.22LR ammo which one??

[rab19]

Hi all,
Looking for a bit of advice on a half decent consistent .22 ammo for target/plinking and hunting.

I have a 10/22 semi with a Volquartsen barrel and have tried a few different types but there is just too much choice, done the usual net trawling but most of what I have found is more of the techy type stuff for Biathlon etc.

Yesterday I tried out Blazer 40g, American Eagle 40g and CCI Standard 40g.
The CCI came out best, Eagle wasn't bad and the Blazer was pretty poor.
Going try some different types of Eley next, Sport, club, Edge and Sub Hollow.

Any advice would help as I am just going by trial and error at the moment.
Thanks.

 

[Woodsmoke]

I use Winchester subsonic 40gr in my 452. I find them really consistent, and you can get them everywhere! I've fired thousands and have yet to experience a misfire with them. Great ammunition

 

[bluesako]

you might find that american 22lr rifles dont like european ammo and visa versa my finnfire hates american ammo bs

 

[St-Hubert]

I have used Eley hollow-points for the last 53years with no probs !

 

[enfieldspares]

Only three letters that'll you'll ever need. RWS. In thirty plus years....so I'm a novice compared with SLIDER...I found that RWS Hollow Point was superior to Eley and in the last .22LR that I'll realistically ever own that RWS Semi-Auto gave the best accuracy and function in relation to price. That was in a Unique X51 bis. But it also shot extremely well in an old bolt action Slazenger. The one below wasn't mine but it was, of course, identical except mine had the original Unique telescopic 3x 'scope and mounts. Unfortunately with most .22LR rifles it is very much of having to buy and try various makes and brands. If Roger Francis at South Yorkshire Shooting Supplies aka Rimfire Magic is still active he may be able to offer advice based on his many, many, years of experience.

https://www.armurerie-douillet.com/custom/armurerie/produitphotos/produitphoto_14200/unique-x51-bis_14104.jpg

 

[Longstrider]

I've been using Winchester 40gr subsonics for just about every rimfire job for about the last 40 years. If it didn't work well enough I'd have changed by now I did have a pest control (bunnies) job where the client supplied the ammo and it turned out to be MagTech subsonic. I had a few misfires and a couple of 'crackers' but considering how cheap the stuff was then I guess that's not bad for about 5000 rounds.
I also use a 10/22 (or my lovely little Sako Finnscout) and have never had problems with the Winchester subsonics failing to cycle the 10/22.

As with all rifle shooting, there is really no substitute for the 'suck it and see' approach. Just buy the smallest amount possible of each type of ammo you're considering and see how it performs in your rifle. Once you're settled on a brand, buy all you can and get out there and use it.

 

[Cyres]

Agree mag tech subs are vv good in fact out of my annie almost as good as "normal/old Eley subs" Huge central cavity and awesome on magpies. Sadly now rarely seen in UK. If i could get them I would ditch Eley subs.

D

 

[jb1]

Rab,
Your doing the right thing, try as many as you can get your hands on. Once you find the one that shoots well buy your maximum allowance.
And don't for goodness sake do what I did, got bored and cleaned the barrel. It's now just about as good as it was before.

 

[Scotty99]

Winchester and Eley tend to be the goto brands for most 22LR shooters, but keep on trying the brands you mentioned and find what your rifle likes best. For mine it's Eley hollow points.

 

[Klenchblaize]

You are doing the right thing; try as many as you can get your hands on. Once you find the one that shoots well buy your maximum allowance.

The above but obviously it needs to be expanding/hunting ammo and not the target variety or you'll end up putting each shot that missus a rabbit or passes through one into the next County care of that delightful trait of the 22lr that is ricochet.

K

 

[Muir]

It is amazing how differently 22LR ammo performs at longer ranges when at close range the differences were less apparent. I shot CCI Sub Sonic from my Tikka T1X at 50 yards and the 10-shot groups were great. Not quite as good as the RWS/Federal Ultra Match, but very consistent. My girlfriend and I then did some practice at 200 yards. The CCI ammo was giving me 3.5 MOA groups which I wrote off to the variable breezes. I switched to the RWS/Federal and the groups shrunk to 2MOA. Then I repeated the CCI to Federal switch. Every time the RWS/Federal shrunk the groups.~Muir

 

[Tulloch]

firstly I would not try anything subsonic that is below 1000fps as you have a semi auto and it need the extra fps to work the cycling of the next round

 

[Fiadh]

I've also a 10/22 with a Volquartsen barrel, seems to cycle Eley subsonic's fine and accuracy is good but it's not to keen on the Winchester subs for some reason.

 

[rab19]

I've also a 10/22 with a Volquartsen barrel, seems to cycle Eley subsonic's fine and accuracy is good but it's not to keen on the Winchester subs for some reason.

I went and bought some Winchester subs and hope to try them out later in the week, I will let you know how mine deals with them.

 

[chrisstorey79]

Bought & tried some RWS subsonic for first time yesterday.
Zeroed at 50 yds and getting a little fingernail sized group.

 

[25 Sharps]

The above but obviously it needs to be expanding/hunting ammo and not the target variety or you'll end up putting each shot that missus a rabbit or passes through one into the next County care of that delightful trait of the 22lr that is ricochet.

K

Do you think hollow points in .22LR bounce any less than solids?

 

[Silvius]

If you really want to know take a barrel and action to Eley along with any non Eley ammunition you want to test. I honestly think that unless you put a rifle through a proper test, anyone who is not a top level competition shooter can only have quite anecdotal ideas about what groups best in a rifle. I so often see a guy down the range shooting a series of cards with different ammo and then getting up and saying "that is the one" Ask him to repeat the exercise several times with each ammunition and see how consistent he is between groups of 10 and he may get quite a shock. If you want to know take the gun to Eley or wait till they bring their testing rigs to a range near you. It can be very revealing.

It all depends how accurate you need to be. Target, plinking and hunting demand different things from ammunition. Target demands accuracy, plinking demands cheap price and hunting demands terminal performance as primary concerns. Unless you want to accept quite a lot of compromise, you really need different cartridges for each job.

It is very rare in a real controlled test that Eley can be beaten for accuracy in a barrel, though the best Eley ammunition is beyond my personal price point. I use edge for competition target shooting, sport for most practise and Eley subs for hunting.

Some folk find the lubrication on the Eley rounds listed above can be a bit clogging on semi autos. Eley make a semi auto sub sonic round called contact and another called force that is supersonic.

 

[dreddrockz]

Every barrel is different but I have 1022 with VQ barrel and it loves SK Match. Good luck!