Evolution of the 22LR

vpsalin

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I'm wondering, before the arrival or modern hyper velocity 1640fps Stinger type rounds arrived, what used to be the go to ammo for guys looking for speed alone? I would be curious to know if you could reference a decade as well, like 'in the 60's the XYZ round were the fastest thing around it had Xgrains and Xfps''. And was one type of bullet speed king for a really long time before the arrival of 1640fps rounds, if so which one was it?
 
For at least a couple of decades starting in the mid to late 50's, possibly longer, Winchester, Remington and CIL marketed
unplated HV 22 long rifle ammo with a claimed velocity for the 40 grain solid of 1335 fps.
the 36 grain HP equivalent was 1365 fps.

I shot a fair bit of it, both Canadian CIL and US Remington/Winchester [brought up to us from the States by my uncle]
It was good, hard hitting ammo, but how fast, really? No one had a chronograph in those days.

Winchester called theirs Super-Speed. Remington was Hi-Speed, and CIL was Whiz-Bang.

The hyper velocity, lighter bullet rounds we see today did not appear till the 80's if I remember correctly.

Regards, Eagleye
 
I never gave this much thought.
Grab the ole gal and go plink'in.
There have been sooooo many ole gals
that I have lost count.
All I know is the new gals don't have the
flavor of the ole gals........tizz all.
 
I believe that Winchester was the first to start "copper-washing" their HV 22 LR ammo. [ in the 1960's, IIRC. ]

The first Hyper-velocity round I laid eyes on was the CCI "Stinger"
Never cared much for it's accuracy, but it was [is] fast with it's light bullet. [some rifles shoot it OK, though]
It will not chamber in match chambered rifles, due to it's overlength case.

Other manufacturers jumped on the bandwagon with their own "faster" ammo.

About the time the Hyper-velocity rounds started to show up, the HV long rifle lost some of it's zest,
with advertised velocities dropping down to somewhere around 1215-1260 fps.

I have chronographed a number of 22 LR offerings, and there is quite a bit of variance in them.
Match grade ammo is very consistent, but bulk ammo can vary up to 80 fps, in my experience.

I still have one box of the old, Remington Hi-Speed ammo, the headstamp says Hi-Speed on it, lol.

Eagleye.
 
Priceless Laugh2

CIL marketed it's HV 22 Ammo with this name for a long time.
The box was Red and yellow.

The standard velocity stuff was "Super-Clean" in a Blue and yellow box.

It was quality ammo in those days, with an FTF being a rare occurrence.

Many a gopher [and other vermin] found out the hard way how those Whiz-Bang's hit.

Eagleye.
 
In 1953 a box of CIL WhizBang Shorts was 51 cents.
in the late 50's, Mother paid "2 shorts for every sparrow or starling" or roughly 2 cents per bird.
The long rifle WhizBang's were far more accurate, and even though we had graduated to long rifles at 75 cents per box . . .
the price per sparrow did not!
The WhizBang and SuperClean marketing continued into the 70's.
 
I never gave this much thought.
Grab the ole gal and go plink'in.
There have been sooooo many ole gals
that I have lost count.
All I know is the new gals don't have the
flavor of the ole gals........tizz all.

We are still talking about guns....right? If not, the last sentence....um....ewww!!!;)
 
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