I know this has been covered but i can't find it. I am going to start fooling with my 22 rimfire and I'll weigh them, but I am not going to pay a dollar a shot! In "real world" experience, which manufacture should I look at? I see there are Browning 22 shells but am sure somebody else makes them. Also Federal Black? Is there one that I should start with or just grab and start shooting?
Cheaper Ammo and Accuracy
- Thread starter bsekf
- Start date
What are you willing to pay? Seriously, what is the price point you are comfortable with. At the end of the day, it all depends on your expectations and what type of shooting you are doing. For BR competition, no cheap ammo is going to cut it regardless of what you do. For NRL, the accuracy requirements are less so you can get by with a bit cheaper ammo (note I did not say cheap).
If your time is worth nothing, weigh them, rim sort them, or do many of the other items people like to think turn cheap ammo into decent ammo.
SK is probably the most common middle ground ammo used. They have different levels and price points. Not sure if they are within the price range you are willing to spend or not.
If your time is worth nothing, weigh them, rim sort them, or do many of the other items people like to think turn cheap ammo into decent ammo.
SK is probably the most common middle ground ammo used. They have different levels and price points. Not sure if they are within the price range you are willing to spend or not.
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MarkS
Silver $$ Contributor
The Browning ammo does not shoot in my guns. Not sure what Fed. Black is. For me CCI SV is the first place to start. It is the low end for good ammo. It depends on how far you are going to shoot. A lot of ammo shoots good at 50yds. but not so good past that.
The next step up is SK Standard+, Wolf match Target, Eley Target that runs around $6.00 in normal times.
Next is SK Rifle Match, Biathlon, Long Range, any other SK ammo, Wolf Match Extra, Eley Club, run $7.00 to $10.
Next is Lapua ammo, and Eley upper line, and RWS these run $12 to $20.
I shoot Long Range steel matches out to 300yds +. I am using SK Std.+, and Biathlon in my Tikka T1X. Wolf in my Kidd Supergrade. Eley Club in my Bergara B14R.
I would grab what you can, and see how it shoots, then go from there.
Mark
The next step up is SK Standard+, Wolf match Target, Eley Target that runs around $6.00 in normal times.
Next is SK Rifle Match, Biathlon, Long Range, any other SK ammo, Wolf Match Extra, Eley Club, run $7.00 to $10.
Next is Lapua ammo, and Eley upper line, and RWS these run $12 to $20.
I shoot Long Range steel matches out to 300yds +. I am using SK Std.+, and Biathlon in my Tikka T1X. Wolf in my Kidd Supergrade. Eley Club in my Bergara B14R.
I would grab what you can, and see how it shoots, then go from there.
Mark
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I don't know what you are shooting them out of so I don't know if you need high velocity to feed or cycle right. However in my experience standard/sub sonic velocity 22 ammo yields the best accuracy in my guns. The three types I shoot have already been listed here. In order of best accuracy in my Ruger MKIV pistol, Savage MkII and ruger 10/22 LVT is Eley Club, SK Std+ then CCI SV. They all shoot and cycle well. I can't afford the high dollar stuff either. Most budget shooters wanting an accurate ammo shoot one of those 3.
I bought my 22 around 2012. I went out and bought all kinds of different ammo. Different manufacturers, weights, round nose and hollowpoint, SV and HV. (This was back when you could buy it) All with the purpose of trying to find the best for my gun. (I did not buy expensive target rounds....the gun was less than $200 and going to be a squirrel gun)
CCI SV hollowpoints was the best. It's all I've hunted with since. I probably still have a few 1/2 full boxes of the 'other' stuff down in the basement. And I've bought boxes of stuff for plinking. But for hunting..it's CCI SV for me.
CCI SV hollowpoints was the best. It's all I've hunted with since. I probably still have a few 1/2 full boxes of the 'other' stuff down in the basement. And I've bought boxes of stuff for plinking. But for hunting..it's CCI SV for me.
Forget weighing, measuring rims and all the other voodoo - it's been well proven that it won't turn bad ammo into good ammo. Try a few of the standard velocity rounds you can find, preferably with lead bullets, not plated, and shoot some groups.
OP - you need to provide more information in your question. Are you plinking, shooting varmints, club level competition?
It is hard to give advice when the only criteria is - "I am going to start fooling with my 22 rimfire". If that is the case then just buy anything that goes bang.
drover
It is hard to give advice when the only criteria is - "I am going to start fooling with my 22 rimfire". If that is the case then just buy anything that goes bang.
drover
Hozzie - what do you mean by "rim sort"? I have never heard of that I and am curious to know.
