X-Ring YouTube Videos .22lr Suppressed Accuracy Recap

[Sheriff_Will_Teasle]

X-Ring put up a pair of videos on 28-29 November 2020 and they are interesting if you are shooting precision rimfire competitions and you are wondering what to do with your silencer. If you don't want to watch the videos, here is the readers digest version:

Ray says take the suppressor off for competition.

At 50 yards he shows the suppressor increasing the horizontal spread. I always interpret the 50 yard group as a % of hits on the 1/4" KYL target since that is one of the toughest targets we have to shoot in precision rimfire. His 50 yard groups go from a near 100% hit rate on the 1/4" target to more like 50%.

At 300 yards his data is inconclusive due to some missing shots unsuppressed. What little we can see suggests that the suppressed vertical spread might be 2x larger than unsuppressed.

His MV data shows SD increasing from 3-5 unsuppressed to 5-10 suppressed. Similarly ES increases as well, with the suppressed shots trending higher by 5-10 FPS.

Krob posted his data a few months ago, and he concluded that the silencer degrades accuracy for .22lr. I reached the same conclusion - I took mine off and I've noticed definite improvement.

 

[Adam B]

I am going to try mine as well without the can.

 

[Sheriff_Will_Teasle]

I am going to try mine as well without the can.

I was hitting the 1/4" about 50% of the time with the can on, and now I definitely am hitting it more often without. Anecdotal support of Ray's data. I never did a careful comparison of group sizes. Seems like an obvious thing to do, but after I saw Krob do it and post his groups, I just took the can off.

 

[Hoyt7mm]

Can anyone link to Krobs post? My google-fu is apparently pretty weak

Not knocking the evidence, as I find it very interesting, but I'd like some more background too. IE was lot testing done with a can or without?
The SD numbers are surprising to me
I wonder if a tuner/can combo could help alleviate some this?

 

[Adam B]

A tuner won’t do much for SD, I ran a can and tuner combo, I was able to tighten up my groups at 50 but there wasn’t a vast improvement the further out I shot so I stopped using it.

 

[Hoyt7mm]

Correct. I just meant the 50/100 yd groups tightening up a bit for the use of a tuner

 

[Doctorwho1138]

I watched these videos as well and I was honestly surprised by the results. My AI 6.5 CM seems to shoot better with a can so I naturally assumed it would be the same with a 22lr. I like the X-Ring channel quite a bit.

 

[jbell]

I have been very anti-suppressor for precision rimfire for a very long time because of some testing I did years ago, there was just too likely of a negative impact on accuracy (with rimfire). One more thing to keep in mind anything you add to the muzzle of your rifle is effectively a tuner, at least in the sense of it changing the harmonics of the barrel. Depending on many variables it may positively or negatively affected accuracy, but that is all weight dependent (of the device added). As long as the weight does not change the positive or negative effect that was created does not change, however as you know a suppressor is constantly gaining weight. Meaning you may see the effect on accuracy change with the weight gain. It may be a very slight effect on accuracy but if you have been in the precision rimfire game for any length of time you know that once you get to a competitive level every little bit counts.

 

[kmckinnon]

I'm new to rimfire shooting. Are there any muzzle devices (comps or brakes) that enhance/benefit accuracy? If so, would anybody have a recommendation?

 

[jbell]

The various tuners that are on the market MAY increase accuracy, but in general the settings are ammo / lot number / velocity (which can be changed by temperature changes) dependent. Meaning more than likely you will have to adjust the setting for a velocity change in your ammo due to temperature change or if you change ammo or lot numbers.
Any other device is just a crap shoot as to what effect it will have.

 

[Krob95]

Can anyone link to Krobs post? My google-fu is apparently pretty weak

Not knocking the evidence, as I find it very interesting, but I'd like some more background too. IE was lot testing done with a can or without?
The SD numbers are surprising to me
I wonder if a tuner/can combo could help alleviate some this?

It’s in the vudoo thread. Don’t remember the time frame but it was after March of this year. I shot a couple different lots of center x and did 6x5’s. With and with out the can. The can avg was something like 0.7moa at 100yds whereas without was 0.6moa at the same distance. All shooting was done off a bench, bipod and rear bag, indoors so I could control the environmentals.

I’ve also never lot tested my rifle as I’ve never needed to. The accuracy I’ve had out of all the different lots has proven to be sufficient for the shooting I do. While my results are a drop in the bucket compared to others shooting suppressed, I will not run suppressed in a match after the testing I’ve done with my setup.

First pic is with the can
Second pic is with out the can
Third pic is the setup

Vudoo V-22
18” Proof carbon fiber barrel
TT Diamond single stage
AIAX chassis
Ckye pod
Thunderbeast 22TD

 

[Nodak]

I'm more of a practical shooter as in hunting. I spend countless hours every summer shooting Richardson ground squires and have almost always used a suppressor, SWR Spectre2. It rides on numerous rifle and I don't return or leave them on. I've been lucky and have not experienced any practical increase or decrease in accuracy with or without. This is on 22lr, 17hm2, 22mag, 17hmr, 17wsm and 22tcm. Maybe if I papered them I'd notice something but I'm not a paper guy. Just shoot gophers from 5yrds to 300yrds. Does not degrade my hits on small targets at all.

YMMV, ALLOT.