# 22lr ammo test



## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

I made it out to the range this morning , I had gotten a new scope back from Bushnell for the 4-12x40 that I had sent in for repair. So I needed to get sighted back in.

once I was sighted in I had a few types of ammo to test now that it is more available again.

Federal Auto match 
CCI blazer 
CCI standard velocity 
Remington Golden Bullets 

the test was at 25yards they are all 10 round groups I found that the dots I was shooting at were small enough that I couldn't tell where I was if I covered them with the cross hairs after the Blazer 1 I wnet to putting the dot so that it just touched the cross hair in the upper right quadrant just touching the vertical and horizontal.
the CCI standard velocity that one outside the group was me that was me. I know as soon as the trigger broke I knew it was bad.

why 10 round groups , because with almost all of them any 3 rounds would have been touching making one clover leafed hole.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

these were shot from a Savage MKII-FV this little gun shoots well above it's cost , the rifle was $215 at a local shop new 2 years ago.

the real surprise was the Remington golden bullets I had bought these when they were the only thing available 2-3 years ago.


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## Murby (May 24, 2016)

I bought a box of Winchester 555 about 10 years ago.. Don't shoot much so I still have about 100 rounds left. I use a Ruger 10/22 with a $40 Tasco 3-9x40 scope and hit rabbits in the head at 100 yards.. About 1 in 10 rounds seems to be a "flyer".. the rest are tack drivers.

Nice test.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

i have a few others to try also. this is what I had with today. 

the chicken target in the center of the page is the size for 40 meter chickens in 22 rifle Silhouettes I think the chickens might be the hardest even though they are the closest.


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## JJ Grandits (Nov 10, 2002)

I have a savage mark II with a 3x9 busnell scope I picked up at Dicks a few years back for $139. Does not have the accu-trigger. The trigger on it is pretty lousy bu the gun is a tack driver. I put every type of .22 ammo through it to see what it liked best. the 36 gr. winchester HP was its favorite. Inexpensive gun, inexpensive ammo. It's a good combination. Second best was the Remington Golden Bullet. It hates Federal and CCI. I probably put at least 1,000 rounds a year through it. Maybe more. 

Actually, after thinking about it much more.


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## Eagle1 (Jun 1, 2012)

Love my old MK II. It was given to my as a beater 10 years ago and is tack driver if I do my job. I use a cheap leepers 4x scope and it will split squirrel heads all day long. If I miss more than twice it's time to clean. Mine does NOT like Remington Golden Bullets at all, but loves Winchesters. Do agree the old trigger is rough but I'm used to it....


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## GunMonkeyIntl (May 13, 2013)

That's the thing with .22 ammo; it's so hard to predict how it will perform in any given gun. 

I have a couple .50 cal ammo boxes that have dozens of different 50/100/500 round boxes of various loads- basically some of every different load I could find, so I could try them in each of my guns, find out what each liked best, and then buy in bulk. Unfortunately, my collection of mismatches is a bit outdated, with many of them being now-discontinued. I should really just burn them up in pistol practice to free up the room in my ammo storage. 

To really separate the wheat from the chaff, you should conduct your test at 50 or 100 yards. Beyond just the linear expectations of the external-ballistics cone, .22 LR bullets really show their differences as range increases. Differences in the concentricity and deformation of the bullet skirt become much more apparent as you extend the range.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

this one has the accutriger and it is adjusted as light as it will go and it is very nice.

this is the gun I shot rifleman with back in October at an Appleseed event I was using blazer at the time , I will try a few others but CCI standard velocity is looking like what I will be taking to the next event as all the shooting is at 25 meters.

the Blazer had been about 2 1/2 -3 inches at 100 yards when shooting steel plates 

I need to get out and get them on paper at 40, 60, 77 and 100 meters


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## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

Those are all good groups.
I'm pretty content with the Remington Golden bullets in my Ruger 77, they will hit a squirrel in the head if I do my part.

Used to be real fond of the CCI ammo, but it got to be hard to find.


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## Murby (May 24, 2016)

GunMonkeyIntl said:


> That's the thing with .22 ammo; it's so hard to predict how it will perform in any given gun.


I hear that over and over and can find no scientific reason for it, nor does it coincide with my own experience.. 

I've fired a variety of ammo through my 10/22 and it will pop holes in the end of a pop can all day long at 100 yards... there's the occasional unexplained flyer it seems all brands have.. but for the most part, it doesn't care what ammo I use.

Same with my 12ga 870.. While I normally shoot the Hornady SST 300 grain slugs, it doesn't really care what ammo I use... Although I will admit some ammo is not as accurate as others, I don't think it has anything to do with the gun-ammo combination.

