Fiocchi Performance 22 Rimfire Ammo

Available in three formats, a Standard Velocity round nose, Subsonic Hollow Point and High Velocity recipe, they show bullet weights of 40, 39.5 and 39.5 grains respectively. The hollow point on the subsonic round is of intermediate size, but both the others display a straight spherical point. The H.V. round is copper washed over the lead core assisting the soft bullet to negotiate the lands and grooves of the rifling with a little more surety and minimal fouling. All three loads were very neatly assembled and featured an even waxed coating that didn’t flake off or deposit a greasy deposit to your fingers. Disassembly of the rounds showed a smooth glossy compressed spherical powder in the H.V. whereas the other two showed a flatter matt flaked composition. These differences are obviously attributable to the bullet construction/coating and muzzle velocities required.

Packaged as 50’s in a clear plastic tray within a cardboard sleeve, the boxes were quite tightly assembled and needed a firm fingertip to pry them open. With 22 rimfire being regularly fed to semi-auto rifles, I first tested the ammo in a CZ 512 rifle with a 20” hammer forged barrel. The straight feed single column mag and feed ramp proved reliable with all but one mis-feed in over 500 rounds through a gun treated deliberately harshly without any cleaning performed. The conservatively waxed bullets neither attracted dust and dirt nor deposited greasy waste to halt these guns in use and I was very pleased.

Accuracy

What did surprise me was that the gun (I’m not generally a lover of semi autos) and these bullets got on just famously and really held some tight groups together. The H.V. was acceptable with 2” groups at 100 yards but both standard and subsonics were easily completing ragged 5 round holes at 50yards with a low powered optic and heavy trigger. There were most importantly NO flyers or supersonic `crackers` from the subsonics. Muzzle velocities averaged out at 1015 (standards), 1042 (subsonic) and 1186 (H.V.) f.p.s. Further testing in my own 16” barrelled CZ 452 bolt action rifle increased the velocities slightly with 1054, 1072 and 1198 f.p.s. Accuracy was similar but the Subsonic hollow point ammo shone yet again with a sub ¼” group at 50 yards and perhaps more impressively, an extreme velocity spread of only 15 f.p.s.! The hollow points weren’t the most expansive of those I have used but the consistency of the ammo made accurate shooting a formality, solely dependent on the shooter’s personal performance.