Somebody please make some .22WMR that groups UNDER 1 MOA.

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The biggest issue with the .22mag is the bullets.

Agreed. It's the bullets. :(

Pull some factory bullets and replace them with 40 grain V max spire point.

My guess is because 22 mag isn't a big seller these days the manufacturers are using garbage bullets.

Someone should make a nice quite little 22 CF cartridge that can use a 40 grain bullet. Oh wait, they already did. 221 Remington Fireball.
 
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Agreed. It's the bullets. :(

Pull some factory bullets and replace them with 40 grain V max spire point.

My guess is because 22 mag isn't a big seller these days the manufacturers are using garbage bullets.

Someone should make a nice quite little 22 CF cartridge that can use a 40 grain bullet. Oh wait, they already did. 221 Remington Fireball.
Try .22 Hornet.
 
Interesting thread. I have a Marlin XT-22 Mag that I want to take to Pennsylvania for groundhog hunting (rimfire only in Chester Co.). I have four different brands and weights of ammo that I'm going to use. Heading to the range in the morning, to see what groups the best.

1. Hornady 30 GR. V-Max
2. CCI 30 GR. TNT
3. CCI 35 GR. A22
4. Win 40 GR. Super X

All will be shot at 100 yards, bore rope cleaned before changing ammo.

I will post results tomorrow evening.
 
View attachment 798437 View attachment 798436 View attachment 798435 View attachment 798435 Finally found the ammo under my reloading bench in a metal 30 caliber can. I do believe the lot number was 757 or 0 29465 05604 9, BTW they were Federal 50 grain jacketed hollow points. It's been a few years, but I distinctly remember entering a contest where the contestants were all shooting .22WMR's to determine the accuracy of the .22WMR rifle. We had to shoot 6 different targets 5 rounds on each, on the same sheet of paper at 100 yards to determine the best group, I do believe my worst was .75 and my best was at .333" . I do believe I allowed at least 10 minutes for cooling before each string and allowed about a minute to 90 seconds before squeezing off the next round.. BTW my rifle was a Savage Model 93FXSS.22WMR. see the photo directly below. BTW .333 was the smallest recorded that day, and I won a hard case rifle case for y efforts.
That's the best .22 WMR shooting I've every heard about. Congratulations!
 
The only reason I bought a .22 WMR rifle is that they hit much harder than the .22LR. If a round misses a perfect shot by a half-inch at 100 yards it will still kill a critter better than the .22 LR. I'm pretty satisfied with some of the ammo I have and don't want to take "extraordinary" methods to modify ammo for better accuracy.

If it takes pulling bullets, replacing them with Sierra bullets, I'd just use my .223 with handloads. I have three of those that group better than 1/2 MOA out to 200 yards! This morning, two of them made 1/4", 3-shot groups at 100 yards.

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My Rem 700 LVSS.
 
My old CZ611 is mostly MOA with Wincherster Supreme 30gr, as is a friends Browning TBolt. I always figured that when one of those two grouped a little larger it was me losing focus on technique. Nice to know that i can now blame the ammo!

To me, more than most other cartridges, rimfires seem to be picky about the firearms they like, and since most 22WMRs are hunting arms rather than target arms, I'm happy if one will keep 2MOA (all hits in a string of fire landing no more than an inch from POA). YMMV.
 
Guys, I made to the range this afternoon. The winds were swirling, but I decided to give it a go. The Marlin XT-22 was tested at 100 yards, using a bipod and rear bag. As you can see by the results, I may as well just shot off hand.

22Mag 8-6.JPG

Looks like the Win Super X, 40 GR., came out on top. My guess it's the weight, bucking the wind today. I will be heading out again, next week to shoot the Hornady V-Max's again (I ordered 2, 200 rd boxes from Midway). I will start at 75 yards.
 
I think a lot of it is ammo....we don't see a great selection on "target" 22mag ammo.....It really is just not there. Being minute of tree rat was always seen as just good enough. I have two rifles and they are really about the same, I do enjoy them, but never expect much from them.
 
