need advice, 22LR rounds

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desertboy

Inactive
Hi all,

I'm new to these forums, but I've wiled many an hour away reading them when I should have been working. :)

Anyhoo, I just bought myself my first plinker, a Browning Buckmark. I want to start doing some target shooting. Believe it or not, this is my first .22!

I was wondering if you guys have any suggestions about types of ammunition for accuracy. Also, in general, should I be using subsonic, supersonic, or hypersonic?

thanks!
 
I would use any 22 long rifle out there really...Any full metal jacket is good///Hollow points is where the accuracy is lost
 
Use standard velocity 22lr.Pick the brand that your pistol prefers...If you get really involved you might look into a fancy pistol and fancy ammo such as target 22lr.
 
Before you move into the expensive stuff, please try Wolf Match Target. It runs about $30 for 500 and has made every rimfire I won a tack driver.

After that the CCI stuff (save for Stingers) seem to group a bit better than the Winchester or Remington bulk packs. from Wal Mart.
 
I acquired my first .22s last year and got one box of each type of ammo that MidwayUSA had for under 7 bux a box (my limit) and tested each for accuracy. I lucked out and the Ruger MkII likes Federal American Eagle the best and the Henry lever gun likes Federal Champion.:)

Some places allow you to buy one box of test ammo each at the bulk rate, I think Champion's Choice might be one, I don't remember.

This testing makes a fun project for a weekend. I shot at 50 yard 5 bulls targets for the rifle and 1 inch spots at 50 feet for the pistol, two targets of 5 shots with each kind of ammo. I repeat tested ones that were better. Some were very bad. The Wolf match ammo was one of the worst in both guns as was the PMC match ammo. :eek:

For my birthday I just had the Volquartsen accurizing kit installed in the Mk II.:) It jams a little now, I just have to run it in a little I guess.;)
 
Seems like all .22s are finicky, and they mostly all like different ammo. My buddy and I went on a mission to find the "best" for our guns a while back (a total of 5 different guns). Bought a box of everything we could get our hands on. As a general rule, they all shot better with "standard velocity" rather than "high velocity", 38 or 40 grain bullets.

The 3 that gave the best accuracy, in all the guns were (in order of accuracy):

Wolf Match Target
Winchester T-22
Federal "Classic" Gold Label

We even tried some very expensive Eley target ammo, and even out of my buddies Winchester 52 Target Gun, the above were better.

So, I'd start with them. With the Wolf Match Target I can consistantly shoot dime-sized groups out of my $125 Marlin Model 60, at 50 yards. Don't seem to get as many "flyers" as the others, but that may be the shooter, not the ammo.
 
Goto the local MegaLoMart.
Buy the 500 round box for $10.
Shoot.
Repeat.

If those 500 rounds cause you all sorts of headaches, next time buy a different $10 box.
 
Winchester Wild Cats or PMC ScoreMasters.

I have tried many types of ammo on metal NRA pistol silhouttes ( the range is in my yard). For the money, feeding, clean-up,non- fouling, and accuracy, try some 'Cats or Scoremasters

I don't own a Buckmark, but have played with many, and I find them to be a sound and accurate pistol. They do tend to like the higher velocity ammo, but it needs to be of quality make so your FPS isn't all over the place as are your groups.

Take your time, put it on a rest, and see what it groups and feeds the best. Then buy a truck load of the stuff.

.22 pistols are much fun, and louder than you think:D
 
+1 for Wolf match target.... I shoot the best groups with it in my Ruger MK II. Ordered a brick from Champions Choice today! I also tried about 5-6 different brands & so far Wolf mt is king.....
 
I don't have a Buckmark, but after several different brand tests, my Ruger 22/45 does best with CCI mini-mags and (lucky for me) the Wal*Mart $10.00/box Federal 550.
 
The Buckmarks do shoot very well for the $. The trigger may need some work but that is up to you.

I bought a Buckmark 5.5 target some years back and shot Bullseye with it. I tried several different ammo brands and makes and found my 5.5 likes PMC Scoremaster the best of the cheaper 22 target style ammo.

