On the hunt for 22LR target ammo for Ruger MK IV

U

U.S.SFC_RET

New member
Yes I am looking for 22 LR target ammunition to feed a Ruger MKIV. I am presently shooting Federal Match and seems to do OK however I need input from those who landed on a good ammunition that makes a difference in their target shooting in their MK IV. Advice is much appreciated.
 
Oh gosh, IME what may shoot good in 1 gun may not shoot good in another.
Your going to have to experiment and it could get $$$.$$.

About all I add is to shoot about 15 to 20 rounds from a box of 50
AND THEN shoot the rest of the box for group.

If me I would throw in a box of Federal Gold Metal Match in the testing.
 
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You could take out three brand new guns of any manufacture and shoot the same ammo out of all three of them and get three different results. RaySendero pointed this out very well. I'd suggest that in the interest of getting the very best accuracy out of your gun that you try several different brands of high end/quality ammo such as Eley, RWS, Wolf, SKS, and Norma to start. Shoot only standard velocity. I have found that CCI std. velocity performs at about 90-95% as well as the top true target ammo. One other thought on this: Very few Rugers are true target guns. Back when I shot a lot of silhouette, I never saw a Ruger winning any matches. I started with one and soon moved on to something else. I'm not knocking Rugers, they make some very good guns. They simply don't make very good target guns. A good target gun will keep five shots under .5" at twenty-five yards on a regular basis with target quality ammo that the gun likes. Some guns will do even better. I've owned a couple of Buckmarks that would shoot a ragged hole at that distance for five shots (all off of a bagged rest, not off hand). Good luck.
 
"...in their MK IV..." It'll be different from every other pistol. .22's are just like that. No two, including 2 identical consecutively numbered pistols, will shoot the same ammo the same way. You have to try a box of as many brands as you can to find the ammo your pistol will both shoot well and cycle the action. The cost of said ammo means nothing.
You'll have to shoot off a solid rest too. Not on your hind legs.
 
I was afraid of that. I am presently shooting up a case of Federal Match 22LR and have about a box 325 left. Standard Velocity is where its at. Before posting this thread I thought about buying another case of ammunition. Well the hunt for a good brand of ammunition is on.
 
Smoke, when you say you are using Federal Match, do you by chance mean Federal Auto Match? It seems to me the Auto Match took a serious nose dive in quality somewhere between '09 and '11 if memory serves.

Like others have said, it'll be worth it to try different ammo. But that said, I've found 3 that seem to shoot equally well in my S&W41, MkII, and Buckmark. The ammo is Wolf Match Extra (Sp?), SK Standard Plus, and the relatively inexpensive Geco Optimized for Semi Auto. Those might be a decent place to start your search. All three of these are 40 lead with pre-oiled projectiles, which kind of makes them a pain to load until you get used to it.
 
10-96
Thank you for your advice.

I do find Federal Auto Match a bit iffy, especially when the bullet strikes above my point of aim on a whim.

I am still looking for a good brand of ammunition.
 
U.S.SFC,,,,when i am testing 22 ammo i have a bunch ,,,16 different kinds,, that i only use for testing,,,5 shots from a clean bore

there is usually 1 or 2 the shine

as 10-96 stated the wolf match extra is a good one,,and wolf match,,along with eley and some other brands,,,,,but there is always the exception,,,,

when i was shooting bullseye 22,,,,i have a browning buckmark,,,that has several bullseye trophies under its belt,,, that will shoot the daylights out of remington bulk,,,it shoots that stuff as good or better than anything i have ever put through it,,,i got several different boxes of ammo at dicks,,,when i was doing the testing with the buckmark,,, i couldnt believe it,,,and i tested it several times,,,,just to get it into my head,,,,i took the lot no. with me back to dicks and bought all of that lot no. they had,,,3 cases,,,,i still have some

so,,,yes every rimfire is unique,,,and you never know what it is gona like,,,,

my suggestion is to get a box of every kind of 22 ammo you can find and put a few through your gun to see what it likes,,,and when you find it,, get a bunch,,,your gun will tell you what it likes,,,,and that is what you feed it

my .02

ocharry
 
Try CCI Standard Velocity. Also try Mini Mags and AR Tactical. All of these shoot tighter than AutoMatch.

Also try any ELEY or Wolf Match.
 
Sound advice....All of it. I always test at least a dozen brands and types of .22s in new to me .22s. The expensive brands generally shoot well; sometimes, though, you will find that an inexpensive brand shoots as well as the high end stuff. I found that Federal 711s shot as well as any other brand of .22 out of my High Standard.
Shooting from a clean barrel....if you want.....but the barrel is dirty again as soon as you fire one shot. Most smallbore shooters that I know on rarely clean their barrel..22s ammo is outside lubricated and designed to keep barrels clean.
In fact, one school of thought is that cleaning the barrel disturbs accuracy by removing the “seasoning”.
Peter
 
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just to be clear... the only reason i clean between different bullets when i am testing,, is because just about all the 22 bullets have different lube on them,,,when i am testing i dont want another bullets lube left in the bore giving me a false result,,,some bullet brands have a waxy feel to them,,,others have a greasy stuff on them,,, while others have ,,,not sure what on the bullet,,,so its just to separate the bullet lube,,,,i also try to do my testing when the weather is the same,,,temp,,humidity,,,wind,,,keep a log it will help,,,that way they all get a fair shake,,,does it need to be that way,,,heck no,,,thats just the way i do testing,,,prolly over kill,,,but for me,,,i gots to know,,,,kinda the same way when i work up a load for a center fire,,,,if i do my part,,,,then i know where the bullet is going,,,no excuses,,,,,lol

for the most part,, once i get a bullet that is doing what i want,,in that particular rifle the only time i clean it is if i have cycling issues,,,sometimes with a tight or match chamber,, it doesnt take much,,dirty chamber could cause loading or unloading problems,,,,especially in a auto

i want to rule out as much mechanical stuff as i can,,so if i miss,, i know its me or something i did,,,,i like small groups at 50 yrds with my 22's ,,,,3/8" or less if i can make it happen


ocharry
 
I just noticed that, despite what I wrote, I never answered the OP’s question about brands. I have two 22 conversions for two 1911s: a Marvel conversion on a Springfield frame and a Nelson conversion on a Colt Series 80 frame. I alternate between plain CCI SV and Eley Club. The Eley shoots a bit better in both. At least i get better scores.
 
In addition to the top match grade mentioned I would also try a box of Gemtech. Their subsonic ammo has the lowest sd/es of any I’ve tested, and groups best in several of my .22s (better than match grade in some cases).

I shoot .22 mostly with a can. I’ve found that if it cracks every time (all rounds are supersonic) or it thuds every time (all subsonic) I get way better groups, even up close, than when some crack and some thud.

I respect the .22 BR guys a lot. To me it’s so much harder to get percision out of a rifle you can’t load for that it really is a completely different game.
 
When funds allow I buy some Eley Edge. Seems to cycle through my Mark II better, and is super accurate out of my CZ 455 Bit pricey though.
 
I did a season shooting ARA targets with a Winchester model 52 d model . 22 lr are ammo dependent. Shooting the different brands and find the best then hope you can buy more from the same machine and the same batch is your rifle is accurate enough to see a difference. Shooting 22 lr can be brutal.
 
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