Best or most accurate bulk 22LR ammo.

[thump_rrr]

I'm looking at purchasing a Savage MKII rifle and was wondering what is the best 22LR ammo that can be purchased in the 500+ sized boxes.
I know availability stateside is not great right now but I went by my local Wally World yesterday and they have both Federal and Blazer bulk packs as well as what appear to be 100 round boxes of CCI standard velocity.
The bulk packs are below $25.00 but the CCI's were around $9.00/100.

Are the CCI's so much better?
I understand that there is also target ammo available at much higher costs but the reason I want to buy a .22LR is for economical practice.
If I wanted to spend $0,20-$0.25 a round I'd be shooting my AR's. or other .223 rifles.

 

[Reloadron]

I'll tell you what I would do. I would buy a few small boxes of several types and try the stuff. Rifles, specially .22 rimfire rifles can be choosy about what they shoot. You can for example place two identical rifles side by side and shoot the same ammunition. One of the two may well group much better than the other. Then do it again with different ammunition and the opposite rifle may group better. That has been my observation anyway and you don't really want to buy a brick of ammunition only to discover it shoots lousy in your specific rifle.

As to manufacturer the Federal and CCI Blazer are generally good ammunition. Despite the horror stories I also have a few .22s that shoot the Remington stuff well.

CCI Blazer Ammunition 22 Long Rifle 40 Grain Lead Round Nose is typically around $2.25 for a 50 round box so I am not sure which version you were looking at.

Anyway, I would start with several small samplings and see which manufacturer's work best in your rifle before buying a large amount of bulk stuff.

Just My Take....
Ron

 

[jmorris]

Around 10 years ago a friend of mine and I spent 3 or 4 months testing every .22lr ammo we could get our hands on out of a half dozen +/- rifles and a pistol or two. The one bulk ammo that stood out was winchester dynapoint that I only ever found at Walmart. It was so close to Federal gold match that I still have 15,000 rounds left from back then. Turns out not a bad investment either, it was only $7/550

 

[jdduffy]

what they said.

 

[Rembrandt]

Get any brand you like.....but run it through a rim thickness gauge first to weed out the fliers and get more consistent groups.

You-tube video shows how it works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km_wisoLVzk

 

[DanTheFarmer]

Hi,

I've got a Savage MkII as well. I had a fun couple of range sessions trying out various 22lr ammo. The best of the bulk stuff for me was Remington Golden Bullet which very often gets flamed by others. Oh well, they don't have to shoot it. It works in MY rifle (and Ruger 22/45 as well).

I do recommend trying out a few of the high priced brands as well. I was amazed at how much better than bulk they were. The stuff is too expensive to shoot all the time but if I need a "one ragged hole" fix I'll shoot some Remington Target Rifle or Wolf Match ammo and remind myself that I can indeed shoot o.k..

Finding out what your rifle likes is definitely a fun project.

Good Luck.

Dan

 

[Kerf]

Years ago I checked the rim thickness (which is a big key to accuracy) on the Winchester Dynapoints and found that 95% of them had the same run out as some of the more expensive “match” rimfire. I checked several thousand, so there is some statistical weight there. Given the difference in price of the bulk ammo vs the match stuff, you may want to buy a rimfire gauge.

Also, Aguila, made in Mexico, primed by Eley, were consistently above average in accuracy.

You may want to look into Paco Kellys Accurizer device, which is used to change the diameter of rimfire ammo.

Lastly, there are a myriad of barrel tuning devices out there for tuning the barrel harmonics on rimfire rifles.

Good luck,

kerf

 

[Reloadron]

I understand that there is also target ammo available at much higher costs but the reason I want to buy a .22LR is for economical practice.

My guesstimate based on your post is that you are just looking to buy bulk .22 LR rimfire ammunition that will overall shoot well? Would that be a correct assumption? I based my initial response on that thinking. The Savage MK II has several flavors.

Ron

 

[redneck2]

I had to hunt to find bulk that shot well in my CZ. Some of the very expensive RWS and Eley didn't shoot as well as Blaser. I started with the expensive stuff to shorten my search, Didn't work out that way.

I'd agree with the above posts. For lowest price the Winchester and Blaser along with CCI seem to do pretty well. I ended up finding Wolf Match Extra that shoots .2-.3's. My local shop had it for ten cents per round.

 

[Blue68f100]

I have several 22's and each has it's on preferences. One you forgot was the Fed AutoMatch,comes in a 325 count box. Now when it comes to testing ammo be aware if you switch between copper plate vs lead/lube you will have a cleaning seasoning of the barrel. Normally it take about 1 round/ 1" of barrel length to season a barrel. But I have had some pistols that have take a whole lot more that that when I failed to clean the barrel. Now some of the Match Bullets have a heavy wax on them. These coat/season a barrel rather quickly. If you happen to switch to some very cheap copper plate the first ones will shoot surprisingly accurate.

The only one I would stay away from are the Rem Yellow Jackets. These shoot nice but have a history of leading a barrel. In fact I do not shoot Rem 22 ammo at all.

That said my favorite hunting ammo is American Eagle AE22. My rifle likes it, will shoot 1 ragged hole at 25 yrds with it.

 

[Spdracr39]

I use federal and won't ever put Remington ammo in any of my guns again.

 

[bikerdoc]

Wolf match gets the nod in my long guns, Aguilla in my autos and my revolvers will eat anything.

 

[bannockburn]

In bulk pack ammo I like Federal Auto Match. Fairly clean shooting, decent accuracy, and very reliable performance. I would rank CCI quality above that of the Federal Auto Match. Have tried the Winchester Dynapoints but didn"t get the accuracy results that others have. I don't buy or use Remington rimfire ammo based on past experiences with it.

