Just how bad IS Remington promotional 22LR ammo?

[Dilettante]

I went shooting yesterday and I just SUCKED.
I was using my Buckmark pistol at 7 yards, and my typical shot was well over an inch off. Groups as big as 4" in diameter.

I'm wondering if I can blame the ammunition. A few weeks ago I got two cheap bricks of Remington's "golden bullet" 22lr at Wal-mart. Yesterday was the day I broke into them.

Yesterday was also the first time I've shot since cleaning the chamber last week. But maybe 1 in 10 rounds wouldn't fire.

A few shots were "wildly" off, when I don't think I had flinched or hiccuped. (I was also trying a new sandbag technique, resting my forearms--not the pistol--on the bag. But my aim seemed steady.)

Any ideas? Is the ammo really bad enough to explain this, or did I just have a crappy day?

 

[Dave R]

Golden Bullets have always been my favorite plinking ammo. I find it better than the "Thunder" stuff, and others of that ilk. I remember 2 failures to ignite out of a coupla bricks.

But it could be a bad lot. Quality varies.

Or you coulda had a bad day.

One way to tell--let someone else whose shooting you know try the pistol. And try some different ammo. Then you'll know whether its the shooter or the ammo.

 

[shermacman]

I have fired off many hundreds of Remington .22lr bricks from Wally World. At $8.50 for 550 rounds that is a whole lot of shootin for very little money. They definately have more than their share of misfires. But I usually shoot soda cans at 50 yards and I can not blame the ammo when I miss. Whenever I sand bag my rifles or pistols the ammo proves to be very accurate. Could be a bad box. I would sand bag the psitol like you used to do and see if that works better. If the ammo proves to be bad...well nothing like a couple of rapid fire drills to use it up!

 

[RobW]

I had some FTF's and FTE's with the Rem value-pack from Wal-Mart in my Ruger Mk II Gov Target. About 2 to 3 times in 50 rounds. Accuracy wasn't good at all. I switched to the value-pack of Federal's, no problems, tight groups.

I think it depends what your special gun likes. They also have Peterson value packs, I didn't try them out yet. I once tried the comparatively expensive Winchester X-treme ammo, it was worse than Rem.

 

[oscar]

I have had very good luck with the Federal packs from WalMart.

 

[Horsesense]

I prefer Federal

On the rounds that failed to fire, were there nice dents in the rim?

It could be the ammo but most likely it's your new shooting stile.

 

[submin]

Any time I use the cheap bulk ammo, whether from Remington or Federal, I break out the dial calipers and segregate my ammo by overall length, and again by rim thickness. I then try each pile of ammo in the various 22s for accuracy and keep things marked and separated.

The Remington bulk stuff does have more ‘failure to fire’ than Federals but in one gun I have, it is more accurate. Most other guns it’s the reverse. RobW is right about each individual gun liking different ammo.

 

[10-Ring]

I prefer the Walmart Federal bulk pack too. The Remingtons just seem smokier, dirtier & somehow lesser quality than the Federals.

 

[sm]

I rarely use promo ammo period.
Worst is Win Xpert
Then Rem
Fed is the best of the promo, but again its rare I use promo.

Ammo and mags are the 2 main culprits in semi failures. I use Winchester X22lr because its available locally, has worked in everything I ever used it in and it uniformly accurate. CCI makes a good load, just not as available to me. Yep, bit more monies, but I don't have problems either.

Dunno, I pay good money for a gun, Why do I want to start cutting corners on the important stuff like ammo and mags? Negates the reliable dealie to me.

 

[aerod1]

I've haven't had many problems with Remington promo stuff or anyone elses promo stuff for that matter. Of course I am not a serious target shooter. I mainly do some plinking and shoot rodents. It seems to work great for my needs.

Jim Hall

 

[Dilettante]

As you can tell from my post I am far from a serious target shooter.
But I think I can do better than that.

I got some CCI to try next time I go. And I'll check the rims for dents, and the cartridge width.
Sorting cartridges kind of blows the price advantage, doesn't it?

 

[CZPreB]

Like RobW notes, YMMV depending on what your Buckmark likes... My CZ75 with Kadet kit has a lot of experience with Rem Golden Bullets. I've run through nearly a case of this stuff and found it accurate and decently reliable (one or two duds per session of 300-ish rounds). $69 for 6300 rounds (purchased from Miwall at a show in Vallejo) makes for a pretty nice bang-to-buck ratio, too! About the only thing I don't like about it is that it takes quite a bit of scrubbing to get rid of all the 'Golden' stuff that rubs off the bullets onto the mag-loading thumb.

 

[mdsteele]

Pretty bad. I never seem to fail to get a round that wont fire in ten of them.
That's in my s&w 617. I also get different powered loads in my MKII.

For plinking they are fine. But for serious work, my guns(and me) prefer CCI Mini Mags.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

I agree with sm -- the Winchester XPert .22s are garbage. Once I finish up the box I bought last year on Ammo Day (yes, it's taking me that long, they ARE that bad) I won't buy any more.

Other Winchester .22 ammo has been very good for me, though. E.g., T22s, Power Points, and even Wildcats.

I haven't shot much Remington .22 ammo recently, although I did buy a box of their Subsonic HPs to try in my Winchester 9422. I'm hoping to bench them next week.

CCI .22 ammo has been uniformly good, in my experience. Mini-Mags tend to be accurate and reliable.

 

[treeprof]

Have 1/2 bulk box of Win X-pert sitting on a shelf 'cause they were pretty junky in my 22/45. I don't shoot the Fed bulk packs anymore, as they seem to have a lot more duds. I prefer the Rem Golden bullet bulk packs - not match grade by any stretch but much better luck than the others with both my 22/45 and Single Six. I've blasted >10k of 'em in the past few yrs.

 

[sm]

My thoughts on ammo and the "non serious" shooter.
Learning proper trigger control, use of sights I highly recommend dry firing and dryfiring with a dime. Warning this is NOT to be done with 22lr ( rimfire) guns...one or two exceptions exist.

So with proper ammo that will go bang everytime one learns the basics without getting frustrated because ammo won't work. Frustrations lead to flinches (even with a .22) now not only have you lost all the concentration on the basics, you now are "leary" the darn ammo will work and you flinch, jerk trigger, and forget about the sights...you ain't even using them. Maybe you just get mad and stop shooting.

Yep, there is place to use "dummy" rounds. AFTER you develop the basics first. Dummy rounds are great to "see" if you flinch, need to improve, and gives practice to malf drills. You have to have good reliable ammo to learn, even if its popping tin cans and golf balls.

1) Have a gun
2)Ammo must be reliable everytime in said gun

Just my take on learning, basics and keeping it simple.

 

[stevelyn]

I shoot the Golden Bullets and have had good luck with them. The worst are Thunderbolts, but manage to get ground squirrels to fall to them. I also like the Winchester Wildcats.
But I use different ammo for different applications. Serious work is reserved for CCI Velocitors, Stingers, or Mini-Mags. Remington Vipers or Yellow Jackets if the CCIs aren't available. CCI shorts for close up vermin and fox hunting at night.