22lr ammo (my quick comparison)

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Hello.
Went to the range with as many different brands of 22lr ammo that I could find from Turners, and Wallmart and my local range, as well as the range I went to.

WHAT I HAVE NOT TRIED; Aguila ammo, and also a CCI (hydrashock, powershock, quake, something like that)

Here are my top 3, (thought I'd share) also, its out of a Ruger MK3.
#1, CCI Stinger (expensive though)
#2, CCI Mini-Mag (either roundball or hollow point)
#3, Federal Buk Pack (dirt cheap)

This was based upon, grouping, power, price and reliability, but not in that order.

I found the Winchester and the Remington brands to be absolutely horrible.

This is just my oppinion from only 1 gun, it only has 10k round through it.
Take it as you will. But man those Stingers made our little Ruger feel like a big gun.
:)
 
I've had decent luck with Winchester .22lr in both a Ruger Bearcat and a Ruger 10/22. The Federal ammo works surprisingly well for such a bargain price (if anything can be called a "bargain" these days -- although this does come close). I've found that the CCI mini-mags are the top of the line in both performance and accuracy. And yes, avoiding Remington is the right call, to be sure. Wonder why that is; at one time, Remington was a highly regarded brand.
 
What else did you try? Over a year I tried about 30 different .22 loadings in my Buckmark, and Winchester Dyna-Points came out the winner.
 
Winchester Super X
Remington Golden Bullet
Remington Target
Federal Target
Blazer
American Eagle
Federal Bulk (550 for $12)
CCI everything but the Veliciter and the quick shock or what not. And those I want to try, but basically I know I will keep only CCI stock piled.

There were a few other cheap brands that my Uncle in law brought, but they did not perform well. I felt like the Remington and the Winchester were the worse though
 
A few years back when I bought two M44US rifles, I spent the day at the range trying out different brands of .22LR ammo including the expensive Eley target stuff. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the most accurate and consistent ammo in those two rifles was the cheap CCI Blazer. Sometimes you just have to find out which brand your particular firearm likes.

I shoot CCI Blazers now in my Ruger 22/45 MKIII with no problems.
 
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Your assessment only makes sense for your particular Ruger. The very next RUGER to roll off the assembly line behind your gun could be very different in what ammo it likes. Every .22 rimfire firearm is an individual when it comes to ammo it likes. Drawing conclusions on what one gun likes can really mean nothing except to that gun.
 
Your assessment only makes sense for your particular Ruger. The very next RUGER to roll off the assembly line behind your gun could be very different in what ammo it likes. Every .22 rimfire firearm is an individual when it comes to ammo it likes. Drawing conclusions on what one gun likes can really mean nothing except to that gun.
Click to expand...

Exactly why I stated it was my oppinion from my gun.
 
I put the CCI MiniMag ammo on top. Next would be the CCI Velocitor - it has more punch but still shoots well in my all my .22LR pistols and rifles. The stingers are expensive, and they don't group near as well for me as the MiniMags but they do pack a punch.

I own 5 rifles and pistols chambered in .22LR and the MiniMags group and cycle well in all of them. .22s are pretty individual with cheap ammo - some like it and some don't - but I've yet to shoot a .22LR that did not do well with CCI ammo.

Federal bulk pack is pretty good. I've learned to stay away from all Remington rimfire ammo because of high misfire rates and cycling problems. It's also dirty.
 
That Federal Auto Match is some really good stuff for a target shooting/plinking round. My Buckmark really likes it and my CZ 513 and Marlin 25N group it like nothing else I have tried.
 
For consistently great performing ammo in every .22 I've shot, I would have to rank CCI MiniMags right at the top. Accuracy and performance have always been top notch. Next would be Federal and Winchester ammo, for overall quality and function. At the bottom would be Remington; never have found anything in their line-up that worked well or grouped good enough for it to merit any consideration. It doesn't even work right in my son's Remington Model 597 rifle. One brand that I have been pleasantly surprised with has been Wolf Match Target. Functions fine in all my .22s and delivers pin-point accuracy in both pistols and rifles alike. Very clean shooting ammo too. I'm glad I stocked up on it when I had the chance.
 
One brand that I have been pleasantly surprised with has been Wolf Match Target. Functions fine in all my .22s and delivers pin-point accuracy in both pistols and rifles alike. Very clean shooting ammo too. I'm glad I stocked up on it when I had the chance.
Click to expand...

I believe Wolf's rimfire ammo is made in Germany (repackaged Dynamit Nobel maybe?). Yours is just the latest good review I've heard about that stuff. I'm going to have to try some myself.
 
My P22 and the Buckmark I used to have loved the CCI Minimags. I sold my Buckmark as it was way to ammo picky and now I only have DA .22 revolvers so I can shoot anything. I probably use more Federal bulk than anything else...
 
my 1022 custom ruger likes the bulk pack ammo the best of everything i've tried.... put every bullet into the same .23 cal hole at 40-50 yards.... i can't ask any more than that from any ammo can i? had some wildcats that were just terrible... and some winchesters bulk that didn't shoot near as well as the federals.......
 
