22 LR ammo observation

[Waveski]

I picked up a 550 round brick of Federal from wally world yesterday. We'll see how that works next.

That product and package is on my list of .22 which I will not buy regardless of how low the price. The OP keeps going from one brick to another. Someone said , earlier in this thread , Life is too short for cheap .22 ammo. I arrived at the same conclusion a while back. If I all I had were revolvers , that would be another story. Once I settled on CCI MiniMags - which cycles .22 pistols very reliably in my experience - I also grew intolerant of the jumbled mess of a brick.

I recently came upon a deal for 5,000 rounds of CCI High Velocity .22 for $250. (That would come to $2.50/ box of 50...) I plan to shoot up all my bulk stuff in the short term and then shoot only the quality .22 in my retirement.

Life is to short for stovepipes.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I picked up a 550 round brick of Federal from wally world yesterday. We'll see how that works next.

Unless it has changed, you should have no problems. Pre-Sandy Hook, I was buying bulk 36 gr plated Federal by the case to shoot out of my 10" Rugers. The boxes were sometimes 550, sometimes 525, and sometimes 325 round count. The two load numbers were either 725 or 745. They show the same specs on the box for each....Regardless....I have shot thousands and thousands out of my Ruger pistols with no complaints.



I have several Ruger MKs. I learned a long time ago that many stoppages can be attributed to oil trapping fouling and gumming up the works. I no longer oil them. I use a dry lube. Right now I am using Hornady One Shot Case Lube. All I do is lightly spray the bolt. My guns go usually at least 1k rounds or so before a hiccup. Then, I just brush out the chamber area and go back to shooting.

If I get a MK that starts having a lot of misfires. The first place I look for a mechanical problem is the firing pin rebound spring.

 

[BigDog1955]

Sis Up your quality on ammo and U will not believe the difference. Try some 6 cent GECO Long Rifle Match, or some 9 cent SK Standard. Your groups will decrease in half I have been testing 23 different types to find ONE good reasonable priced round for my CZ 452 rifle.

GECO is ahead right now, I shoot thru a chronograph so I can tell why I have a flyer or large groups by the data on the G2 chronograph.
Another one to look at is the Federal 711B 7.8 cents / round. My S&W MP22 shots everything, over 5000 rounds and Never missed fired and I have shot everything in bulk ammo. Keep your pistol Clean. Good luck

 

[rpenmanparker]

I just got 2,500 Aguila .22LR SV SP from Brownell’s for just under $100 delivered. That’s not quite as good as the Federal deal that Academy had recently, but close.

 

[Texas10mm]

I've got over a baker's dozen of autoloading .22 LR firearms. The gold standard for me is CCI Mini Mags. If the gun doesn't function with those it's a gun problem. The CCI standard velocity works in all of them too. The worst ammo I've ever used is the Remington Golden Bullet rounds from the 525 packs. After that comes all the rest of the bulk pack ammo.

The problem with the bulk pack stuff it is's easier for the priming compound to get knocked out of the rim.

I stocked up on a bunch of the Aguila standard velocity stuff as it was on sale and runs in all my suppressor hosts.

I'm sitting on between 45k and 50k of .22 ammo right now. I used to shoot around 1k rounds per month. But since I started bullet casting I've switched over to more centerfire ammo. .45 ACP is running me right at $0.052 per round, 9mm is running $0.045 per round and 10mm is about $0.07 per round. Similar savings on .38/.357 and.44 Mag. The .44 Mag is the most expensive to reload for at around $0.12 a round.

I picked up one of the new Ruger pistol caliber carbines and have been having a ton of fun with that. It's like a 10/22 for grownups. It's not quite as accurate, though I haven't shot it with a scope yet, but it makes a bigger hole.

Two Browning Buckmark pistols, one each of the 10" barrel models
Ciener conversion on a Colt frame
Three Ruger 10/22 rifles spanning 35 years of production
Three Ruger Mk III 22/45 pistols
Five Ruger Mk II pistols

The bolt and pump rifles will eat anything as will the .22 revolvers.

 

[Sappyg2.0]

Recently I've shot blazer, mini mags, CCI standard, federal auto match, and Aguila HV in my revolver. Some observations:

Aquila had 2 FTF. All others were excellent. I did notice that powder burn at the end of the cylinder was much easier the clean using the federal auto match compaired to the others. I dont know why but it is the case the cleaning was easier.

