Favorite 22 Ammo for Pistols?

Remington Golden since my Remington semi auto rifle likes it, and my Single Six revolver eats any 22LR.

I use CCI SV and CCI Mini-Mag in everything .22 including pistols if I can find it. It always seems to shoot best. TBH I only have a couple pistols in .22 and they never have an issue with anything I put in them. The CCI seem to be the most consistent though.

-Jeff

I am surprised by how many replies here like Remington .22LR. My experience over several years has been that Remington .22LR made my guns the dirtiest, and also had the highest failure-to-fire rate in both semi-autos and revolvers.
I have had the best experience for basic (read cheap) bulk .22LR has been with Federal bulk boxes.

CCI SV and Mini Mags are top of the list. I also have a bunch of Eley Force which is an upgrade from Mini Mags in the semi auto.

If I was going to have only 1 type of 22 ammo for everything it would be 36gr Mini Mags.

That said, I have about a case of 22 shorts which gets used in the Henry and the revolvers.

Blazer 40gr. standard work well in everything I own......rifle, pistol, revolver, bolt action, semi auto. Everything. Respectable accuracy. Dependable. I am still shooting some I bought 15 years ago. Back when you could buy 5K for less than $150 delivered. I bought 20K and glad I did.

whatever is on sale at Walmart.

The federal auto match does well in my 10-22 for reliability and accuracy. In a pistol, I just use whatever bulk milk carton ammo I can find, but I'm not trying to shoot tight groups- I just use it to practice drills.

Even if Hv ammo is subsonic out of a handgun every one of mine that will function with SV is more accurate with it than HV. That is shooting them off sandbags on a sturdy bench. Hind leg shooting for me now means nothing is very accurate or certainly not close to what I could do in my younger days.

Craig_VA said:

I am surprised by how many replies here like Remington .22LR. My experience over several years has been that Remington .22LR made my guns the dirtiest, and also had the highest failure-to-fire rate in both semi-autos and revolvers.
I have had the best experience for basic (read cheap) bulk .22LR has been with Federal bulk boxes.

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My Remington Viper (522) consistently feeds, shoots, and ejects Remington Golden bullets. CCI Mini-Mags and a variety of others are problematic in that rifle.

CCI mini-mags always seem to fire and cycle well in my autos. Their SV offering is slightly more accurate from my revolvers and rifles, and will cycle a nicely broken-in auto. For general plinking or woods walking, I use whatever's in the first box I come to be it CCI, Remington, Winchester, etc.

Mac

CCI MiniMag hollow points. The ones in the 100 ct. boxes, not the bulk garbage.

It outshoots Remington Target in my pistols. (Ruger Mk. II Target and S&W M&P 22 Compact)

IMO, Win M22 is a sleeper. I still have a bunch from when it was $25 a brick. Unexpectedly good ammo.

DMW1116 said:

The best so far has been, wait for it, Winchester M22

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As of late, I've found that Blazers and CCI SV have been priced the same. I like Blazers, but for me, CCI SV is a better choice for the money.

kerreckt said:

Blazer 40gr. standard work well in everything I own......rifle, pistol, revolver, bolt action, semi auto. Everything. Respectable accuracy. Dependable. I am still shooting some I bought 15 years ago. Back when you could buy 5K for less than $150 delivered. I bought 20K and glad I did.

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I will jump on the dogpile and say that CCI Mini-Mags have been my gold standard for good performance in non-premium 22LR ammo.

That being said, I still don't feel like things are 100% back to normal as far as general availability. Like many of us I went through the Great .22LR Ammo Drought and for a long time you had to replace your stock with whatever you could find. Granted I don't buy online...

Hyper velocity has never been particularly accurate for me, and seems even more of a waste to me in handguns. I do keep a box or two of Stingers and Remington Vipers around if I feel I need the power.


I'm mostly just a plinker and my levers, revolvers and tube-fed bolt rifles will eat pretty much anything. I don't shoot for tiny groups or competition, and I have a pretty low bar as far as .22 ammo performance needs. So in that sense, my "favorite" .22LR handgun ammo is probably of limited usefulness to most. Pretty much the only thing I actively avoid is Thunderbolts.

tubeshooter said:

Pretty much the only thing I actively avoid is Thunderbolts.

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^5

Basically Aguila in standard or high velocity and CCI standard. If I could find some CCI Blazer I'd buy that too. I've run Aguila the most so it has been consistent for me since the 90's, better now IME.

I shoot whatever is on the shelf. Winchester 67a, Marlin Glenfield 15, Remington 550-1, H&R 650, Beretta neos. I always have fun.

CCI Stingers.

Clean, fast and accurate.

My Smith model 41 loves CCI standard. Federal bulk 550 pack is almost as good but not quite as accurate. My Ruger MK IV 22/45 likes everything. But it can not produce groups as tight as the 41 no mater what ammo is in the mag. Only have three 22 long guns. Old Remington pump, Winchester bolt action and a 53 year old Marlin golden 39. The Marlin has no preference, it shoots everything well.

If it is a revolver I'll bulk anything, if it is semi-auto, only cci and aguila brand.

CCI mini-mags, Aquila HV SE and Fed bulk stuff. I only[for now] have a Marlin 39A[1957] and a Marlin 25N bolt rifle, so, those seem to work fine for my use.
I really need to get a Single Six again.

First, I’ve had more duds with Remington 22LR than Carter has liver pills.

When 22LR ammo was reasonably priced several years ago, I stocked up with a variety known brand names but not main stream production. Sorry, I do not remember all the brand names but some work fine in semi-autos, some work fine in revolvers.

These days, I’m happy with CCI Mni-Mags for the most part. CCI standard velocity are probably fine particularly in revolvers.

I really do not shoot alot of 22RF since I reload and I prefer shooting centerfire guns. I’m well stocked in 22RF so I’’ll shoot what I have for the moment.

Aguila Super Extra HV 40 grain copper washed bullet works very well in my picky 1911-22.