The most consistantly BAD ammo I have found is the plain lead Rem "Thunderbolt".

Only ammo that chokes my MKII. Stuff is not good in my 10/22 or Single Six or my OLD Marlin 99.
 
If $$ are no problem, Lapua Midas.
Right after that, Eley Biathlon.
Federal Premium Gold.

They all shoot better than I do. At 50 feet the group differences are waaaay smaller than my "jiggle zone."

Off a rest, though, there is a very real, very consistent difference --- in my MK III.
 
earlier in this post there was an admonition to not use stingers in match chamber. i understand the stingers are longer, but why is this a problem in 22lr?
 
i have never had patience to do rigid comparisons, i appreciate those who do and then report same. i have been trying some remington sub sonic, and feel they are very reliable in my 65 year old auto loader. i have noticed the remingtons smoke, which causes me to wonder if the remingtons are cruding up my gun faster than the other brands.
 
THR linky to another 22 ammo comparison...

The comparison I did was with an older Marlin 39M and I tried quite a few brands. The comparison was posted a while back butr perhaps you may find it useful.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=302264

The biggest (and best) surprise for me was the winchester silver box (50 rounds to the box) inexpensive stuff shot great. 2 weeks ago my big bro was here and we went to the range and he was shooting my mountie with remingtons and federal bulk pack loads, when I gave hin a box of the winchesters. He was very surprised at the difference in accuracy.

Be safe

Patty
 
The most consistantly BAD ammo I have found is the plain lead Rem "Thunderbolt".

Only ammo that chokes my MKII. Stuff is not good in my 10/22 or Single Six or my OLD Marlin 99.
Click to expand...

And just to back the old "it all depends on your gun" thing, the Thunderbolts are the best yet we have tried in my wife's 10/22. I have shot thousands upon thousands of rounds of Tbolts through my old Browning BL22, my dad's old Ruger SS, my wife's Ruger 10/22, my S&W 617, my FIE pos, and my son's Mossberg 702 plinkster. The T-bolts are our mainstay when it comes to reliability and accuracy on a budget. Of course, me being the cheaparse that I am, I usually run the Fed bulks through all but the 10/22.

As far as comparing 22lr rounds, not sure if you are interested, but here is some info I have put together with my calipers. Simply grabbed 5 random rounds from each box and here's what I got:

Federal Bulk 550:

.2235 .2235 .2230 .2240 .2230

Federal Lightning:

.2235 .2235 .2240 .2235 .2230

Federal Gold Medal:

.2245 .2250 .2245 .2245 .2245

CCI Subsonic:

.2230 .2235 .2235 .2235 .2240

CCI Stinger:

.2245 .2245 .2245 .2245 .2245

Aguila SE:

.2255 .2260 .2250 .2245 .2255

Winchester SuperX:

.2220 .2225 .2225 .2220 .2220

Winchester Wildcat:

.2220 .2220 .2220 .2225 .2225

PMC Match Rifle:

.2250 .2250 .2250 .2250 .2240

PMC Sidewinder:

.2240 .2240 .2240 .2240 .2235

RWS Dynamit Nobel:

.2240 .2240 .2240 .2240 .2240

Remington 22 Target:

.2250 .2245 .2250 .2250 .2245

Remington Golden Bullet:

.2240 .2245 .2240 .2235 .2240

Remington Subsonic:

.2245 .2245 .2245 .2250 .2245

Remington Yellow Jacket:

.2240 .2235 .2235 .2240 .2235

Remington Tunderbolt:

.2240 .2245 .2245 .2245 .2245
 
Some years back I assembled an incredible variety of .22 ammo, firearms and expert shooters to put the stuff to a real test.

We had two custom 22 pistols, two Anshutz target rifles and a variety of off the shelf rifles and pistols.

Among the shooters was a Camp Perry champion and a few local target shooting champs. Once a week for two months we gathered at an indoor range to test ammo.

Based on a wide variety of shooters, guns and ammo, Winchester Wildcat was the most accurate - cheap, lead and low velocity.

It took a year to put the study together and another six months to analyze it before publication.

Stingers were the most consistent. They were the least accurate out of every gun. Unfortunately we were unable to test them out of the target guns because they would cause chamber damage.

I'll try and find the results of the testing and post it to this site. It was about 12 years ago and although I know I still have it on a hard drive somewhere, I'm not sure which hard drive where (I have a lot of computers).

I still have some Federal Gold Medal match ammo that was sent to me for the testing and recall that it came in a distant third in accuracy. The 88-cent a box Winchester Wildcat was the winner in all firearms combined.

BTW, we chronographed each round, scored it and sent results to the manufacturers before publication.

I can only paraphrase the conclusion - try a wide variety of ammo in your .22 and use what performs best in your gun.
 
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