School me on 22 LR ammunition

[1SOW]

+1 for CCI being the better "bulk" .22 pistol ammo.
CCI uses Vihtavuori powders. Their powder runs cleaner and cooler than most others. They use a wax coated lead bullet

My target pistol likes CCI SV and Mini-mags.
It won't reliably run with bulk Remington or Winchester anyhing. Federal 40 gr are okay.
It "feeds" better with RN 40 grain bullets

 

[javjacob]

CCI doesn't really make "bulk" 22 unless you are talking about the ar tacticool stuff.
There is a lot of good info in this thread and some info is off. I want to clear up that most 22LR ammo velocity is overrated. Remington golden bullets which are high velocity are rated at 1280fps but in reality is lucky to break 1200fps.

CCI standard velocity is rated at 1070fps, CCI minimags and blazers are high velocity and there is a 36gr hollow point and a 40gr solid. The 36gr hp is rated at 1260fps and the 40gr solid is rated at 1235fps. CCI stingers are a 32gr hollow point and rated at 1650fps I believe and there is also the CCI velociters which are a 40gr hollow point rated at 1450fps I believe.

Stingers and velociters are hyper velocity and I don't mess with the hyper velocity stuff. The stingers actually have a longer shell casing with a shorter bullet to get extra gun powder and keep the overall length the same. I don't like that the casing actually seats into the chamber more so.

The grains of the bullets like 36gr vs 40gr is the weight of the bullet. A heavier bullets will obviously move a little slower but carries more energy upon impact and will typically penetrate deeper. a lighter bullet will move faster and have a flatter trajectory but wont carry as much energy on impact and wont penetrate as deep. Each has its own ups and downs and there is no perfect round and that is why they make so many different variations.

I personally only like standard and high velocity in a 36-40 grain. I also like subsonics for quiet shooting on occasions. I typically stay away from the hyper velocity stuff.

 

[Potatohead]

Thx for the info everyone.

Which ones (22LR brands) are the bottom of the barrel?

 

[Arizona_Mike]

Hypervelocity ammo like CCI Stingers use a short/blunt 36gr bullet and longer than spec brass to allow a greater powder charge.

Ruger used to warn about using Stingers in all older 10/22s and pistols. Current Ruger literature for new guns says not to use it if you have a tighter match chamber as comes on some match and tactical versions of the 10/22. I suspect they made their guns a little more robust with alloy choices.

Mike

 

[CB900F]

Fella's;

I use Winchester PowerPoints extensively. Shot from my CZ452 American, registered over an Oehler 35P chronograph, they regularly show 1250 fps with low SD numbers. I've been checking this ammo for years, therefore several different lots, and in fact two different manufacturing plants. Considering all that, it's remarkably consistent in my gun. It's advertised at 1280 I believe.

900F

 

[Steve CT]

I'm no expert, but I have found that a .22 lr variety that is great in one pistol can easily be only average in another. At any given time I have about a dozen different .22 lr ammunition varieties, every pistol I have likes some better than others.

The one that stands out as my consistent favorite, however, is Federal AutoMatch. Whenever I come across some, I buy it

 

[Cee Zee]

Which ones (22LR brands) are the bottom of the barrel?

By far the worst ammo I've ever shot of any kind is Remington .22LR. I'm not talking the stuff they make with other companies like their Remington-ELEY target ammo. That's pretty good. But the Golden Bullets and Thunderbolts are absolute junk IMO. They are incredibly dirty, they have a different powder charge in every round ranging from super hot to complete dud, and they don't group well even when you get a good set of cartridges together.

The odd thing is that some people swear it's the best stuff since sliced bread. But you'll find way more people that think like I do. I think they must sell different ammo with the same label in different areas. I had to clean my single shot, bolt action .22 3 times when I shot about 200 rounds of the stuff through it. It was so dirty I couldn't force the bolt to work after about 50 rounds so I would clean everything and start again. I've gone decades without cleaning that rifle firing everything under the sun through it. Nothing comes close to being as bad as Remington. The stuff is downright awful IMO. Even during the worst of the shortage when someone at a gun shop said they had some Remington I said no thanks. You can't pay me enough to shoot that stuff through my guns. Well that's not true of course. Give me enough money to buy a new 54 series Anschutz and I'll shoot a brick of the stuff through my CZ 453. It will probably take a while because I'll have to do a lot of cleaning but I'll do it for an Anschutz.

Do a search on the net. You'll find a whole lot of people that agree with me. I did a search for "worst .22lr ammo" and this this is what I found. By far the most often mentioned ammo is Remington. Of the first 20 links that actually mentioned a brand Remington was that brand 15 times. When 3/4 of people on various web sites all put it at the bottom there's a reason for that.

