Trying different ammo for my Cz452 22LR

Grizzlypeg

Grizzlypeg

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Was getting my CZ452 American ready for shooting gophers last weekend. Wanted to make sure it was still on target.

Did some shooting with Federal bulk 36gr ammo, and man was I getting some poor groups at 50 yard.

Got home, cleaned the gun. Then looking at my ammo shelf, remembered that my gun prefers American Eagle 36gr.

So, went to the range this morning, and brought with me some Eley, Remington Target, American Eagle 36 and Federal 36 gr. Started with the Federal, and it shot like crap. Too bad, its half decent in my 10/22 heavy barrel. Shot two groups with the American Eagle, and it was just like I remembered it. No more flyers, decently tight group. Shot some Eley, and it shot pretty good, but that stuff is too expensive for gophers. Tried the Remington Target, and I was surprised that it shot to the same point of impact at 50 yards as the American Eagle, most shot pretty tight, but it had the odd flyer. Switched back to the American Eagle for a few more groups, no flyers, decent tight group. I guess that's my ammo.

I am too cheap to try CCI mini mags at $11 a box, even though I hear they shoot real well. AE is good enough. It's not going to keep them all in the 10's, but there is no excuse for missing a gopher at 75 yards or less.
 
Could always try the tried and true CCI Standard Velocity. Or Aguila if you haven't already. (They go for about $7-$9 a box). The high velocity stuff tends to open up a little the further out you go in my experience. Having said that, you could always try some CCI Stingers if you want to put the hurt on them. $8.99 at Cabelas. Or try Winchester M22? It's bulk but it's not the worst I've ever used.
 
Grizzlypeg did say he was getting it ready for gophers, and while I'm sure a couple of gophers have fallen to the ol' round nose over the last century, the new fangled "holler points" are where it's at!

My go-to for gophers and my 452 Varmint is CCI Subsonic HP, followed by CCI MiniMags or American Eagle HP's. I prefer the Subsonic HP's though, they have a very large, open cavity at the front of the bullet which provides excellent on-game performance, in my experience. It's also quiet-ish, so when you take a shot if there are other gophers nearby they may not scatter as quickly / at all.
 
I have a 452 ultra lux in a very fancy piece of walnut; and a 455 military trainer in Beech. Federal Champion and Automatch were both poor shooters in these rifles, CCI STD Vel. was not much better; surprisingly (for me) mini-mag shot consistently well in both as did stinger. I have yet to see how they shoot out at 100 yards. Too many flyers with low cost ammo due to inconsistent charges, sizing and seating.

BTW, Federal Automatch was my go to ammo for my high standard pistol; the last box I bought was crap; 1-2 misfires in every 10 round mag. I had to switch ammo at a competition last week, and went to the only other stuff I had in the ammo box at the time; hollow point mini-mags. No more misfires, and it shot fairly well. I need to do some testing with it.
 
For bulk, Winchester DynaPoints always grouped well in my 452FS.
I’ve never hunted with it ,but supposed to be a decent hunting projectile.
I can’t find it anymore so I’m using the tried and true CCI SV 40 gr.
 
Federal Value Pack Champion in the bulk boxes of 525 shoots half decent in my heavy barrel 10/22, but it shoots like crap in my CZ452. Or so I think. Paper is a lot more demanding than steel. I mostly just shoot steel swinging targets with the 10/22, so who knows whether its actually printing decently or not. It cycles really well in the 10/22 and is cheap, so that's why I have about 20 boxes of it on my shelf. It hits a swinging pop up every time at 50 yards, and most of the time at 100 yards. That's good enough for having some fun at the range.
 
RWS Pistol Match was one of the most accurate in my 452. Not the fastest, but very accurate and not too expensive.

I tend to favor Eley Force for long range (inside 300 yards) in variable conditions, but in a steady wind or no wind, I go with RWS Pistol Match.
 
You could do worse than follow the advise a young salesman at a LGS gave me yesterday. When I saw that the shop still had some Eley Biathlon Match ammo left over out of the various flavours of Eley they brought in two years ago, I asked the fellow how much the Eley ammo cost. He told me ($27/box). He immediately grabbed a box of another make of ammo and said "This is a good substitute." I couldn't see what he now had in his hand as his back was to me so I asked what he was referring to. "These are really accurate," he said, turning. "They're CCI Minimags." As I said, you could do worse.
 
Blazer shoot really tight in my Tikka T1 with the AE solids in a respectable second. I’m glad for that because I have lots. I have different types CCI that I have to try yet.
In my CZ 452 the AE solids then the Hollow Points with the Blazer in third. CCI Stingers didn’t do well at all.
 
My 09 cz 452 varmint shoots cci blazer into a puny little hole at 50 like 1/4” or better. Been a few years now that I haven’t had cci blazer for such a long time.
 
I have a CZ 455 and have fired a variety of 22 LR at 50 and 100 yards. If you want to shoot 1 inch groups at 100 yards, a subsonic round like CCI standard velocity is required. Another great round is the SKS Lapua rifle (as opposed to pistol).

For 100 yards, a supersonic round will start out with a shock wave and slow down. If it slows down to under the speed of sound, there will be a small transition "burble" that could upset the rest of the trajectory by enough to get you out of the 1 inch circle.

If you are shooting at 50 yards, a supersonic round will likely stay supersonic out to the target and not have the transition burble.

Other effects include the vibration in the barrel of the gun before the projectile exits the muzzle. If the barrel has a deflection of the muzzle right at the time of bullet exit, then you could be off. In that case, feed the gun what it likes.

Also, CCI and Lapua and Ely have much better round to round velocity consistency due to accurate powder control during manufacture.
 
Ok, sounds like I should try CCI Blazer and AE solids and see if I can improve on the AE hollow points. I'm going for the best of the cheap.
 
Can confirm the Federal 36gn HP shot abysmally from my 452. In the realm of bulk ammunition, I've not found anything that matches the performance of Winchester Dynapoint, YMMV.

I thought I had something with Blazer (CCI production) but it's very inconsistent. I fired one sub 0.5" group (5 @ 50m) and got really excited but the full box average was 0.882", which is obviously skewed by the one excellent group if you were to look at my targets. I don't have the targets to refer to but if memory serves, Dynapoints were coming in at around 0.75" average and used to be less expensive than Blazer.

Maybe consider one of the HP tools that are available and simply reform the nose of whatever shoots best from your setup.
 
If you like the AE copper plated hollow points, try the bulk Federal automatch. In my marlin xt22 they shoot the same poa/poi pretty much, I can snitch between the two and not have to zero in. I hunt rabbits with the AE and can plink with the automatch and not adjust my scope. Mini mags shoot better for me than both AE & the automatch.
 
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