Just when I was confident that I’d found a substitute for the super reliable, but unavailable Eley subsonics in my Magtech 7022 semi auto rimfire, Wichester’s SX subs had proved reliable after a shaky start, but my belief in the bullet was shattered again, when, with a rabbit firmly in my sights, there was a pop instead of a bang, as the bullet misfired and the rabbit ran off. This began another target session, where the Winchesters repeatedly failed to cycle, while others went off like a damp squib. Time to try another manufacturer.

With Eleys still unavailable, my gunshop suggested RWS  .22 subsonics, so with a box of 50 I arrived at my improvised woodland shooting range to do a three way test. Ten Winchesters were loaded, but after two miscycles and one jam in five rounds, I stripped out the other five and loaded a few of my last Eley subs. These all fired perfectly. Next was the brand new box of RWS. These had wax lubricant filling the hollow points, which I removed, before loading and firing a perfect ten, all grouping well on the target. Another ten and another good 50 yard group, despite the lack of magnification from the red dot sight fitted to the Magtech. With my confidence back, I continued down through the wood, stopping to observe daffodils still growing in mid April, a sign of the late spring.

A rustle of dead leaves to my left reminded me that I should have been observing the fauna, not the flora, as a rabbit hopped to safety through the undergrowth. Further down I reached a point where a path enters the wood, a rabbit highway,  and turning the corner was confronted by a big buck coming in my direction. Too late, he dived into the hedge as I raised the rifle.  Backtracking, I settled down to wait for more intruders, with a good view of several likely hot spots within 50 yards, but the only visitor to my domain was a beautifully conditioned fox, which slipped out from cover and sat observing me from 70 yards away. On this permission, fox and pheasant are strictly off limits, as are the deer, being an equestrian centre, rabbits and their burrows are enemy number one.

Able to see activity behind the hedge leading to the path, but no clear targets, I got up and stalked to the corner, where a good sized rabbit was unaware of my presence, until it was too late. Raising the rifle, I placed the green cross hairs of the sight on the target and watched the rabbit topple over from a head shot.

 More proof that the point and shoot sight is ideal for close range, snap shots, I took  another adult and a juvenile on my way back to the van, also putting a big tick in the positive box for the RWS subsonics. As a follow up, I navigated the perimeter of the 80 acre permission a few days later,  accounting for a few more rabbits and a pigeon out in the afternoon sun. The RWS subs once again performing well and maintaining a dependable accuracy.

Trying to get to the bottom of the bad batch of Winchesters, I’d noticed that the bullets were tight in the magazine, when I removed them. Measuring the large diameter on the cartridges, I found the Eley and RWS to measure 0.270 inches and 0.269 respectively, while the Winchester cases were 0.2735, or 0.1 mm bigger, which may have been enough to slow the passage of the bullet, when recycling. RWS from now on.