What's a Good Quality Brand of .22LR Ammo?

[foghornl]

Part of the fun of a .22 is finding the 'best' ammo for that particular gun. Case in point, my 2 different .22 rifles. Nylon 66 I had as a teen liked anything except the Rem 36 Gr hollow point "Golden Bullet". Go figure..a Rem rifle that hated Rem ammo. My Marlin 99 favors that same Rem over anything else, but the Federal 525 round value pack is close. Neither gun liked the CCI Mini-Mag.

Oh, well....buy 50 or 100 of each brand/style you can find, till you see what works in YOUR gun

 

[Master Blaster]

I like federal 550 copper plated bulk pack for semi autos that like high velocity ammo. My Izmash Biathalon basic rifle shoots .25-.35" groups off the bench at 50 yards with the fed bulk pack, very few squibs, in many thousands of rounds.

I have had the remmingto golden bullets stuff give me a different report and POI with every shot, I actually threw 2 boxes of it away, when I first bought it years ago it was fine so the QC on it has deteriorated.

Match ammo My Anschutz rifle likes Federal Gold Medal Target at about $24 per 500 brick. I also tried eley tenex, club extra and the match target stuff and they all did about the same at 50 yards off the bench. The federal GM fouled my match chamber less so I use that, and it costs less than half what the eley costs. I have also had good luck with PMC scoremaster standard velocity ammo, which is the same as Aguila standard vel.

My model 41 loves the PMC scoremaster. I used to buy CCI standard velocity for the 41 but the last half case had 2 or three duds per box.
Scoremaster is $15 per brick.

Ruger MKIIs seem to like high velocity ammo better so federal lightning or fed bulk pack are good choices.

 

[cornbread2]

I shoot three position and dewar competition and in the summer we practice a lot.

I can not afford to buy match ammo for practice. I found that CCI Blazer shoots well in my rifle so it is my practice ammo.

For practice in the 100 yard prone I weigh the rounds on a digital scale and sort them out into lots of exact weight.

I take the rounds of exact weight and use a rim guage to weed out all the out of spec rims.

CCI Blazer sorted by weight and rim thickness shoots as well or better than some match ammo at 100 yards in my rifle.

I have a friend that does the same thing with Federal Lightning.

CCI standard velocity weight and rim sorted is as good or better than Green Tag.

For overall good match quality ammo at a reasonable price it is hard to beat Wolf MT. Some rifles shoot it as well as really high dollar ammo.

 

[makarov]

If you can find it cheap, I like the Wolf Match Target (not the high end stuff) at about $20 per brick of 500. It is good stuff.

Also have had good luck with CCI Standard Velocity.

Federal Match Target is good too.

Cheap stuff - anything. I have shot lots of different brands and for plinking at 25 yards to me it doesn't matter too much. The only gun I have that is a little finnicky is my Browning Medalist. I feed it the Wolf or Federal. My CZ rifles and Mossy's will shoot anything pretty well. Now, if it was a competition or something that would be different. Minute of pop can or shooting golf balls.... Give it all a try.

 

[OrvilleYertleson]

For plinking, CCI and Winchester are pretty good.

For target shooting, Eley is my favorite brand. When I used to shoot smallbore (rifle though) I would shoot matches and the practice or two before with eley benchrest gold ammunition (It's really expensive though). I would usually practice with Eley Club X-tra, it is relatively cheap, very consistent, and unusually accurate for the money.

I used to use the eley ammunition (mostly because it was what I had on hand) when I went plinking w/ the ruger mkII, and it worked very well. The only drawback to Eley ammunition is it's seeming incompatibility with other brands of ammunition (I know it sounds wierd), but my target rifle, and the MKII would digest standard ammunition, and eley ammunition all day long, but if I started shooting Eley ammo and switched to another brand (like the Federal target ammo), my weapon would jam.

The only thing I can think of that would cause this is the thick coating of wax/lube on eley bullets.

Anyway, for plinking, you can't go wrong with CCI or Winchester ammo, but if you really want accuracy, try everything Eley makes, one of their rounds will probably shoot really really well out of your pistol.

 

[kimbernut]

Best .22 ammo

Master Chief, you've chosen a great plinker and/or target pistol. Disassembly is a piece of cake on my MarkII Target however re-assembly is a different story. I just have to wait (it seems) for the gun to want to go back together again. Parts fit is extremely tight but I'm sure that's part of what makes it so accurate and I'm sure it will get better in time. The Winchester Dyna-point works best for me in both the Mark II and my 10/22 and gives me 1" groups.The Fed. 550 at best will keep a 1-1/2 " group. The Fed. Gold Match will keep 1/2" groups in the 10/22 but will not cycle either the MarkII nor the 10/22. If you can find either the Wolf or the Aquilla buy it. In central Fl.It can be extremely hard to find and in many guns shoots better than any of the ammo mentioned above. Good shootin'!

 

[Pepe Domingo]

I know that this seems to run against the grain, but hands down the best inexpensive .22 ammunition that has been run through all of my pistols and rifles has been Remington Thunderbolt.

