can choose slow - medium or fast velocity and a tiny choice in bullet weight. They all work and can all occasionally leave an animal standing, even animals other than rams. Shoot what shoots best or cycles best in your rifle and have fun. If you shoot 40 and score 38 you have shot very well that day and enjoyed some of the painful quirks of silhouette that add to its entertainment.

[mordecai]

Curious question:

If High Speed .22LR bullets drop to sub-sonic speed near the 75yd line, how bad are the buffeting affects on the last 25 yds of distance, in relation to, the larger scale Ram target and open sights being used?

[edgehit]

There are a lot of opinions online that 22lr ammo must never be shot transonic or you’ll experience bad accuracy. I recall Brian Litski wrote a book on external ballistics and he addressed transonic affects on accuracy. Someone correct me if wrong but he wrote that round nose bullets aren’t as susceptible to transonic buffeting as spritzers and RN transonic effects were negligible.

Doesn’t matter. Shoot and see for yourself. One test is worth 10,000 internet opinions and a book.

I do know that HV ammo drifts more in a cross wind than subsonic at the same wind speed. At least the bc models report this.

I’ve never found consistently accurate HV 22 ammo so have stayed with either standard velocity (1145 fps) or target velocity European ammo. YMMV

[375Short]

I think Joe’s “shoot it and see” recommendation is sound. I had avoided High Velocity for decades for a number of reasons. They include more wind drift, more recoil and the alleged poor accuracy due to slowing down to transonic during flight.

I received a recommendation to try fast ammo in my 1866 .22lr, I gave three brands a try, Aquila, Eley and SK. The Aquila shot okay and certainly useable accuracy for 1/2 scale. The Eley force was terrible in that rifle and the SK is the most accurate I have ever fired in that rifle. My wife’s rifle didn’t like any of them and stayed on its normal diet of Geco match.
Joe’s advice is solid. It doesn’t matter what generally happens or what happens in theory, it only matters what happens in the particular firearm you would like to shoot it in.

In center fire I have a heavy hitter .357 load (compared to the 1080fps load normally used) for stubborn Rams with a 200gr cast bullet. It starts at a scorching 1300fps (yawn), along the way the calculator says it drops to subsonic. It shoots 3” at 200, I can’t shoot any better. Oddly, because of a life time of reading the negatives of passing subsonic I always look at these HV options with a little distrust but the evidence when I “shoot it and see” suggests in these evaluations it’s not a meaningful accuracy detriment.