 

[javjacob]

Which ones (22LR brands) are the bottom of the barrel?


The worst of the worst bottom of the barrel garbage ammo is the Winchester bulk that comes in the 333 and 555 round boxes and I have heard they also have a 222 box. Anything Winchester that comes in a white box is pure garbage. Winchester bulk is even worse than Remington bulk.

2nd place for crappiest ammo is the Remington thunderbolts. The only thing they are good at is leading up barrels.

The Remington golden bullets are crap too but are actually decent for cheap plinking. The golden bullets are filthy and are a hit and miss and also known for wide variations in powder charge so the sound is always different... snap crack wizz pop bang crack pop psst bang.
The golden bullets are a hit and miss from box to box. I have had some 225 and 525 round boxes shoot flawlessly without a single jam or hiccup then get another box and 1 out of every 5 shots jams up or stovepipes.

I refuse to buy Winchester bulk or Remington thunderbolts under any situation. I would rather have no ammo at all.
Remington golden bullets are my last resort ammo.

 

[javjacob]

I guess I forgot to give my review on Winchester bulk since I hate that stuff so much it makes my blood pressure rise just thinking about it. The bullets all look like they were beat into shape by cavemen using rocks. No 2 bullets looked alike... at least the golden bullets are all uniform and look a like. The Winchester wouldn't feed into the chamber worth a crap when it did it was notorious for jamming. I was lucky to get 2 shots off in a row without a jam.
Even my revolver wouldn't eat them, the inconsistent shape of the bullets and the case thickness varying so much that some rounds would just drop into the cylinder easy as pie but most of them wouldn't go in at all like as if I were trying to stuff a 45 colt into a 38 special cylinder. The round wouldn't have gone in even if I had tried to beat it in with a hammer.
I had 2 that the case got stuck in the chamber of my semi auto rifle after firing and wouldn't eject so I had to carefully remove it with a tiny flat screw driver and a pocket knife. After the 2nd time I said no more and swore it off for good.

Its not worth possibly doing damage to your guns.

 

[Bentonville]

I don't shoot a lot of .22 but I do have a lot of AE and the Federal Value 550 rounds per box. The AE will not run in my son's 10/22 but will function well in my Marlin lever and my bolt action rifles. The Ruger really eats up the Federal Value which I bought at Walmart some time back. I can't find the CCI Standard Velocity. Can you name a good source for that ammo?

 

[Cee Zee]

For years I shot almost nothing but Federal for bulk plinking ammo. It was accurate enough and reliable but after the first ammo shortage it fell off the charts and became garbage. Strangely enough before that I wouldn't buy Winchester for any thing. Then it became much better like it had switched places with Federal. For the last year and a half I haven't bought much of either and what I did buy I haven't shot so who knows what they're like now. But ammo does change over time. What was junk one day can be good the next. It doesn't happen often but it does happen. I wouldn't have bought the stuff I did during the shortage but of course it was hard to find anything. Now I can be more picky than I was. I haven't seen any really bad ammo lately but maybe that's just because I haven't shot nearly as much as I did before Sandy Hook.

 

[CB900F]

Fella's;

OTOH, Winchester 333 & 555 run well in my guns. I very much suspect that they're the same stuff, just packaged in different sized boxes. Winchester Wildcat is the loss-leader in that brand's line, and I have no need for it.

900F

 

[1SOW]

javjacob
I used the term "bulk bullets" referrencing general use plinking non-precision bullets. That is reflected in the $7/100 price and not the size of the box they come in.
Of these "bulk" bullets, CCI holds to a pretty good standard of uniformity and performance.

Precision/Competition .22 bullets can be as expensive as good quality centerfire pistol ammunition. They are often the choice of serious competitors.

 

[Cee Zee]

I used the term "bulk bullets" referrencing general use plinking non-precision bullets.

We used to call any ammo that came packed loose in a box as "bulk ammo". A few years back it was possible to buy a brick of CCI SV packed loose like that. I haven't seen them in a long time though. Also it was only a few types of CCI that came that way. I never saw Minimags or Velocitors or anything like that packed in loose boxes. And as we all know Blazer has been packed that way all along. So in my mind CCI does make some bulk ammo. It depends on which type you're looking at though.

UPDATE:

It looks like they are selling their AR Tactical .22 ammo in loose bricks again.

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2011/06/02/cci-introduces-ar-tactical-22-long-rifle-load/

 

[javjacob]

Yes the term bulk ammo is when ammo is packed loose in a box. I prefer the normal packaging where each round has its own spot so they aren't bashing into each other and getting dinged up and what not. I think the bigger the bulk boxes the worse it is, more rounds bashing around loosely against each other. Damaged rounds are rare in bricks but common in bulk.

