Ammo recommendations for my first 10/22

My regular old 10/22 that I bought 30 years ago loves cheap ammo and CCI Stinger.
Cheap ammo it loves:
Remington Thunderbolt
Aguila Super Extra
CCI Std Vel.
CCI polymer coated red/white/blue stuff
And a few others.
Don’t be afraid to try some cheap stuff. It may surprise you.
Mine is really accurate with CCI Stinger but doesn’t care for Velocitor or Mini Mags.
I wasted money on match ammo for this gun. Eley, Gold Medal Match, etc. shoots like Winchester Wildcat from my gun. It patterns instead of groups.

She’s a cheap date which is why I still have her after 30 years.

Oh and it likes Federal Black box too.

This photo is of a target shot with my .22 Ruger Semi-Auto, after Shilen Bull BBL, bedded action and first few inches of barrel, and home trigger tuning to about 2 lbs. The Ruger 10-22 aluminum action is quite flexible, so bedding the first few inches of the heavy barrel near the breech, then free-floating the rest, helps stabilize vibrations while minimizing wood warpage effects. (When all accurizin efforts fail, try replacing the barrel with an after-market. That worked for my B.I.L.'s 10-22 Stainless).

There are a few places that you can start and they have been suggested already. Also some have said my rifle just hated X brand and would not shoot it for love or money.

My suggestion is try it all, My CZ loves of all things golden dud....err bullet. Why it will shoot it the best I have no idea but it just does.

And another thing to keep in mind is just because one box shot great the next might not. Look at and for lot numbers.

Like with any and all rimfire guns, go with what YOUR gun shoots the best. There have been a lot of good suggestions on what brands/types to start out with.

You can take any group of rifles off the assembly line (no matter what brand or type) and each one will prefer a different brand/type of ammo.

I don't usually find match grade stuff at my local haunts, a lil here and there but one brand particular that my 10/22 likes and is very accurate, more so than CCI is Aguila SV 38gr. My G44 really likes it too....

thump_rrr said:

I finally found a 10/22 Target which has the hammer forged barrel.
I’ve been searching for this rifle for a long time.
I hope it lives up to my expectations.

It is my first 10/22 and also my first semi auto 22 so I’m looking for some ammo recommendations.
It will be used from the bench for 50-100m distances.

My current 22’s are all bolt actions and I’m using CCI Sandard Velocity, SK Rifle Match, and Federal Gold Medal which are all subsonic.
View attachment 1074885

Click to expand...

I also bought my first 10/22, a new Talo sporter model. When reading the manual it said not to use Stinger ammo in Target or Tactical models. Mine should be able to use Stingers and I did try some, they shot fine and the empty shell ejected fine but I noticed if I tried to unload an unfired round it would stick and I had to get it out with my finger nail. I think my chamber is not cut deep enough for them, my other "unfired" ammo would come out with no problems.

I once had a Stevens semi-auto that killed anything I pointed it at. I shot it with factory irons, then a scope and it almost never failed to hit. That was before I became a serious "benchrest rimfire shooter" of sorts. Then my rifles had to put all shots through the same hole at 50 yards. Of course, I NEVER shot at anything in the woods that was more than about 20 yards away, but traded the Stevens away after it failed to meet my one-hole accuracy "demand". Heck, it wouldn't group better than 10" at 50 yards, but killed about anything I ever pointed it at in the fields/woods, even using those crummy factory open-sights.

Picher said:

I once had a Stevens semi-auto that killed anything I pointed it at. I shot it with factory irons, then a scope and it almost never failed to hit. That was before I became a serious "benchrest rimfire shooter" of sorts. Then my rifles had to put all shots through the same hole at 50 yards. Of course, I NEVER shot at anything in the woods that was more than about 20 yards away, but traded the Stevens away after it failed to meet my one-hole accuracy "demand". Heck, it wouldn't group better than 10" at 50 yards, but killed about anything I ever pointed it at in the fields/woods, even using those crummy factory open-sights.

Click to expand...

I've found that my "inaccurate" shooters hit steel and animals just fine. I've always thought it was odd how these guns show piss poor performance on the bench but are damn near laser guided in the field.

My M1 carbine is a good example. It gets about a 4 inch group off the bench, but it shoots so well at cans and stuff at 100 yards.

Bench rest accuracy is fun and all, but practical accuracy is all that really matters in most cases.

My ruger 10/22 likes # 1 cci standard velocity # 2 Blazer.