Testing 22 Ammo for Accuracy Again and AGAIN

[Ganderite]

Today was a bit calmer, but still more wind than I like for 100 yard testing a 22. But6, this is the fall, so dead calm days are uncommon.

I took my box of 22 ammo to the range.

This is ammo that costs $8.00 to $12.00

I did not bother testing the $20 or $30 ammo because I would never buy it in volume, anyway. The last time I bought Ely red box, it was about $350 a case of 5000.

I measure the group height, because the gusty wind would have made them a bit wider.

I was told that anything under 2" would be "good enough". That looks achievable for my Norinco 522 topped with a Tasco.

I also tried my cheap 10/22 clone at 100. The pistol ammo is a bit hotter than standard and seemed to work best. Groups were around 3.5"


Each 22 rifle will have a strong preference of what it likes. And it will aslo puke some ammo. It is worthwhile to run a test like this so ammo choice is based on something.

 

[Robert Nicholson]

Nice!

Seeing someone do this kind of thing, inspires me to do the same and thus find the ammo that shoots best in my rifles, rather than just taking whatever is cheapest.

 

[TrxR]

The Federal hv match and sk plus look good.

 

[bearhunter]

The Federal hv match and sk plus look good.

It all looks good.

 

[aakoksal]

Wind effects elevation too, might as well keep that in mind... My Walther GSP Expert shoots smaller than a loonie size group with CCI ammo at 25 meters when benchrested, so an exercise like this applies to the specific firearm they were shot with, so I agree with OPs comment for sure...

 

[RifleDude]

Nice...I do my testing on a 50m indoor range. This way I eliminate the wind effect. I found in my Ruger 1022, Eley Club gave me the best accuracy. CCI Standard Velocity was a close second. Both makes are reasonably priced. 5 Shot groups average around 0.5" with a slight edge to Eley Club in my gun. At 100y, the groups are a little larger and average around 1.25 to 1.5 MOA. Anyway, that's my experience so far. I haven't tried the expensive brands because, like Ganderite, I would not buy them for a run of the mill 1022. My accuracy is good enough for 25y-100y ORPS matches. I'm the weakest link there anyway.

 

[dead meat]

Looking good, haven't done any extensive testing except with the cz455 and 452. Plan on mounting a scope on the Weihrauch HW52 and trying it at 100 yrds.

 

[adamg]

Nice...I do my testing on a 50m indoor range. This way I eliminate the wind effect. I found in my Ruger 1022, Eley Club gave me the best accuracy. CCI Standard Velocity was a close second. Both makes are reasonably priced. 5 Shot groups average around 0.5" with a slight edge to Eley Club in my gun. At 100y, the groups are a little larger and average around 1.25 to 1.5 MOA. Anyway, that's my experience so far. I haven't tried the expensive brands because, like Ganderite, I would not buy them for a run of the mill 1022. My accuracy is good enough for 25y-100y ORPS matches. I'm the weakest link there anyway.

Sadly there are times when the ORPS match designer sees fit to hang a 2" target at 100y, and in those situations those of us with 'regular fancy' ammo are at a definitive disadvantage.

Your group sizes match what I observe when I shoot CCI SV and Eley Club.

 

[Ganderite]

I have an indoor 50 yard range available for testing.

I plan on repeating the test with about half of the ammo types at 50 yards, and will make my final ammo selection on that.

What kind of groups are considered "good" at 100 and 50, with this cheaper flavour of ammo?

And what kind of accuracy should I expect from a 10/22 clone (or a stock 10/22)?

 

[horseman2]

The Federal hv match and sk plus look good.

The one group with Federal HV Match was 5.0" an the second measurement was an obvious error at 0.75".

To call either Federal HV or the standard velocity "Match" is simply false advertising!

Shot off the last of my Eley TENEX last week at 100 yards. The first five measured 0.91 and were high; using the "9" as my second aiming point the five shots measured 0.45.
Shot with the Cooper Montana Varminter off a bipod. The last group of five with CenterX measured 0.90"

 

[bearhunter]

The one group with Federal HV Match was 5.0" an the second measurement was an obvious error at 0.75".

To call either Federal HV or the standard velocity "Match" is simply false advertising!

Shot off the last of my Eley TENEX last week at 100 yards. The first five measured 0.91 and were high; using the "9" as my second aiming point the five shots measured 0.45.
Shot with the Cooper Montana Varminter off a bipod. The last group of five with CenterX measured 0.90"

Some rifles just shoot everything well, centerfire or rimfire. Others have preferences that may only exist with certain lots of ammo or very specific handloads.

If you happen to have such a jewel, keep it for as long as it remains a jewel. I have a half dozen or so such rifles, they will go to my heirs.

I hear stories about such rifles, quite often. If they're off the shelf, factory rifles that is a blessing, like winning the lottery.

A long time back, one of the local gunsmiths/gunshop owners, did me a real favor. Les Viel was his name.

He had just received a shipment of new in box, Remington 700 rifles, all chambered in 308Win. All had iron sights back in those days. He allowed me to take a half dozen of those rifles home, clean them up and take them to the range, with a half dozen different types and weights of ammo. None of them shot well IMHO and I cleaned them up, took them back and declined to purchase any on that basis.

He had another half dozen and allowed me to try them in the same manner, with the caveat that "if you mark any of them up, you buy them."

