Opinions please: Highest quality bulk .22lr ammo?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Back in the day, my .22 was happiest with Winchester Super Silhouette 42 grain truncated cone round. Since getting back into shooting about a decade ago I haven't seen that round. Anyone know the most similar round in current production?
 
From my shooting experiences the highest quality bulk .22LR ammo is Federal. Winchester ammo is alright for the most part but overall quality and accuracy sometimes falls short. Remington doesn't even make the list because of too many years of nothing but problems in all of my rimfire guns.
 
I have a Neil Waltz .22 sizing die. It sizes the loaded rounds and makes them all the same diameter, .225 if I recall correctly. It also makes the bullet a hollow point or an Ely point depending on the nose punch you have in the die. I can tell a great deal of difference in some ammos and guns, not so much in others. In my rifles Remington Golden Sabers and bulk Blazer shoot the best when run thru the die. The difference is like going to one ragged hole for 20-30 shots at 25 yds vs. an inch or better group from the same rifle and the same ammo before being run thru the die.
 
I prefer to shoot bulk due to costs, so here's my results:
1. Federal (bulk)
2. Winchester (bulk)
3. CCI

Never tried Blazer (or seen any in these parts).
I've not had much luck with Remington - got a friend that just got into shooting, and he called me up the other day, telling me he was having 25% failures with Remington in his Ruger - he got a S&W 15-22 and still had problems (he's in the process of trying to get rid of all his Remington).

After my experience / experimenting with various brands, I ran a poll in here probably 3 or 4 years ago to see if others were seeing the same results as I was.
The result of the poll seemed to mirror my findings.

I'm only grading on FTF / FTE, etc - haven't really compared AFA accuracy, but the bulk stuff does fine by me in the accuracy department.
My 15-22 does seem to have a minor problem with Winchester 555 bulk feeding 5%? of the time, but comparing bullet shapes, it's the flattest nosed 22 round I have in inventory (and I tend to buy / try anything).

I prefer to shoot Federal and Winchester bulk ammo, and if I have to drop back to something a little more reliable, I'll shoot CCI only to break in, test, etc.
 
I like them all (except, well, Remington Thunderbolts...)

I like what I can find :)

The firearms all have individual likes and dislikes. By "dislikes" I mean looser groups.

This is a voyage of discovery.
 
I too have heard the horror stories of Remington rimfire ammo, but have not witnessed it for myself. All the bulk stuff will give you a dud every now and then.
 
Arkansas Paul said:
I too have heard the horror stories of Remington rimfire ammo, but have not witnessed it for myself. All the bulk stuff will give you a dud every now and then.
Click to expand...
Oh, I agree - I see duds in bulk. Remington is just extra dirty :) and generally less accurate, in almost all of my 22LR rifles and my 22LR pistol. Remington Golden Bullets - ditto, but better than the Thunderbolts. I have shot two full 225 round boxes of GB with NO duds. (Well, maybe one - I would have to check my shooting log.) But in the firearms I've tried it in, it has been demonstrably less accurate than Winchester M-22 and CCI Mini-Mags.
 
Has anyone said CCI yet? That is, IMO, the best stuff that is reasonably priced. Not the cheapest, but good stuff.
 
I gave up on Remington long ago, way too many duds. I've been most impressed with CCI Blazer in bulk and really about any CCI ammo in general. I have a special fondness for Velocitors & MiniMags, though the price hurts. I'd like to try some of the SV but have yet to find any.
 
OK here's my go. Federal OK CCI is Cadillac the rest in bulk I will never touch again learnt my lesson.
 
I buy the Federal 550 Bulk Packs and go through one every month (in a good month). They work A-OK in both of my Ruger MKIIs.
 
CCI is the best if you can find it. Federal is decent. Remington is horrid.

In general, I find that the 100 count packages are usually better quality. I suspect the bulk ammo is stuff they sweep off the floor. ;)
 
One needs to be aware that ATK owns both CCI and Federal. So their ammunition should be similar in terms of quality (Blazer versus Federal Bulk).
 
