.22LR Match Ammo Choices?

cdncowboy

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I have never shot with .22LR match ammo and as such I have no idea what to buy. Can those of you with experience list the types that are available? Thanks
 
Any rimfire rifles, you must first find what ammo it like the most then you stack a couple of bricks.

Most of the match ammo are Stardard velocity or Subsonic.
Match ammo have lube on them and don't come in bulk.

CCI is a great value, especially Standard and Green-Tag. These are not true *Match ammo* but can give good results.
These are available in most stores, especially the CCI Standard.

SK, Lapua and Eley and very good and these are the most popular brands.
SK standard is very popular.

EDIT : I should add RWS to the list of good match ammo.

Then you have the less known brands like Sellier & Bellot Std, Aguila, etc...

Personally, I really like the Lapua Center-X, which shoots very well in most of my rimfire rifles.

I would stay away from all the Remington rimfire ammo ( even if the Target are made by Eley if I remember well ).
 
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I am not a .22LR expert, but I've found that RWS R50 works very well in my rifles. Lapua Center-X is also very good. A fellow CGN member pointed out that board supporter Hirsch Precision stocks it. I ordered from them and found them to be very nice people to deal with.

Chris.
 
Are you going to be competing, or just looking for a little more accurate ammo? Once you get into Eley and Lapua the price starts getting up there.
What rifle are you using?
 
I recently bought a custom .22LR benchrest rifle on a 54 Anschutz action, and it came with a brick of Tenex, which the rifle likes (I'm told, shooting it tomorrow or shortly thereafter).

The seller and I talked for a while. To his knowledge the rimfire benchrest gang are always chasing the perfect match ammunition and lot number.

When found, they buy a bunch.

The winningest shooters develop a relationship with the ammo makers and get various lot numbers to evaluate.

Rifles vary greatly in what they like, and the best results may be found by trying a lot of different match ammunition.

That is a challenge, as buying bricks of each type isn't viable. And individual boxes may be hard to come by.
 
My biggest difference in target ammo is, quite frankly, me. Although some ammo makes a difference I lose focus or change grip. trigger placement, or just consistency. If you are testing ammo I recommend using as solid rest as possible and try to be consistent. I use SK+ a lot butt have more expensive stuff to. For me if I can try to watch the bullet hit the target my groups improve (follow through).
 
Lots of good advice here.The best way to start is if you can buy a couple of box's of as many different types of match ammo that you can find and afford .Its a process to find what ammo your rimfire prefers.Just because it costs $20 for a box of 50 RWS50 or Federal match doesn't mean your rifle will like it.My CZ's all seemed to do well with SK STD plus,they would not shoot center x ,RWS.Eley blue box at all.My anschutz prefers the center x.Heres some testing of different ammo on my Anschutz until I found its prefered ammo.Its a lot of trial and error and $$$
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This is yesterdays one and only target I shot as I was helping another cgn member finding ammo that works in his TR.
I shot this with center X no warm up no seasoning shot just got after it

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Any rimfire rifles, you must first find what ammo it like the most then you stack a couple of bricks.

Most of the match ammo are Stardard velocity or Subsonic.
Match ammo have lube on them and don't come in bulk.

CCI is a great value, especially Standard and Green-Tag. These are not true *Match ammo* but can give good results.
These are available in most stores, especially the CCI Standard.

SK, Lapua and Eley and very good and these are the most popular brands.
SK standard is very popular.

EDIT : I should add RWS to the list of good match ammo.

Then you have the less known brands like Sellier & Bellot Std, Aguila, etc...

Personally, I really like the Lapua Center-X, which shoots very well in most of my rimfire rifles.

I would stay away from all the Remington rimfire ammo ( even if the Target are made by Eley if I remember well ).

^^^^ I concur SK, CCI Standard and RWS are what I try to stay with on my CZ rifles and even some pistols with CCI & RWS
 
The important thing to note with match ammo is that it has a MV that is below the speed of sound. This is important because when a bullet enters the transonic zone it becomes unstable and therefore looses accuracy. Standard velocity (subsonic) ammo never exceeds the speed of sound and therefore does not experience transonic turbulence.

A good entry level .22LR match ammo is SK Standard Plus. It will usually be selling for just under $70 per brick. More expensive match ammo is available and it should be more consistent in MV. A 10 fps difference in MV will make a 1/4" difference in POI at 100 yards. Consistent MV is ultimately what will provide a good shooting rifle with the greatest accuracy.

SK Rifle Match is ostensibly a "step up" from Standard Plus; Center X is even better. With more expensive match ammo such as RWS R50, Lapua Midas +, or Eley Match or Eley Tenex, high end match rifles will be able to reveal differences between them when the shooter is someone who can really shoot; in sporter rifles these cannot shoot to their full potential.

There is more affordable standard velocity ammo. CCI Standard Velocity, Federal Champion Target, Sellier & Bellot Standard Velocity, and Aguila Standard Velocity are all a little less expensive than SK Standard Plus. They are not, however, as good.

When ordering you may as well order as many bricks as you can as they are shipped by courier and it will cost about $30 for one brick or four or five (perhaps even up to ten -- a case).
 
American Eagle .40gn LRN will stay neck and neck with Eley Club at 1/3 less cost. At 100m, you will be hard pressed to tell which group is which out of my CZ 452 Varmint or Walther KKM UIT

When you get to Tenex etc, different story, but the cost is ridiculous. Yes, I know about benchrest competitions, but at 50m, unless you plan to go in full bore ($$$4 time $$$$ ammo $$$$ Rifle) imho it is not worth the extra cost.

at 100m, yes the premium brands hold an advantage, and for rifle silhouette, you need all the edge you can get.
 
One thing I forgot to mention, sometimes the best ammo/ and equipment does not equal success. A lot of the time, it is shooter confidence, and the right match of ammunition to the gun.

Funny story. When shooting Tenex one day, and making a really nice 50m group, a buddy stopped by to give me some 'pointers' I chuckled to myself, and let him try my rifle... BUT I switched ammo to American Eagle .40gn LRN... and did not say a word other than I was shooting killer groups with it.

Long story short, he looked at my groups, and shot very close to them with AE.... then i let him fire a string with Tenex... and told him it was cheap bulk ammo, and he shot like chit@@@

Sometimes it is in our minds :)
 
Yeah Got Juice? It's like you just think to yourself "F it, it's just bulk ammo and not accurate anyway no sense wasting time to pull off the perfect shot". Fiocchi is another brand to try I've only seen one store with one variety of it here though. Where you guys getting the good Eley from? All I can get is the Remington/Eley Target at SAIL. And RWS, I've only seen Club and Target Rifle around.
 
I now use Eley Practise in my Anschutz 54 actioned 22LR, with pretty much the same result as Eley and Lapua ammo at 2-3 x the cost of the Eley Practise. Last 2 bricks of Eley Practise cost me $60 per brick.
 
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