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Two things that come to mind when talking about long range is this particular instance.

1) Bullet stability. If the Bullet is traveling at supersonic speed at the muzzle, it very well may drop back to subsonic prior to reaching the target. When this happens in flight, the bullet may become destabilized and start to tumble. When this happens, all bets of any type of accuracy are off the table. If it remains stable, then it's just a matter of compensating for trajectory including wind drift for the most part.

2) If the bullet exists the barrel below the speed of sound (subsonic), it avoids the turbulence of breaking and then dropping back down through the sound barrier. These could easily be described as "long range" in regards to bullet stability and its ability to accurately hit targets beyond 100yds.

It is my understanding that there are longer .22lr barrels designed to slow down the bullets to subsonic velocities prior to exiting the barrel itself. This theoretically could also make for more accurate and consistent hit on target down range.

I thought it sounded crazy when I first heard/read about it, but apparently it's a "thing".
That's very interesting about the longer barrel thing. Would have to be for specific velocity ammo I would guess? I mean most ammo the limit for max velocity seems to be somewhere around 22" (I assume due to gasses being fully expanded at that length and friction loss starting to reduce speed). Cz has a couple rifles at around 25" and 28" lengths which look pretty cool.

Also I totally agree about the sound barrier. Going through the sound barrier twice is the worst in terms of bullet instability. DE850051-9C50-483F-8EB4-AA561F849C6F.jpeg
 
That's very interesting about the longer barrel thing. Would have to be for specific velocity ammo I would guess? I mean most ammo the limit for max velocity seems to be somewhere around 22" (I assume due to gasses being fully expanded at that length and friction loss starting to reduce speed). Cz has a couple rifles at around 25" and 28" lengths which look pretty cool.

Also I totally agree about the sound barrier. Going through the sound barrier twice is the worst in terms of bullet instability. View attachment 720041
I'm quite sure ammo selection is a heavily considered factor for that theory or purpose.

As it should be in any case.
 
Beyond 100 yards with a 22LR accurately? Yes.

Not very common anymore but there formalized rimfire matches at 200 yards in earlier decades. Precision long range rimfire has been making a comeback recently with Practical Rimfire Challenge (PRC) and the National Rifle League RF division. The concept is practicing precision rifle skills out to 300 yards at a modest ammunition cost.

Another discipline I've found very interesting is rimfire Palma; iron sight 22LR bullseye target at 100, 150 and 200 yards. A model 52 Winchester has been on my wish list for a long time...

Personally I've had very good results with my 10-22 heavy barrel shooting rock chucks at 100+- yards; it's been quite a few years since I've been able to get out, but I was making very consistent head shots out to 120 yards. I've equated it to shooting at 500 to 600 yards with a .308 Winchester, all limiting factors considered.

Ok, I need some range time...
 
Beyond 100 yards with a 22LR accurately? Yes.

Not very common anymore but there formalized rimfire matches at 200 yards in earlier decades. Precision long range rimfire has been making a comeback recently with Practical Rimfire Challenge (PRC) and the National Rifle League RF division. The concept is practicing precision rifle skills out to 300 yards at a modest ammunition cost.

Another discipline I've found very interesting is rimfire Palma; iron sight 22LR bullseye target at 100, 150 and 200 yards. A model 52 Winchester has been on my wish list for a long time...

Personally I've had very good results with my 10-22 heavy barrel shooting rock chucks at 100+- yards; it's been quite a few years since I've been able to get out, but I was making very consistent head shots out to 120 yards. I've equated it to shooting at 500 to 600 yards with a .308 Winchester, all limiting factors considered.

Ok, I need some range time...
Sounds pretty cool!
 
I'm quite sure ammo selection is a heavily considered factor for that theory or purpose.

As it should be in any case.
That's very interesting about the longer barrel thing. Would have to be for specific velocity ammo I would guess? I mean most ammo the limit for max velocity seems to be somewhere around 22" (I assume due to gasses being fully expanded at that length and friction loss starting to reduce speed). Cz has a couple rifles at around 25" and 28" lengths which look pretty cool.

Also I totally agree about the sound barrier. Going through the sound barrier twice is the worst in terms of bullet instability. View attachment 720041

Well, I've shot the very same ammunition in .22 rimfire barrels with lengths of 18, 20, 22, 24, and 26 inch, and the recorded velocity increased with each longer barrel length. Now, was the velocity increase huge? No, but there was shown to be an additional increase in velocity as the barrel length increased.
 
Well, I've shot the very same ammunition in .22 rimfire barrels with lengths of 18, 20, 22, 24, and 26 inch, and the recorded velocity increased with each longer barrel length. Now, was the velocity increase huge? No, but there was shown to be an additional increase in velocity as the barrel length increased.
Target and subsonic ammo included?
 
SK Jagd (a German Company) they are owned by Lapua (a Finnish company) and SK Jagd has a contract to make two types of 22 ammo for Wolf, Match Target and Match Extra. The same production line makes SK Standard Plus/Wolf MT. It is packaged in different boxes and THAT is the only difference.

