GlockandRoll wrote:I see very little tactical advantage to a suppressed .22lr that a pellet rifle doesn't offer.
If you are talking high-zoot, shrouded barrel (built-in "legal" suppressors) in a pre-charged pneumatic and disregard the weight and clumsiness factor of most PCPs you STILL have a less effective weapon than a suppressed .22LR.
I have a pretty good PCP...An FX T12 .25 cal.. On most powerful setting it throws a 25 gr. .25 caliber pellet at 850 fps. (Simialr bullet weight and vel. as a .22 Short target velocity load, tho greater diameter and better nose form make it a bit better killer than >22 SHort.)
It is a pretty good small game killer if shots are well-placed and has an exc. trigger and is as accurate to 30 yds. as my old M-52 Win. or Maritinis were with good ammo. (Like Eley TENEX....)
A flat-nosed 40 gr. .22LR @ 1,050 fps hits harder, penetrates any medium you'de like to use better, and is plenty accurate "enuff" for most anything I will want to do with it.
If by "pellet rifles" you are talking about the break-barrel, spring-piston pellet rifles, I have some experience with them as well.
The cheap ones are craptastic junk that cannot be relied upon, the expensive ones like RWS 350 Magnum and the nitrogen -pistoned Theobens are hellishly expensive, much harder to shoot WELL than suppressed .22LR or PCP pellet rifles, heavy and CLUMSY.
They are noisy too.
For the $'s, a Benjamin Marauder(PCP) in .22 or .25 is very probably a good bet...Shrouded barrels and about the same power and noise level (very low) as my FX.
FX & a SHoebox 4,500 psi Compressor ran me about $2,000, but I did not have to wait for the scarey alphabet dept. to piddle around for 6 mo.s to a year (like they are doing with my not-so-recent Sparrow purchase paperwork. )
I have mounted my SRT Commanche (or the SPARROW if I live long enough to get it...) on .22LR or .22 WMR rifles.
1,050 or less fps .22 LR is VERY quiet...
.22WMR at nearly 2,000 fps "cracks" like breaking a dry branch, and even tho it makes more noise than the sub-sonic .22LR, does not carry very far. I can also use 45 gr. .22WRF @ 1,300 fps for body-shots on smallgame and a bit quieter "crack".
Also, sub-sonic ammo does NOT kill very well in the DRT sense unless CNS is hit....Even a heartshot can run a long ways...
W/o the "splash effect" of higher velocities, you lose the dramatic killing ability unless your shot is place RIGHT, even with .30 cal. .357 cal. and .44 cal. Flat noses and especially WC's "help".
Even in .22LR below speed of sound (aprox. 1,080 fps) and "Hi-Vel" (aprox. 1,300 fps) , using similarly flat-nosed bullets, you give away some noticable yardage for near-silence when shooting small varmints/smallgame. (Sub-sonic 40 gr. FN kills about the same @ 40 to 50 yds. as FNed Hi-Vel does @ 65 or 70 yds...(In my personal experience..."Results may differ"
The gentleman I quoted has made-up his mind, so I am writing for those of you who haven't spent the years and the $'s to learn the hard way.
Keep an open mind about this sort of thing and after getting acquinted with those who have already been down this or very similar "roads" that you are embarking on, & some deep thought about what is really NEEDED rather than "what looks 'tacti-cool' " before laying out the $'s, then find out what works for YOU thru your own personal experience..
Davo