My CZ JAGUAR 22LR likes REM GOLDEN BULLETS

R

Recycled bullet

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Hi guys. Last weekend I was shooting my CZ Jaguar 22 long rifle bolt action rifle. All of the shooting was done offhand. I was testing different types of ammunition also. I was shooting at steel plates and also shooting at one of those orange bouncy plastic things and also shooting it at dirt clods :-)
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I like this rifle it feels very solidly made, very well built. The length of pull is a little too long for me and that's okay I still shot it several hundred times:-)

Front sight is a hooded red fiber optic bead , the rear sight is a metal notch that is very easily adjustable for elevation. There is a spring loaded button on the side of the rear sight to slide it front and back to raise and lower it and for certain calibrated distances. I was experimenting with the 25 and 50 yard adjustments.

The bolt is a little bit small and that's okay.
I like how quiet this rifle is when fired. The barrel is almost 30 inches Long. This is the longest Barrel gun that I own.

All in all it was a Bright Beautiful Day Sun was shining the breeze was blowing and I shot for almost 5 hours:-)

When I shot the agila subsonic rated for 1,025 feet per second the report was quiet enough that I could hear the firing pin fall. Now that is quiet!

In the past I had issues with Federal Auto match. The problems were Barrel leading, inaccuracy, magazine jams and general frustration.
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I didn't have any of those problems with the golden bullets. CCI Blazers did okay as well and CCI target loads were great. I want to try the CCI quiets and see if they get stuck in the barrel:-)
 
I don’t buy any of the high dollar ammo, but have tried a bunch of lower cost ammo to see what works well in the Tikka T1X. Blazer is the most accurate, but Remington Golden is almost as good. I will say that the older Remington Golden shot better than the newer stuff. And it comes in a HP version, which is more effective than the RN version when I am in Coon eradication.
 
stagpanther is being modest and skimming over the fact that he has also tested quite a bit of premium ammo.
He shoots well and has discovered, like many precision rimfire shooters, that there is a difference in quality levels.
Whether or not a particular rifle will like any given load is even more of a variable in rimfires than centerfires; but quality level does matter.

I don’t buy any of the high dollar ammo, but have tried a bunch of lower cost ammo to see what works well in the Tikka T1X. Blazer is the most accurate
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CCI Blazer 40 gr RN is one of the best 'cheap' options for high velocity.
CCI Standard Velocity, is one of the best cheap options for sub-sonic.

My son and I (and now some extended family) shoot NRL22 and PRS22.
Our "bottom of the barrel" ammo option is CCI SV.
For an HV load, to reduce time of flight or keep the POA within our scope reticles, out to 300-500 yards, we usually reach for Blazer. (The 40 gr RN is the same as CCI Mini-Mags, without the copper wash.)
We do, of course, go beyond 'cheap' for standard match ammo when it is warranted. My son's rifle prefers Wolf Match Extra ($80+/brick) as its low end option, with Eley Club (more affordable) as a low cost backup option.
But I have a rifle that hates both of those, and wants SK Match or Eley Tenex. :(
 
stagpanther is being modest and skimming over the fact that he has also tested quite a bit of premium ammo.
He shoots well and has discovered, like many precision rimfire shooters, that there is a difference in quality levels.
Whether or not a particular rifle will like any given load is even more of a variable in rimfires than centerfires; but quality level does matter.
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Thanks for the compliments--but in reality you guys probably shoot better than I do technique-wise--but I do I shoot a lot--like every day weather permitting.

The CZ jaguar is a 22lr that seems to defy "conventional wisdom" and shoots way above its pay grade IMO. I've learned so much from mine. I know what it can do and anyone who has one owes it to themselves to at least explore the potential with premium-grade ammo as it can be a real eye-opener. And I'm sure you know that shooting 22lr is a great training tool that can have a direct benefit in shooting larger centerfire calibers.
 
golden bullet/.22 rifles

I've not tested any premium ammo. But I have shot a good bit of blue collar .22 and the Golden Bullet has always done well for me in a variety of rifles. I'll go out on a limb and say it may be the most accurate and consistent after the CCI offerings.

I noticed this most when .22 ammo got scarce a few years back. I bought and shot what I could find. The number of failures to fire, and variance in report of other brands was not surprising, I knew that already, but the amount of wonky cartridges I experienced was enlightening. I've about got all the "make do" ammo shot up and am back to stocking Golden Bullets again.

The CZ Jag seems a really nice rifle, and I'll offer that all rifleman owe themselves a decent .22. I'm more than a bit skeptical of anybody that does not list the .22. lr as an essential cartridge, own one (or more) and shoot .22 often.
 
'Golden Bullet' was good ammo into at least the '70s and most of the '80s.
But, now? No. Absolute garbage. I would *almost* rather shoot Winchester rimfire ammo, and it is pretty terrible, even when not bulk/budget line.

Shoot some honest 10+ round groups on paper, at at least 50 yards, and compare to any standard CCI offering (not sintered bullets, super velocity, etc. - just traditional HV and SV loads with lead bullets), as well as Fiocchi Range Dynamics, Fiocchi Field Dynamics, or even the cheapest Eley or SK ammo you can find.
The vertical stringing is incredible with Golden Bullets, and most other bulk and budget ammo; and the number of inexplicable flyers is eye-opening.

But everything has its drawbacks.
-The really good premium ammo is, of course, expensive.
-Eley (and Wolf) has given me a not-insignificant number of primer failures - but far, far less than bulk crap and Golden Bullets. Generally, if it fails to fire on the first strike, it's a dead round. Only twice in the last two years have I had a second/third/twelfth strike (on the same or other parts of the rim) set off the primer.
-Norma uses a disgusting, sticky lube. It is terrible to handle, and it gums up magazines and actions in cooler weather.
-SK uses a lube that is like birthing gel. It is like handling greased pigs. Good luck loading a magazine with tricky feed angles, a stiff spring, or a flat follower, without some frustration.

Then again, premium stuff doesn't result in a dozen bent, smashed, or gouged rounds in a box, either.
Since learning (and, in my mind, verifying for myself) that cracked primers leading to inconsistent ignition is the biggest problem with bulk ammo, I have considered 'boxed' ammo - especially in nice trays - to be better. My testing showed that boxed ammo, even of the same type as a bulk offering, was more consistent. It might have still performed below my standards, but it was better than the bulk-packaged version.

Until I tried some Winchester Super Suppressed in their smoke-colored 100-round plastic tray. (You have to give an ammo company another chance every once in a while, even if they let you down every time in the last two decades. Why not try their "premium" ammo?)
The number of errant bullets and degree vertical stringing were incredible.
At 50 yards, that crap was stringing more than 8" vertically.
I tried half a dozen rifles of known performance, and none of them saw any improvement. And that's not counting the 4(+?) dead primers and one round that wouldn't chamber in anything.
I was given several boxes of 333-count Winchester Wildcat last year. It was crappy. Very terrible ammo. Yet, that Super Suppressed was even worse.

Fancy packaging was just lipstick on a pig...
 
I agree with you frankenmauser.

Until I can handload 22 long rifle I will be limited by the quality control and availability set by the manufacturers and distributors.
 
I agree with you frankenmauser.

Until I can handload 22 long rifle I will be limited by the quality control and availability set by the manufacturers and distributors.
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I tried hand loading 22lr ammo for a while--even used bullets that have much higher BC/SD than any of the factory stuff and loaded to well above supersonic velocities. Occasionally got some decent groups--but in general almost never as good as the better factory stuff. I eventually figured out that there was almost no way 22lr ammo can be hand-loaded to the same level of exacting precision that the factory-made stuff is. Why is that? Because tolerances in the 22lr world are much smaller than they are in the centerfire world. The powder weights are much smaller. the headspaces and chamber clearance dimensions are much smaller. A couple of tenths of a grain of powder can make a big difference in the velocities--even blow the case head. Knowing what i know now about hand-loading 22lr--I wouldn't even bother unless I first found a good, easy to replicate cartridge combination and then had a barrel custom made for exactly that one-and-only cartridge.
 
Stag Panther where can I find more information about training and Equipment required in order to handload 22 long rifle?

How did you learn about hand loading 22 long rifle?

I noticed that it was easier for me to smack a 6-in steel plate at 50 plus yards with my 38 Special fired out of my Blackhawk than it is with my Ruger Wrangler shooting either CCI Blazer or the golden bullets. I noticed because the 38s are my hand loads and they group smaller. Aguila subsonic fired from the Wrangler groups about the same as my 38 Special handloads. I'm grouping about 6 in at 50 yards shooting off hand I think that's the mechanical limit of my ability at this time. I'd be curious to see what those guns and loads will do from a vise.
 
Based only on my experience--my opinion is, once again, the effectiveness of 22lr (meaning accurate consistency) relies on very small tolerances and very good ammo. Handguns and rifles with "loosey goosey" chambers and freebores (such as they are) will probably never get accuracy and consistency that top rifles and handguns get no matter how good the ammo is that you feed it.

If you look at the top cartridges from Eley, SK, RWS etc they all have more or less the same bullet profile. They vary in whatever they lubricate them with (and the bearing bands that engage the grooves)--almost like different perfumes that ladies wear.:D Most people hate the smells, I kinda like them. Anyway, a lead 22lr bullet when chambered is a very close fit to the chamber and freebore--almost "form-fitted" all the way to the throat. You can easily see evidence of that with a borescope when examining the residue that forms fairly quickly at the throat. BTW, I try to never mix jacketed and lead bullets out of the same bore--it will throw the "seasoning" of the bore in my experience and will prevent optimal results with either one IMO.

Back to your original question--even the brass you use can make or break your handloads. That's because even the dimensions of the brass--all the way down to the thickness of the rim--can affect how it headspaces and fires in your 22lr. With centerfire we typically talk in terms of thousandths of an inch making a difference; but in 22lr it's ten thousandths of an inch measurements that can make a difference. I don't actually reprime used brass; I use new primed CCI brass instead from Cutting edge bullets.

Basically you have two choices for "learning how to reload" 22lr, either use the guy that advertises loading with a nut-cracker like device (totally useless IMO)--or go to Cutting edge bullets and look at their solid bullet kits. Their approach is much better in that they offer precision tools and dies; but you're going to end up with their solid copper bullets which have totally different barrel requirements from the ubiquitous 16 twist barrels to get the best out of. I went down that rabbit hole but failed to get notable results. Years after their introduction I still haven't seen much evidence of them sweeping the results at competitions.


In summary, I think you can end up spending a whole lot of time making casual plinking-grade stuff (if you're lucky) or pony up the money for stuff from the serious manufacturers that use precision loading gear costing millions to get to accurate, consistent ammo.:)
 
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I’ve honestly had better results with Rem Thunderbolts. I’ve been shooting TBolts in my browning lever for 40 years. They seem to shoot well in our Marlin semi auto also. I like CCI Blazzer and am very fond of Sellier n Beloit Canadian match std ammo.
 
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