The Rimfire Report: CCI Sub-Sonic 22LR — Better Than Standard?

Hello and welcome back to another edition of The Rimfire Report! This ongoing series is all about the rimfire firearm world and all of its different types of guns, ammo, and shooting sports. Today, we’re looking at one of my favorite rimfire loads: CCI’s Sub-Sonic 22LR 40-grain. This standard-weight load often gets overlooked, but it really ranks high in quality among rimfire ammo. As usual, we’ll check out its design, price, consistency, availability, and accuracy using my go-to test rifle: the Bergara B14R.

More Rimfire Report @TFB:

• The Rimfire Report: Remington Magnum Rimfire 22WMR 40gr JHP Tested
• The Rimfire Report: Daisy 2202 .22 LR Rifle – BB to Rimfire
• The Rimfire Report: New Budget Turkish Plinker - TriStar/KRAL KR-22

The Rimfire Report: CCI Sub-Sonic 22LR — Better Than Standard?

CCI Sub-Sonic HP 40 gr 22LR Specifications & Features

Product Link: https://www.cci-ammunition.com/rimfire/cci/sub-sonic-hp/6-56.html

Product Overview

Clocking in at sub-sonic velocities, this load creates less noise, yet its bullet expands reliably for quick kills on a variety of small game. Sub-Sonic HP is loaded with consistent CCI® primers and brass.

• Low noise
• 1,050 fps muzzle velocity
• Bullet expands without fragmenting
• Great performance on small game

Compared to some of the other budget small game hunting rounds, CCI Sub-Sonic is quite expensive, but it is obviously meant for shooters and environmental comfort, coming in at a very sub-sonic safe 1,050 fps (at least according to the box). When run alongside a suppressor, as we are doing today, it's an extremely quiet load, and probably as close as it gets to “Hollywood quiet” without using wipes, gels, or other consumable media that aid in suppression. Sometimes when it's on sale, it makes for a pretty fun plinking round from a lightweight, suppressed bolt-action.

Another thing that probably increases the price of these rounds over your standard fare bulk 22LR hollow points is the quality of the bullets themselves. A close inspection of the rounds contained within a sleeve of CCI Sub-Sonics reveals a very consistent and thinly lubed hollow point bullet. Everything from the ogive, seating, and the head of the cavity is extremely consistent, and I think the attention to detail here will also reflect in the performance of the round.

Velocity Data

Once again, we’re using the Garmin chronograph to do our velocity testing. If our game is small game, then we need to have very good accuracy and when it comes to rimfire that means we need a consistent velocity - hopefully somewhere in the 20 fps or less in standard deviation - teens are better, and single digit standard deviations are something not only rare, but extremely hard to achieve even with the best loading components and tools.

Accuracy Data - CCI Sub-Sonic HP 22LR

As to be expected from such an impressive performance on the velocity side of things, the accuracy side of things is looking pretty good, too. Out of our five 10-round groups shot from the prone positions using a bipod and rear bag, I was able to get five fairly consistent groups, all of which were nominally around 0.75-1.00 inches in size with a few mulligans here and there. If we are evaluating the round from a small game hunter's perspective, this is makes the round extremely well suited to being a critter crusher.

That makes one ask the question, “Is it worth it to pay 4 cents extra for CCI Sub-Sonic?”. The round is indeed more accurate, more consistent, and definitely subsonic. I, for one, don’t mind paying a few extra cents for the extra performance, especially if it comes to making a more ethical kill on small game, or if I find myself at a Rimfire PRS match on the weekend. Either way, the ammo seems like it is one of the better performers in the current CCI catalog, and it's one that I’d highly recommend to anyone looking for a great, hollow point 22LR cartridge that can span just about any duty you throw at it.