What .22 LR should I test to see if my rifle likes it?

[Deltaboy1984]

I have 5- 22 rifles and they are like women and differing taste in ammo.

 

[wally]

I, normally, test 12-15 types of .22 ammo when I acquire a new .22.

Good excuse as any for needing to get to the range!

 

[carbine85]

I hate CCI Mini mags.
Eley, Wolf Match, Aguila Match is about all I shoot anymore in the .22

 

[teetertotter]

Do most of you plinkers/hunters "0" at 50 yds and know what group size you get at that distance to determine best ammo for your rifle? Perhaps many assume that if the ammo fires in their rifle, it must be the one and only for everything. If I were a serious hunter/plinker, I would want an ammo that would give me 2 inch group size max at 100 yards. Accuracy then gets better on the way down. IMO. Cheap ammo, you get to many fliers and that one flier, you missed the squirrel completely. I never understood what makes one say I only use ........... when they don't know the accuracy they are getting at 50 or 100 yds. Maybe they don't care? But I would want to know.
I found cheap CCI Blazer shot 1.76 inch groups at 100M in my Marlin 39a when sighting in off sand bags. Other manufactures of HV type that I tried, did not fair as well. I don't think a statement that one ammo fits all, would be in my book if looking for the best accuracy in a specific .22 rifle.

 

[CraigC]

Try a little bit of everything. Yes, even Remington.

 

[hawk45]

If you are serious about small groups, your rifle must be up to the task to start. What does that mean? For me the trigger makes all the difference. I'd rather have a $200 rifle with an incredible trigger than a $1000 rifle with a crap trigger. Barrel and trigger is where your accuracy is at outside of the shooter having the skill to wring the full potential of rifle.

Once you meet criteria #1 and are truly interested in small groups, then don't waste your time with sub $4/50 ammo, and go straight to the good mid-level offerings. Lead shoots better than jacketed in my experience as I'm sure most competition guys will agree. What you are looking for is consistency, and that comes at a price (velocity, rim thickness, concentric, etc) all come into play.
Buy a box (50) of several quality makes/grains and see what she likes best.

 

[bubbinator]

I got a windfall of 6K rds of 22lr from a retired agt who devested himself of guns and ammo. It was old-he was a former pistol team shooter-some Rem 22lr boxes were marked $1.00! Lots of CCI Mini Mags/WWSuperX/WW-Western and Federal. Some odd boxes of Rem Yellow Jacket. Add to this my own Fed Bulk ammo box or 2, CCI bulk box or 2, and my CCI/Rem SubSonic ammo. CCI Stinger is trash-blew the floorplate from myRem 552-poor accuracy. Velocitors-hot but not that good. Rem 40gr Subsonic gave me the best accuracy overall from all the ammo tested. That includes- Ruger 10-22HB/S&W M17/Ruger MK11 HB/Ruger Charger/Walther P22 and Taurus M21(which only fed Rem 22HP Golden Bullets reliably)

 

[toivo]

My list of candidates would be: Federal Lightning #510B, CCI Mini Mags, CCI Standard Velocity, Wolf Match Target.

Replace Wolf Match Target with Federal AutoMatch, and you've got my list.

 

[ClayinAR]

Many years ago I went thru this. CCI Stingers won. Didn't shoot much 22 for a few years. Skip forward 30 years. Got the old 30 year old Stingers our and they still made one hole. I finally ran out of the old stuff and bought some more. Guess what? POS!!!
Went thru it all again and settled on 40 grains, they give consistent cycling in all my guns. The Champion 510 40 gr. solids do the best for me. There is better stuff out there but for overall accuracy and economy this is it. They run in every thing I've got.
I was amazed at how crappy the Stingers product had deteriorated over 30 years. The 30 years old stuff shot .3" and the new stuff shot 3" at 50 ft.