Questions about .22 ammo.....

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MIL-DOT

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I recently got a stainless Marlin 60, and can't speak highly enough of it. Ain't it great to go blasting and not be too concerned how much money you're sending downrange !!!
I've been shooting Federal bulk-pack stuff from Wally world at the recommendation of some folks here on THR, and it's been OK. Not great, but I can't complain. They recently jacked the price by a couple bucks a box, and I'm wondering if there's any better deal on decent plinking ammo. Except for the flyers that are fairly common with this ammo, we're getting half-dollar sized groups from 35+ yards, I don't know if that's good or bad,but I think with better ammo, we could tighten that up a bit.
I have read that the CCI mini-mags are very good, particularly in this rifle. The best deal I've seen is at the ever-annoying Sportsmanguide, 2500 rounds for $147, but I can use a $10-off coupon, and get free shipping if I renew my membership. But, as you know 2500 rounds of .22LR ain't really alot of ammo !! Or,since i'm not competing or hunting, maybe I should quit moaning and be happy with the bulk Fed ammo......as usual, any thoughts,ramblings,ruminations,criticisms,advice,witty remarks,etc,etc. much appreciated......M.
 
I just bought 550 rounds of Remington .22lr at Wally world in a bulk pack for $10. I know it will shoot out of something I own. I may actually buy a couple more boxes this week.
 
avoid all remmy, except for the orange and yellow boxes, which have Eley written across them. CCi of any kind is very good. the red box American Eagle, which is also a feddy product, is very good as well. Anything by Eley, Golden Eagle, or Aguila is very good. These will all be 50 round boxes, that i have mentioned above. typically the feddy bulk pacs, and the winny bulk pacs, are the only bulk pacs you wanna be looking at. They usually have about 3 or 4 diff types of bulk pacs going at the same time, use them all for a decent try. Like winny has xperts, wildcats, win-22's, etc., and feddy has 510's, 711's, auto's, automatch, etc.
 
Try some Eley Sport or Aguila Std Velocity ammo. I'm not into the 15.00 a box stuff but the above do pretty well taking price into consideration.
 
I hate Remmy ammo! It's inconsistent, dirty and inaccurate in ALL my guns except one.
Having said this I must admit that the one is my MARLIN 60. With the proper torque on the stock screw the Rem Golden bullets (BULK) are unbelievably accurate. Go figure :what:

CRITGIT
 
I too hate Rem.ammo. Federal Lighting is ok enough and cheap. I use them with Anschutz rifle and Anschutz Exemplar pistol.
 
I too hate the Remmington, I have a lot of misfires with it in my 22's

I have had the best luck with the federal bulk pack, but try a few different ones to what your gun likes. Heck at 10 bucks a brick it is not the end of the world if it fails.
 
I too hate the Remmington, I have a lot of misfires with it in my 22's
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I also have had a lot of misfires in my Ruger 10/22 and Beretta U22 Neos with the Remington bulk pac ammo. I've never had any problems with CCI Stingers.
 
As soon as I shot Aguila 38 or 40 gr. HP's I said, "that's the one". Never met a .22LR I didn't like, but that one's just perfect.
 
The only Remington ammo that is still worth buying is their sub-sonics, and even those are getting worse.
 
When it comes to .22 RF plinking ammo functional reliability matters to me a lot more than getting stellar accuracy.

Nearly every .22 RF I have, and that's more-than-a-few, has a personal favorite load where it delivers its very best groups. Getting that performance along with a bargain price is nice gravy, but it doesn't make the meal, as it were.

I buy more Federal bulk pack stuff than anything else these days. One reason is that it's nearly always in-stock at our local Wally World for a reasonable price (and sometimes a "loss leader" when the hunting season nears). Another is that it has given me both very good reliability and at least decent plinking accuracy from virtually all of my most often used .22 RFs.

I stock up on SV Aguila for my revolvers and manual action .22 rifles when I can find a deal. Superb accuracy for less than a quarter the cost of "Match" ammo is hard to pass up for me.
 
I have heard that Federal Bulk Pack is on sale at Walmart for $10.

I find the Federal Champion 510's sold at Walmart in 50 round box to be pretty good overall for the cheaper grade of ammo.

As you said, CCI is usually very good. Many have very good luck with the American Eagle ammo made by CCI.

Remingons Golden Bullets seem to do better than Thunderbolts in some rifles and are a bit more consistant.

I try to buy non-bulk pack ammo for the most part if I expect any kind of accuracy.

