Who would have thought? I've been buying the wrong 22lr ammo!

[berettaprofessor]

Got out yesterday to the "new" Fancy Creek Range in Riley County Kansas. I say "new" because it has just reopened after 3 years downtime; was supposed to only be 6 months, but government construction and COVID took it's toll. It's nice, but primarily they just replaced the wood baffles and dirt walls with concrete, so it's a lot louder and they didn't expand it...in fact the tables are closer together and I'm not sure if there are few or more lanes but not by much. But I digress.

I took a 10/22 rifle to determine its favorite ammo. The rifle is a 10/22 only by its Ruger receiver; it has a Volquartsen trigger group, Green Mountain barrel, and ambi-thumbhole stock, sporting a Bushnell Prime 6-18X50 scope. I tested Eley Match, Tenex, Eley Target, CCI Standard, Gemtech Suppressor, CCI Suppressor, CCI Clean, Federal Target, Federal Automatch, Wolf, RWS Subsonic and Browning HV at 50 yards. Two 5 shot groups of each before I decided I was starting to pull too many flyers.

And the surprising results; the best ammo for this rifle was the CCI Clean! Two groups of 0.8 MOA (see below). Eley Match had the next best groups and third was RWS Subsonic and CCI Standard. The best Tenex group was 1.026MOA, respectable, but not great. I had one FTF on the Tenex and two of the Eley Match (both from boxes I got from Midway only a month ago), the only FTF's of the day in any ammo. The Browning and Federal Automatch were the worst groups consistently.

Who would have thought it would be CCI Clean to turn out on top? I need to test it in a couple of other rifles. My go-to has been CCI Standard but I need to lay at least some of this stuff in.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Just shows each gun has its favorites. Ive got a few that shoot cheap Aguila just as well as Eley. CCI SV is my go-to as its inexpensive and shoots well enough for casual target shooting in just about everything.

 

[Lefty38-55]

Learned something … as I never heard of that ‘CCI Clean’, thanks!

Do you run a swab through the bore - between brands - and then fire 5 or more for fun (into a berm or wherever) before shooting for groups?

You might try that sometime with your best candidates, as some lubes are compatible, some not, but this can turn an OK performer into a stellar performer, and vice versa.

 

[berettaprofessor]

Lefty; learned something back...no, I didn't swab between brands. Ran the whole set through once, and then another set of groups without cleaning.

 

[DMW1116]

I have my first 10/22 and it has a strong preference for CCI SV, but a close second is Norma Tac Target. I need to try the part about conditioning the bore. I bet the Norma could keep up with the CCI if I did a little cleaning and conditioned the bore with the Norma before firing for groups.

 

[nettlle]

When I bought my last 22 rifle I also purchased (12) boxes of (50) each of twelve different brands of 22LR. From the most expensive down to the standard priced. The results surprised me. The most expensive didn't shoot the best.

 

[wolf695]

They are so right! each gun has a favorite, and some actions only cycle with the right ammo.

 

[Hookeye]

Wonder what the lot to lot variance will be

 

[.455_Hunter]

As a side note, that facility would have been real handy when I was assigned to Fort Riley and lived in Manhattan. At the time, there was pretty much nothing available for personal shooting besides the rarely open POW range on post (.mil only and requiring "registration") or some random indoor range in Topeka.

 

[Howland937]

Lefty; learned something back...no, I didn't swab between brands. Ran the whole set through once, and then another set of groups without cleaning.

I learned the hard way that switching ammo without at least a quick scrub of the bore in between is inconclusive and mostly just a waste of ammo.
Someone wiser informed me of my error after I noted that my newest rifle was shooting $5 Fed HV better than any of the high end Match stuff. 10 minutes of scrubbing and about a box of Tenex later, they're all in the same hole at 50.

Side nugget...I know of 3 heavily modified 10/22's that sometimes fail to ignite various Eley ammo. I've never had one not fire in my M52, 513T or even my TC's that are semi auto.

 

[12Bravo20]

Chasing the utmost accuracy with 22lr ammo can be a deep rabbit hole that some fall into. Just about every 22lr rifle I own prefers a different brand/type of ammo. Sometimes one will get lucky and their rifle will shoot cheap ammo very well. What sets premium ammo apart from cheap ammo is one will get less flyers with premium ammo.

And for most shooting 100 yards and less it pays to shoot both standard and high velocity ammo. Sometimes a rifle will prefer high velocity ammo. I know my Savage MkII BTVLSS does better with CCI Mini Mags versus similarly priced standard velocity ammo out to 100 yards.

I learned the hard way that switching ammo without at least a quick scrub of the bore in between is inconclusive and mostly just a waste of ammo.
Someone wiser informed me of my error after I noted that my newest rifle was shooting $5 Fed HV better than any of the high end Match stuff. 10 minutes of scrubbing and about a box of Tenex later, they're all in the same hole at 50.

At the bare minimum, I will run a bore snake through a few times and then shoot at least 5-10 fouling shots before shooting for groups when I switch ammo in my rimfire rifles.

 

[Lefty38-55]

At the bare minimum, I will run a bore snake through a few times and then shoot at least 5-10 fouling shots before shooting for groups when I switch ammo in my rimfire rifles.

Yes, that or a swab. Never a brush ... took a Clinic with the Olympic shooters and they NEVER use a brush in a 22LR arm.

 

[Hookeye]

Used to be, .22 lr barrels were softer steel.

 

[Captcurt]

I was amazed at the difference in POI when changing brands. I tested a Bergara and a CZ455 with 8 different brands of ammo and none of them shot to the same POI. Three shot very well in the Bergara, but the groups might be 1 1/2"-2" apart at 50 yards. The CZ is picky but shoots just as well as the Bergara with the right ammo.

 

[d2wing]

Some ammo is designed for a particular type of rifle and may not shoot as well as standard ammo in a different gun. Chasing 22 RF accuracy can get very expensive.

 

[JDGray]

I dabbled in precision 22lr, was way to frustrating!! I prefer my centerfires for tiny groups.