Accurate Best Bang For The Buck .22LR Ammo

[wcwhitey]

I have my new CZ 457 ready for a range trip. I have a few hundred of each of the following rounds: Aquila Match, Aquila Sub Sonic, Remington Target, Norma Tac 22. I plan on trying each to see which shoots the best. For the purpose of testing are there any other brands that are good 40 Grain Lead shooters or hidden gems. I understand brands like Eley and S&K are usually good, have shot a ton of Eley Pistol Match over the years. Eventually I will spend the +20 cents a round but for now I just want a good 10/12 cent round that shoots well for practice and plinking. Thanks guys!

Title should say “Best”
Not “Beat”. iPhone

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I have shot some really good groups out of my 40x with Norma Tac.

One of the better budget choices for good accuracy is often CCI Standard Velocity.

 

[LiveLife]

Title should say “Best” ... Not “Beat”. iPhone

You can easily edit your thread title.

Go to "Thread Tools" on top right of page and select "Edit Title" from the drop down choices

 

[wcwhitey]

You can easily edit your thread title.

Go to "Thread Tools" on top right of page and select "Edit Title" from the drop down choices

Not on IPhone will do it later. In the meantime any suggestions?

 

[jak67429]

cci standard velocity or stingers.

 

[Speedo66]

CCI standard velocity has been the go to for inexpensive, but fairly accurate, for a long time.

 

[bassjam]

I'm still trying to find what my CZ 457 Boyd's likes, it's pretty picky. SK Std Plus, SK Rifle Match, and SK Long Range seem to be favorites and hover in the 0.3" range at 50 yards. It's pretty hit or miss with the Eley I've put through it at 50 yards but Contact and Club both seem to do a little better at 100 yards for some reason and print under an inch at that distance. Seems to hate CCI Standard Velocity with a passion, 1.5" groups at 50 yards aren't uncommon. Mini Mags do about 0.8"-1" at 50 yards, as do Aguila Super Extra HV.

The odd gem is Aguila Super Extra SV. It doesn't print super tight groups like the SK, but it consistently gives me 0.5-0.75" groups at 50 yards. I haven't taken it to 200 yards in my CZ, but I have a 22 AR build with a Walther Lothar barrel and at 200 yards I can regularly ping the steel at my range down to about the 8" plate. If I was better at reading wind I could probably hit the smaller plates easier. And that's my plan (to get better at reading wind), pre-pandemic this stuff was like $0.05 a round so I stocked up since I knew my guns like it and I won't go poor slinging it at 200 yards, maybe 300 eventually.

 

[LiveLife]

... any suggestions?

CCI Standard Velocity.

cci standard velocity

CCI standard velocity

There seems to be a common theme.

Eventually I will spend the +20 cents a round but for now I just want a good 10/12 cent round that shoots well for practice and plinking

Accurate Best Bang For The Buck .22LR Ammo

You may not ever need to spend 20+ cents a round, not even 10-12 cents. How about less than 6 cents? - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...-shipped-pricing.902560/page-10#post-12447456

After shooting over 10,000 rounds capturing every 5/10 shot groups at 50/100 yards out of 10/22 and T/CR22, following are accuracy trend I have seen - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...t-shipped-pricing.902560/page-5#post-12304852

• 40 gr bullets tend to shoot more accurate than 38/36 gr bullets
• Lead bullets have slight edge in accuracy over copper plated/coated bullets
• Boxed bullets produced smaller groups than looose bulk bullets
• CCI SV and Blazer consistently produced smallest 1/2"+ groups at 50 yards
• Aguila Lead/CPRN consistently produced 3/4"+ groups at 50 yards and around 1.25" groups at 100 yards

 

[DustyGmt]

I've had really good luck with this Aguila. It prints nice groups in my G44 and my 10/22. I think it's significantly cheaper than Eley and SK which I have hardly ever shot, but since I typically shoot bulk trash the Aguila is a nice noticeable difference. Stingers don't group well in any of the .22lr's I've had except my 1st 10/22, that 10/22 is long gone and I'm almost out of the stingers I stockpiled 10 years ago, my guns don't like it....

 

[3Crows]

I am going with CCI SV.

 

[12Bravo20]

Each rifle is definitely going to be different and prefer certain ammo.

Out of what I have tried in my Savage MkII BTVLSS, 40Gr CCI Mini Mags shoot the best at 25, 50 and 100 yards. Even the 40Gr Aquila Super Extra HV does better that CCI Standard in that rifle. 40Gr CCI Standard and Federal Champion 510 shoot about the same in my rifle.

I haven't had a chance yet to push my Savage MkII BTVLSS out past 100 yards for groups yet.

 

[wcwhitey]

Like @12Bravo20 stated every rifle likes what it likes. Ergo the smorgasbord that I have now. My 10/22 loved the Norma, My HS Citation the Remington Target and Pistol Match and my sons Ruger American really likes the Aquila Subsonic. All are 40 grain lead like @LiveLife pointed to. I will pick up some CCI and give it a try. I am going to have to put in a order as things are looking up a bit availability wise. Hopefully the new rifle really takes a liking to something cheap. It would be too easy if they all liked the same brand but never having used the CCI it may.

 

[d2wing]

My CZ likes CCI standard, Federal Automatch, and Norma Tac-22. No telling what yours will like.

 

[bihj]

My 457 likes Federal Automatch and Federal Champions.

 

[I6turbo]

Each rifle is definitely going to be different and prefer certain ammo.

^^ This is definitely the case. I have a bunch of CZs and BRNOs. Each gun will favor certain ammo, and it's often not the same that's favored by other individual guns. This is more true of lower-end ammo. Once you get up to something mid-grade like SK Standard Plus, SK Pistol Match, or such as that, you'll start to find more individual guns will do well with it. It's not uncommon for two different lines of ammo that costs about the same to shoot very differently. Lots of times I've had a gun shoot groups that are half or a quarter of the size that other similar-cost ammo produces. You really need to test a lot of different types. And there may be differences in the ammo from lot to lot as well.

