Good CONSISTENT .22 ammo?

BCRider

BCRider

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I've been shooting quite a bit of rimfire handgun for the last few months and recently got my first .22 rifle that I'm mounting a scope onto for the coming season's steel silhouette shooting.

Something I've noticed from my pistol shooting is that a lot of the brands of budget price ammo lack consistency in power. And I'm not talking about just a little bit. I'm talking serious differences in power felt in the hand and that makes a semi auto rimfire pistol suffer lots of ejection and reload problems. Now while I'm more or less willing to live with a jam every few rounds when handgun plinking (it's good jam clearing practice :D) I'm not going to enjoy the change in ballistics when I start doing the longer distance stuff and look for that one shot knockdown.

Ammo I've tried so far includes;

  • CCI Standard Velocity - so far the best for consistenty by far. It's pretty much 99.9% reliable in the semis I've used it in. Doesn't seem to be all that common to find in stores though but I can get it through one outlet for $35/500.
  • Winchester Wildcat - Semi reliable. One pistol hates it and the other thrives on it. But there's noticable power variations when shooting. From that I don't see it as a good rifle ammo.
  • Remington HV Non plated bullets AE5022 - This was the cheap Remy HV stuff. Horribly inconsistent. I'm not even trying to use it in my semis now and I'm slowly burning it through my .22 revolver. Massive shot to shot fluctuations.
  • Blazer - Who doesn't like Blazer for the price and power, eh? :D One pistol loves it and does respectably with it but I can get tighter groups consistently with some other varieties of ammo. It's seems quite consistent but for whatever reason the groups are not as tight.

I've also tried out about 6 other types but not enough of it to draw any firm conclusions.

So right now the CCI SV is high on my list but I'm wondering if there's any other options that is lower to mid priced that I'm missing.
 
Most .22 ammo is made in bulk so you'll get small variances. For the really good stuff start looking at match ammo like Lapua or Eley or one of the other match grade rounds. Bulk packs are great and will give you hours of fun and 1"groups@ 25-50 meters all day for about 15$ per 500. You'll pay more for match grade (around 10-15$ per 100) but its made to tighter tolerances.
 
It pays to buy a good quality ammo. This is available without breaking the bank. Lapua Super Club, RWS target, Eley Sport or Practice all work very well, and are very consistent. CCI standard velocity is quite decent, and T22 Winchester can be OK in most lots. I shoot a bit of Blazer in non-target rimfires, and it works good in most. Of course, 22's are ammo fussy, and what works in one may not necessarily work in another. Regards, Eagleye.
 
As far as non-match ammo, I've found Winchester Power-Points to be accurate and powerful. All the semi-autos in the house love them and they do a number on gophers. The best thing is that Walmart usually has them in stock so i can go buy more after dark or on Sundays
 
American eagel .38gr in the 400rnd bricks, Federal Champion in the 525 rnd bricks and if you really want to "pip the ace" Lapula super club.

I shoot this stuff almost exclusivley in my 3-10/22's, Buckmark rifle and pistol, Gevarm E-1, Coey 64-B and in my Savage MKII.
 
WOW! My most respones to any thread I've started so far. Did I ever hit a nerve! :D

Thanks all for the input so far. And I made a mistake in my first post. The Remington is actually supposed to be American Eagle. The bottom of the line stuff is terrible. At least the box I got is. I've shot some of my buddy's ammo which is the copper plated AE22 American Eagle and it didn't have the same troubles at all. So like anything product lines vary and quality comes at a cost.

I'll pick up some boxes of 50 or 100 of the suggestions and try them out. the goal being to find one or two varieties that work well in the whole lineup and then buy about 5K.

Keep the suggestions coming.
 
I like Winchester 333 and Dynapoint. They're inexpensive and copper plated. I can get dime-sized groups out of my tricked out 10/22 at 50 yards and reliable functioning with my S&W Model 41 with either.
 
tjhaile said:
I like Winchester 333 and Dynapoint. They're inexpensive and copper plated. I can get dime-sized groups out of my tricked out 10/22 at 50 yards and reliable functioning with my S&W Model 41 with either.
Click to expand...


x2 on both the Dynapoint and 333s. I posted a thread earlier stating these two were my most reliable bulk .22 ammo to date.
 
BCRider
Having shot SB silhouette for several years, the distant targets are the most challenging and demanding on ammo and shooter capability. Do your group testing at 100m. I have shot a lot of CCI Standard and found that in more recent production there were greater variances in consistency. If you plan on a lot of silo shooting you will find the standard/target grades of ammo to be better in the wind than high velocity ammo. I am now using Lapua/SK ammo(various grades) for very good results
in both silo and 100m bullseye. Eley make some fine stuff too. Try various and see which your rifle digests best.
 
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