I was involved in a test of 10/22 barrels about six years ago. Through six different barrels and 11 brands of ammunition, Thunderbolt was behind only Eley, Federal Gold Medal, and Winchester T-22 as far as accuracy went.

I probably have over 5,000 rounds of it through my MKII.

As a reasonably well educated man who has at least average motor skills and mechanical ability, I am still driven to fits getting my MKII back together. Why I cannot accomplish this task quickly and efficiently is totally beyond me.

 

[silent one]

I have a standard Ruger mk 2, and I use CCI blazer standard velocity ammo. [.85 a box from Natchez shooting supply]. Every so often I shoot CCI stinger ammo,[ 2.99 a box], and I have very good luck with both.
I find .22 ammo inherently dirty ammo. It is important to keep the firearm clean and lubed. I see shooters at the range complain of malfunctions,but when you look at their weapon, they're filthy. Don't blame the ammo, when it's a filthy firearm that's usually to blame.
Good luck, and be safe.


SILENT ONE

 

[Bruce H]

All I shoot in My .22s is Winchester T22 target standard velocity. I've never had a .22 that didn't shoot very well with it.

 

[Mike Bruno]

My Ruger Mark II loves the CCI Standard and of course, all the Eley, RWS, etc match ammo is great through it........

 

[SC_shooter]

I have had good luck with my Mark II with

CCI Blazers
Dynapoints
Federal American Eagle LRN - though the jacketed rounds shoot pretty good.
Wolf Match Target - the absolute best in my pistol and my 10/22.
Winchester Super-X.

The Remington bulk ammo is absolute garbage. Or at least, that is my experience.

Paul

 

[rogerxd45]

i love the remington bulk ammo. they work 99.9% in all of my 22s (savage 64, walther p22, ruger charger 10/22)
and they have an actual hollow point where as the federal has a small dent

 

[plexreticle]

For bulk plinking ammo I like Federal.

For serious work I have a large variety of different brands and weights. I bench rest and find one the gun likes. Every 22LR is different even if they are the same make and model.

 

[2nd 41]

Remington bulk pack ammo is the worst rimfire ammo you can buy. It is junk now and has been for the last 20 years.

I strongly agree with this. Remington Bulks are a bad choice

I use Federal Champions. I do get an occasional FTFire but can live with it for the cost per box. I use them with a S&W Mod41, Browning BuckMark NRA, 10/22, Walther G22.

 

[Tribal]

I've found that the copper-coated rounds, such as Federal 550 or Mini-Mags, work best in my P22. Winchester Xpert, with its exposed lead and slightly longer bullet than Federal 550, caused my P22 to FTF almost every other round.

 

[Rokman]

My Ruger MKII target will shoot anything I feed it, but since I shoot a lot through it I usually just shoot one of the bulk packs a Wal Mart. The Remington golden bullets are by far my least favorite. I used to shoot the more expensive stuff, but I have gotten to be a cheapskate lately. Good luck.

 

[MaterDei]

Old thread. Seeing what people were paying for ammo 4 years ago makes me want to cry.

 

[Bentonville]

Federal

 

[MCgunner]

My Mk 2 does just as good with Federal bulk pack lightenings at 12.50 a box of 550 as it does with CCI mini mag at over 6 bucks a hundred now. CCI is getting stupid with the pricing. 4 years ago when this thread was fresh, it was about 3 bucks and change. Sad, ain't it. I used to get RWS target for that and it's only double what I used to give for Eley match! CCI ain't THAT good IMHO. I feed about everything that likes it half way Federal lightening. My Mk 2 ain't too good for it. It groups the stuff into a half inch at 25 yards (have a scope on the gun). It's a little dirty, but cleans up okay without field stripping every time, thank God. LOL At todays prices, one can't be that picky about ammo. LOL

 

[Steve C]

There is a lot of difference between the standard ammo you can buy for under $20/500 and a match grade ammo that runs $50+ for the same amount. Most of the time you don't need match grade and the misfires you get with the cheap bulk ammo generally are not a problem except when shooting a match and having to take an alibi.

I shoot a lot of the bulk stuff for fun and informal practice As mentioned, you will usually find your gun liking a particular brand better than another.

You get what you pay for, most companies make an inexpensive bargain brand that's adequate for plinking and more expensive ammo for more demanding shooting.

Wolf .22 match is good ammo and used to be very reasonable at around $1.50 a box until the word got out and now it sells for just under $5 a box of 50.

CCI is top notch ammo as is Winchester Super X.

 

[10-Ring]

As a collective my 22's prefer the 22lr's from Federal

 

[lions]

Remington is not only junk, it is very dirty junk! A friend of mine gave me a box after he sold his 22 and I only shot ten rounds of the free remington ammo, dirtiest stuff I have ever seen. I like Federal, much cleaner than remington golden bullet and its copper plated unlike winchester super-x.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

While there are many good brands of ammo that will do fine in autoloaders,both pistol and rifle, I have found CCI minimags to work great for me. I don't even bother to try other brands now,I just stick with the CCIs.

 

[camper]

My MK I and II pistols have always eaten every brand fed to them. Right now Federal and Remington value packs from WalMart.

 

[aka108]

Best lower priced ammo I've run across is Eley Sport.