Remington CBee .22LR range report with pics

[MacTech]

Just a quick post from my iPhone from the range, will elaborate and post pics later

Time; dusk
Wind; none
Air temps; 40's

Gun; Marlin 25 bolt
Range; 25 yards
Scope; Bushnell Trophy 3-9 40mm non AO

Reference ammo; CCI Blazer

I shot the Blazer into a Hoppes 100 yard sight in target, tightest group- not counting a single flyer, was ONE HOLE! of five rounds shot, four went through the same ragged hole, just barely larger than the .22 projectile, I'd estimate the hole is about .25 wide

this gun is a real shooter

The CBees were then loaded after a boresnaking, 10 fouling shots were taken to reseason the bore, then two five shot groups were taken

They hit 6" low from POA, and grouped about 1" at least two shots in each group were touching though…

A few other observations;
Muzzle report is louder than CCI CB Long, on the verge of being noticeable, may be iffy if you need very quiet rounds, I can comfortably shoot Super Colibris and CCI CB Longs without hearing protection (even though I do wear them for anything CB Long and above) but CBees are just touching on the "uncomfortable without hearing protection level, especially when shooting from inside a three sided shooting hut/house

inconsistent muzzle reports are noted, some shots are quieter than others, I may just pull a random sample of five rounds apart to see if the powder charge is consistent, could be variations in primer thickness or powder charge

These rounds are absolutely *FILTHY*, after 20 or so rounds, the amount of crud buildup in the barrel is staggering, looks like I shot 150-200 rounds of plain lead .22's

Accuracy is disappointing from 25 yards, when I can take a gun that can shoot One Holers to 1/4" groups, and it can only get 1" groups at 25 yards, then either the gun just doesn't like the CBees, or (more likely) I may have unreasonable accuracy expectations from a round that has approx. .8 of a grain of propellant to drive a 33 grain bullet, I believe this is the more likely the case

Pics later, I still need to perform penetration tests at "varmint range" (25 to 50 feet, similar to the distance I took the woodchuck out at a few summers back), I'll recreate the "varmint test with the rifle and a coconut with a heavy backstop, the coconut will be the varmint's "head", as 'chucks are known to be rather thick skulled

 

[Dulvarian]

Nicely done. I appreciate the time you took to post your own results, methodology, and opinion. Mostly, thanks for turning me in the direction of "I don't think I'm going to bother with that ammo for any of my .22's."

MMMV (haha)

 

[papa_bear]

something ain't right. either your your gun is broken, you got a bad batch of cbees, or you work for CCI....... On a serious note, you must have got a bad batch of ammo. I shoot cbee's exclusively for the past couple months. I never had a grouping like that, and there is no way they are considered borderline in regards to hearing protection. They are extremely quiet. maybe a c-hair louder than CB shorts. and thats stretching it.

 

[MacTech]

or, maybe my Marlin 25 just doesn't like CBees....

or, maybe due to the fading light, the crosshairs weren't perfectly aligned for each followup shot

I'll bring my Marlin 25 and Ruger 10/22 to the range tomorrow for further testing, both of those guns are known accurate and reliable, my Savage MKII-G has been being fussy lately

 

[papa_bear]

Here is a 6 shot group I took this morning with cbees. Gun is a Marlin 918T topped with a Bushnell Elite 3200. Distance is 117ft or 33 yards. I drew a 1" square on a piece of paper. First shot is cold bore off my knee. Keep in mind I'm not the best shot. I also haven't cleaned my gun in over a year.

 

[gofastman]

something ain't right. either your your gun is broken, you got a bad batch of cbees, or you work for CCI....... On a serious note, you must have got a bad batch of ammo. I shoot cbee's exclusively for the past couple months. I never had a grouping like that, and there is no way they are considered borderline in regards to hearing protection. They are extremely quiet. maybe a c-hair louder than CB shorts. and thats stretching it.

My experience mirrors that of the OP, they are quite a bit louder than a CCI CB Long, inconsistent and dirty.

I see no real use for them anymore, too loud for suburban pest control and a lot wimpier than a standard subsonic HP even though they are very close in sound level.

I wish CCI would change their CB bullets from a round ball to a truncated cone for a bit better killing power, i emailed them and they said they would "pass it along" to the R&D department

 

[papa_bear]

What elevation do you live at? At sea-level, they are very quiet and consistent.

 

[MacTech]

Not sure the exact elevation, but we're pretty close to sea level

Tried the Bees in my 10/22 which seemed to like them better than the Marlin 25, groups were a bit tighter, but we had a little wind as well

Compared to CCI CB Longs, the 'Bees are much more accurate, in both guns, the CBL's hit 10+ inches low, aiming at the top edge of the target paper, the rounds impacted near the bottom of the paper (scope is sighted in for HV rounds like Fed red box bulk and Blazer)

Out of 45 rounds fired, there were four complete duds, and one that took three primer strikes to fire

 

[Snowdog]

I know this thread is 3 months old, but man... I hope at least one of my .22 rifles (Savage MKII, Mossberg M146B-A & Marlin M60) like these Remington CBees. I just ordered some reloading supplies from Natchez and tossed 1k of them (10 boxes of 100 @ $7.50 each) for fun.

If they're dirty, that's one thing. If they're inaccurate and aren't much quieter than other .22LR subsonic ammunition, I'll really be disappointed. The initial Google search I did before the order turned up some intriguing results. I didn't see this thread until now.