Thread: Hollow Point 22lr to reduce Ricochets

Originally Posted by rewa

Aguila Sniper does't go too-far..nobody likes frozen-balls)

No I'd agree with the frozen ball thing. Never been a fan
While I havent used the Aguila heavy sniper in anger, and that could well be the difference, it did ricochet when I was trying it out on a target down on a sandy river bed.
Very distinctive whirring whine
Never heard them do that as often
Hitting something soft like a rabbit would probably work.
Never shot well enough to keep using on my part

22 PCP I use 16g hades which designed to expand, can dial it back still accurate at 6 to 7 hundred fps but its same situation as with larger Cals need the speed to get the expansion so let them go 900 fsp. PCPs accuracy pisses on 22lr ( ammo is sheight) so PCP head shots no problem to 75m and quiet. Bought mine to use at the range as well, cheap option at a time where centrefire ingredients are hard to find and pricey. Some good deals are about at times, PCP become a complete science unto themselves, love it.

I've used the Z longs and they can do the ricochet thing as well. Very unnerving hearing the ziiiing off into the distance and hoping it doesn't make contact with something it shouldn't.
Was trying to fine some cci quiet segmented but they are pretty hard to find last time I looked.

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

Z longs or 22 shorts

I recently bought an Artemis P15 in 22. It would be a good tool in this situation. It Shoots the JSB Hades and JSB Jumbo's at 40J (900 fps). It has a shrouded barrel and is really quiet. Regulated with 9-shot magazine and single shot adapter. It's a Chinese bullpup rifle from the Snowpeak factory that will shoot 1cm groups at 50m. Sometimes sold under the SPA name and even as a Diana Skyhawke. It recently was on offer here in The Netherlands for 740 NZD. Don't know about availability and price in NZ tho.

I use CCI segmented subs in a 22lr, a .25 PCP, and a 17 hornet with frangible projectiles for the various blocks I shoot. Of all of the projectiles, the 17 hornet has the lowest incident of ricochets (0 out of over 200 rounds). The CCI segmented subs have quite a few, and they are really noticeable as the small petals are not aerodynamic and whistle as they fly. Albeit not as far as a near complete 22lr round.

Looking at all of the recovered rounds I shoot at paper targets with a clay backstop, I can safely say that the hollow points put into .22lr rounds do 3/4 of F' all for making them frangible.

I tried some of the frangible powdered copper projectiles in a .223, subsonic couldn’t hit paper and loads as per the data were fairly erratic.
You can get the projectiles in 30 cal and 9mm as well. They might go all right in a 300 BlkOut. Obviously having to buy a whole new rifle if you don’t already have one so a solution of limited value.

Micky suggestion of the suppressed.410 is probably the most pragmatic, I have heard one firing 3” 11/16 loads, not as quiet as a .22 sub, but in that ball park of not recognisable as a gun shot that the .22 sub and air rifle can be grouped in.

everything ricochets in the 22 with subs you just get to hear it

best way to stop them is to not miss and use the animal to soak the energy out of your sub preferably long ways

its only misses that ricochet with that much energy

Played around shooting 22 subs and occasionally HVs into sand to see how they go.
The old aussie winchesters did nice little buttons while the pmc jobbies might have well been solids.
While I was quite confident that if I hit a possum or hare with the subsonics it would wreck them I would also suggest if it made it through the animal it could ricochet a little.

Originally Posted by Bill999

everything ricochets in the 22 with subs you just get to hear it

best way to stop them is to not miss and use the animal to soak the energy out of your sub preferably long ways

its only misses that ricochet with that much energy

Got two rabbits with one shot from my .22 using HV PowerPoint.
Didn’t even realise the second rabbit was there until it rolled over and started kicking.

And it was almost right angles to the target rabbit and 10 metres away further down the fence line.

Luckily I had a witness!

Modern .22 subs do seem to produce more ricochets, even had one on the range - went sideways out of the target frame into the bank at the side. Luckily not one of the modern ranges with no danger area, would have been a clusterfluck if it was!