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I got "lucky" this morning at the range. Got a 5-shot group at 100 yards that was .5" horizontal by 0.7" vertical. I was using Hornady plastic-tipped ammo. That's the best ever group from that rifle at that distance. The Winchester ammo I just bought 5 boxes of, because it shot so well, didn't.

(Sorry, didn't have time to post this group when I wrote the post yesterday. Had a luncheon meeting in another town and had to get going, then take a grandson driving, practicing for his license test.) JP
 
My Ruger American shoots real well but I don't have a recent targets and can't quantify how it shoots. Any varmints within 75 yards are toast though.
 
I have an old Mossberg chuckster rock chuck rifle that is an absolute tack driver. 24” barrel .22 mag. No targets but do have this pic of 3 turkeys I took several years ago, all with head shots at 40,50,60 yards as they trotted away from me. This thread made me think about the old girl, she hasn’t seen daylight in 3-4 years. The gun was made back in the 60’s.
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My 77/22 all weather prefers Remington Premier. By a large margin over every other round I've tried.
 
The only reason I bought a .22 WMR rifle is that they hit much harder than the .22LR. If a round misses a perfect shot by a half-inch at 100 yards it will still kill a critter better than the .22 LR. I'm pretty satisfied with some of the ammo I have and don't want to take "extraordinary" methods to modify ammo for better accuracy.

If it takes pulling bullets, replacing them with Sierra bullets, I'd just use my .223 with handloads. I have three of those that group better than 1/2 MOA out to 200 yards! This morning, two of them made 1/4", 3-shot groups at 100 yards.

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My Rem 700 LVSS.

That is a beautiful rifle. Who knew back when Remington brought out the clunky, old, Nylon 66 that it would lead to this? I have no use for a rifle, but I am seriously jelly over that one.
 
I too have an old Mossberg. It shoots the CCI mag 40 gr hp. consistently 3/4" at 100 yds. (3 shot groups) I have tried other ammo without the results so I stocked up on the CCI of that same lot. The only drawback is the long barrel and weight. also, I had to use offset rings to get the scope back far enough. I almost never shoot at anything at 100 yds but it has the potential. I have used the CZ 22lr in competition> It was very accurate for factory but a bugger to glass bed. I had the CZ American and it took several tries to get it right
 
I need to add the mag. packs a wallop. I shoot armidillos with it because my 22lr is not effective at 50 yds. and over.
 
I don't know why I have a love affair with the 22 magnum, but I do. I have three 22 magnums. I have a Ruger American Predator that I haven't shot much yet. I haven't found the best ammo for it. I have a 77/22 magnum that is scary accurate with 50 grain Federal JHP. I also have an old Ruger 10/22 magnum that spent 3 days in a salt water and mud filled safe following Hurricane Katrina. It will shoot under MOA with 30 grain plastic tip bullets. And that is with a trigger that probably breaks at 9-10 pounds.

I could buy 5 different brands of 17 HM2 and 17 HMR ammo and my rifles would probably give MOA results with every one of them. I could buy 10 different brands of ammo for my 22LRs and get maybe 3 or 4 that would give me MOA. I could buy 10 different brands of 22 magnum ammo and probably find one that will give MOA. I think most 22 magnums will give MOA if you test enough different loads.

I am surprised that nobody has developed "match" 22 magnum ammo. I think there is enough demand to warrant it.
 
The big problem with WMR and .17 HMR is that various batches of a particular manufacturer shoot differently. I tested one batch of Hornady and it shot great, but the next order was a different batch and didn't shoot anywhere near as well as the previous batch.

This problem is common with rimfire ammo, even .22LR match ammo. When we used to shoot 50 yard, Rimfire Benchrest, we tested various batches/brands of ammo until we found the one that shot best in a particular rifle, then order as many bricks as we could afford. Sometimes the source was out when we tried to order it. Once, I selected about 6 "test" boxes of as many lot numbers and when I tried to order any of them the source was OUT! That's about the time I decided to get out of the sport.
 
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