 

[jmr40]

Are the CCI's so much better?

Yes.

I've stopped buying the bulk boxes of 500 or more rounds. They are just good enough for making noise and hitting large objects at fairly close range.

Exactly which ammo truly shoots best in your gun is something you need to try by trial and error. I've had good luck with both Wolf and Ely Sport which is reasonably priced. But the CCI's are usually pretty close. In fact it is the most accurate ammo in some guns I own. It isn't the cheapest, but it is the cheapest ammo I've found that shoots pretty well in almost all of my guns.

I'd rather shoot less, and hit what I'm shooting at, than buy the cheap bulk stuff and just throw lead downrange.

 

[David E]

Between bulk box Federal or Blazer, I'd buy Blazer all day long.

I understand it's the exactly the same load as the Mini-mag, except that the bullet is not copper plated.

 

[StrutStopper]

CCI SV and Federal bulk packs seem to work the best for me, in that order. YMMV.

 

[22-rimfire]

My comments in bold...

I'm looking at purchasing a Savage MKII rifle and was wondering what is the best 22LR ammo that can be purchased in the 500+ sized boxes.

The Mark II's are typically very good 22 rifles for the money. Be sure to get one with the Accu-trigger. Try some 22 ammunition out and see how they shoot in your rifle. There is a great deal of difference between rifles in terms of what they prefer.

I know availability stateside is not great right now but I went by my local Wally World yesterday and they have both Federal and Blazer bulk packs as well as what appear to be 100 round boxes of CCI standard velocity.

$9.00 a 100 ct-box of CCI SV is a pretty good price. I try to buy my CCI Standard Velocity ammunition at Dicks where they were selling it in traditional bricks containing 10 50-ct boxes of ammo packaged in paper.

The bulk packs are below $25.00 but the CCI's were around $9.00/100.

Are the CCI's so much better? CCI Standard Velocity ammunition typically shoots more consistantly than the high velocity, especially when comparing with Blazer or Federal bulk packs.

I understand that there is also target ammo available at much higher costs but the reason I want to buy a .22LR is for economical practice.

Yes, you can buy very expensive target ammunition relative to the cost of typical promotional 22LR. Generally speaking, the more you spend, the more consistant it will shoot. But you still need to try them out in your rifle rather than assuming.

If I wanted to spend $0.20-$0.25 a round I'd be shooting my AR's. or other .223 rifles.
Well, I haven't seen any 223 ammo for $0.25 per round in a while. You get what you pay for in general.

 

[GCBurner]

Every .22 seems to have its own preference. Try a few and see, shooting groups under controlled conditions from a benchrest. For my rifle, Federal Champion seems to be the most accurate of the bulk-pack ammo.

 

[TBH]

I also go to Wally World and buy Fed auto match. Hard to find now. I have a 10/22 with match barrel that shoots these well. Likes wolf and Lapua a little better but I can consistently hit a 8" gong at 185 yds with the Fed.

 

[Inebriated]

I've had good luck with Federal AutoMatch in ALL my .22's. So good, that I switched over to ONLY using it, and CCI mini mags.

 

[taraquian]

I use Blazer or the Winchester M22 as they are the only bulk ammo that feeds in all 7 of my autoloaders. Of the two Blazer is more accurate in 5 of them, only the 2 mossbergs like the M22. However my girls Cricketts each like a diffrent one...just buy a brick and start shooting, there seems to be no rhyme nor reason as far as bulk accuracy.

Worst case you wind up with a bunchof 22 your gun doesn't like and you have to buy another gun to use it up

 

[russ69]

Most rifles like standard velocity ammo for best accuracy. My first choices would be Eley Sport, CCI std or Remington subsonic.

 

[Roadking Rider]

For bulk pack ammo I like the CCI 's. If I want optimum performance I'l buy higher quality ammo. I bought a box of Reminton Hyper Velocity Yellow Jackets HP's that seemed to work very well in my Ruger 10/22, 22/45, and Henry lever action. Bulk pack ammo for target shooting I prefer round nose bullets over the HP's in the 22. I think you get less fliers with round nose bullets.

 

[nathan]

I like WInchester bulk ammo . The havent tried CCi and blazer but they appear to be very good.

The Remington Golden Bullet is the lowest in quality and dirty to boot. But the subsonic, target and thunderbolt are all good.

 

[Slamfire]

It all depends on the barrel.

I took my Ruger 10/22 tested a whole bunch of ammunition and it liked Federal Hi Power. Shot 1"1/4" groups at 50 yards. The factory barrel did not shoot Eley Tennex as well as Federal.

Then I put on a Volquartsen barrel. These are Lothar Walther match barrels and the groups on most everything got smaller, showing that barrel quality makes one heck of a difference, and that barrel shot Eley into a dime sized group at 50 yards.

Since then I have got very serious about smallbore prone. Got to ask Charles Kemp, the 2010 National Iron sight champ about what was the "best" match ammunition. It was a stupid rookie question, but I am learning. He said there is no such thing, you have to test each manufacturer and lot in your own rifle.

For a data point, that year with its favorite Eley Red Box, his match winning rifle shot constant ten shot groups at 100 yards of 0.38".

Last year Mr. Kemp changed rifles, now using an Anschutz action instead of the M52D based rifle he won with, he said the Anschutz rifle shot ten shot groups of 0.45" inches at 100 yards with Eley Black Box, lot ????, made on machine number 2! He knew the actual machine the ammunition came off!