 

[redneck2]

Couple things....

It was common knowledge a few years back the Wolf Match Extra was hands down the ammo of choice for CZ’s. If this question was asked then, it was nearly always the overwhelming favorite. It was made by one of the common companies, SK maybe. Disremember. I believe Wolf has changed suppliers since. At the time I bought several bricks and still have most of it.

Before shooting for groups I’d most strongly suggest you either clean the bore really well, or simply burn through a hundred rounds of cheapest stuff as you will be highly disappointed. I was all kinds of excited about my 453 Varminter. First “groups” were probably 4-6”. NOT what I was expecting. Unfortunately, this was with high dollar target grade stuff. Once it settled in, groups shrunk to 1/2-3/4” range. CZ evidentiary uses some type of bore coating that must be removed. My .204 was the same.

 

[Remington1911]

I have found my 457 to not be a real picky eater at all. I have yet to come across a round that is not minute of soup can at 100 yards. Sure some are better over others, and it really depends on just what you want....I need to look through my notes to tell you what mine liked. But I do remember I could hit hand sized steel to the point of this is just automatic at 100 yards.

 

[GHinNH]

Aguila and CCI standard velocity. I have bricks of the Aguila SV and use them 98% of the time. Cycle my M&P pistol and 10/22 reliably and shoot consistently.

 

[Barbaroja]

I think you will find cci standard shoots above its price point, it seems to for me and many others. Other favorites being the aguila subsonic solids and HP and the super extra both copper washed and plain lead shoot very well.
Fiocchi subsonic hollowpoints are nice if you can find them

 

[wcwhitey]

Couple things....

It was common knowledge a few years back the Wolf Match Extra was hands down the ammo of choice for CZ’s. If this question was asked then, it was nearly always the overwhelming favorite. It was made by one of the common companies, SK maybe. Disremember. I believe Wolf has changed suppliers since. At the time I bought several bricks and still have most of it.

Before shooting for groups I’d most strongly suggest you either clean the bore really well, or simply burn through a hundred rounds of cheapest stuff as you will be highly disappointed. I was all kinds of excited about my 453 Varminter. First “groups” were probably 4-6”. NOT what I was expecting. Unfortunately, this was with high dollar target grade stuff. Once it settled in, groups shrunk to 1/2-3/4” range. CZ evidentiary uses some type of bore coating that must be removed. My .204 was the same.

I believe it was Eley who makes or made Wolf. Your point on break in is well taken. I have a wide variety of ammo to try, partly because of the pickiness of rimfires as mentioned and partly because the situation the last few years. Picking things up as they were available. The goal is a good break in during the sighting and dialing in process hopefully getting an indication of what it likes then buying bulk. I just did not want to exclude a budget alternative with the hopes that there may be an inexpensive alternative to pricey ammo.
This is the first new rimfire I have picked up in a long time. Most were purchased decades ago or used along the way and were built for a specific purpose. This rifle already has everything I would build into a gun previously so it’s a fresh start. Unless I branch out beyond 50 yard bench or a friendly club shoot the ammo is the only thing that needs sorting out except maybe a top of the line optic but the rifle has to prove worthy first.

 

[jmorris]

The Eley primed standard velocity Aguila ammunition is what my 455 really likes. One on the left.



I have read they purchased the rights/equipment from them but the new “Aguila prime” they currently offer isn’t the same.



And that brings up a good point on .22 LR ammunition. When you do find some that really shoots buy all of that lot you can.

For example, 20 something years ago, a friend and I discovered a particular lot of Winchester dynapoint ($8/500 rounds) was very, very close to the accuracy Federal gold match out of a couple of out rifles, at much lower cost. Bought all of the lot I could, only have about 15k left but it turned out to be one of my better buys.

 

[mcb]

I have been having good result with SK Standard+ in my 10/22 for NRL22 matches. I have had good luck with most of the SK ammo I tried but my 10/22 liked Standard+ best of what I tried.

5-shot, 50 yard group shot from a bipod and rear bag on a portable shooting bench.

 

[wcwhitey]

The Eley primed standard velocity Aguila ammunition is what my 455 really likes. One on the left.

View attachment 1112344

I have read they purchased the rights/equipment from them but the new “Aguila prime” they currently offer isn’t the same.

View attachment 1112349

And that brings up a good point on .22 LR ammunition. When you do find some that really shoots buy all of that lot you can.

For example, 20 something years ago, a friend and I discovered a particular lot of Winchester dynapoint ($8/500 rounds) was very, very close to the accuracy Federal gold match out of a couple of out rifles, at much lower cost. Bought all of the lot I could, only have about 15k left but it turned out to be one of my better buys.

Good points, it’s the plan! Thank you for the Aquila Eley Primed Standard Velocity tip. Just came back from a weekly indoor session and picked up a brick of that very same ammo Eley Primed Standard Velocity 40 Grain Lead. I have been a big fan of their Subsonic but did not even know Eley Primed was an option. Definitely worth exploring at the price point. Grabbed a box of CCI Standard as well. Only shot today to check function and my bore sighting. Gun was on but not the best test environment from a pistol booth. Still already seemed to favor the Aquila Subsonic. Will get it out to 50 yards off a rest and bench this weekend weather permitting. Now I have a good variety of ammo to try out and see what it likes. Thanks everyone for the tips. Hopefully I can give a good report back next week with some usable data and insight.

 

[jmorris]

If your rifle doesn’t like them, pm me and we can work out a trade on something else it might like.

 

[LiveLife]

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