Question About Russian 22LR Ammo?

[DougCxx]

Dunno exactly where this should go, so.....
On another forum someone asked if there had ever been any 22LR with steel cases, and I was able to supply a picture (sort-of) of some that did:
http://www.norcom2000.com/users/dcimper/assorted/avrunketl/russki_ammo.html
This Russian "Junior" ammo I purchased in the St Louis area about 8-10 years ago--it was available everywhere for a while, at gun shows and the less-formal gun shops also. There were two varieties, a yellow box and a green box, the green similar to the yellow one pictured. Externally there is nothing unusual about the cases or bullets. This ammo came in the standard head-down plastic tray, was caked in cosmoline, smelled bad when fired, left an oily soot on everything, and was sold very cheap--I think it was priced $1.20 when the Remington Thunderbolt was $1 a box. I mentioned that I remembered that both types of the Junior ammo shot extremely accurate, in just about every gun my friends and I tried it in--and others online now who had tried it agreed also. I think the most expensive I played with at that time was some Eley that ran around $10/50, and the Junior ammo was almost that good, and better than everything else.
......
Well, you can't find the stuff anymore, but I am curious, and perhaps someone here would know: where this ammo was produced in Russia, and is the same plant producing any ammo today still? I dunno anything about making 22LR ammo, but whatever the people who made this stuff were doing, it worked nearly perfect......
~

 

[Snowdog]

I don't know where you could find the stuff, but I was under the impression that particular ammunition was manufactured in Germany.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Read in the American Rifleman years ago...

Russian ammo was made by themselves. Our Olympic Team broke into the Russian ammo locker and stole some ammo which was then sent back to America for examination. It was found that the Russians had perfected the spreading of priming compound on the bottom of the case and thereby guarenteed consistent ignition. Federal duplicated it for their match ammo and now our ammo is as good as theirs.

 

[J Miller]

There may have been a third version of Russian .22 ammo.
I bought some in Phoenix about 7 or so years ago.
It came in 500 round packs made of a buff colored paper. The individual boxes were white with a buff label on them.
The boxes are marked: MADE BY JSC VOSTOK KLIMOVSK, MOSCOW REGION RUSSIA. Then the normal warning comments.

The rounds themselves were steel cased, lead bullet, with a greasy messy lube on them.
I found the cases to vary a lot in dimentions. They wouldn't feed or eject properly in my Win 9422 or my H&R Sportsman Revolver, or my stepsons Rossi .22 Pump.
I never had a missfire, but they are filthy as far as .22 ammo goes.

 

[4v50 Gary]

New Russian plan to ruin our 22s and then sell us a whole batch of new ones in 2010?

 

[DougCxx]

Okay, I put another pic up on the same page, showing the lot number and some names on the side.
http://www.norcom2000.com/users/dcimper/assorted/avrunketl/russki_ammo.html
On the opposite end not visible is marked "MADE IN RUSSIA". On the opposite side not visible is marked "THESE CARTRIDGES ARE DESIGNED FOR INITIAL TRAINING IN SHOOTING AND HUNTING". The cases are headstamped with a Times New Roman-style "V".
.....?

 

[Quantrill]

I agree with JMiller. I bought some about 8 years ago (I think through Sportsman Guide) and it was terrible. It all fired (I only shot 1 box of 50 and sent the other 450 rounds back and got my money back). The box I did shoot was erratic and would not group. You could actually hear the difference from shot to shot. I was heavy into Bullseye at the time and this stuff was not for me. I see in "Cheaper than Dirt" catalogues that Wolf is now selling .22 rimfire and that it has brass cases and is made in Germany. I have been reluctant to try it after getting stung on the aforementioned trash but I have seen a number of favorable posts about it. Quantrill

 

[Gewehr98]

Not to promote thread drift, but...

A friend and I recently purchased a brick (500 rds) of the new Wolf Match Target fodder. Brass cased, clean-looking bullet with a thin coat of neatly-applied waxy lube. The stuff shoots exceptionally well in my FrankenRuger HBAR 10/22, and my friend's Volquartsen-upper Ruger MkII pistol. So good I'm going to no longer buy CCI Green Tag, Winchester T-22, or Remington Target loads. Only problem was finding sources of that type of Wolf rimfire, it's popularity seems to have taken over the supply. On the box, BTW, it states "Made in Germany". The Russians have given the job to the Germans, so maybe it's really Dynamit-Nobel or RWS in a different box?

 

[QuarterBoreGunner]

What Gewehr98 said; I've gone through three bricks of the Wolf Gold Match and it's been the cat's pajamas in my target rifles. I used to pick it up from Sinclair International, but there's been a drought just lately. And yeas I seem to recall hearing over on Benchrest Central's rimfire forum, that yes indeed, the Wolf .22 is made by Dynamite-Nobel... now if I could just find the link... darn Intraweb thingy...

 

[JohnBT]

The Wolf line of Match/Extra/Gold is made in Germany by SK Jagd. It's part of the Nammo conglomerate that includes Lapua.

Now, if I could just find that link. (Sounds of rooting around and mumbling) Here it is.

www.nammo.com/organization/index.html

Click on the organizational chart to enlarge it and look to the lower right corner.

John

 

[hksw]

Federal duplicated it for their match ammo and now our ammo is as good as theirs.

It was my understanding that Federal has dropped the UM1 and UM1B dimpled Ultra Match (and possibly Match, can't remember) from production and sold off the equipment to a German firm (not D-M IIRC, probably SKJ). From what I've been told (from IR 50/50 shooter), the loads were not shooting as well as Lapua and others so there was very low demand. The main reason the UM loads were selling for (relatively) cheap the past year or two (as low as $80/brick). When these are gone, that's it for the line.

 

[Hummer]

Russian 22LR Ammo

Hello!
I just registered and found this 2003 inqurry about Russian Junior 22LR ammo.
My wife shot this ammo in 1996 when she won Oregon State Champion in Free Pistol.

I have gotten very involved in tactical shooting and full auto shooting. I have a m16a2 and had bought a 22 upper. I was going to use her ammo and the upper for practicing quick target accquission. It will not work with my set up, especially with a supperssor. Therefore I have over 11,500 rounds that need to go to a new home. What would be a fair price.

The ammo has a yellow lable with a checken on it; states that it's "Junior" and there are two wooden cases. Each "brick" is 500 rounds which is wrapped in very light tan paper. There are 10 boxes of 50 rounds to each brick

H3

 

[Red Tornado]

Go over to rimfirecentral.com and go to the Russian section. There's a member who has been trying for months to import several kinds of the Russian .22 ammo.

I'd like to try some, but I have no idea what a fair price is. See if you can get ahold of Toxicsports at RFC, he might have a good idea. If you post if for sale over there, you'll probably get bumrushed by guys wanting it.
RT

 

[CDignition]

5 bux a brick would be a good price...ship it in a Flat rate postal box and youll do OK..(Just dont tell the PO,heehee)

 

[Firehand]

Tried a few boxes of the green-box 'Junior' a few years back, because at the time it was cheaper than anything else and money was real tight.

Steel case, sticky bullet lube. Shot quite well so far as accuracy, a bit sticky to eject in a bolt rifle and would not cycle the action on a semi-auto.