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View Full Version : .22s Test Report: Aguila Super Colibri vs. RWS Flobert ammo, CB Cap and BB Cap


FirstFreedom
June 21, 2006, 11:16 PM
OK, just did a little house testing on anti-Grackle rounds. Tested the following 3 ammos in two rifles, a Rossi single shot, and Winchester 69A turnbolt:

1. Aguila Super Colibri
2. RWS / Dynamit-Nobel "6mm BB Cap" (Flobert-Rundkugeln)
3. RWS / Dynamit-Nobel "6mm CB Cap" (Flobert-Spitzkugeln)

The Aguilas are the length of .22 longs, and both RWSs are very short & stubby - shorter than .22 shorts. Despite being labeled 6mm, they are .22s.

Results:

A. Accuracy Ranking:
1. Tie - Aguila Super Colibri and RWS CB Caps - the Spitz/pointed bullet ones - if anything the Aguila may have been a smidgeon more accurate, but they are very close.
3. A distant last place of the 3 are the BB Caps (round bullet). Dunno why these are worse than the pointed ones, but horrid accuracy (2 inches @ 10 yards).

B. Quietness (surprise):
1. The Super Colibris are much, much quieter than the RWS's - no comparison. The Super Colibris are roughly as loud as a magnum springer airgun, or less, and the two RWS ammos are much closer to CCI CB cap longs.
2. Tie - Both RWS's

C. Feeding:
1. The Super Colibris feed perfectly fine one at a time in the single shot with ejector, and stacked 5 high in the mag of the turnbolt repeater, all fed fine if I cycled fast. If not, sometimes they would pop high, but with a manual push down on the front of the round, they would slide in.
2. Tie - But the short stubby RWS's are hard to place in the single shot without them falling under the ejector, and sometimes they fall under the ejector upon attempted ejection, which then requires a pocket knife to extract the case. A PITA in the S.S. In the turnbolt, they would actually feed great from the mag, but only 1 at a time, not stacked up.

D. Ballistics:
1. Tie RWS CB & BB - Both are supposed to be 17 gr @ 750 fps; stands to reason as they are much louder. But this is right at standard .22 airgun performance, with more noise, so....
3. Super Colibri is supposed to be 20 grains @ 500 fps (whereas the regular colibri was/is 20 gr @ 375 fps).

E. Game Performance: Mostly unknown at this point. I was really hoping for good accuracy on the BB caps, as the round profile should be devastating on grackles & starlings, but alas, that was the round with the terrible accuracy, and thus completely unusable in the guns I have designated for pests. So very disappointed in that fact. The pointed profile is the same on the CB caps and the Super Colibris. Good for penetration, but that's not really needed on birdies. The Super Colibris work very well on grackles. For some reason, starlings are tough little numnuts, sometimes dropping but sometimes flying off after being hit with these or .177 pellets.

F. Price:
1. Super Colibri: $3.80 for 100, and $19.00 for 500, @ www.22ammo.com
2. Tie - Both RWSs: $16.95 for 100, and $78.25 for 500, @ same place

All in all, looks like hell is a cold place these days, since Mexican ammo is as good or better than German ammo at over 4 times the price!! :eek: :mad: However, I can see a place for the faster CB Caps - Urban Crows, which are tougher than starlings & grackles - the extra vel should help with rapid expansion, and add a tad more range, since crows are so wary. Still, too loud for common urban use. Maybe this time of year (around the 4th of July), no one would think twice of the sound, however.

http://www.korabrno.cz/bal-22.html

http://www.22ammo.com/aquila.html

http://www.22ammo.com/rws.html

Edit: Wow, heck of popular topic, I see. Was a single person helped by this even? :)

WhitSpurzon
June 22, 2006, 11:43 PM
Great data. Thanks for posting. I printed it out for reference. EXACTLY the kind of posts I'd like to see more of.

tINY
June 23, 2006, 01:37 AM
If you have a long barreled rifle that shoots them straight (like my dad's 1950's Remmy) the SSS from Aguila should take care of those crows. (and squirrels, gophers, raccoons and so on).



-tINY

skeeter1
June 23, 2006, 03:15 AM
I'm partial to CCI long-CBs, but I certainly wouldn't try going after a raccoon with one. Those are tough little bears, and a high-velocity .22LR is probably the minimum.

blume357
June 23, 2006, 07:01 AM
The Aguila Super Colibri 20 grain rounds I have say specifically on the box to only shoot them in handguns. That if shot in a rifle the bullet may get stuck in the barrel. What give here/ is this just a disclaimer for the maker or what?

