As I hinted in the current .22LR thread, I think a lot of “rifle” performance issues and accuracy comparisons to other makes and models are actually likely to be ammunition related. I’ve seen some terrible variability in ammunition recently and also remember having this problem years ago with certain Winchester and Remington ammo. The inconsistency from batch to batch has periodically caused me problems and I think I was probably too quick to point the finger at the rifle.
I can’t be bothered to rewrite the whole story but the following is a post I made this morning to our New Zealand forum concluding a thread where I asked for help to try and work out whether I had a barrel problem or an ammunition problem. I had been shooting CCI Standard Velocity from 2018, ammunition that was all from the same batch and acquired in bulk. It performed outstandingly well in my CZ455 Varmint and gave me precisely the kind of performance I want for longer range critter control on the farm. It shot every bit as good as the most expensive match ammunition I have tried in this rifle. Unfortunately when I ran out of this ammunition at the end of last year, I acquired a recent batch of Standard Velocity manufactured in July 2020, thankfully only 1,000 rounds. It was a disaster…
[Another aspect of .22 rimfire shooting that I have proven for my own edification is that cleaning your barrel thoroughly is definitely a worthwhile exercise and no it does not take hundreds of rounds to “season” it again. I know this topic is a long-standing debate but I have seen significant improvements in accuracy after a thorough clean, followed by only 5-6 shots down the tube. My rifles barrel seems to get a bit lazy after about ~300 shots, and returning it to bright and shiny condition sorts that out.]
Righto…
Thanks to the fellas that helped me with this problem, got some very useful messages with advice and tips. Big thanks in particular to ~Tentman for helping me find a replacement brand of ammunition that is just outstanding in my CZ455. What you did there Foster saved me a huge amount of aggravation in the current ammo crunch, cheers mate.
The original batch of CCI Standard Velocity in the old dark blue boxes was genuine one ragged hole in my rifle, as proven by me, ~Wingman, my mate Sam and my wife - repeatable 10 shot touching groups at 50m with only one or two noticeable flyers in every box of 50 rounds. And never any supersonic cracks. I was smacking magpies out to 130-140m and had no concerns whatsoever. But this July 2020 batch of Standard Velocity ammunition was appalling - first shot from the first box went BANG and was >3” high and left! WTF? The random supersonic cracks were driving me crazy because not only do I need my ammo to be subsonic and quiet, but the crazy flyers were educating magpies in a way they were unlikely to forget.
I collected chrono data and took photos but didn’t get anywhere with the technician at CCI initially, very unhelpful. They have certain thresholds for velocity and accuracy that they work too and I guess if you are very close to those limits but not past them then you’re not going to win an argument. Plus I think the way you present the evidence needs to be carefully thought through, and I needed to shoot a reasonable sized dataset to capture the full extent of the variability.
So I persisted with the dialogue with my friend in Idaho - bet his eyes were rolling when he saw my name pop up in his inbox. But credit where it is due, when he saw the last two lots of data, he decided okay this is obviously no good and this Dave bloke isn’t giving up. Of course me having posted to Rimfire Central had nothing to do with it whatsoever… eh.
Yesterday a cheque for USD 110 turned up as recompense for the 1,000 rounds acquired from Broncos. I think I shall frame it and keep it in my study as a reminder that persistence and tenacity pays.
I can’t be bothered to rewrite the whole story but the following is a post I made this morning to our New Zealand forum concluding a thread where I asked for help to try and work out whether I had a barrel problem or an ammunition problem. I had been shooting CCI Standard Velocity from 2018, ammunition that was all from the same batch and acquired in bulk. It performed outstandingly well in my CZ455 Varmint and gave me precisely the kind of performance I want for longer range critter control on the farm. It shot every bit as good as the most expensive match ammunition I have tried in this rifle. Unfortunately when I ran out of this ammunition at the end of last year, I acquired a recent batch of Standard Velocity manufactured in July 2020, thankfully only 1,000 rounds. It was a disaster…
[Another aspect of .22 rimfire shooting that I have proven for my own edification is that cleaning your barrel thoroughly is definitely a worthwhile exercise and no it does not take hundreds of rounds to “season” it again. I know this topic is a long-standing debate but I have seen significant improvements in accuracy after a thorough clean, followed by only 5-6 shots down the tube. My rifles barrel seems to get a bit lazy after about ~300 shots, and returning it to bright and shiny condition sorts that out.]
Righto…
Thanks to the fellas that helped me with this problem, got some very useful messages with advice and tips. Big thanks in particular to ~Tentman for helping me find a replacement brand of ammunition that is just outstanding in my CZ455. What you did there Foster saved me a huge amount of aggravation in the current ammo crunch, cheers mate.
The original batch of CCI Standard Velocity in the old dark blue boxes was genuine one ragged hole in my rifle, as proven by me, ~Wingman, my mate Sam and my wife - repeatable 10 shot touching groups at 50m with only one or two noticeable flyers in every box of 50 rounds. And never any supersonic cracks. I was smacking magpies out to 130-140m and had no concerns whatsoever. But this July 2020 batch of Standard Velocity ammunition was appalling - first shot from the first box went BANG and was >3” high and left! WTF? The random supersonic cracks were driving me crazy because not only do I need my ammo to be subsonic and quiet, but the crazy flyers were educating magpies in a way they were unlikely to forget.
I collected chrono data and took photos but didn’t get anywhere with the technician at CCI initially, very unhelpful. They have certain thresholds for velocity and accuracy that they work too and I guess if you are very close to those limits but not past them then you’re not going to win an argument. Plus I think the way you present the evidence needs to be carefully thought through, and I needed to shoot a reasonable sized dataset to capture the full extent of the variability.
So I persisted with the dialogue with my friend in Idaho - bet his eyes were rolling when he saw my name pop up in his inbox. But credit where it is due, when he saw the last two lots of data, he decided okay this is obviously no good and this Dave bloke isn’t giving up. Of course me having posted to Rimfire Central had nothing to do with it whatsoever… eh.
Yesterday a cheque for USD 110 turned up as recompense for the 1,000 rounds acquired from Broncos. I think I shall frame it and keep it in my study as a reminder that persistence and tenacity pays.