I also have an Armalite AR10 chambered in 308 and it doesn't seem to care either.. 

My 10/22 is stainless.. I wonder if that has anything to do with it?


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## GunMonkeyIntl (May 13, 2013)

Murby said:


> I hear that over and over and can find no scientific reason for it, nor does it coincide with my own experience..
> 
> I've fired a variety of ammo through my 10/22 and it will pop holes in the end of a pop can all day long at 100 yards... there's the occasional unexplained flyer it seems all brands have.. but for the most part, it doesn't care what ammo I use.
> 
> ...


It is a very real phenomenon. I'm by no means saying that any one gun can't shoot multiple types of ammo well, or that one load can't shoot well in many guns, but it's pretty well proven through tribal knowledge that one can't always depend on one "good" load to shoot well in all rifles, or all rifles of a given type to shoot best with a particular load. 

There are various, specific variables that apply to particular classes of firearms, and .22 LRs have their own peculiarities. Though I can't tell you, as fact, what all of them are (I'd probably have my own cottage industry of predicting the best load for a given rifle, if I could), I can point out some that I've gotten to see very specific examples of variable alteration that have proven it to me. 

Two things that greatly affect the way that a given rifle will react to various .22 LR loads, just for example, are the alloy that is used in the bullet, and the way the priming compound is applied to the case rim. 

Regarding the alloy, various amounts of antimony are mixed with the lead for casting bullets for various applications. There are other "impurities" specifically added, but antimony is the most influential constituent. More antimony makes the lead harder. In general, higher antimony bullets will foul the bore less, and exhibit better weight retention in terminal ballistics. 

Here's where it affects the rifle-ammo relationship, though:
In conventional low-count, deep-groove rifling, softer lead conforms to the grooves better, without deforming the mouth of the bullet skirt as much. Harder, high-antimony lead does not conform as readily, creating a more jagged skirt, with small cracks forming in place of smooth comer transitions, and does not seal as efficiently. In micro-groove, the harder lead conforms readily, without the skirt smearing and increased fouling that softer lead creates. 

Even within two like-barrels that have the same rifling profile, softer lead handles poorly manufactured barrels that have inconsistent ID better than harder lead does. On the other hand, high-antimony lead deals better with barrels that exhibit rough machining marks. This is why your buddy's micro-groove Marlin, and your micro-groove Marlin may not shoot best with the same ammo. It's also why sometimes you'll have a "dog" that doesn't seem to shoot well, and then you find a load that turns it into a tack-driver- you've been shooting hard lead in it, and stumbled across a soft lead load, or vice-versa. 

With priming compound, I've seen data where compound in a higher viscosity state, applied in a slower spin (resulting in a less consistent application than lower-viscosity and a faster spin) is tolerated better, in terms of accuracy, by barrels of different lengths, where the pressure curve dictates the velocity at the transition between internal and external ballistics. 

Then, case thickness, alloy, and crimp design and force create changes in the pressure curve of a given load, and, on the rifle-side, changes in chamber and throat dimension can do the same thing. All things being equal, a chamber cut on a fresh, sharp reamer could shoot best with different ammo than one cut on the reamer right before it is sent to the tool room for its last sharpening. 

.22LR is probably the least predictable class of firearms that we deal with because it is, by design, the cheapest (read most inconsistent) made, and the SAAMI specs the least strict of any of the classes of firearms that we use. The manufacturer's just have to make sure that their gun or ammo fits, works, and is reasonably reliable, and we, the shooters, are left to experiment and find the best combination if we want to wring out the best possible performance.


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## JJ Grandits (Nov 10, 2002)

Ya know, I was thinking the exact same thing.


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## mustangglp (Jul 7, 2015)

One thing that happens with 22 high velocity is they will go below subsonic somewhere past 50 yards causing the bullet to wobble! Found this out while researching why the groups with my model 52 were so much bigger at 100 yards then 50 .


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## Nimrod (Jun 8, 2010)

For some real fun try testing different reload combinations to find which is most accurate. 

I did some different loads for my Browning A bolt medallion in 30-06. I decided to keep the variables down to a minimum, New Winchester brass, CCI large rifle primers, and Sierra 165 gr boat tail spitzers were used in all the reloads. The only thing that changed was the type and amount of powder. I tried Hodgon H414 and IMR 4064. There wasn't any discernible difference between the 2 powders. The minimum powder charge shown in Lymans handbook performed OK. The maximum charge was the worst group. Backing off about 4 gr gave the best accuracy. At this point the rifle/load was better that my ability so I quit there. The deer I've shot since with that load went down hard.


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