Remington 225 count " NEW AND IMPROVED" is much better than the old Remington bulk. It is the only 22 ammo I have ever used that came close to CCI reliability. They have new and improved primers. the cartridge will flex. In other words the bullet will twist around on top of the casing. I'm not sure if this is a design flaw or it was engineered to do that to help feed up the ramp. I've had 99.9 percent success rate with them. ( 1 box ) 1 round got stuck in the magazine maybe because the magazine got very dirty and also the cartridge flexes. I love them.
 
Cee Zee said:
If you count CCI SV as bulk ammo (which it is IMO) then I'd say it is the best. It does cycle all of my semi-auto .22's. CCI Blazer is very good also but not as good as the SV. I shot this group at 100 yards with SV from a Savage MkIIBTV. BTW that's a picture of a quarter, not the real thing. It's the same size as a quarter though. Obviously I can't do this "every" time but I can do it often.
Click to expand...
I get similar results from a Savage 2BV as well. About 20-25% of my 5 round groups are less than 1" at 100 yards on a calm day. Oddly, the same combo rarely shoots 5 round groups over .4 at 50 yards, so the groups open up faster from 50 to 100 yards then they do from muzzle to 50.

I like Fed AutoMatch for my semi autos as well. It is slightly more accurate than Fed 550 or Winchester 333/555 packs in my Marlin 795 and 10/22.
 
Yea, that's common with the LR due to being slightly destabilized dropping out of Mach.
Click to expand...

Some .22 drops below Mach speed within 100 yards and some doesn't. It definitely makes a difference. It depends on the speed. But with SV it never gets above Mach speed so it doesn't face that problem of dropping through the sound barrier. It does get so slow that the wind acts on it more. Of course the wind will blow a bullet off course whether it's going supersonic or not but the difference is the bullet has less time to get to 100 yards and therefore less time to move around. With sub-sonic ammo wind does become the problem at 100 yards.

This brings us back to the one constant here. We just have to test ammo in our particular weapon and it matters how far you're shooting because of the mach factor and the wind factor. The best ammo at 50 yards isn't likely to be the best ammo at 100 yards if that ammo is dropping under the speed of sound before it reaches 100 yards. pseudonymity one of these two things probably explains why you get more consistent groups at 50 yards than at 100 yards. .22's have sonic boom issues at around 100-120 yards with supersonic ammo. They can have wind issues too.
 
CZ,
Don't quite get your "regionalization" critique of Remington ammo. I'm under the impression its all made in the same place, Loanoak Arkansas. >MW
 
I like CCI mini-mags. I think you can get them in 375 rd bulk packs these days...I believe the ones I've seen have the alligator hunter guy on them...Troy something or other.
 
CCI SV is not bulk packaged. Bulk packaging is in a carton containing loose ammunition.
 
22-rimfire said:
CCI SV is not bulk packaged. Bulk packaging is in a carton containing loose ammunition.
Click to expand...
When I buy CCI SV in a brick which contains ten 50 round boxes, I consider it bulk packaging. The packaging is higher quality than just loose rounds like federal bulk or CCI Blazer, but still bulk.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

stchman
  • Locked
Differences in .22LR ammo at Walmart.
2
Replies
36
Views
9K
ritepath
ritepath
.308 Norma
  • Locked
Bulk 22LR Ammo and Toilet Paper?
Replies
22
Views
874
Jack B.
Jack B.
B
  • Locked
Does Dick's still sell Win Dynapoint GT 22LR ammo?
Replies
8
Views
1K
Dulvarian
D
Pyro
  • Locked
Aguila=CCI rimfire quality?
2
Replies
27
Views
6K
woad_yurt
W
G
  • Locked
So, when did Winchester 9mm go bulk?
Replies
17
Views
1K
HOWARD J
H
Back
Top