Choices in bulk .22 LR ammunition

[ijosef]

Despite having acquired several firearms over the past two years, I didn't have anything chambered in .22LR. Fortunately I remedied that by pickup up a nice used Marlin Model 60. I went to a local WalMart and bought three bulk packs of ammunition - one of each brand they carried. They were all about the same price (just under $16 a brick... I remember when they were under $7 a brick just a handful of years ago ), so I decided to try them all out. Anyway, I bought Winchester, Remington Golden Bullet, and a Federal value pack. Which of these, if any, do you prefer and why?

 

[Texas Gun Person]

I usually buy Remington... but I really don't have a reason why. It's just what I always tell the man behind the counter at Wal-Mart. I would have no problem at all buying another brand if Remington was out.

 

[jnyork]

Dont know anything at all about the Winchester, the Federal is pretty good ammo for the price and surprising accurate in some guns.

Friends dont let friends shoot Remington Golden Bullets.

 

[rocinante]

My rugers (22/45, 10/22) absolute detest and gag on remington golden bullets.

 

[dom1104]

golden bullets are terrible.

The gold color comes off on your thumb when you load em, they jam, misfire and dud.. terrible.

Federal 550 is the best in my guns. Winchesters are fine too.

 

[waterhouse]

Of those 3, I'd pick the Federal. Once Winchester Dynapoints became hard to find (my former favorite), I found Federal to be fairly accurate and reliable in most of my .22s, and it is what I buy when getting a bulk pack.

 

[c5_nc]

You will find them in this order by the reviews of most people:
Federal
Winchester
Remington

I've noticed the remingtons have a higher failure rate but the federal and winchester have both been fine in my use. Most people would prefer the federal. The crazyest thing about this thread is you were actually able to find all three brands in stock!!!!!!!!!! I have bulk supplies of all three of these b/c I buy what they have, but if all three where there I would buy my limit of 6 boxes of Federal first. I stopped buying the Remington a while back. Have 30-40k rds of federal and winchester.

In reference to above post dynapoints are what Kmart stocks here, always instock but more expensive than these three choices.

 

[brookhavendawg]

Bulk .22 LR Ammunition

I have a Ruger .22/45 that hates Remington. I have not tried the Winchester bulk, but have put over 500 rounds of the Federal through and it has worked perfectly.

 

[Ben86]

I prefer the federal. They have functioned flawlessly for me, have excellent accuracy and and good terminal ballistics. The brass with the federal is top notch, it extracts from my revolver very smoothly, unlike the winchester and remington. I also prefer not to use anything without copper plating so that rules out the remington right there for me. That brass coting gets all over my hands. I also had a bad experience with many split cases from a box of remington golden bullet, not so with any other brand. The winchester's bullet shape is a little wide so it doesn't feed as smoothly. Powder loading is practically the same with all three. They are all good, but to me the federal is the clear winner.

 

[Motodeficient]

I also prefer the federal, though I have not tried the winchester. The federal seems much cleaner and more reliable than the remington in my 10/22 (my only rimfire gun). The remington has far more FTF and FTE. Also, the charge in the remington rounds seems to be highly varied. Some rounds have a much louder pop than others, verified by the large differences in distance that the spent shells are ejected. Since all I do is plink, these issues don't bother me a ton. I still buy the Federal whenever possible.

On a side note, whats the difference between the Federal 550rnd value pack and the federal 525rnd target grade pack at walmart? I havent tried the target grade but sometimes that is all they have in stock.

 

[Ben86]

Also, the charge in the remington rounds seems to be highly varied. Some rounds have a much louder pop than others, verified by the large differences in distance that the spent shells are ejected.

That is so true, I noticed this in every box I shot.

 

[JEB]

i prefer federal over remington for reliability and accuracy. never have had a chance to try the winchesters.

 

[akolleth]

+100000 on hating the Remington Golden Bullets. I will go without rather than deal with the headaches of dealing with them.

My favirite two are

Winchester Super X- I buy this for imroved accuracy while still being a bulk box. Its more pricey than the others at around $25 per 500, but my Toz bolt action loves them to the tune of less than 1/2" at 50 yards.

Federal- Marlin 60 and every other rimfire gun I have eats them like there is no tomorrow. Pretty good on accuracy as well. Best all around bulk pack for a variety of purposes.

 

[Motodeficient]

Where do you buy the winchester Super-X at?

 

[WoofersInc]

Another vote for the Federal. I still have some Remington Golden Bullets I am doing my best to shoot up so I don't have to have them around anymore. No more Remington for me.

 

[Motodeficient]

I guess its pretty clear who makes the best bulk .22lr!

 

[Ed Harris]

Overall on the promotional .22 LR ammos I've had best results with CCI Blazer.

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/5000-rds-40-gr-brass-cased-cci-22-long-rifle-ammo.aspx?a=533817

 

[gondorian]

Federal, about more than 99.5% reliable in my Marlin 795, pretty clean as well.

 

[content]

Hello friends and neighbors // Federal

-Less misfires
-Stoger Luger 11+1 will feed through a whole mag.(RemG I usually have at least 2 problem rounds)
-Feed well in my Marlin 795 and my old Stevens model 987(semi autos)

I did the same sort of test and am using up the RemG in the S&W617. There are fewer problem rounds when using them in the revolver.

 

[Va Shooter]

Federal+1 & CCI I'm stuck with the Remington for the time being. JAM-O-MATIC in 10/22. I need to find the Winchester.

 

[Just One Shot]

I don't like the Remington. It seems to misfire alot compared to the others.

 

[The Bushmaster]

My semi-auto Winchester mod 290 is very finicky. It doesn't like any of them. I only wish CCI 40 grain Mini-Mags came in bulk.

 

[CB900F]

Ijosef;

It isn't so much the ammo as it is the firearm. It's entirely possible that if you had two brand X .22's in consecutive serial numbers, each would shoot it's best with a different ammo than the other.

That being said, it would also seem that the bulk ammo that satisfies a large number of .22 rimfire guns with fewer problems is the Federal. However, if you were inclined to do a fair amount of ammo testing, you might very well find a more accurate fodder for each of them.

900F

 

[EddieNFL]

I bought a Marvel 1911 .22 conversion last summer.

I tried CCI, Federal, WW Super X Remington Golden and Remington Thunderbolt. All but the RP Golden were accurate, but the Thunderbolt was the only one that was accurate AND cycled the action reliably.

There was a recent thread about lead fouling with Thunderbolt, but I've had no problems after multi-thousands rounds. Maybe Marvel laps their bores or uses a different alloy.

As long as it works...

 

[ijosef]

Thanks guys. I'm going to try them all out on the range this week and report back.