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HIGHEST GRADE AMMO
Rosie
Member Posts: 14,525 ✭✭✭
What is the very highest grade 22 long rifle target ammo that can be bought today?
Comments
But don't get hung up on it - your gun(s) may like something cheaper better... for example, my Savage 22lr gets tighter groups with Rem sub sonics than it does Wolf Match Target. But.. the Rems have a higher percentage of fliers... suppose I could sort on weight and/or rim thickness...
I have a CZ452 that produced shotgun patterns with Federal Match. When I tried Winchester bulk-packed 'Xpert's, they were all in the 1/2 inch center dot at 50 yards. The gun also likes the Federal cheapo's.
I've stayed away from regular Remington .22's (plated or unplated) because many of the muzzle reports have sounded different, from the same box of ammo, in any particular gun (red flag).
It might shoot the cheap milk carton bulk stuff, that you buy in Walmart @ $22.00 for 550, better then the Eley stuff @ 19.00 for 50.
That's pretty unlikely [:p], though I will say some of the bulk packed stuff can be better than you might think it "should" be.
It really comes down to CONSISTENCY. One flier per box of 50 rounds isn't bad at all for cheap practice ammo, but its a deal-breaker for serious competition where one flier can easily mean the difference between a medal and not.
To answer the question, English made Eley Tenex widely enjoys the reputation of being the "best" .22LR ammo, or at least amongst the best, though as mentioned that doesn't necessarily mean that it will outshoot "lesser" (ie lesser COST!) ammo in YOUR particular gun.
Every gun has a unique firing pin nose shape/cross section, firing pin spring tension, chamber and barrel measurements, and barrel harmonics (ie vibration pattern), and all of these things can affect how a given type of ammo performs accuracy-wise. You can really know which ammo performs the best in your gun until you actually try different types.
Other high end target brands include: Wolf Match (which is also sold branded as German SK-Jagd ammo), American Federal Gold Medal Match, Finnish Lapua, and German RWS. CCI "Green tag" match ammo is another domestic American brand that is pretty good.
Most of these come in different "flavors" of velocity (for pistol vs rifle), and in cost grades of practice vs. match.
Along these lines, note that the relatively inexpensive purple boxed Eley "sport" is actually made in Mexico by Aguila, and while not the worst ammo out there, its not nearly as good as its brand name suggests.
What I'd suggest, is, instead of trying to find "the best" ammo, find the ammo that performs best in YOUR gun, and with YOUR budget. There is no substitute for volume. . .you simply need to put tens of thousands of rounds downrange to develop top level skill. At that volume, its simply not practical for most shooters to be spending 40 cents PER ROUND for practice, and bluntly, until you develop quite a bit of skill, otherwise miniscule differences in ammo quality probably aren't going to matter anyway.
So with that in mind, finding a brand of ammo that works well in your gun that doesn't break the bank is a good investment of your time.
Sometimes you can find lesser priced ammo that can perform pretty well. I used to get excellent results with cheap Federal "target" until they discontinued it about 5-6 years ago. Turns out the lots were bland labelled runs of their gold medal match that for whatever reason didn't meet spec.
For stuff you can buy now, I find that the ordinary CCI ammo is pretty good for the price.
quote:Originally posted by machine gun moran
I've stayed away from regular Remington .22's (plated or unplated) because many of the muzzle reports have sounded different, from the same box of ammo, in any particular gun (red flag).
I'd go so far as to say that the Remington bulk packed (which, IIRC is copper washed high velocity 36 grain), is probably the worst ammo I know of right now.
I used to use the Remington .22 target (Green and yellow box) for practice in my Hi-Standard pistol. These were highly accurate. . .as good as the Wolf. . .*IF* they actually went off! The problem was that I'd typically get not less than 1-2 duds every single box. Not the biggest deal during practice, but that would be absolutely infuriating in an actual competition. I knew it wasn't my gun, because I couldn't get the "dud" rounds to go off in other guns either.
The minor difference in the thickness indicate the amount of primmer present. This has a proven efect on accuracy.
Get Yourself a 22LR RIM THICKNESS MEASURING GAUGE,along with an DIAL- INDICATOR, and sort your ammo.
I got Mine from RAVEN EYE CUSTOM of LAKEWOOD Colorado.There may be other supplys, but theirs dose a gooe job. and if you WANT ONE-Hole groups then You need to Measer You Rims.and SORT YOUR AMMO.
I know that You asked Who has alread SORTED the ammo for You.
My choice is ELEY MATCH AMMO.