Try some of the Federal Champion 714's sold at Dick's Sporting Goods if you have a Dicks in your area and of course in stock. They sell them by the brick at $20 each now, but a price increase is likely soon.
 
I remember when the Winchester SuperX was available in the 'brick' cardboard box of 500, that was good plinking ammo. now it's gone way up in price. Federal is about the best deal going now- I've never had any luck with Rem 'Golden Bullets'.
 
Many thanks for all the informative replies. Looks like I fiddle-farted around a little too long in finally getting a .22, now even this ammo is getting expensive (relatively). I've been paying about $14 a box for Fed-bulk at Wally World, I'll keep an eye out for them to drop it to $10,then grab a few more, and possibly grab 2500 mini-mags from SG.
 
I really like the CCI Mini-Mags. I bought 10,000 rounds from SG a few months ago in a big ammo order, and as soon as I pay that off (Gotta love the interest free "4 pay plan" :)) I'll probably get another 10,000. I'm in "ammo hording mode" now... It's not going to get any cheaper!

It's not the most accurate in any of my guns (they all like something a little different), but it is the best compromise for ALL of my guns.

I've also been eyeing that CCI Blazer they have in 5000 round packs at SG. For being cheap "bulk-pack" ammo, it's pretty good too.
 
I buy bricks of Federal Champion 510. I've found it to be the best compromise between bulk pack stuff and match grade stuff. It comes in bricks at Academy, it's consistent, accurate, and it runs well in every one of my .22s, rifle and pistol.

That said I still try out other types. I love CCI Shorts. My rifles like it. Never had a problem with any CCI LR ammo either. Just wish they came in larger packages.

Bought a brick of Winchester Wildcat yesterday, we'll see how that goes.

Remington stuff has ranged from crap or just unremarkable for me. The only one I like is plain jane Reminton Target, which they now package in plastic boxes. That stuff shoots pretty well for me.

I noticed Gander sells this ammo called "Spitfire" in bricks. Has the Federal name on it. Anyone know about this stuff? Any good?
 
Oh yeah, if you have a chance to get some wolf, this will be good as well, since it is really some very good german/serbian runs of 22 ammo, I think it is the same, as sk/lapua/ kind ammo.
 
My model 60 loves the Remington Target ammo. I've had less trouble with that than others I have tried. I'm not the best shooter by far but I can get dime size to quarter size groups at 35 yards. Good enough to take a squirrel's head off. Sure I've had an occasional flyer... but I've had less flyers than other ammo that I have tried. I buy the 50 -100 packs.
 
Hey SGW42, let us know your impression of the Winchester wildcat, looks like SG has it pretty cheap.
Anyone know if the Fed. champion 510 is sold at Wally world ?
Also, what's the consensus on the CCI Blazers ? They're also pretty cheap at SG.
 
Fed Champion 510 is sold at Wal-Mart, but at the one near me it is only in the 50 round boxes. Same with Gander.

I like buying bricks, Academy usually has those.
 
I've found the walmart $10/325rd pack of federal "match grade" really isn't any more reliable or accurate than the regular 500 packs of federal 22lr. Im not sure why the "match grade" claim, but I haven't personally haven't found any reason to pay the same price for 175 less rounds. Anyone else tried it?

None of my 22's have had issues feeding with any of the bulk packs, except ones that needed work. If you have a gun that is very picky about ammo, you have a gun that needs repair, and if you can't do it yourself, see a 'smith who's known to be good with rimfires.


remmy, winny, feddy
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Was this written for a toddler?
 
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My Marlin 60 would not cycle with the federal 510 bulk pack, it stopped about halfway from bolt closed, but it has functioned 100% with mini-mags. My Buckmark cycles with it about 95% of the time, but you can really feel the difference in the loads. With the Federal bulk it is a slow cycle almost feeling like it wont make it, but the mini-mags are a quick pop, pop slide rack, much better. I loaded them in the same mag to see and it was VERY noticeable. My revolver doesn't mind the Federal though, not super accurate but at least they fire, however it does not like the Remington golden bullets at all, it misfires over half the time.
 
After firing many thousands of rounds of .22 ammo over more than thirty years, Wolf Match Target is my favorite .22 ammo. Aguila subsonic hollow points work well also. The worst ammo I have tried is the Remington Golden bulk packs.
 
The best thing to do is buy as many different types of ammo as you can find and then get a poster board put several targets on it(I use those little orange stickers),and set down and try each one with your gun. You will find out what ammo your gun cycles and shoots the best.
 

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