Best hunting 22LR ammo?

If I am squirrel hunting i often use CCI Standard, CCI Subsonic HP or CCI Segmented HP. All 3 shoot holes touching if not better at 50yards. I tried shooting woodchucks in the head and vitals at 50yards with CCI standards, mini mag, Aguila Super extra and they all ran back into their holes to die. Aguilla super extra does shoot pretty well for me but the price is high and hard to find locally. Plinking gets Federal auto match or Remington Thunderbolts. I sit at 100yards and pick off 2'' blocks with the Federal and Remington while the big rifles are cooling down. They do good enough in the accuracy dept for that.

H&Hhunter said:

I’ve had super good terminal performance from 40 Gr Winchester power points.

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You beat me to it H&Hhunter. As my ol' dad use to say about any calibers, cartridges, bullets and/or guns he liked, "They just kill better."

Different types of bullets from the same manufacturer will shoot different.
If accuracy is important try several types and brands of ammo and shoot from a rest.

For hunting I use CCI SV 40gr; it is accurate (mostly head shots) and kills squirrels (my primary target). For plinking cans and shooting walnuts off the tree, I shoot whatever is cheap and available.

The winchester 40 grain hp 1435 fps super-x's are good. They are accurate enough from a marlin 60 and seem to a really good job on groundhogs and coons. I swapped out the recoil spring and got the black buffer from midway a few years back.

Most of my 22s shoot CCI Mini-Mag RN accurately, and they also perform well with the more expensive CCI SGB. The SGB has similar ballistics as the Mini-Mag RN but has a wide meplat, designed as a "Small Game Bullet". That what I and my 22s prefer.

I likes me a good Rem 788.

Highland Lofts said:

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I have had thay 788 in 243 topped with a Redfield for close to forty years and have shot aleast thirty maybe thirty-five deer with it. It can shoot with the best of them. I shoot 100 grain Soft points through it with good results.







How do you like my home made targets.
I write what each target was shot with, what gun, what load, what projectile and what powder and they are all on one durable target that won't get trashed by handleing them like the regular paper targets. And easy to store.
Plus collecting the raw material for the base target is enjoyable for me, my grandson gets the cash from the recycled aluminum to save up for his KelTec P32. It's a win/win situation. He has close to $200 saved up from recycled aluminum, brass & copper I salvage from work and when I am out & about.
If I see anything worth taking to the recycler I pick it up and bring it home for him.

- 36 gr. CCI Mini-Mag HP
- 38 gr. Federal AE HP




GR

I use CCI standard velocity in my 10/22. Shoots one hole at 50 yards. It's the cheapest match ammo out there. Accuracy matters, nothing else does with .22LR. It must feed and eject, though. That rules out Win 333 bulk pack. That stuff is junk.

I use the dividers that are in the 30 packs of Budweiser for targets

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I like it. “Honey, what are you going to do today?” I think I’m going to make targets, sweetheart.”



I have killed hogs with standard velocity 40 grain solids, they are good for plinking too. I like the CBee rounds for armadillos tearing up the yard because they quiet.

Bottom line is for accuracy and reliability you need to shoot the ammo in your gun to find out. Across the board though, I have found CCI minimags solid point to be amazingly consistent and dependable...I don't think I have ever had a failure to fire, feeds perfectly in all my fireamrs including multiple semi auto pistols and rifles, and does the job as well as any in effectiveness. Nothing wrong with the hollow point minis, I just prefer solid points.

A few years ago I was out shooting targets with a friend who had a Marlin model 60 22lr semi auto. He shot up all of his Remington Thunderbolts and I had a few different types of Federal 22lr cartridges.
They all failed to cycle in his Semi auto Marlin.
If loaded in the barrel they shot but the next one would jam up, over & over again.

Last summer Walmart had Remington Thunderbolts for a great price. My grandson shot a butt load of them every weekend. It didn't take long for the barrels to get all gubbered up with lead fouling.

Highland Lofts said:

View attachment 896485 I have had thay 788 in 243 topped with a Redfield for close to forty years and have shot aleast thirty maybe thirty-five deer with it. It can shoot with the best of them. I shoot 100 grain Soft points through it with good results.

View attachment 896484

View attachment 896485



How do you like my home made targets.
I write what each target was shot with, what gun, what load, what projectile and what powder and they are all on one durable target that won't get trashed by handleing them like the regular paper targets. And easy to store.
Plus collecting the raw material for the base target is enjoyable for me, my grandson gets the cash from the recycled aluminum to save up for his KelTec P32. It's a win/win situation. He has close to $200 saved up from recycled aluminum, brass & copper I salvage from work and when I am out & about.
If I see anything worth taking to the recycler I pick it up and bring it home for him.

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What does this have to do with the OP question.

Growing up, my use of .22 for hunting was pretty much squirrel. For rabbit, I was a shotgun shooter.

Squirrel? Head shots. Which means pretty much any .22 ammunition which shot accurately enough to tap a quarter sized target out to 100 feet.

For me, that was mostly CCI ammunnition. Winchester worked well, too.

For light varmints, general shooting, and edible small game, I prefer the Federal Auto Match...in bolt actions. It is the most accurate relatively inexpensive round I can find across 3 rifles. Interestingly, I hate it in my Ruger MkIII. Feed and extraction unreliable. It has a relatively good shock effect on game, without tearing things up.

For heavier targets...wood chucks, raccoons and other things that try to eat my chickens, and longer range shooting, I like the Browning performance high velocity HP. I think there is a Winchester equivalent. Very flat shooting for a .22 LR round and very good accuracy in my rifles, better than Stingers. Violent expansion, not for table fare. It pink mists ground squirrels and starlings, and 2 coyotes with head shots at ~100 yards were DRT.

For the Ruger MKIII, I usually end up shooting CCI Mini-mag HP. Most reliable and accurate of hunting suitable loads in that handgun.

I like CCI SV. I wonder what the guy that makes head shots at 100 yards shoots. Must be nice.