.22 LR Velocity, 39A & handgun

3767 Views 14 Replies 10 Participants Last post by Wet Dog, Mar 11, 2011

M700

Discussion Starter · Feb 20, 2011

2

Some .22 long rifle chrono data from today, for those who may be interested:

24" Marlin 39A

40 gr PMC "Sidewinder" lead round nose average 1242 fps
38 gr Federal American Eagle plated hollow point average 1256 fps

5.5" Ruger semi-auto pistol

38 gr Federal American Eagle plated hollow point average 1043 fps

The 38 gr Federal American Eagle ammo shoots very well from my Marlin, and from the Ruger semi-auto as well.

Guy

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bigjeepman

· #2 · Feb 21, 2011

40 gr PMC "Sidewinder" lead round nose average 1242 fps
38 gr Federal American Eagle plated hollow point average 1256 fps

Out of your 39A Guy, how did these velocities compare to the "expected" velocities stated on the ammo box?

bjm

M700

Discussion Starter · #3 · Feb 21, 2011

Nothing on the boxes, but Federal claims 1260 fps for the 38 grain hollow points, so my average of 1256 fps is mighty close.

I found an advertisement claiming 1250 fps for the PMC Sidewinder ammo, so again, 1242 fps is pretty close.

Guy

Catherine

· #4 · Feb 21, 2011

M700,

Thanks for the information.

Catherine

Halwg

· #5 · Feb 21, 2011

How close was your chronograph to the muzzle?

Fast Frank

· #6 · Feb 22, 2011

Interesting.

I never messed with chronoing the same bullet from a rifle and pistol before.

I would have guessed more than 200 feet per second difference.

Heck, cutting an AR15 down from 24" to 16" costs 400 feet per second. That's leaving 2/3 of the rifle length barrel in place.

I guess the wizards that make those little rimfire bullets know that they will be used in pistols and have the load optimized for that.

Obviously the .22LR uses a faster powder than the 5.56, huh?

Halwg

· #7 · Feb 22, 2011

I've always maintained that a 24" barrel in a 22 is too long. I wish I had an 18" or 20" barreled 22 to test alongside my 39A. Somebody ought to test this and report back.

1895Gunner

· #8 · Feb 22, 2011

Halwg said:
I've always maintained that a 24" barrel in a 22 is too long. I wish I had an 18" or 20" barreled 22 to test alongside my 39A. Somebody ought to test this and report back.

I would love a .22 cal squirrel guide gun with an 18 & 1/2" barrel. ;D

bob kk

· #9 · Feb 23, 2011

Halwg said:
I've always maintained that a 24" barrel in a 22 is too long. I wish I had an 18" or 20" barreled 22 to test alongside my 39A. Somebody ought to test this and report back.

If it gets a little warmer here. I'll check a 39A and 39D. Not used my Oehler 35p in so long I'll have to get the book out and read it. Had to have one then after checking my reloads just don't use it much. What surprised me was Fed Hydro shock 45 apc 165 grain. Shot in a Kimber 3 inch. They averaged 980 fps.

tusk

· #10 · Feb 25, 2011

It doesn't go out to 24" but here's some chrono data for .22 by barrel length.

http://www.kifaruforums.net/archive/index.php/t-6867.html

M700

Discussion Starter · #11 · Feb 26, 2011

Halwg - I set the chronograph up at about 12' from the muzzle. There are a couple of Ruger 10/22 rifles around here with shorter barrels than the 39A, maybe I'll chronograph them someday.

Not today though! It's a balmy 10 degrees here this morning, with a light breeze blowing. I think today's projects are all indoor projects! Have a bear rug to hang on my son's wall, and there have got to be some guns needing my attention, and maybe some handloading to do... Pretty sure nothing outside needs me today! ;D

gb_in_tx

· #12 · Feb 28, 2011

I've always maintained that a 24" barrel in a 22 is too long.

Well, yeah. For the most part. Personally, I think that 18 to 20 inches is all that it takes to get everything out of the round. There's one application where I'll break with that. Match rifle, iron sights. In that case, the extra barrel inches aren't there for the velocity. For that matter, you want to keep it subsonic for accuracy's sake. The extra barrel inches are there for the longer sight radius.

5.5" Ruger semi-auto pistol

Hmm. How odd. That Ruger with the 5.5" barrel doesn't look anywhere near as long as my S&W 422 with its 6" barrel.

