Pick 3 .22LR cartridges for me please

grimreefer

grimreefer

Regular
Rating - 100%
50   0   0
Location
Vancouver Island
Hey guys, so it's almost PAL time. I have purchased a Walther PPQ 5" .22lr which is currently living at my LGS, and I'm looking at a 10/22 takedown. I understand the finickiness of .22 caliber firearms and ammo choice. I'd like to ultimately find something relatively cheap, reasonably consistent/accurate, clean, and easy to find at my LGS. Hope that's not asking too much. :)

So if you were to pick 3 types of ammunition for me to try first, what would they be?
 
Every firearm is unique because of the different combinations of tolerances of each part. Each one will like a different type of ammo the best.

A general rule of thumb is that anything made by Winchester is garbage and anything made by CCI is solid. Blazer is made by CCI and is probably the closest thing to "bulk" CCI ammo.

Not every LGS will have any given brand / type of 22LR at any given time.
 
Cant say for the PPQ, but CCI Mini-mags will keep the 10/22 happy, stay away from Remington bucket of bullets, thunderbolt and golden duds. I've had cycling issues with them in 10/22s.
 
Mini Mags are the best I've ever used but not the cheapest

I've had zero problems in any of my 22 rifles or handguns with CCI Blazers but they do have quite a bit of wax on them so guns that don't like wax might not like them.

I'm going to try some CCI quiets this weekend, I'm hoping they give me good groups in my bolt rifles, probably wouldn't cycle the semis well though
 
Ideally, you can buy a box or 2 of each one that's available, then test them and go back and buy what works.
That doesn't always work nowadays.
Personally, I have had poor performance from Federal Blue box bulk in 10/22's as it didn't feed well at all, so I wouldn't bother with that for a 10/22. Performs poorly for gophers too. Winchester 333 and 555 is fairly decent for bulk ammo.
Blazer are also relatively decent. And of course CCI mini mags.
 
I think Winchester .22 LR ammo has a bad rap. It functions fine in my semi rifles (for bulk ammo), and its the most accurate (bulk) ammo through my .22 revolver.

My order of preference: CCI Mini-mags, Winchester M-22, 555, 333, Dynapoint, Blazer (hasn't been around lately), Federal "blue box" (haven't seen it in forever, Auto-match is garbage), then Remington Golden Bullets and Thunderbolts (garbage).

This is just my experience, yours may very. See what is available to you and test it. Every gun is different, you have to find out what it likes. 10/22s can be picky.
 
Last edited:
1 mini mags ( kind of pricy)
2 blazers - functions well , accuracy is good without going to high priced match ammo, runs relatively clean, price is reasonable. This is probably the best choice but is hard to find in stock.
3 American eagle 40 grain solid point. Seems to run decent for me, get the occasional jam but not too bad. seems to be readily available.

Just my opinion based on my own usage.
 
hunting or paper has to play a factor as well. for hunting mini mags are the best for me. federal 525 bulk is the best cheaper alternative (still a 36 gr hollow point, kills good)
for paper, it is a game of testing for sure, there is no real all around winner, but expect to pay more for better results.
 
Cci mini mags. M22 .wildcats. seem to be my go to ,in a pinch bulk 555 Winchester. Never again Peters , remington thunder bolt or golden bullets. Have found in my experience tons of failure to fire. And it wasn't a dirty firearm.
 
Don't matter for handguns. Anything that cycles. Not like a scoped rifles where real accuracy matters. You'll never hold the pistol steady enough to matter unless its a real expensive target pistol.
 
I would buy pretty much whatever you can find locally in quantity at the best price. Remington Thunderbolts would be about all I would completely shun.
 
Why a 10-22 takedown? unless you have a real need for a TD!
They are finicky and probably not the best for a beginner.
MiniMags, Blazers and American Eagle (the last two in the economy class).
Function, reliability, fail to fire and fail to eject and accuracy are all considerations.
But one box of each for each and test in a deliberate fire mode.
 
My first preference is for CCI. Blazer works very nicely in all my semi auto guns and the SV (Standard Velocity) gives a bit better accuracy in some of the bolt and single shot rifles. Next down on my list is Federal. Then American Eagle. Then WInchester. A very distant final option is Remington.

Recently we've seen a lot of Aguila around here. It's proving to be darn fine ammo in both the SV and HV options. I would not pass it up if you find it and I'd put it in the upper half of the options.

One thing I will suggest is to stick to regular round nose ammo. Hollow point rimfire ammo often tends to have a quite squared off nose to the bullet. And some semi auto guns can have problems with this shape. My 10-22 doesn't mind it but a few of my semi auto handguns choke on the shape. Your Walther might be one of those. So it's easier to just avoid the question by sticking with round nose ammo.
 
I've never been a fan of Thunderbolts either.
But,...my kid's GSG-1911 jams with Blazers, Vipers and Remington Goldens, while it chews through Thunderbolts by the hundreds with nary a hitch.
(No Mini-Mags tried. I've been clutching them like Gollum with his ring. They're "Preciousss".)
 
grimreefer said:
Hey guys, so it's almost PAL time. I have purchased a Walther PPQ 5" .22lr which is currently living at my LGS, and I'm looking at a 10/22 takedown. I understand the finickiness of .22 caliber firearms and ammo choice. I'd like to ultimately find something relatively cheap, reasonably consistent/accurate, clean, and easy to find at my LGS. Hope that's not asking too much. :)

So if you were to pick 3 types of ammunition for me to try first, what would they be?
Click to expand...


Its a Ruger 10/22...go get some AE Hollow Points and go get them gophers.
Easy.
Rob
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom