Does ammunition matter?

B

boxjeff

New member
Don't know a whole lot about ammunition, so just purchased the cheapest 22lr on the shelf...a brick of American Eagle. Just using it for target practice in my new Ruger MK lll Hunter.

Any feedback?
 
American Eagle is good practice ammunition. It's not one of the brands I search for, but I never feel bad about buying it if the deal is good.
 
Since you cannot reload 22 rimfire, most shooters try different brands to find what shoots best in their firearms. For example, I have a Winchester rifle that prefers Remington ammo, and a Remington rifle that prefers Winchester.
 
For plinking, it's fine. I own several .22 semis and revolvers. I've found the best overall ammo is CCI's Mini-Mag. About $6-50-$7-50/100. Clean and accurate. If you're going to shoot competition, something else might be better.
 
Ammunition matters for some things, but if you are just plinking/target shooting for fun with a .22, any factory ammo from a decent manufacturer should do. I've fired American Eagle before, shoots just fine.

If you were talking about ammo for a home defense or carry gun, ammo for hunting, ammo for competition shooting, then it matters a bit more
 
What about grains...what would be to much for the Ruger MK lll?
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It should be safe with any .22LR loading on the market. You'll have to experiment to find out what is most accurate in it.
 
You'll have to experiment to find out what is most accurate in it.
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Yep. I just went through a lot of different brands and power levels of .22LR (even one box of .22 Shorts) ammo. Shorts shot way low and didn't group well BTW... Found the Federal match grouped the best, and Federal Bulk was next in MY Colt Scout SA. Each gun is going to be different ... so you need to experiment.

If you are just beginning shooting, I wouldn't worry to much about what brand you shoot until you start bringing your groups in. It does take practice. The best bet is to have a good shooter fire your gun to give you an idea of how well the ammo does group... maybe even adjust the sights for you initially. Just a thought!
 
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Many .22s are picky about which ammo they shoot best. I've had pretty good luck with the Federal Champion stuff. I haven't had particularly good luck with any of the loose packed boxes of stuff.

I also got some Wolf Match Target, it is very good stuff. Of course it has also doubled in price since I bought it a few years back.
 
The first thing I do is try to see what cycles well in the gun I am shooting. Once I find out what works well the next thing is to see of those rounds what is the most accurate. I shoot more of the most reliable at the lowest price I can find.

I also like to note what rating the not so reliable ammo is too. If I can shoot 500 rounds of X round without problems, it goes on the good rating. One or two duds the rating goes lower. Duds or rounds that need a second strike to go off, I count the same. The higher the number the lower the rating.

I only check how well a round groups if I use optics and shoot from a rest.

I have found some ammo won't cycle in a given semi-auto but works well in another one. Some guns are picky and others are not even when they are the same model. Revolvers and bolt action rifles seem to shoot just about anything. On those I count duds and accuracy only.
 
You need to be aware that some of the cheaper .22 ammo will have a waxy coating on the bullets. This coating will jam magazines and make it necessary to disassemble and clean your mags more often.
 
Some of the most expensive will have the coating as well. Match .22LR ammunition sometimes has wax coated bullets in my experience.
 
I have a few thousand rounds of it in everything from 22 to .308. It usually goes bang, accurate enough for my needs and good practice ammo. I have other ammo for serious but this keeps me shooting.
 
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