Hutch
Member
On the last day of the year, I decided to do some semi-serious .22 LR testing. I have a CZ-452 that I’ve never really seriously tested, and was loaned a Charles Daly/Zastava bolt rifle by a friend. BTW, Remington is now importing this Zastava rifle as the Model Five. The CZ had a surprisingly good Simmons 3x9 22 Mag scope w/ adjustable objective. The Zastava had a really dubious, short 4x32 fixed power with some sort of stadia markings in the center section of the reticle. The triggers on both rifles could use some attention (the CZ was better), but they were useful enough.
On to the range…. It was cool, low to mid 50’s, with a lot of wind, gusty in the 10 to 20mph range. Bright, bright sunshine, no mirage (obviously), and a nice quiet range. The “bench” I had to use was a picnic table with built-in bench seats. I turned it lengthwise and set up my benchrest and bags. Between the too-low bench, and folding lawn chair I had to deal with in soft soil, it could scarcely have been less comfortable. By the end of the session, I was having neck cramps.
I started with a plan to shoot each rifle with each brand of ammo, but I quickly ditched that after one iteration. I shot one set of five 5-shot groups with the Zastava, and then put the CZ on the bench to shoot the same ammo. After seeing the results, I stuck with the CZ. The scope on the Zastava, plus the gritty trigger lead me to believe I would be better served sticking with just the CZ for the rest of the test.
There’s been a lot of bitching about bulk-packed .22 ammo on our board lately, and I grabbed a box of Remington Golden Bullet HP ammo, packed in a 525 count box I had lying around. I don’t recall how long ago I bought this, but it’s at least 10 years old, and possibly twice that age. I also brought some Federal Champion (a light blue-silver contrast box) 40 grains solid bullet, some old Stingers, and my old standby, some Remington “Target” 40grain solids. This ammo has produced some eye-popping groups in my old 10” Contender, and it’s what I used to compete with in NRA small-bore Hunter Pistol silhouette matches. Just for really chuckles, I shot a 5-shot “group” with Aguilla Super Colibri ammo. I lol’d, as I could actually see the bullet in the scope on the way to the target.
First, let me say that I couldn’t be more pleased with the performance of the CZ. It fed everything but the Stingers and Aguilla smoothly from the magazine, and shot very well indeed. I had considered changing out the scope on the CZ to a more upscale example, but that’s off the table now. I’d recommend the Simmons 22 Mag scope with adjustable objective to anyone shooting out to 50 to 100 yards. As I said before, the trigger could use some work or adjusting, but I plan to have a go at that myself.
I was shooting at paced-off 25 yards. I’d like to standardize on 50 yards for rimfire testing, but I thought the wind conditions would invalidate the testing, so I opted for the shorter distance. Here are the results of the accuracy testing.
Rifle: CZ
Ammo: Remington Bulk Golden Bullet HP
Group Min: 0.186 Max: 0.309 Avg: 0.245 Std Dev: 0.04
Maybe currently produced ammo is poor, but the results above are just fine, thankyouverymuch. This is legitimate 1MOA in my rifle at that range on average, not a single fluke group. I think I’ll hoard this for squirrel hunting or some such. Too good to plink with, and I doubt currently produced ammo would give the same result.
Ammo: CCI Stingers
Group Min: 0.525 Max: 0.775 Avg: 0.683 Std Dev: 0.11
Because of an ill-considered attempt to shoot a group with the Aguilla Super Colibri ammo at this range, I only shot 4 groups with the Stingers. This also from an old lot, likely old enough to drive.
Ammo: Federal Champion 40gr Solid
Group Min: 0.338 Max: 0.466 Avg: 0.399 Std Dev: 0.05
This is currently on the shelves at Academy Sports here locally. I plan to go back and buy another brick or two. It's a solid performer, and was the cheapest on the shelf. If I didn't expect ammo prices to fall, and if I didn't have 15 or 20 kilobullets on the shelf now, I'd go buy a metric butt-load of it.
Ammo: Remington Target (standard velocity 40gr lead solids)
Group Min: 0.298 Max: 0.545 Avg: 0.451 Std Dev: 0.10
Not as good as I remembered, but still okay. I’ll save what I have for the Contender, if I ever get back into Hunter Pistol.
Now the results with the Zastava. I only shot it with the Remington bulk Golden Bullet HP.
Group Min: 0.257 Max: 0.634 Avg: 0.450 Std Dev: 0.17
I think with a better scope, and some trigger work, the Charles Daly/Remington/Zastava bolt gun might give the CZ a run for its money. It didn’t seem to want to feed the ammo out of the detachable mag very well, so in order to minimize bullet deformity, I single-fed this rifle.
