My research into 22 LR vs 22 WMR for velocity and energy

[wasa]

Before I bought my 22 WMR rifle, I used to take my 22 LR firearm small game hunting. I became a bit fixated on velocity and energy. I wanted to find the (i) fastest, and (ii) most energetic 22 LR at muzzle, and at 100 yards (wanted 50 yards too but info hard to find). I did a fair amount of internet searching and made a table. Based on manufacturers numbers, Aguila has the "best" 22 LR ammo in terms of velocity and energy.

Once I bought my 22 WMR rifle, I wanted to do the same comparison. Note that for some of the numbers I used an online calculator to determine the energy. All info was obtained from pictures of the boxes of ammo, the manufacturers website, or retailers websites.

Conclusions
: the slowest/weakest 22 WMR beats the "best" 22 LR, but by not as much as I would have thought (208 ft/lb for Federal Black Box 22 WMR compared to 195 ft/lb for Aguila Interceptor HP)
: the "best" 22 LR can provide greater than 100 ft/lb at 100 yards (116 ft/lb max published that I could find)
: I always knew there were lots of different 22 LR ammo (subsonic, standard velocity, high velocity, hyper velocity, etc) but I was surprised at the number of 22 WMR ammo I found being sold (I found 21 different flavours available)

Charts below. Any mistakes are mine (or from the websites). In particular, the Norma ammo claimed an energy of 247 ft/lb yet from ShootersCalculator.com with the stated bullet weight and velocity the energy should be 316 ft/lb.

 

[Potashminer]

Might help you to know how to calculate the foot pounds of energy? W= Weight of bullet in grains. V= Velocity in feet per second.

Energy (in foot pounds) = W x V x V, then divide that answer by 450395. That 450395 number sorts out the grains and feet per second and a few other things to get the answer into foot pounds

So double your bullet weight, at the same speed, get double the foot pounds. Double the speed, for same weight bullet, and get 4 times the foot pounds.

 

[BCBRAD]

The way I look at 22 RF cartridges is that the bullet must stay sub-sonic or super-sonic from muzzle to the target. Avoid the transitional zone.

 

[panaan25]

Did you ever end up testing all the 22lr ammo on you spread sheet? I'd be interested to know how the advertised velocities compare to actual and which one is really the most powerful. I'm trying to find the ammo to do my own tests but many seem to be out of stock everywhere.

 

[nwtbolthunter]

Was thinking the same thing

 

[wasa]

Unfortunately my local ranges are all closed due to the Ontario lockdown. Hopefully will test at some point in future but for now just going with manufacturers data. Sorry

 

[MiG25]

Used to shoot a lot of gophers (Columbia Ground Squirrels, larger than Richardson's Ground Squirrel), tried many kinds of 22LR, the Winchester Super-X 37 grain is the best hands down IMO.

From my notes:

Shot with a CZ 452 Scout:

Winchester Super-X 22LR 37gr 1173 fps

CCI Mini Mag 1269 fps

CCI Stinger 1590 fps

American Eagle 1203 fps

 

[B]

An issue you will likely run into is that almost all of the "hyper" ammunition rarely gives the speeds advertised.

 

[hatman1793]

22 Mag totally outclasses 22LR.
On another forum, a poster suggested a time-travel scenario whereby you could go back in time to year one (1). Travellers could choose any rifle or pistol in the caliber of their choice to take there forever. The limiting factor was Travellers had one backpack to carry ammo on their person along with their choice of rifle or pistol to also carry. So Traveller's had to haul enough ammo in their backpack to survive until death.
What to pick?

 

[Candocad]

I have owned a Sako Quad for about 15 years now, and out of the 4 calibres the 22 Mag barrel is the least used. I never found many varieties of ammo for 22 mag, it was never as accurate as the 17HMR and I never used it for any hunting so it has always been the 'ugly cousin' of the rimfire world IMHO.

The 22LR barrel has actually been supplemented with a heavy version (all the other barrels are hunter contour) due to being used so often for targets and hunting + plinking. The 17 Mach 2 is an awesome little round and is my go to for grouse hunting as it can be so accurate and deadly at @75 yards. The .17HMR is legendary and the 22Mag pales in comparison on accuracy from my initial tests. (3 different varieties of rounds at 50 / 100 / 125 yards).

Your tables show a significant power advantage with 22 Mag over the 22 LR, but I wonder on accuracy at say 75 / 100 / 125 yards and where the 22 Mag sits in terms of accuracy at those distances.

Great thread, thanks for posting.

Candocad.