FirstFreedom
June 23, 2006, 08:29 AM
Yes, it's just a disclaimer to cover their butts. We've talked about this several times over the last few years, and no one, including myself, have ever posted to say that they had them get stuck in a bore of a rifle, and I've even shot them in 22" and 24" barrels. I would not try this with the regular colibris, if you can even get them anymore, but the super colibris, no problem. If you want to be safe, I think that shooting them out of a 16" or 18" barrel is 'safe enough'. The real concern would be if one gets stuck, and you don't notice it, and then shoot regular .22s out of it - bad mojo. So listen and watch for each shot to hit your target, and listen for a muffled report.

I plan further testing on the super colibris and the Cb caps, in every .22 I have, except semi-autos, for accuracy.

tINY, yes, but the SSSs are far too penetrative to be safe/useful in an urban environment - and they're definitely as loud or louder than a CCI CB long.

tINY
June 23, 2006, 12:54 PM
Actually, out of a long barrel, they aren't loud at all.

You are probably right about the backyard in suburbia. I guess you'll need the bow and some broadheads for the bandits.



-tINY

blume357
June 24, 2006, 05:53 AM
I was wondering about that. Just makes common since to make sure that little bullet goes where it should....

I actually had a squib load in my 380 sig the other week... had to hammer the round back down the barrel.

I may need to ask for that single shot, bolt action 22 back from my brother!

vanfunk
June 24, 2006, 07:13 AM
The warning on the box of Super Colibris may be mostly for show, but please know that those little pills [U]can[U] get stuck in barrels. For example, my CZ 452 just won't let those things out of the barrel. Every time I've tried, the bullet gets stuck about 3/4ths of the way down the barrel. I do use the Colibris to great effect (and with great accuracy) out of my S&W model 17-4, but I have to use at least CB shorts or longs in the CZ.

HTH,
vanfunk

FirstFreedom
June 24, 2006, 10:53 AM
Man that is weird - I have fired the super colibris from a CZ 452 Luxe without a problem - were you using the colibri or super colibri?

hockea
June 24, 2006, 11:11 AM
I have had a super colibri bullet stick in the barrel of my browning auto rifle. When used in a bolt action rifle I have never had one stick.

49hudson
June 24, 2006, 02:52 PM
I shoot super colibri out of my Model 550-1 Rem.. I got this for x-mas in 1951 and it has had several rounds through it in the last 56 years.
I guess it has just enough wear in the bore to let those little pellets shoot through every time, with great accuracy.
Won't cycle, so I shoot it like a straight pull bolt action. Have used s.colibri to take many crow from my property. Funny, they don't come around anymore.
The pecan tree in the back yard provides delicious squirrel from time to time.

PaladinX13
June 24, 2006, 10:20 PM
Thanks First Freedom, your experience matches pretty much what I've experienced.

FirstFreedom
June 25, 2006, 09:01 PM
No prob - the super colibris make a lot of sense on small varmints at short range. They are the .45-70 to the .177 pellet's being a .243, let's say. Much shorter range, but hits harder at those ranges. 20 gr @500 versus 8 gr @ 1,000 of the .177 pellet. The 17 gr @ 750 of the Flobert rounds are basically a .22 magnum airgun, or even less ballistically, yet louder, so they don't really have a good niche, it seems.

Vintageliving
February 27, 2009, 02:05 PM
Thanks for the review. I appreciate it. Saves others of us running the same tests.

And, thank you for the link to the ballistics table!

dbldblu
February 27, 2009, 09:26 PM
First Freedom - nice post.

I have had the super colibris get stuck in a 26" Mossberg barrel. They are real easy to push out with a cleaning rod. It seems like the first round fired is more likely to stick.

roy reali
February 27, 2009, 09:54 PM
Did you wear plugs when firing the Aguila ammo?

B.L.E.
February 28, 2009, 09:10 AM
I had a Colibri round stick in my rifle barrel, almost made it to the end, but I suspected something when nothing hit the target and checked the barrel. Pushing it out the barrel, I noticed the barrel had a lot of sticky spots in it so I ran a bore snake through the barrel and subsequent rounds all shot normally. It seems that those primers leave a lot of deposits in the bore.

I never had a Super Colibri stick.

I also loaded .22 air rifle pellets in .22 Hornet cases with magnum pistol primers and no powder. These shot ok but were not as powerful as Super Colibis.