All and all, a useful trip to the range. I have more ammo to test, but I’m going to have to do something about the bench situation at my club. Any and all comments welcome. If time permits, I plan to test a whole lot more ammo this year and publish results.
On to the range…. It was cool, low to mid 50’s, with a lot of wind, gusty in the 10 to 20mph range. Bright, bright sunshine, no mirage (obviously), and a nice quiet range. The “bench” I had to use was a picnic table with built-in bench seats. I turned it lengthwise and set up my benchrest and bags. Between the too-low bench, and folding lawn chair I had to deal with in soft soil, it could scarcely have been less comfortable. By the end of the session, I was having neck cramps.
I started with a plan to shoot each rifle with each brand of ammo, but I quickly ditched that after one iteration. I shot one set of five 5-shot groups with the Zastava, and then put the CZ on the bench to shoot the same ammo. After seeing the results, I stuck with the CZ. The scope on the Zastava, plus the gritty trigger lead me to believe I would be better served sticking with just the CZ for the rest of the test.
There’s been a lot of bitching about bulk-packed .22 ammo on our board lately, and I grabbed a box of Remington Golden Bullet HP ammo, packed in a 525 count box I had lying around. I don’t recall how long ago I bought this, but it’s at least 10 years old, and possibly twice that age. I also brought some Federal Champion (a light blue-silver contrast box) 40 grains solid bullet, some old Stingers, and my old standby, some Remington “Target” 40grain solids. This ammo has produced some eye-popping groups in my old 10” Contender, and it’s what I used to compete with in NRA small-bore Hunter Pistol silhouette matches. Just for really chuckles, I shot a 5-shot “group” with Aguilla Super Colibri ammo. I lol’d, as I could actually see the bullet in the scope on the way to the target.
First, let me say that I couldn’t be more pleased with the performance of the CZ. It fed everything but the Stingers and Aguilla smoothly from the magazine, and shot very well indeed. I had considered changing out the scope on the CZ to a more upscale example, but that’s off the table now. I’d recommend the Simmons 22 Mag scope with adjustable objective to anyone shooting out to 50 to 100 yards. As I said before, the trigger could use some work or adjusting, but I plan to have a go at that myself.
I was shooting at paced-off 25 yards. I’d like to standardize on 50 yards for rimfire testing, but I thought the wind conditions would invalidate the testing, so I opted for the shorter distance. Here are the results of the accuracy testing.
Rifle: CZ
Ammo: Remington Bulk Golden Bullet HP
Group Min: 0.186 Max: 0.309 Avg: 0.245 Std Dev: 0.04
Maybe currently produced ammo is poor, but the results above are just fine, thankyouverymuch. This is legitimate 1MOA in my rifle at that range on average, not a single fluke group. I think I’ll hoard this for squirrel hunting or some such. Too good to plink with, and I doubt currently produced ammo would give the same result.
Ammo: CCI Stingers
Group Min: 0.525 Max: 0.775 Avg: 0.683 Std Dev: 0.11
Because of an ill-considered attempt to shoot a group with the Aguilla Super Colibri ammo at this range, I only shot 4 groups with the Stingers. This also from an old lot, likely old enough to drive.
Ammo: Federal Champion 40gr Solid
Group Min: 0.338 Max: 0.466 Avg: 0.399 Std Dev: 0.05
This is currently on the shelves at Academy Sports here locally. I plan to go back and buy another brick or two. It's a solid performer, and was the cheapest on the shelf. If I didn't expect ammo prices to fall, and if I didn't have 15 or 20 kilobullets on the shelf now, I'd go buy a metric butt-load of it.
Ammo: Remington Target (standard velocity 40gr lead solids)
Group Min: 0.298 Max: 0.545 Avg: 0.451 Std Dev: 0.10
Not as good as I remembered, but still okay. I’ll save what I have for the Contender, if I ever get back into Hunter Pistol.
Now the results with the Zastava. I only shot it with the Remington bulk Golden Bullet HP.
Group Min: 0.257 Max: 0.634 Avg: 0.450 Std Dev: 0.17
I think with a better scope, and some trigger work, the Charles Daly/Remington/Zastava bolt gun might give the CZ a run for its money. It didn’t seem to want to feed the ammo out of the detachable mag very well, so in order to minimize bullet deformity, I single-fed this rifle.
All and all, a useful trip to the range. I have more ammo to test, but I’m going to have to do something about the bench situation at my club. Any and all comments welcome. If time permits, I plan to test a whole lot more ammo this year and publish results.
