New to shooting - best .22cal ammo?

seb1999

I am a new shooter and my first handgun is a Ruger SS Competition Model 6 7/8 Slabside Barrel. The first time out I purchased ammo at the range CCI 40 grain hollow points and the gun performrd well - the jams I had mere due to my ham-handed cocking. Being a penny pincher I bought ammo @ Wally World Federal Lightning 40 grain solids and had 1 missfire out of 100 (1%) and several jams (failure to eject). I figure it was the ammo? The Federals cost 97 cents and the CCI's at the range were 2.75 and Winchester SuperX from Wally is 1.97. I am only bulseye shooting and becomming familiar with the hand gun what ammo should I be using. Does FPS or bullet weight/type matter in this instance?

S&W Man

The best thing to do is try a few different types, eg: brands and weight/bullets. Different guns will work better with different ammo. I have a set of 22's I use for training classes and they work best with Remington Thunderbolts. They keep jamming with Winchesters. When I went thru instructor training, he had a set that worked great with the Winchesters, but kept failing on the Remingtons. Bottom line is to find the ones that your gun likes the best. This seems to be truer with the 22's than with most centerfire cartridges.

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Nate

I do a fair share of bulseye shooting with a ruger goverment. My best ammo is Federal Gold Metal Target. Tryed CCI Standard Velocity and couldnt get it to group worth a darn. The federal will cost ya, I am payin 19.95 a brick for it. I am willing to pay for accuracy when it come to bulseye.I would stick with an ammo that is standard velocity, it really helps when it comes to your timed and rapid fire targets.

Michael Baquet

I am no expert but I soot very often. I target shoot with my .22's, M1 Garand, AR15, L1A1, .40 S&W Baby Eagle, my hunting rifles and a few others. I shoot high porwer military matches also. When first shooting my .22 Remington bolt action rifle, I bought as many different brands, bullet weight, velocity combinations that I could find. ( Of course I did this over several trips to the range.) Important...keep a log and records of how each performes.If you are like me, it's got to be the most accuracy ammo possible...BUT thear is always shooter error.Practice, Practice, Practice. Be surt that conditions such as wind, temp., shooting rest etc. is as close to the same every time you shoot. Remember to squeeze the triger and not to pull it. You may want to sight in using a very steady rest first then begin shooting freehand after you have established which bullet you want to use. Thear are many good books at the bookstore on shooting techniques. Anyway...I found that a mid range velocity bullet shot best in my gun, bullet weight didn't seem to make much difference. Hollow points did not shoot well, but that's just my gun. Yours most probablt will be different. Another thing. .22's shoot very dirty. They leave behind alot of powder residue. Clean that weapon after every shoot and inbetween if you are shooting alot that day. The bore should also be cleaned with a good solvent to get the bullet lead or copper from the rifling grooves. After a good cleaning try shooting a few fouling shots through the gun before shooting at your targets.Hope this helps. It's not too technical but simple shooting technicues that have helped me may help you as well.

muskyguide

I also do a lot of bullseye shooting. We've got about 20 shooters in the legue& most of them use CCI Std. vel. w/ no problems, & cleaning seems to be more crit. on the High Std. Victors for us.

yankswin

ive just bought the same pistol you have, used, with a 2x scope.ive tried several brands. stay away from low end federal hollow points, i shot them through my pistol and my ruger 1022 target rifle, they suck, nothing but jams and like s+w man, remington thunder bolts works great in my pistol. 2 bricks with no jams, 3 duds. i just shoot for recreation.i cant justify to try highend rounds for now.im shooting 3" groups at 50 yards, nothing to sqawk about, but untill i cant shoot any tighter groups, i might try something else, but for now, its cost effective and for now i'll practice, practice, practice......good luck!