Yah, I tend to agree that the newer pistols are pretty reliable.
I don't normally use Stingers (32 gr. HP, 1640 ft./sec muzzle velocity... from a rifle anyway) as I tend to see it as a bit of overkill for target usage. They also cost a bit too much to shoot a lot of them at paper targets, considering that the next couple of rounds down the CCI list (Velocitor and Mini-mag) work just as well.
http://www.cci-ammunition.com/ballistics/rimfire.aspx
Mini-mags (36 gr. in HP, 40 gr. in round nose, 1260 ft./sec muzzle velocity) and Velocitor (40 gr. HP, 1435 ft./sec muzzle velocity) both work well... and the smooth copper-plated bullet is probably at least half of what makes these rounds work so well with the gun. Velocitor is available only in hollow point, but I find that Mini-mag works exatly the same HP or not. Here in Vancouver, all I have been able to find for Mini-mags in the last 6 months has been the HP variety.
I find that "CCI Standard Veolcity" (40 gr. lead round nose, 1070 ft./sec muzzle velocity) is a good cartridge. Two of the range officers at my range always preach the use of this round for auto-pistols. their view is that it gets up to velocity faster, so it works better in a handgun... which has somewhere between 1/4 to 1/6 the barrel length of a .22LR rifle. I've had a lot better results with this cartridge than with some of the other cheap stuff available from Remmington and Federal/American Eagle. I've been buying these lately to go along with my Mini-mags, just so I have some cheaper rounds to blast away with.
There was a CCI "Blazer" round that was a 40 gr. lead bullet that went at about 1200 ft/sec., but I haven't seen that around since last spring. i don't see it on the CCI website either. That's another one that works pretty well. maybe a little less reliable than the "Standard Velocity" rounds. I find it to be about the same as the Remington "Thunderbolt".
I find Remington "Gameloads" (a kind of cheap hollow-point) to be an inferior cartridge. I've gotten quite a few "fail to fires" with these, and also had them getting stuck in the chamber so that you had to bump them back out by sticking a cleaning rod down the barrel. I think this is basically a case of just cheap ammo or a bad load ammo with some crap primers. I've had the same kind of results (off and on) with the various kinds of American Eagle and Federal rounds.
I've had a few stove pipes and stuff that like as well.
Anyway.... I agree with you that the "ammo picky" situation with the new versions of this pistol are not as bad as some people think. I've never really heard of anyone running an IPSC-style competition with .22LR pistols, so... so what if you have to knock a 3 cent round out of the chamber with a cleaning rod? Does that ruin your day? I don't mind it. And if you want to avoid that problem all together, just buy some 7 cent copper-plated Mini-mags. I don't ever remember having a problem with a single one of those rounds.
) I might be picking that one up myself!
