.22 rimfire, which ammo is good/not good?

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peacebutready

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For range fodder or to stock up on, what is good, inexpensive .22 rimfire ammo? Also, what is the stuff to avoid these days, if applicable?
 
I have had good luck most of it. My sporters shoot decent groups with Federal Automatch, Federal Champion Target and Blazer in the 50 round boxes. CCI SV probably shoots a little better than the aforementioned for only a penny or two more per round.
 
That is a good price on the Blazer....I bought a case for 179 shipped a few days before the Sandy Hook incident in 2012. Thought it was a deal then.
 
Remington golden bullets have been good for me and a couple of my conversions supposedly require them. Remington thunderbolts are garbage IMO. I shot about 15K federal champion back in about 2008-12 but recently I've been getting duds and squibs (yes, squibs). Winchester bulk have been junk for me; I won't buy them anymore at any price. CCI and Aguila have been good for me. Federal automatch have been mostly good.
 
1KPerDay said:
Remington golden bullets have been good for me and a couple of my conversions supposedly require them. Remington thunderbolts are garbage IMO. I shot about 15K federal champion back in about 2008-12 but recently I've been getting duds and squibs (yes, squibs). Winchester bulk have been junk for me; I won't buy them anymore at any price. CCI and Aguila have been good for me. Federal automatch have been mostly good.
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^^This^^^^ and also Blazers are Very good and affordable.
 
For high velocity ammo the Winchester copper plated white box “333” or “555” shoots about 1” at 50 yds

Cci sv shoots about 3/4” or less, I can go 9/10 on a 1” dot drill at 50 yds with the sv and that is building a new position each dot
 
Aguila is my new all round go to and shoots as well for me as CCI SV which it displaced. Federal AutoMatch is good enough bulk ammo. Everything likes something different but those 3 consistently perform in most of mine.
 
Federal AutoMatch is the best-performing "bulk" ammo I've tried. I've run it in inexpensive guns, such as my Taurus PT22 and my Mossberg 702, and both ran it very well. AutoMatch and CCI MiniMags (not a typical "bulk-priced" ammo) together make up more than 80 percent of my supply. I also have a few thousand rounds of Remington GBs, but haven't shot enough of them in enough guns to have an opinion (I will say that, of over 20,000 rounds of .22LR I've likely fired over the years, my only misfire was a GB round; to be fair, it was in a previously-untested new Heritage Rough Rider, which itself hasn't been shot much since.)
 
The only ones I despise are mag tech LRN. They must be filled with chimney soot and lubed with old lard because they shoot dirtier than any three other budget rounds combined and filth up an action in about 6 shots. They also get stuck when loading into the chamber of my Ruger MkII.

The others have their hit and misses with an occasional bum round but shoot cleaner than the mag techs.

Stay safe!
 
What works in one gun you will find will not work in another.....and by works I mean be accurate.....really accurate.

Buy several boxes and test, then hope when you find out what works you can get the same lot....if not you start all over again.

Now if it is just for plinking or something then whatever.
 
Your rifle may like a particular ammunition, even if another rifle of the same make and model does not. They are individuals in this regard.

However, some ammunition fails to make the grade because of reliability issues or other inconsistencies originating from how they were manufactured. For me these are a no-go:

1) Magtech .22LR (I think the ones I tried were the non-coated ones)
2) Remington Thunderbolt
3) Aguila SSS. Tried these in several rifles and so far all of them have key-holed. I'm still looking for someone at the rifle club to tell me he hasn't had issues with this ammo
4) I had some bad issues with quality control with CCI lately. The CCI standards weren't feedig out of my magazines, they were being held up (10 different mags). The heads were loose in the cartridge cases. Then with CCI minimag I've had a lot of cartridges not igniting lately. So CCI is out for me at present.

My go to ammo is now RWS Target Rifle. All my rifles like it and it is mid-range in cost and decent performance out of semi-auto.
 
I have had reasonable results with Remington Golden Bullets. I have found Remington Thunderbolts to be less reliable. Better still in my hands has been Federal AutoMatch.

I prefer ammunition that is not bulk packaged as projectiles can get nicked up in bulk packs. Aguila Super Extra high velocity is packaged in 50 round boxes that keep the projectiles separated and is only a little more expensive than Federal AutoMatch. It has worked quite well in my rifles and pistol.

Better still in terms of reliability and accuracy is CCI standard velocity.
 
For bulk ammo I have had the best luck with blazers and Remington golden bullets. Everything else Remington is junk. Federal is junk. Winchester bulk pack is junk. Browning is junk.

For accurate ammo anything from CCI is superb. My favorite is mini mags and standard velocity. Winchester in the 100rnd plastic boxes is good too.
 
CCI mini mags are my favorite. I also like Remington golden bullets, and have had good luck with most Federals I've used.
 
The most important thing is that you mileage may vary. Sk and wolf match shoot like lasers for me, but they're not cheap. Cci standard v does pretty good, as does aguila sv. Federal auto match cycles well, and when I shoot it for accuracy a 5 round group will typically give me 3 that cloverleaf and 2 flyers.

I've also actually had good luck with remington thunderbolt and cyclone, but I refuse to buy golden bullets any more. They are the worst I have ever used for giving me duds, and my paclite upper on my mkii has a tight chamber and just won't cycle them. I think they're oversized. And see, that runs contrary to what others here have posted. Ymmv.
 
I have a good assortment of 22 ammo. Whenever I find it on sale I try to pick some more up.
I do like to try different loads in a rifle to see what shoots the best. Sometimes it's worth spending just a little more for the ammo your gun likes.
Here are 12 different loads I shot from my Marlin XT25 at 50 yards. I only shot one five shot group with each load and all were under an inch. I guess I was having a good day.
The price range on the ammo pictured ran from $0.03.5 to $0.07 a round.


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You'll have to try them and see. ALL .22LR guns will show preferences in both accuracy and function. What is "junk" to one person might be the best thing since sliced bread to another. That said, if given the choice, I buy more Remington GB's than anything else. I like to use my plinking/practice loads for small game and the GB HP's expand reliably. Federal usually works well but they do not expand. The only bulk loads I've had bad luck with and avoid are Winchester.
 
CCI mini-mag when I can choose. The only thing I think I'd pass on are the Remington Thunderbolts. We had a bunch of Thunderbolts that were so bad we shot them up just to get rid of them, the ones that would go off that is.

-Jeff
 
Cheap 22lr ammo is cheap ammo. Find out what your gun likes and buy it. Some brands are better but your gun might not like it. Go buy some and test. You can have the same problem with high dollar ammo too.
 
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