Range Report: Agulia .22 Colibrí

For National Ammo Day I bought 50 rounds of Agulia .22 Colibrí to try in my basement along with an assortment of other .22 LR to see what my H & R Sportsman break-top nine-shot target revolver and my Ruger 10/22 rifle like to shoot.

Colibrí is Spanish for 'Hummingbird'. This round has ballistics similar to a Crosman 2250 pellet pistol. It has a 20 grain bullet (a BB is 8 grains) propelled by the primer only, with no gunpowder. The published velocity is only 375 fps with a muzzle enery of 6 ft lbs.

These five were shot from my Ruger 10/22 at a distance of twenty-one feet. The red sticker is one inch wide. I now have experienced a called flyer. If you exclude it, this is a half inch group. Since I aim just below the dot, they went pretty much where I wanted them to go. Boy, do I love shooting this rifle. Kim du Toit wasn't the only one to recommend it, but he (and my friends who did) were so right. It is super fun to shoot, and even a complete novice like myself can get reasonably good results. I did have repeated problems with feeding the Ruger 10/22, but this was to be expected, since the shortened bullet makes the round more like a .22 Short than a .22 LR.

These four were shot double action from my H & R Sportsman at a distance of twenty-one feet. That is a one inch group. Out of the shorter barrel there seems to be a much bigger drop, over two inches.

I also shot a couple at close range from the H & R, one at close range from the 10/22 and nine rounds each double and single action from the H & R at twenty-one feet. The sound was more like a loud "fft" than a bang with my hearing protection on. My family on other floors of the house said it sounded like hammering or hand-clapping. The furthest any of the rounds penetrated my backstop was through nineteen layers of corrugated cardboard and 24 layers of newsprint. I was able to recover 26 of the thirty rounds I shot.

I was very pleased with the results with one very important caveat: Ventilation. I probably won't shoot more than five rounds at a time until I figure out how to ventilate my basement properly. Breathing burnt primer is not for me. Still, this is a lot cheaper than the eight dollar range fee, and I can work on trigger control and sighting just fine at short range, so if you have any suggestions for ventilation send me an email and I'll add it as an update.

Posted by winceandnod

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