I still have a reasonable amount of the old Aussie Win Powerpoint style truncated cone 40gr subsonic ammo, this was some of the best you could get from my experience if your rifle liked it. It was quite soft and could have an issue with shaving the pills in semi, but went very well in bolt guns. I'm hoarding what I do have, never get that again!

Originally Posted by No.3

Modern .22 subs do seem to produce more ricochets, even had one on the range - went sideways out of the target frame into the bank at the side. Luckily not one of the modern ranges with no danger area, would have been a clusterfluck if it was!

I still have a reasonable amount of the old Aussie Win Powerpoint style truncated cone 40gr subsonic ammo, this was some of the best you could get from my experience if your rifle liked it. It was quite soft and could have an issue with shaving the pills in semi, but went very well in bolt guns. I'm hoarding what I do have, never get that again!

like yourself i never ever had any problems with either WIN HV powerpoint or rabbit ammo in my M14 stirling B/a or Toz17.this absobloodylutely deadly on possums -holes you could reach into and both literally stopped rabbits in their tracks .one i remember vividly I bowled him a over kin midair as he hopped over a log .when we examined him couldnt find a bloody hole ????skinned provided the answer -a sheer fluke round entered arsehole removed part of spine and turned the boiler room into a batch of badly made raspberry jam with a lead weight in middle.yehah a classic texas heart shot which Ive never been able to repeat! yepI can see why youre hoarding those rounds ,Id do the same. my next mission-a big snarling buck jacko with a 3"12guage load-a sure cure for the reproductive urge!

As per my previous post, there is no safe solution in .22LR for ricochet prevention.

I have tested all different bullet construction in wet pack paper and firing directly down into a 200-liter drum filled with water in an effort to push projectiles to their limits and get them to over expand, and there is minimal difference in performance in terms of expansion. The only expectation to that was some old RWS that I had which did perform like a jacketed projectile, and I put it down to a softer lead.
I have a Waltz tool and can hollow point my own ammo and have put super-size hollow points into projectiles in an effort to get them to disintegrate in a rabbit. Again, minimal difference.

Safest rimfire solution is the .17HMR or .17HM2 and don't miss your target. Fast light projectiles = disintegration.
PCP .22 - stick to pellets over slugs, which will limit your range due to their BC, but as per @flock the PCP's accuracy will outshoot a .22LR every time. Pellets lose their energy very fast, so misses are less likely to cause down range damage.
PCP .177 - this is another option. Way less energy than the PCP .22, but the accuracy lets you go for head shots. I haven't seen any in NZ yet, but they are now producing .177 slugs in South Africa.

The .22LR hyper-velocity light grain ammo is better for risk of ricochet than most of the other current production ammo - down side is that it's hard to get and I've not had much luck getting a rifle to like it. It's also quite noisy but not quite as bad as the HMR and HM2 .17's.

The issue I believe is related to the speed, and not getting a complete energy dump on impact. I have seen a .22 sub literally 'bounce' back past the shooter - gave us the shits at the time as that would have been a feral wound. I've suffered a similar effect with a .177 co2 powered pistol that I have as a 'rat dispatcher' for when the damn cat brings rats into the house - doing some target shooting when I first got it shooting into the end of a 100x100 treated fence post and I ended up catching 4 of the pellets in my chest pocket before I worked out what was happening! Accurate little pellet pistol, but I don't do that (shooting into a block of wood) any more as it's just too damn dangerous!

.22 isn't the answer, solid , hollow, super sonic , sub sonic they all ricochet ,
I shot a lot around horses, vine yard infrastructure , sheep, cows and dwellings .
Only round I would ever use is a 17HMR , suppressed.
In maybe 15 - 20 k of ammo I might have had 1-2 ricochet.

I wouldn't use a .22 at all for your situation, quite unsafe and just wait till you get the Vet bill for a shot horse and the cops round for a serious chat, if you excuse the pun, horses for courses and the .22 in this situation isn't it.

I have made a hollow point tool and shot a few into wet pack newspaper. Seems to expand nicely and stopped after about 150mm.


I have been looking around for a reasonably priced PCP and options are pretty limited.
Luckily I have a couple of places to chase bunnies that are safe as houses for 22s.