Outrider27
Gold $$ Contributor
I have a fast gauge to do that, and have found that sorting and grouping by rim thickness does offer the opportunity to improve accuracy. Some of the cheaper stuff will have a significant portion that comes in at 0.036" or less - that goes into the plinker/barrel fouler pile. After that I group by a 0.0015" increment. anything above 39 thou groups better than the thinner stuff, and any that is 40-41 thou and up groups quite well compared to the thinner rim stuff. Anything 42-42 thou and up is a treasure, lol. It's amazing what sorting by rim thickness can do, as long as you can find a use for the less accurate stuff.
The above goes for cheap bulk ammo and mid-price ammo - never found that sorting made a difference with match grade ammo, so don't waste your time there once you've found the brand that your rifle likes.
Mid price ammo doesn't generally have many rims, if any rims, below 38 thou, so I often just group it into 2 batches - 40 thou and below and over 40 thou, again, once I've found the brand a specific rifle likes best. If you have a gauge that can measure rim thickness quickly (mine is best described as a snap gauge, but the guy that made them retired some years ago), it is an easy project while you are lazying around watching TV. It is amazing how fast one can sort a bulk box of 500 once you learn the fastest way to use whatever system you have accurately.
Cost does not necessarily determine accuracy or reliability. For example, I find Blazer ammo to be terrific in 9mm and .45 acp. I can shoot more expensive stuff, but get no improvement. In fact, I find Blazer to be much more reliable than Winchester white box ammo and their eco-friendly ammo.
1Merlin
Silver $$ Contributor
Temporarily moving past the banal and unproven hypothesis regarding rim thickness, lesser twist rates. projectile weights, cast chicken bone arrangements and particular phases of the moon........
A controlled nuclear transmutation works best for me. Simply take the lesser ammunition and place it in your particle accelerator (similar results can be obtained in a properly set up tokamak reactor) and upon nuclear particle bombardment an endothermic reaction takes place, similar to stellar nucleosynthesis, leading to the number of protons, or neutrons, in the nucleus of the targeted round being changed thereby facilitating the measurable increase in the accuracy of the affected rimfire round in a positive manner. Please be aware that must take precautions while using this methodology as an inadvertent side effect is that is occasionally found that the lead projectiles themselves are changed to 24k gold which greatly increases the required efforts to properly clean your projectile launching device.
While my observations may be met with some initial skepticism I welcome the challenge from anyone who disagrees to present their own scientifically duplicatable records for independent confirmations.
A controlled nuclear transmutation works best for me. Simply take the lesser ammunition and place it in your particle accelerator (similar results can be obtained in a properly set up tokamak reactor) and upon nuclear particle bombardment an endothermic reaction takes place, similar to stellar nucleosynthesis, leading to the number of protons, or neutrons, in the nucleus of the targeted round being changed thereby facilitating the measurable increase in the accuracy of the affected rimfire round in a positive manner. Please be aware that must take precautions while using this methodology as an inadvertent side effect is that is occasionally found that the lead projectiles themselves are changed to 24k gold which greatly increases the required efforts to properly clean your projectile launching device.
While my observations may be met with some initial skepticism I welcome the challenge from anyone who disagrees to present their own scientifically duplicatable records for independent confirmations.
Thanks everybody! I've got a place to start, CCI Standard vel. . I am just going to shoot for my own enjoyment, no organized competition. But, at 200 and maybe 300 yards. I have a custom 20 in barrel with a match chamber for my Contender. It shoots pretty good with junk, I just want to try the "best" junk.
I understand, "the lase 1/4 inch costs a lot of money".
Bill
I understand, "the lase 1/4 inch costs a lot of money".
Bill
Dusty Stevens
Shiner
Try the sk and lapua center X. SK magazine was always a good choice for me in non match settings
I agree and if you can get the CCI green tag it's a little bit better version of the standard CCI.
Outrider27
Gold $$ Contributor
I don't sort much any more, but then I don't buy bulk ammo any more, either - I've gotten more extravagant in my old age (plus I watch much less TV, so not much sorting time).
You can make it shoot better by sorting, sometimes surprisingly well with the thicker stuff, if you get lucky with a particular batch, lol. The one thing I learned sorting 350-500 round bulk boxes is that the ammo with thicker rims shoots better than the same stuff, from the same box, with thinner rims. Then I started measuring the rims on match ammo, and discovered that regardless of the brand, rim thickness was always in what I had decided was the thick range (over 40 to 40.5 thou, measured with a gauge that would give a good picture of dimensions down to the 10 thousandth range) and that because it was uniformly thick rimmed, no need to sort match ammo.
Bottom line, rim thickness makes a difference, but not on match ammo brands, as they are uniformly in the thick range. While the thicker rim batches of the sorted cheap stuff will give better groups than the same lot with thinner rims, as you said, no miracles. But it was fun experimenting, and I learned something.
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