OT, which 22cal Air Rifle to buy?

[Dan Dubeau]

I like my 10-22 for pest control. I tried those quiet CCL rounds, but they didn't reliably cycle the action (they didn't claim they would). They work great in my Henry though, and ARE noticably quieter, but I'm not a fan of that gun for quick access due to our storage laws. The Ruger is easy grab and go. The Henry is way more fun though. Single shots are a pia for pest control IMO. Like manual machining. Yuck. lol

A few years ago a went around the house, trimmed/cut down some trees, found better trash storage options, and fixed some details on my house (soffit/fascia/trim), and it greatly reduced my need for pest control.

[Bob La Londe]

To those saying subsonic is as quiet or quieter than an airgun... Maybe suppressed. When I ran trap lines my carry gun for dangerous animals was loaded with .22 CB shorts. Used for point blank dispatch usually. While not ear shatteringly loud they are not dead quiet either. I tend to think of low to mid power PCP air guns as suppressed and very very quiet. Only one or two states have restrictions on suppressors on air guns and there are ZERO restriction at the federal level. I'll put my .25 Marauder up against a subsonic .22 in front of a SPL meter any day. The Marauder is suppressed as sold. The mechanical portion of the gun, and the sound of the projectile hitting the target are louder than the report. No federal tax stamp is required to purchase it. That gun is currently putting out about 46 ft/lbs of energy and is very affective against small game upto my ability to put the pellet on target. I will not argue that a .22 subsonic is not a more effective short range small game killer. It is. Its shooting in the same speed range (or slightly slower) as a PCP rifle with a much heavier projectile with a better ballistic coefficient and a better cross sectional density. It doesn't have a sonic crack, but it still has a spent gas report unless it is suppressed. If its suppressed because it is a firearm the suppressor MUST have a serial number and a federal tax stamp to possess in the USA.

There are some quite loud PCP air rifles. Most are much more powerful as well. Even my .25 Marauder may be close to as loud as an unsuppressed subsonic .22 if I remove the barrel shroud and moderator.

The big win (unsupressed) for the .22 rifle shooting subsonics is price. A good air rifle is relatively expensive and a great one approaches gun room prices of powder burners. If I recall my Cricket was around $1800USD when I bought it. You can still find .22 rifles pretty cheap if you look around. Particularly if you don't mind an old target single.

The big win for airguns used to be ammunition cost, but quality pellets can be kind of pricey if your gun doesn't like the cheap stuff. I have two guns that like the cheap stuff.

[Willy]

Bob, try the CCI Quiet.
Although I have not tried them in my S&W 617 they are very noticeably more quiet in my rifles than the CB shorts and more accurate as well, the 40 gr. Quiet round also pack a bit more punch than the 29 gr gr. CB short.

Years ago while looking for a softer speaking round in 22lr I tried the CB short and was not impressed, subsonic didn't cut it either, the CCI Quiet in a rifle meets my expectations

[JRouche]

I like my 10-22 for pest control. I tried those quiet CCL rounds, but they didn't reliably cycle the action (they didn't claim they would). They work great in my Henry though, and ARE noticably quieter, but I'm not a fan of that gun for quick access due to our storage laws. The Ruger is easy grab and go. The Henry is way more fun though. Single shots are a pia for pest control IMO. Like manual machining. Yuck. lol

A few years ago a went around the house, trimmed/cut down some trees, found better trash storage options, and fixed some details on my house (soffit/fascia/trim), and it greatly reduced my need for pest control.

I like my .22 (22-250) for varmints. At 4000fps it is accurate and deadly even for a Wile E Coyote. Unless he brought dynamite to the party. Bull barrel makes it heavy and it is completely illegal to fire in my city.

Now the air rifles? Love them. As a kid me and my friend and I would eat a lot of rabbit burritos in the 70s-80s. Same city I am in now, less people then. These days, no way..

Oh my other varminter is a .300 Weatherby Magnum. Its a 1km shooter and will send a 180gr bullet downrange at 3200fps. Dont shoot it anymore. JR

[andywander]

I suppose that you are referring to federal regulations. The states all have their own regulations and I won't be surprised if some of them considered airguns to be firearms. First to mind is Massachusetts.

In the People's Republic of NJ, an airgun is legally a firearm.

[Ringo]

There are many many flavors of .22rf ammo. Just because it is some flavor .22short, CB., does not mean it is subsonic.
Nor does .22 long rifle mean supersonic nor subsonic.
You must look at the velocity specs for the ammo you looking at.
I have many kinds. and surprised at it

Federal 'Suppressor' .22LR. labeled as subsonic. it is not.
Aguila .22 'Super Extra Short'. chronographed @ 1095fps
CCI 'Quiet 22' long rifle, labeled as 710fps. not as quiet as the Winchester I found.
https://winchester.com/Products/Ammu...er-X/X22LRCBMA
my rifle liked the Winchester (.22long) better as was quieter than the CCI.

When you go below 800fps (subsonic) it does begin to make sense to just use a .22RF rifle
By going with a real .22 rifle you dispense with all the re-charging, air-refills, gun expense., etc., etc.
You gotta put pellet gun money into a tin of pellets, right? Just offset that same money with .22 ammo.?

[lugnut]

About 3 years ago we visited Lewis and Clark's replica fort near Astoria, Oregon. There was a man giving a demonstration on the guns that the Lewis and Clark party used, the one that was truly amazing was the air rifle they had, a late 18th Century .46 cal. 20 shot repeating air rifle by Girandoni. do a google search, it was an amazing rifle.

