Just wondering if this is common. My Victory 22 shoots Blazer ammo better than CCI Pistol Match. I tried them against each other at 25 yards off hand and the Blazer was a little tighter group. Now, I only tried once. The uncertainty of off hand shooting means I should probably try it again. I should also probably try from a rest. In any case, the match was out done by the standard option.
Standard Ammo Shoots Better Than Match?
- Thread starter DMW1116
- Start date
Not surprised at all. Every RF pistol/rifle is a rule unto itself as to it's favorite ammo...at least until you great to the top tier guns and ammo.
Blazer .22lr is is just bulk ammo, but it's pretty good bulk. CCI Pistol Match is comparable to CCI Green Tag or Standard Velocity, which is considered good Club Match ammo. None of them is really going to challenge SK Match...owned by Lapua...but then you're not paying SK prices either.
A lot is up to what your pistol likes. A lot has to do with how your pistol fits you/you style of shooting
Blazer .22lr is is just bulk ammo, but it's pretty good bulk. CCI Pistol Match is comparable to CCI Green Tag or Standard Velocity, which is considered good Club Match ammo. None of them is really going to challenge SK Match...owned by Lapua...but then you're not paying SK prices either.
A lot is up to what your pistol likes. A lot has to do with how your pistol fits you/you style of shooting
Riomouse911
Member
Indeed, rimfires are like English cars; Every one has an attitude of its own.
Some serious shooters will find a brand that their gun really shoots well, then they’ll buy as much of the same lot to shoot in matches. When that stash runs low, they do it all over again.
Those guys are far better shots than I.
(I find Blazers to be pretty good in several of my guns, too.) Stay safe.
The current ammo is quite accurate but drags on the front of the magazine, causing the hammer to fall on an empty chamber. It looks like the bullet has a little too much lube because the dragged bullets have a smear on the very end. I guess a round of testing is in order to see what I can use to replace it. I’ve been doing a lot of slow fire practice lately so jams aren’t a problem. When I move back into timed and rapid it will be though.
What kind of pricing is there for the SK Match or similar ammo now? The CCI Pistol Match was a shade over $0.30 per round. That’s reloaded 5.56 pricing.
What kind of pricing is there for the SK Match or similar ammo now? The CCI Pistol Match was a shade over $0.30 per round. That’s reloaded 5.56 pricing.
jmorris
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There is an art/science to direct marketing, “Match”, “new and improved”, “super”, “magnum”, are all just words to get you to buy.
You are finding that your firearms can’t read or hear and simply shoot best with what they like.
Lots of things in life are like this, if you take the time to quantify products vs just purchase them based on words and packaging.
Ask the question, “What makes this “Match” ammunition?” If the answer is, “Well, it says it, right here on the box.” It’s either nothing special or you are asking the wrong person.
You are finding that your firearms can’t read or hear and simply shoot best with what they like.
Lots of things in life are like this, if you take the time to quantify products vs just purchase them based on words and packaging.
Ask the question, “What makes this “Match” ammunition?” If the answer is, “Well, it says it, right here on the box.” It’s either nothing special or you are asking the wrong person.
Varminterror
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Ammo is really just ammo, so it really shouldn’t be so surprising to find that an individual firearm might shoot smaller short range groups with one model of ammo than another. Even considering higher quality components and greater QC in production against lower cost ammo, it remains to make sense that the best of the cheap could shoot better than the worst pairing of higher quality ammo.
Riomouse911
Member
Premium target ammo is just that, a greater attention to components and loading detail runs a higher cost per round to buy.
It runs anywhere from around $6.00 a 50-round box for “club” type, which is the “lower” end stuff, to $20.00 a box and up for ammo like Eley Tenex, Lapua Center-X or RWS R-100, which is the Olympic level ammo.
I bought a big stash of RWS rifle and pistol match (mid-grade match ammo) when Big 5 closed it out a few years ago. I went from store to store and bought enough to fill a couple of .50 cal ammo cans each, so it will last me a while. (My CZ 455 and Remington 541 really like it, and at $2.50 a box it was worth it.)
A couple of places that have premium rimfire ammo in stock:
https://www.creedmoorsports.com/category/rimfire-ammunition
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1392216306
https://freelandssports.com/product/eley-tenex-22lr-box-50/
Stay safe.
JMO, but what true match ammo generally offers is consistency. My gun might generally shoot slightly smaller groups with brand "X" than some pricier match it also likes. The match ammo, though will consistently produce those groups, whereas I might see the occasional flier with Brand "X". Not a big deal for my casual Saturday afternoon range visits, but when every point matters, I'd be torqued when the match is on the line and an otherwise good shot goes into the 8-ring.
Varminterror
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Big time. Lot to lot, round to round. Consistency is king.
I bit my tongue (thumbs?) in my post above to not point out that short range groups may not reveal HUGE spreads in velocity, which would reveal themselves farther downrange.
fxvr5
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Always, always, always test accuracy off a bench. The only exception is to test from a Ransom Rest, which is much much better than off a bench.
NEVER test accuracy off hand. Not if you're testing the mechanical accuracy of the gun and ammo, and you want data you can trust. Off hand only tells you how you happen to shoot that day.
And shoot a large number of rounds during your test. 5-shot, 10-shot will teach you nothing because of the randomness of spatial distribution.
True accuracy testing is a matter of 'do it the right way' or you're wasting your time and money.
