The Rimfire Report: Lapua Super Long Range .22 – Initial Impressions

Welcome back to another edition of The Rimfire Report! This ongoing series is all about rimfire firearms, ammunition, and appreciation of all the “small things” we have to be thankful for on the range.  Today’s edition is a guest post by yours truly, Rusty S. If you asked my grandfather, super long range for a .22 would be a squirrel on a tree limb at 75 yards. That being said, advances in ammunition consistency and overall quality of .22LR platforms have allowed contemporary shooters to push .22LR to further and further distances.

The Rimfire Report @ TFB:

I regularly do varmint control at distances of 100-200y with a Tikka T1x, and as such, I’m always on the lookout for consistently accurate .22LR ammunition.  As speedy as CCI Minimags and Stingers are, consistent accuracy is what I’m after when I’m looking to headshot a critter poking its head out of a hole. Furthermore, when it comes to rodents top to the size of a woodchuck, a well-placed subsonic .22 seems to do the job just as well as a high-velocity copper jacketed hollow point.

Previously, my go-to .22 ammo for that purpose was Lapua Polar Biathlon for its temperature-agnostic velocities.  However, my interest was piqued at last year’s announcement of Lapua’s eponymous dedicated long range and super long range .22 loads.  Lapua ammo ain’t cheap, but neither is rodent damage on a ranch.  And it’s hard to put a price on the hilarity of long range .22LR success.

Lapua Super Long Range Specs:

Lapua quality has been around for 100 years, and we celebrate by presenting the very best new new rimfire cartridges designed for ranges at 100 m/yds and beyond: The Lapua Super Long Range .22lr cartridge.

The result of extensive product development combined with the world’s finest rimfire production process, the Lapua Super Long Range is made and designed for those who are looking for the best of the best in extreme long distance shooting with .22 caliber ammunition. The Lapua Super Long Range rimfire round shows excellent performance on targets at 100 m/yds and beyond and has a muzzle velocity of 337 m/s or 1106 fps. It is the perfect option for disciplines such as Long Range, PRS, rimfire benchrest and Field Target shooting. With a flat trajectory and improved wind performance, Lapua Super Long Range provides the very best accuracy for any top .22LR shooter looking to beat the competition at longer distances.

Ballistic coefficients are calculated by Quick Target Unlimited Lapua Edition from V0 to V75 BC G1 for all rimfire .22 LR bullets = 0.172

Initial Impressions:

Checking zero on my T1x at 50 yards, Lapua Super Long Range printed consistent cloverleafs.  I have not had my chronograph in good working order lately, but other testers have confirmed that the SD of velocity is well under 10fps.  Super Long Range can be summed up as a faster version of X-ACT, at 1106 fps vs 1073 fps with the same level of consistency and quality control.  The fps of 1106 is of note, as it’s just under the speed of sound at 1125fps.  This is barely subsonic ammunition, and as such will not experience transonic ballistic conditions.

Shooting the two loads side by side, there is a barely perceptible increase in recoil impulse with Lapua Super Long Range ammo (we’re talking a suppressed .22LR rifle so you really have to search for it).  It still is whisper quiet coming out of the T1x’s 20″ barrel with a CGS Hydra can on it, allowing for dispatching multiple varmints with them being none the wiser as to the source of their demise.  At 100 yards, this load nicely corresponds with my primary drop stadia in my scope, and I have successfully taken critters out to 200 yards away with it so far.

This round has enough oomph to reliably cycle semiautomatic rifle actions as well, easily running in multiple semiautomatic receivers. I had very good accuracy results out of a number of my other rifles as well, but overall my T1x is the top performer for longer-range varminting (I do keep a Green Dot on my Volqaurtsen Summit for rapid short-range varminting around the haystack, and I’ve gone 10/10 on scrambling rats with this ammo as well).

In the future, I plan on seeing how Lapua Super Long Range performs out of semiautomatic pistols with longer barrels, and also plan on pushing the envelope on this load out to 400 yards on steel and paper.

Thanks as always for reading the Rimfire Report!

This post was originally published on this site