[RB211]

About 3 years ago we visited Lewis and Clark's replica fort near Astoria, Oregon. There was a man giving a demonstration on the guns that the Lewis and Clark party used, the one that was truly amazing was the air rifle they had, a late 18th Century .46 cal. 20 shot repeating air rifle by Girandoni. do a google search, it was an amazing rifle.

Ah, that's right, they did have an air rifle, quite amazing back then.

[Doc Nickel]

General reply. Air gun moderators are absolutely NOT regulated under federal law, and there is even a federal appellate court case to set precedent. There may be a couple states that regulate suppressed airguns, but the vast majority do not.

-Addendum: An airgun moderator/silencer/suppressor is not a regulated item as long as it's permanently attached to the airgun.

A loose/removable suppressor still very much falls under ATF regulations on silencers- the ATF considers the silencer itself equivalent to a firearm, and one that can be attached to a .22 pellet gun can just as easily be attached to a .22 firearm. And it doesn't matter if it's plastic and is destroyed in the first shot- as far as the ATF is concerned, if it lowers the report of a single shot as little as one decibel, it counts.

Long story short: If the gun comes with a silencer already attached, you're fine. If you make a removable one, that's illegal.

Doc.

[BCRider]

Not saying that this is the answer to the RB's search but a few years back I got to shoot some CB caps out of my heavy barrel BSA Martini. I think I can spit louder. The little "pop" of the muzzle report was almost as quiet as the bullet hitting the paper and 1/4" plywood backer. Which it went through cleanly I might add.... We all wondered at that so we folded the target up carefully to compare.

The downside, if there is one, is that the CB caps don't have anything like the energy needed to cycle a semi. So bolt or other action is needed. The heavy barrel helps a lot too. But a CB cap from a regular tapered style light barrel is slightly louder than someone popping a finger out of their mouth. Popping a small party balloon is MUCH louder.

[Bob La Londe]

-Addendum: An airgun moderator/silencer/suppressor is not a regulated item as long as it's permanently attached to the airgun.

A loose/removable suppressor still very much falls under ATF regulations on silencers- the ATF considers the silencer itself equivalent to a firearm, and one that can be attached to a .22 pellet gun can just as easily be attached to a .22 firearm. And it doesn't matter if it's plastic and is destroyed in the first shot- as far as the ATF is concerned, if it lowers the report of a single shot as little as one decibel, it counts.

Long story short: If the gun comes with a silencer already attached, you're fine. If you make a removable one, that's illegal.

Doc.

That is a popular misconception that seems to be spread mostly on one or two of the most snotty air gun forums. The ones that prohibit the use of the word silencer and discussions thereof on their website. However there is a very clear appellate case in the US Federal court that says you are mistaken. Look up and read the Crooker case. I did read it. It's very clear. The ATF must prove intent. There are plenty of guys selling air gun moderators and not going to jail. Openly on the internet with prices and applications.

There might, and I do emphasize might, be some states that make that distinction but air gunn moderators are often easily removable. Even the shroud and cones on the Benjamin Marauder are very easily removable without the use of tools.

[Bob La Londe]

-Addendum: An airgun moderator/silencer/suppressor is not a regulated item as long as it's permanently attached to the airgun.

A loose/removable suppressor still very much falls under ATF regulations on silencers- the ATF considers the silencer itself equivalent to a firearm, and one that can be attached to a .22 pellet gun can just as easily be attached to a .22 firearm. And it doesn't matter if it's plastic and is destroyed in the first shot- as far as the ATF is concerned, if it lowers the report of a single shot as little as one decibel, it counts.

Long story short: If the gun comes with a silencer already attached, you're fine. If you make a removable one, that's illegal.

Doc.

https://www.google.com/search?q=airg...obile&ie=UTF-8
Google search results shows plenty of guys selling air gun moderators and even calling them airgun silencers. We're not talking about garage shops either. Some of these are some of the bigger airgun resellers in the country.

[Doc Nickel]

I'm well aware of the Crooker case. Thing is, according to the ATF, any separate, standalone, removable suppressor, or the parts thereof, are still controlled items.

Technically, it's very much like the whole pot/cannabis thing- the Feds still consider it illegal, but have simply stopped actively prosecuting.

And without an actual change in the law, that can change on a whim. Had "the Waco Kid" gotten in as head of the ATF, one of his stated positions was to drastically crack down on all Title II and Title III transactions, including suppressors. Look at the whole "arm brace" thing- illegal, then legal, then illegal again, now legal but only for a narrow range of firearms. And that can change again, at any time, on a whim.

Until the law is actually changed, they're technically still illegal.

I will readily admit the chances of anyone being prosecuted for it are slim, but speaking personally, I absolutely will not make one, nor would I own one with a common firearm thread.

Doc.

[Jon Heron]

Curious, why not just buy a .22 rimfire rifle?
I have some break action .177 from when I was a kid and even my dads from when he was a kid. I killed lots of critters with them when I was a kid but once I could use the .22 I never looked back.
I live out in the country and a .22 is always by my backdoor and sometimes the .270 when the yotes are getting too friendly.
Cheers,
Jon

[Doc Nickel]

Curious, why not just buy a .22 rimfire rifle?

-Almost all incorporated cities and towns have a 'no discharge of firearms' law. No big for those that live outside the city limits, but even a relatively quiet .22LR could draw a noise complain from a nosey neighbor.

Doc.