Tcruse
Member
The .22 Blazer ammo for me is consistently better in both of my .22LR pistols than the other "more expensive" variants. It also seems to be cleaner..
My default .22LR testing ammo is CCI MiniMag, which I've always found to be more consistent than Blazer and will function pistols that the Blazer won't.
I have a 4" Colt Diamondback which prefers Winchester T-22 and a 6" S&W K-22 which prefers MiniMags
When you say "better", what kind of accuracy are you talking about at 25 yards?
How much smaller are the groups?
fxvr5
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Shoot a 50-shot group with each type off the bench and get back to us.
fxvr5
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If you want results you can put some trust in, a proper method is required.
https://americanhandgunner.com/discover/test-that-gun/
Well I didn't shoot 50 rounds, but I did find another box of CCI PM and shot some 20-round groups. I didn't have any Blazer with me, even though I thought I did when I left the house. I ended up shooting the CCI PM against my standard target ammo for the last several months, Aguila Super Extra standard velocity, in the blue and white box. I also tried some Federal Auto Match. I had some in the bag and it shoots quite well out of my Henry lever action, so I figured I might as well throw it in the mix. I shot three 20-shot groups from the bench with a rest at 25 yards. I used the 3/4" stickers as targets. They match the size of the dot in my Holosun and seemed easy to hold while shooting. Aguila is on the bottom, Auto Match in the center, and CCI PM on the top.
![IMG_1182[1].JPG](https://www.thehighroad.org/data/attachments/1078/1078679-8d38d3c57f4a8cecc8c9a1c442c4b29f.jpg "IMG_1182[1].JPG")
The CCI PM has an obviously smaller group, flier aside. As a side note, the Aguila is not terribly reliable, but the other two are quite good, with no failures during shooting. This is a composite target. There are some air pistol groups, some 357 shots, and the 22 groups.
After the bench testing, I did another round of offhand shooting, slow fire with one hand.
![IMG_1183[1].JPG](https://www.thehighroad.org/data/attachments/1078/1078680-a5b7c9b7f37f834fb459f9b61abffc07.jpg "IMG_1183[1].JPG")
Same order as before. The Aguila actually had a smaller group, but just barely. The Auto Match was noticeably larger than the other two, and with the uncertainties of offhand shooting, the Aguila and CCI PM were essentially equal. Unfortunately, my pistol seems to dislike CCI SV greatly, but it will run the CCI PM without fail, at least for this session. I'll keep using the lower priced stuff to practice, since it doesn't appear to make a significant difference. Next time I go, I'll be sure to take some Blazer. I'll maybe try some Aguila Super Extra high velocity too. I can't explain the fliers except to blame my spastic trigger finger. There is one high one in each group from the bench. You could rightfully say all but the ones in the black diamond are fliers on the offhand groups. The numbers are my charge weights from 357 testing. I like this target set up. The range was quite crowded today and I was able to shoot the whole time without having to go down range after the initial placement. With this high traffic, cold range breaks are unpredictable.
The CCI PM has an obviously smaller group, flier aside. As a side note, the Aguila is not terribly reliable, but the other two are quite good, with no failures during shooting. This is a composite target. There are some air pistol groups, some 357 shots, and the 22 groups.
After the bench testing, I did another round of offhand shooting, slow fire with one hand.
Same order as before. The Aguila actually had a smaller group, but just barely. The Auto Match was noticeably larger than the other two, and with the uncertainties of offhand shooting, the Aguila and CCI PM were essentially equal. Unfortunately, my pistol seems to dislike CCI SV greatly, but it will run the CCI PM without fail, at least for this session. I'll keep using the lower priced stuff to practice, since it doesn't appear to make a significant difference. Next time I go, I'll be sure to take some Blazer. I'll maybe try some Aguila Super Extra high velocity too. I can't explain the fliers except to blame my spastic trigger finger. There is one high one in each group from the bench. You could rightfully say all but the ones in the black diamond are fliers on the offhand groups. The numbers are my charge weights from 357 testing. I like this target set up. The range was quite crowded today and I was able to shoot the whole time without having to go down range after the initial placement. With this high traffic, cold range breaks are unpredictable.
Are you looking at your holes between shots or shooting the whole group before looking?
Both. On the small dot targets shot from a rest, I shot all 20, then looked from my spotting scope. I can't see 22 holes from 25 yards. On the larger orange targets, I looked after each shot. I typically don't do that, but since it was new ammo and I already had the spotting scope, I figured I might as well. I do detect a small POI change with each different ammo.
That explains the lateral dispersion of your groups
Sorry guys but comparing offhand groups against bench rest groups is an apples/oranges thing unless you are an Olympic class shooter and then you better be gold medal rank.
I was a heckova offhand shooter in muzzle loading rifle competition. Won lots of matches and even broke a national record. That said, the bench is where you prove your load and sight settings.
I was a heckova offhand shooter in muzzle loading rifle competition. Won lots of matches and even broke a national record. That said, the bench is where you prove your load and sight settings.
Simply put, yes, cheaper ammo can shoot better than more expensive. I have about 24 national records in smallbore prone and I shot most of those with Lapua Multi-Match. At the time, that was below Master which was below
Midas. Most brands rank lots by how they shoot in their guns. Most of the time they're "right", but you can definitely find lots that fall outside of that circle in a good way.
Midas. Most brands rank lots by how they shoot in their guns. Most of the time they're "right", but you can definitely find lots that fall outside of that circle in a good way.