 

[bbqreloader]

After buying 5 boxes of different brands the 10/22 ended up liking CCI 40gr standard velocity, Winchester Super X, Remington Golden Bullet and even Thunderbolt. Had numerous FTF with the Aguila, can't remember what the other one was, didnt work too bad, but wasnt pleased with it.

 

[Deus Machina]

It's usually safe to assume that CCI standard and minimags will function just about everything. I've never had a problem, and they definitely function the best in my guns. Unfortunately they're not the most accurate from mine like they are for a lot of people.
My go-to had been the bulk red-box Federal. In my guns, as accurate as minimags and they function almost as well with only one or two failures in a box. Pretty good for bulk stuff.
I remember Aguila being waxy, even thickly so around the case rim in a few cases. Can't confirm with all of them or recently; the only way to get Aguila local is gun shows.

 

[FL-NC]

Update- I'm almost finished with the brick of Remington, and have had great luck with it. Yes, I know the CCI stuff is better, but I'm not willing to pay that kind of $ for ammo to blaze through at the rate of one brick every 5-6 weeks or so. When I finish with the next brick (Federal) I will determine if it is worth continuing to use. As for the winchester garbage, the bad news is that I have several thousand rounds of it, so I will be stuck with expending it (while moving forward buying either the Remington or Federal). I can say that there will be no future purchases of the winchester ammo.

 

[BigDog1955]

used some Eley Target, at 5 cents, and had good luck, stay away from everything not made in Germany, and u will have good luck. just what I have found lately.

 

[MidRoad]

I got a box of Winchester 22 ammo for Christmas . Took out my ria xt22 and had all sorts of issues. Definitely didn't have enough oomph to push the slide back fast enough, kept getting rounds stuck between the slide and barrel, or failure to fires. Did the same to my dad's sig misquito. Some off the bullets actually would fall out of the case when you picked them up out of the box,idk if it was a bad lot or what,but it was garbage. Cci"s and the RIA ran flawless.

 

[FL-NC]

I finished the Remington brick today- 3 malfunctions out of the whole brick of 500. I will be using the Federals next.

 

[greyling22]

I have a paclite upper on a ruger mkii. has a tight chamber. it hated remington golden bullet. didn't have any problems with remington thunderbolt. I recently cracked open a box of winchester 333, and thus far I'm having a lot of problems. The giant hollowpoint is catching the top of the chamber mouth and causing stoppages. Seems to have more recoil than thunderbolt and golden bullet and I get some supersonic cracks out of the suppressor that I never got before. Anybody want to trade :/

 

[FL-NC]

I have a paclite upper on a ruger mkii. has a tight chamber. it hated remington golden bullet. didn't have any problems with remington thunderbolt. I recently cracked open a box of winchester 333, and thus far I'm having a lot of problems. The giant hollowpoint is catching the top of the chamber mouth and causing stoppages. Seems to have more recoil than thunderbolt and golden bullet and I get some supersonic cracks out of the suppressor that I never got before. Anybody want to trade :/

Yep, and like a dummy I bought several thousand rounds of this winchester garbage before testing it.

 

[BigDog1955]

I'm thru 19 types of .22 LR, I have 7 left to shoot, shooting thru my G2 off my Lead Sled, and still looking for that just right group/price for my CZ 452 American. I have shot all of these at 50 yards using my Weaver Grand Slam 5x29x50mm EBX Varmint scope. .22 LR costs ranges from 3 to 13.6 cents per round. I shoot one group of ten and then two groups of 20 per type. So far I will get some good under MOA groups and then one or two of the twenty will fly out .2 to .3 of group and leave me with .6 to .8 groups. I have not shot the SK's, Wolf's, Norma"s or Lapua types. Hope I get surprised with one of last types.
I may have to go back to my bags to clear up some accuracy. Going to pick the top 5 or 6 and start shooting 1/2" 50 circles targets. That will show my which type to stay with or try to purchase some bricks of a good lot.

 

[FL-NC]

In all honesty, I don't take 22 LR "performance" near as serious as other here lol. I only need it to do 2 things, really. First, reliably function a pistol. Second, be capable of shooting minute-of-tree rat at a max distance of maybe 20 meters.