Both SK and Wolf Match Target are excellent 22 ammo. My son has been shooting both out of his 10/22 custom built rifle with great results.
 
Don't laugh.

If you have a good match rifle that stuff is amazing.


IMG_5526.jpeg

I don't count the rifle I shot these in broken in at all. this was after about 200 rounds.
50 yards with the SK Long Range in a semi-auto Bergara. The spread out rounds were with suppressor which it does NOT like. Top left was first group before I adjusted scope.

Oh and it shot very well if not better in my Ruger Precision Rimfire at 50 (windy so no sense in taking it out beyond), I don't think I have a photo of that day though.
 
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Marketing. They can call it whatever they want. And they often call it by whatever name they think will sell to the specific market segment they are targeting.

I only go by non affiliated people's real-world shooting experience. For example you see some of the top eley match ammo as showing incredible results over and over. So if u are after very accurate long range ammo that is what I would buy.

I buy all my .22lr ammo from the same place Jack got his beanstalk beans. :D
 
I think that there are a lot of factors besides barrel length, like rifling, bolt vs semi-auto and many that I have not even thought about. For a semi-auto, 16 inches was thought to be the ideal barrel length for common/inexpensive .22 LR. After that, barrel drag starts coming into the equation - VERY GENERALIZED STATEMENT/RULE. I have seen spreadsheets that tend to indicate the theory. I will post them if I can find them.

I am sure that the manufacturers were using bolt action rifles with match type rifling. I have a Glenfield (Marlin) Model 60 with a 22" micro-groove barrel. I don't worry about drag any more since I bought it in 1969 and have put 1000's of rounds through it. It still out shoots many match rifles at 100 yards. I wish that I could find another in premium condition. All they sell now is a 14+1 round with a 19" barrel. mine is 18+1 round.
 
Mini-Palma is a fun game and was pretty popular about 20 years ago ... but the difficulty in shooting a rimfire at 200 yards killed off the game. This is the same reason the 200 yd smallbore matches were dropped by the NRA ... few were participating.

It's a shame, shooting an iron-sighted rimfire at 200 yards requires wind reading / sight adjusting very similar to shooting the .308 Palma loads (stout .308 Winchester loads using Sierra 155 gr. MK bullet). Edited to add: at 1,000 yards!



I've had good results with SK ammo in my match rimfire rifles.
 
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This article has some great information about barrel length , ballistics and most important accuracy. I've tried to explain it before that top speed is not as important as accuracy, to the 16" barrel is the best guys. To get to the point the 24" barrel was the most accurate with the majority of the ammo tested.

 
Growing up with brothers and cousins having shooting competitions between us, we all got quite good at long range shooting with our .22's my M-52 Olympic Match was able to make consistent groups at 300 meters and beyond, enough to earn braggin rights for several years until one of the older cousins showed up with a Anchutz and upped the game! We used mostly Eley and 10X or Fed Gold Medal Match, and all three did fantastic! Even my Remington 541 T-HB could hit beyond 200 Meters with ease, as well as my later Savage MK-II TI! A lot of folks mention barrel length, all of ours have at least 23 inch tubes, both my Winny and Anchutz sport 24 inchers, and one cousin has a 27 inch tube on his, and it makes a big difference in accuracy for longer range shooting!
 
Some testing last week with 10/22 and a new 18" Kidd barrel installed by Velzey...50 yards from bench & bipod, Athlon 2X14 FFP @ 14x. SK semi-auto was even better as was Lapua Midas. Need to move out to 100yds. and repeat.

image.jpg
 
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Some testing last week with 10/22 and a new 18" Kidd barrel installed by Velzey...50 yards from bench & bipod, Athlon 2X14 FFP @ 14x. SK semi-auto was even better as was Lapua Midas. Need to move out to 100yds. and repeat.

View attachment 720376

Tony Kidd does guarantee his barrels will shoot ½ inch groups at 50 yards. I also have a couple of his barrels on 10/22 modified rifles.
 
Growing up with brothers and cousins having shooting competitions between us, we all got quite good at long range shooting with our .22's my M-52 Olympic Match was able to make consistent groups at 300 meters and beyond, enough to earn braggin rights for several years until one of the older cousins showed up with a Anchutz and upped the game! We used mostly Eley and 10X or Fed Gold Medal Match, and all three did fantastic! Even my Remington 541 T-HB could hit beyond 200 Meters with ease, as well as my later Savage MK-II TI! A lot of folks mention barrel length, all of ours have at least 23 inch tubes, both my Winny and Anchutz sport 24 inchers, and one cousin has a 27 inch tube on his, and it makes a big difference in accuracy for longer range shooting!

Actually, the Winchester Model 52, .22 rifle, got the other .22 rifle manufacturers off their "KIESTERS" because that rifle was kicking butt when up against all other .22 rifles during competition. Mossberg, and then Remington got things in gear to not only catch up with the Model 52, but to try and save face, and to see if their rifles could beat the Model 52 competition.
I'm still looking for a Winchester Model 52, that's been in a private collection forever, and hardly been fired. :)
 

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