The Aguila SSS was originally developed as a military round for taking out guards/guard dogs/etc. at close range. In a close range, jungle type or urban environment, it could be a very deadly round.
Will not matter if it keyholes at distance if the shooting diatance is within 10 yards. A solid bullet that keyholes in flesh is one of the deadliest of all designs. Remember the British .303 round that had the nose filled with sawdust so it would be butt heavy and keyhole in flesh? A neat way to get around the Geneva Convention that seemed to outlaw softnosed hunting bullets that expand in flesh. The "tumbling" M193 bulet fired from a 14" twist M-16 in Vietnam had a similar intention, and it is devastatingly deadly when everything works right.
In my tight bore CZ-452 the Aguila SSS tends to keyhole by 50 yards, even less if the barrel is really dirty. In a Ruger 77/22 with a looser bore and evidently higher velocity, the Aguila SSS round seems to shoot just fine with good accuracy and no sign of keyholing. In Vietnam, the M193 round had different tendency to tumble in different M16 rifles.
When using an averaging sound level meter (not peak level meter), I got almost identical sound level readings at one meter to the right of the muzzle with Aguila SSS fired from my CZ-452 and an H&N .25 cal Baracuda pellet fired from my BSA Lonestar PCP air rifle equipped with a suppressor. For a 90 FPE bullet with no suppressor to equal the apparent loudness of a 45 FPE pellet fired through a suppressor says a lot for the quietness of the Aguila SSS round. It sounds quite a bit louder fired through a Ruger 10/22 because of the massive gas leak that the short case and loose blowback chamber creates. Many times you get some powder burns as well from all the flaming powder particles in the escaping gas.
For point blank shooting out of a bolt gun, Aguila SSS is an interesting round, whether it keyholes or not. That heavy tumbling bullet is going to produce more shock and have more knockdown power than common .22LR bullets are noted for having.
If you don't want to lay out the money for a .25 cal PCP air rifle with charging pump ($300 for the pump alone) like I did, then this ammo in a bolt .22LR gun you already own will get you similar results. Since it shoots at PCP air rifle speeds, get an air rifle ballistic reticle scope like the ones that Hawke sells to all those English air rifle hunters. A suppressor is redundant with Aguila SSS. Like a silenced air rifle, you typically get multiple shots at wild game and varmints if you miss. You just have to get close, because you have that air rifle type of golf ball trajectory to deal with. However, I can shoot my BSA Lonestar .25 cal air rifle pellets for 4 cents a pop, while Aguila SSS costs 10 cents a pop. The .25 cal pellet can be a lot deadlier than you think on small game, and it shoots 1/2" groups at 50 yards. But a few boxes of Aguila SSS lets you see if low speed and silent air rifle type hunting is for you.