BTW -- that 422 is a real sweet shooter. And deceptively light, too, being mostly alloy instead of steel. The trigger is crisp and light. While it doesn't have the adjustable target sights of the higher end models (which, IIRC, are heavier and thus tend to cause feeding issues) I floated the rear sight over so that it is dead on. Nicely accurate with plain ol' bulk ammo. Reliable feeding, I can't recall it ever having any feeding issues. Minute of tree rat head at across the back yard range, no problem -- if ya' catch my drift. Not quite up to full tree rat hunting standards (but that is purely due to sight radius), but almost there. 50 rounds, 15 yards, quarter sized ragged hole accuracy with Wally World bulk ammo. You'd have to have a match grade pistol to beat it. Not bad at all for a field grade/plinker, especially when you consider that I picked it up for IIRC $180, used! They just don't make them like this anymore. Literally, they were phased out in favor of the Model 22x series, no longer in production.

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Wet Dog

· #13 · Mar 10, 2011

Here's some testing I did a while back.

Marlin 39A- 24" Barrel
Marlin 39A Mountie- 20" Barrel
Marlin 39TDS- 16" Barrel

The Ammo

Fedral 550 Bulk Pack ammo, 36 grains HP bullet, copper "plated"
39A : Average velocity 1263 fps (Highest was 1283, lowest was 1237)
Mountie Average 1254 fps (hi 1297, low 1230)
39TDS Average 1251 fps (high 1292, low 1216)

Notes: claimed velocity on box says 1280. This ammo shoots well in a wide variety of my rimfires, including autoloaders. The accuracy is very good in all of my Marlins.

Aguilla SE Subsonic 38grains lead hollow point
39A average 984 (high 1000, low 937.2)
Mountie average 994 (high 1023, low 984)
TDS average 1007 fps (high 1024, low 993)

Notes: This ammo has proven to be accurate in a wide variety of my rimfires. Only Match ammo has surpassed it in guns that shoot it well. It does NOT cycle any of my autoloaders. On most days this ammo will produce the best groups. Today it was true in my 39A and Mountie. Interestingly the 16" Barreled 39TDS produced the highest Velocity with this ammo.

CCI CB Longs 29g RN lead
39A (it was hard to tell these even when off in this gun) 677 avg (681 high, 668 Low)
Mountie 675 avg (720 high, 636 low)
TDS 668 average (674 high, 652 low)

Notes: Only the TDS (1/2" @ 25 yards) and my Single Six shoot this what I would consider "well". The Mountie shoots it OK (~1" at 25 yards). Most of my rimfires do NOT shoot this well. It is very quiet in long barrels.

CCI Mini Mag 40g copper coated, solids
39A 1255 avg (1272 high, 1230 low)
Mountie 1225 avg (1243 High, 1191 low)
TDS 1221 avg (1244 high, 1202 low)

Notes: Of my three 39's the Mountie shoots this the best. It is a little less accurate than the Fedral Bulk at more than twice the cost so I rarely use it.

CCI Blazer, RN lead 40g (more than 20 years old, probably closer to thirty...)
39A 1230 avg (1242 high, 1214 low)
Mountie 1203 avg (1216 high, 1178 low)
TDS did not shot.
Notes: Shoots a little dirty. Mountie shoots these very well.

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Halwg

· #14 · Mar 11, 2011

So the high velocity stuff runs faster in a longer barrel, while the subsonics were faster in a shorter barrel. Interesting.

The Federal 36 gr bulk did an average 1230 fps out of my 39A with the fastest being 1245 fps. Slower than you gentlemen were getting.

They ran an average 980 out of my Single Six 5.5" barrel, the fastest being 1001 fps.

Wet Dog

· #15 · Mar 11, 2011

2

Here's some handgun data for comparision

FEDRAL 550 Pack 37g copper HP
-Ruger Single Six (RSS4") 4-5/8" barrel: 1110 fps, Very good accuracy
-Ruger Single Six (RSS5") 5.5" barrel: 1072 fps, Very good accuracy
-Iver Johnson TP22 (TP22) 2" barrel: 961 fps, OK accuracy

CCI Mini Mag 40g solid, copper
-RSS5": 1067 fps, OK accuracy
-RSS4": 1063 fps, OK- accuracy
-TP22: 923 fps, OK accuracy
Notes: This was the only ammo that the 5.5" Ruger Single six shot faster than the 4-5/8" barrel

Aguila SE Subsonic 38g lead hollow point
-RSS4": 923 fps, Very good Accuracy
-RSS5": 901 fps, Very good Accuracy
-TP22: will not cycle this ammo
Notes: It was interesting to see that the 16" barrel shot this the fastest.

CCI CB Long 29g Lead Solid
RSS4": 573 fps, OK- accuracy
RSS5": 561 fps, OK- accuracy
TP22: Did not test

CCI Blazer 40g Lead Solid (20-30 years old)
RSS5": 1012 fps, Good accuracy
RSS4": Did not test
TP22: Did not test

TP 22 Great little shooter.

Single Six at 25 yards

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