I honestly don't know why bulk ammo has gotten to be such a fad other than I imagine it saves the ammo makers a few cents.

 

[Potatohead]

Can you name a good source for that ammo?

As far as I can tell, it's hard to find any 22 ammo in any considerable quantity, without paying an arm and leg .

 

[22-rimfire]

I'll give you my 2-cents on 22 ammo by providing alternatives or choices for HV as is often or used to be the case in places like Walmart.

Winchester bulk vs Remington bulk > Choice Remington
Remington bulk vs Federal bulk > Federal
Federal vs CCI Blazer > I would choose Federal, but about equal.
No-name brand 22 vs Remington > generally Remington golden bullets

My general preference for promotional 22 ammo is the Federal Lightnings/Champions packaged in 50-ct boxes. I will pay a bit more than bulk for it when comparing a per round cost. My old SOP on trips to Walmart was to pick up 10-boxes of Lightnings per visit. Sometimes I would get 20 boxes or 2-bricks if they would sell it to me.

If cost is not a big issue, I think CCI HV are generally the best general purpose 22 ammo available. There are other big brands, but you usually don't see it in big box stores.

 

[BCRider]

I didn't read all the replies but they all seem to be recommending you try a lot or citing specific ammo that works well or to avoid something that the poster found to be junk.

So I've got a different tact. A long time bullseye shooter that really cares about his ammo and how well it shoots told me in no uncertain terms that we should buy ammo which comes in the separate 50 round packs within the "brick" instead of bulk ammo.

The theory being that when it's just dumped in the box it rattles around and the bullets come loose and turn in the casings. It'll still go "BANG!" but you introduce another variable by having different retention values in the crimps due to the damage caused by shifting and bumping in the bulk boxes.

Now I still buy bulk packages since it tends to be cheaper. But I don't use it for guns or matches where ultimate accuracy counts. For that I only buy ammo which comes in separate packs within the brick.

 

[Cee Zee]

I don't think anyone suggested that the OP use bulk ammo for target competitions BCRider. It's true that lead bullet .22 cartridges can get banged up pretty badly but jacketed bullets don't get hurt as bad.

BTW I noticed your North"Wet" Canada location. Pretty funny stuff. But Kentucky is actually quite a bit more rainy with a higher annual amount of rainfall. I think there's abut 3 inches more per year in KY than in Vancouver. Just a bit of trivia I guess. I just think it's a little odd that everyone thinks the Pacific coast is a lot wetter than other areas. It isn't actually. I think it got that reputation because down in So. Calif. there is not much rain at all. Compared to that the NW areas are very wet.

 

[Potatohead]

Or maybe it's because a "mist" is constantly falling? And this is why it seems wetter but doesn't really keep up with some of the other states' "total rainfall in inches" charts. I dunno, just taking a shot.

 

[Cee Zee]

We get fog in KY and southern Ohio (where I live now). I've seen the fog so bad you have to open your car door and look down at the lines on the road to be able to tell if you're still on the road or not. Certain areas seem to be much worse. Who knows. I've never been out there so what do I know. Hijacking of thread shall now cease.

 

[Reloadron]

We get fog in KY and southern Ohio (where I live now). I've seen the fog so bad you have to open your car door and look down at the lines on the road to be able to tell if you're still on the road or not. Certain areas seem to be much worse. Who knows. I've never been out there so what do I know. Hijacking of thread shall now cease.

Without a doubt it's pouring rain in the Columbus, Ohio area. Yep, this is rain. I hope we don't get much in Cleveland as this week I want to get to the outdoor range. Good drainage but too much rain takes a few days to dry out.

Ron

 

[Potatohead]

Rained all day here yesterday also. Nice to get a break from the boiling sun though.

 

[6pak]

Plus 1 for Mini Mags

I just feel compelled to jump in here and give a big 'thumbs up' to CCI Mini Mags. I have a Browning Buck Mark that is fun to shoot but can get temperamental about what I feed it. It's favorite round is the CCI Mini Mag. They prove to be the most accurate, consistent, and reliable bullets I can run through it. I also have an old Remington 341 Sportmaster and they are extremely accurate in that rifle as well.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

By far the worst ammo I've ever shot of any kind is Remington .22LR

That's my experience -- I won't buy Remington any more.

Federal bulk is the most reliable of all I could find in Wal Mart. Winchester is reliable in rifles, but has such a wide mouth it won't feed in my Colt Woodsman.

I recently bought a case (5,000 rounds) of Sellier & Bellot from Palmetto Armory, and so far it has proven reliable and as accurate as any other bulk ammo.