What is considered "good" .22 ammo?

[phantomak47]

I am in the market for a .22 pistol and I would like to know what brand of .22 ammo is reliable and good for plinking. I am not looking for match grade ammo, rather just some decent ammo that functions well in a .22 auto.


I know that some brands of pistols such as the walther is picky when it comes to ammo, but I am probally going to get a ruger or a browning.

 

[VARifleman]

CCI standard velocity.

 

[res1b3uq]

ammo

I owned a Buckmark for a while, and I used almost exclusively Aguila SE. It does not compare to anything like Lapua, but it is just about as good as any U.S. made ammo. I don't remember the Buckmark ever missing a lick, except for an occasional dud.

 

[wally]

I'm afraid the only way to find out is to try them all in your gun. I and others here have had severe leading problems with Remington Thunderbolt so unless Remingtion has changed things up recently I'd avoid this one, but try the rest.

If it goes BANG! it was good

--wally.

 

[RyanM]

For just plinking, Federal value pack is probably fine. It's got a pretty tapered ogive and the shoulder isn't that sharp. My experience is it feeds well in pretty much all guns, but is a little underpowered in pistols.

 

[kymarkh]

CCI

CCI Std. Vel. and Mini Mag are my favorite 'decent' rimfire loads. If you must shoot bulk, Federal seems to be the best, followed by Winchester. I avoid remington rimfire ammo - never had much luck with it.

 

[cmidkiff]

I find that Winchester SuperX shoots as well or better than anything else I've tried. It's a little more expensive than the bulk-pack stuff, but well worth it.

After all, even at $25/brick, is it really that expensive? Compared to any other caliber I shoot, it's a real bargain!

 

[jlbraun]

Remington Golden Bullet works the best for me. I found that Federal has a rim that causes extraction problems.

 

[Quickdraw Limpsalot]

I've had good luck with regular Federal 550 packs from Walmart, but even BETTER results with the Federal Automatch ammo I've tried recently. Great accuracy in all my .22's.

 

[Gary G23]

CCI Mini-Mag

 

[Baphomet]

Another vote for CCI... Mini Mags in particular. I shoot a couple hundred rounds of them every week.

 

[SlimeDog]

This may sound crazy, but in my experience CCI Blazer is far more accurate than it's extremely low price (usually about $10/500 rounds) would indicate. I've also found it to be very reliable in my Ruger Mark II which, at times, has been picky about ammunition. It is at least as accurate out of my CZ-452 as Federal Gold Medal Target (711b). The downside is that I get a failure to fire about every 200-300 rounds.

I found that many "target" loads, which are typically standard velocity, do not reliably cycle my Mark II. Anyway, the Blazers work well and are easy on the checkbook.

-SlimeDog

 

[briansp82593]

cci stingers with the nickel cases

 

[Piney Woods]

I'd have to rate Winchester Super-X (not Wildcats) and CCI (almost any flavor) at the top of the list.
Federal would be one step down from there.
Remington Thunderbolts have a lock on dead last.

 

[wally]

Remington Golden Bullet works the best for me. I found that Federal has a rim that causes extraction problems.

If its in a Ruger, try the Volquartson extractor. ~$15 for the extractor and spring, pretty easy to install yourself, Got my MKII pretty happy with the Federal Champion ammo Academy had on sale for $7.90/500 last year (I stocked up!)

I've one Ruger that while it shoots the Golden Bullet well, still has as high a failure rate as the Federal (pre extractor swap) because the bullet sometimes "folds" instead of climbing the feed ramp. My 22/45 is fine with both.

The only cheap 22 that worked with near perfect reliablity in all my 22 pistols was the Remington Thunderbolt, but it caused very bad leading after a couple of hundred rounds.

--wally.

 

[jman74]

Another vote for CCI Standard Velocity. Accurate in all of my .22's. Not too expensive either compared to other rounds.

 

[wooderson]

Aguila high-velocity seems to work best for me.

Federal bulk HV (Champion) is accurate and cheap, but I was getting stovepipes every four or five rounds in my Browning Buckmark. Haven't tried in the Walther or my father's Neos or Buckmark.

 

[.40-.45]

I like CCI MIni mags

 

[Popov]

If you're looking for some good .22 ammo, there is a brand called Eley, and they make some great stuff. Most of the time it is not to cheap, though. My local gun shop recently bought a ton of it at a great price, and sold it pretty cheap, but those didn't last long. They have several types, from their best to "practice", which is still pretty darn good. Keep your eyes open for good deals.

 

[P. Plainsman]

CCI anything.

I've shot many boxes of CCI Mini-Mags with excellent results in a Browning pistol, Ruger revolver, and Marlin rifle.

Also like CCI Velocitors and (blam!) Stingers.

 

[briansp82593]

lapua midas is nice if your willing to pay the price

 

[huaco]

I won't buy bare lead so everything I say refers to copper plated or washed. I'm working on a brick of Federal and it's good, much better than the Remington offering, but not always easy to find in bulk. I noticed that what seems to be more and more available in bulk is the Aguila stuff so I picked up a couple of 50 rd boxes at the last gunshow. It tested fine with no problems so I'll probably buy a brick of it at the next opportunity. This is with very a used (>40 bricks) Buckmark, a seriously used JC Higgins made by High Standard a long time ago semi-auto rifle, and a CZ PCR with a Kadet Kit. The Buckmark and JC Higgins convinced me that misfires with .22 LR are going to happen occasionally but the CZ always goes bang with anything I've fed it so far in 9 mm or .22 LR.

 

[BLACK-N-TAN]

ive ran 5 or so boxes of remington thunderbolt through my Neos with no malfunctions at all, also works good in my 10/22
I had 2 no-goes out of a box of CCIs

 

[borrowedtime69]

reliable ammo

ive shot mostly CCI ammo for the last 23 years or so. i have NEVER had a failure to fire or a low power round in all that time. winchester is next, then federal, then just about anything else, and last is Remington.

 

[CZguy]

Each .22 will like a different brand of ammo. The best thing to do is to buy as many different brands of ammo as you can in small quantities, and try them in your gun. Once you have found out what your gun likes, you can buy it in larger quantities.