Then I came into a Smith 41. I did the same drill with it, shooting 5 or six different brands of ammo. I found it liked T-22 the best. The Buckmark also shot T-22 well.

While T-22 shot well in both pistols, I could not find any T-22 to go off all the time. (too many duds) This hurt my timed and rapids scores as I had to re-fire and you only get the bottom 10 rounds. Now if I were able to hit the X and 10 ring every time, it would be no big deal right? This only happens once in awhile and not when I've had to deal with a pistol that stopped firing.

Scoremaster shot in the Buckmark the best and always went off, but would not function my 41 even after trying reduced recoil springs, etc. Then for some reason the local (meaning within 60 miles) supply dried up.

So I settled on CCI Standard. Both pistols will shoot other ammo a little better, but the nice thing about the CCI Standard it goes off every time. This meant my over all scores are higher. I buy the CCI Standard by the case now. The last case had maybe 2 duds out of 5,000 rds. The current case is about 1/2 way used up and so far every round has fired.

The CCI Standard will hold the slow fire 10 ring on a 50 foot 22 target with no problem with either gun.
 
I tried about 20 different brands and variations of .22LR and my gun liked Wolf match target the best. If you can't find Wolf, look for SK, same German manufacturer (yes, the Germans make if for Wolf, a Russian company)...same stuff, different box.

My guns also like most of the Aquilla stuff and lucky for me...PMC Zappers. I've also has pretty good luck with CCI MiniMags, though not as accurate as the rest.

I've found that most of the bulk Remington, Winchester and Federal that I buy locally is garbage. Lots of flyers, lousy accuracy, and I've given away hundreds of rounds of the cheap stuff just to get it out of my life. Most of it wasn't worth shooting. I had a big box of Remington where most of the bullets were falling out of the casing or were crooked. Junk.
 
Wally Special

My Buckmark and Walther P22 both eat Remington Golden Bullets like candy. They are readily available at Wal-Mart.
 
Neither one of my .22s like the Remington Golden bulletts. My S&W model 22 has about one FTF per magazine, while my Marlin .22 rifle has stovepipes about every four rounds with them. Both guns are maintained regularly, and go through the Wal-Mart bulk boxes of federal flawlessly. So that's the only .22 ammo I ever buy, and for 8 bucks for 550, I won't complain.
 
Try the cheap Federal Gold Medal, it's less than $3 a box and it has beat the pants off of all the other stuff mentioned in this thread in all of my pistols. It's a transsonic round and will not shoot to the same point of aim as a lot of other stuff, though. Another good transsonic target variety is Rottweilshache(RWS) R50. My buddy's buckmark loves that stuff.

If your pistol has a recoil spring a little too heavy to cycle Gold Medal reliably, try Lapua Speed Ace or Pistol King. The PK is crazy expensive but extremely high-quality. Speed Ace was designed for moving target competition and is an extremely accurate as well as high-velocity round. It's more expensive than anything you are likely to find at wally world, but not so much as to break you (around $5 to $7 a box).

Are a lot of you guys actually using this stuff you have reccomended in competition or just plinking?
 
The only ammo I have had problems with is the Remmington Golden Bullet value pack at Walmart. The ammo I have had the best luck with is the Federal value pack, 550 rounds for $9. Just like some of the others said, try many different brands and see what works best in your gun.
Rusty
 
I have not shot my pistols much, so I can't speak of that, but I shoot frequently with my CZ's and a couple of Russian made rimfire rifles and Wolf MT shoots very well in them. My Russians are phenomenal with Federal #714 which is $135 a case at champchoice.
 
There is a relatively new load that I have had very good luck with lately as far as plinking ammo - Federal Auto Match. Comes in a 350 round box for about $9 at WW and has shot very well in the 2 10/22's I have tested it in, actually outshooting Wolf MT by a shade and Wolf ME by a ton. Very surprising result for such inexpensive ammo and definitely worth a try.
 
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