The second batch was fired with the same batches of a half dozen different brands/weights. One of the six didn't care which type or weight was loaded, it just shot them very well, better than any off the shelf sporter I had used to that point. Another shot some of the ammo well and the rest were mediocre at best but acceptable for most hunting conditions.

I purchased the Remington that shot everything well. I still have that rifle and it has over 5000 rounds down the tube. It's not as accurate as it was new, but it will still shoot everything it's fed well. I often use that rifle for teaching people how to shoot.

I recently purchased a Tikka T1, it loves Aguila. Especially the lubed lead offerings with the "Eley Prime" label in the upper left corner. Under absolute calm conditions, off the bench, on stable fore end rest and rear bag, it will shoot honest 1/2 moa. I shot a grouse with it at 100 yds last Tuesday. This was under field conditions, off a monopod.

Yeah, I know, not a big deal for some here, especially Paul T, whom I saw shoot a small marmot at just over 100 yds with that lovely Tikka T1 he built up. That shot impressed me enough to go out and purchase a new one. To tell the honest truth, I wouldn't have even considered taking a 100 yard shot at a grouse before I had this rifle.

My goto rifle before this, was a lovely Brno #2 because I felt I couldn't find another 22rf that was so dependably accurate, even if it is choosy. Luckily it liked the Aguila ammo I have so much of on hand.

Ganderite, Jim, I had one of those 10/22 clones and couldn't get it to shoot anything nearly as well as what your pics show. I've had off the shelf Ruger 10/22 rifles, with wood/plastic stocks that I couldn't get to shoot well either. Maybe I just didn't like the aluminum receivers??

I've had the Norinco Brno clones and they were OK but nothing special.

I haven't shot competition, other than friendly matches in years. Work, time, interest kept getting in the way. That hasn't diminished my interest or enthusiasm for shooting, hunting, building what I want to try out one bit. Much like yourself but without as much energy.

 

[grauhanen]

The one group with Federal HV Match was 5.0" an the second measurement was an obvious error at 0.75".

The group sizes in the OP's photos are only for the vertical size of the group. He didn't count the horizontal on account of wind.

In general, it's important to note that when shooting a relatively small number of groups with a given ammo, the results are not reliable enough to draw conclusions about how the ammo performs. With modestly priced ammo this is especially true the further out the target is because such ammo often has a wide ES. Chance can produce a single good group or a very bad one. Whether at 50 or 100 yards, ammo testing conclusions should be based on as much information as possible.

 

[horseman2]

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

That 0.75" remains a figment of someone's imagination.

This would be a little like picking the best five shots from a ten shot group and saying my rifle really likes Federal HV Match.

 

[pauls]

I'll echo what's being said above.
Just recently started playing with 22lr long distance.

Some of the ammo that was producing 1/2"-ish groups at 50m and within 1.5MOA at 100m was not trending the same at 300m
as an example I'd get a 4 shot group within about 5" and the fifth would be 30" low.

Out of curiosity I weighed a few boxes.
For one brand, the majority hovered around the same weight of 51 grains, but I had a spread from 50.4 to 51.6 grains.
Haven't had a chance to put the different weights over a chrono and see if there is any correlation between weight and speed, but will be doing this test for the brands/lots that seem to work best in my rifle to see if there is any way I can tighten things up a bit.

I've read opinions going both ways regarding validity of weight and rim thickness sorting, but there's nothing like some first hand experience.
Plus its another excuse to get to the range and do a bit of shooting.

edit:
There are a few interesting posts on the sniper's hide rimfire forum where guys are shooting a full box's 50 rounds in one continuous group/one target and at various distances.
Disregarding any horizontal, its interesting to see the vertical spread of all the different brands of ammo.
Its also very frustrating to know that while you may be doing everything correctly, there's a chance your ammo will let you down and you'll miss.

 

[Ganderite]

The group sizes in the OP's photos are only for the vertical size of the group. He didn't count the horizontal on account of wind.

In general, it's important to note that when shooting a relatively small number of groups with a given ammo, the results are not reliable enough to draw conclusions about how the ammo performs. With modestly priced ammo this is especially true the further out the target is because such ammo often has a wide ES. Chance can produce a single good group or a very bad one. Whether at 50 or 100 yards, ammo testing conclusions should be based on as much information as possible.

Yes, very true. ideally I would shoot 5 groups of 10 shots each. The entire box of ammo. But time does not permit. But I am going to the range to do the same ammo test for the third time. It might be indoors at 50 yards - no wind.

So far, the Olin-DND and the SK Plus (yellow) seem to be the best.

 

[Ganderite]

OK. Shot the entire batch of 2 ammo again. Outdoors, 50 yards, light wind.

Rifle is a Norinco NS 522 topped with a Tasco 24X scope. Bipod with a bean bag under the butt.

It once again shot the SK Plus (yellow) the best. This is 3 times in a row it did this, so I will take that as a clear winner. Now I know what to buy. Good news is that this is not expensive ammo.

Second best was Ely Club.

Third was Aguila Rifle Match, then Federal HiVel Match, CCVI Stnd and RWS Pistol.

The good ammo was around a half inch at 50 yards.

I also tested my 10-22 clone. The best group (Aguila Target Competition) was 1.5" and most were just under 2". A number of the "Pistol" loads shot well.

At the end of the test I slipped a piece of ammo box cardboard under the barrel to make a pressure pad. That last group was the best. Next time out I will try some other makes of ammo to see if they are better or worse with the barrel not floating.