Some .22 bullet comparisons

[MrTom]

Here’s a comparison between 8 different loads in the new Ruger American .22. The testing was done early morning to try and avoid the ever present daytime wind, but there was a southerly breeze of between 4-10mph blowing into my back during the whole test. The start temperature was 73 degrees and the range, after a quick sight in, was 50 yards. Each target received 5 shots of the same bullet with a 2 minute wait between shots.

Clearly the CCI MIni Mag, the Aguilla, and the Federal Gold Medal have the tightest groups. I'd take this gun to the trees any day using any one of the three bullets. The Winchester Target bullet in this photo group isn't bad for 50 yards and I think squirrels would hate it.

The CCI Quiet round is the pokiest of the 8 with a speed of 710 at the muzzle. I can actually see the bullet go down range and while I am not crazy about the group size, the slight puff of a report will see it being used in the yard on mr squiggles and herr rabbit., where the shots are generally under 40 feet. The CCI suppressed bullet offered the broadest grouping and trust me, is not quiet in the least. I'll pass these shells on to the grandson to burn up. The CCIShort's report could pass in the yard and actually has a not so bad group size. I just don't think that little 29 grain pill works so well in a 1in16 twist barrel. The old standby Remington Gold bullet's group is, again, not bad but I don't care for the horizontal stringing. I'll give the bullet another shot another day just to be sure it wasn't either me or the wind.

I'm not a fan of hyper velocity and the associated higher product costs so I have no intentions of wasting the money on the lighter faster .22 rimfire food. I'll find some CCI Mini Mag hollow-points to try and see if they do as well as the solids or the Aguila bullet which is a hollow point and has the tightest group. I know I can find the Aguila, the CCIs and that Federal round locally so I'll probably pick up a brick of each of those. Those Winchester Target and Plinking bullets are a whimpy $3.99/box of 50 so I'll get a brick or two of those too.

I'm lovin that rifle and it took very little to tickle some great accuracy out of it this morning. We've got a sustained 20-25 mph blow going right now so I'm glad I went early. The gun is just under 7 pounds with the scope and Burris rings and not an ounce of aluminum. Damn its nice to shoulder a .22 that feels like a real rifle.

 

[anonymouscowherd]

CCI SV or something made by Lapua (SK brands as well as Lapua brand, plus they used to make the Wolf branded rimfire) would probably shrink those groups by a good bit....

 

[HC]

When switching from one brand to another brand of 22 bullets , fire 10 rounds to season the barrel before trying to shoot for groups.

 

[anonymouscowherd]

When switching from one brand to another brand of 22 bullets , fire 10 rounds to season the barrel before trying to shoot for groups.

At least until you know your rifle isn't sensitive to change. And I'd bump that number up... or start with a clean barrel each time. Why?

Here;s an example of what one of my Savages was like - change ammo type/lube and it would need 20-25 to settle in. Stay in a family (CCI SV/CCI SSHP or SK Magazine/SK Standard/Lapua CenterX) or clean or wait to settle in... you'll learn what your rifle likes. IIRC this was going from CCI SV to Remington SSHPs (which gave me sub-moa at 100 for the most part, note nasty ammo induced flyer in group 8). Notice big change from targets 1 2 and 3 (bottom center, bottom right, bottom left)

 

[HC]

T Totally agree!

 

[.45er]

Here’s a comparison between 8 different loads in the new Ruger American .22. The testing was done early morning to try and avoid the ever present daytime wind, but there was a southerly breeze of between 4-10mph blowing into my back during the whole test. The start temperature was 73 degrees and the range, after a quick sight in, was 50 yards. Each target received 5 shots of the same bullet with a 2 minute wait between shots.

Clearly the CCI MIni Mag, the Aguilla, and the Federal Gold Medal have the tightest groups. I'd take this gun to the trees any day using any one of the three bullets. The Winchester Target bullet in this photo group isn't bad for 50 yards and I think squirrels would hate it.

The CCI Quiet round is the pokiest of the 8 with a speed of 710 at the muzzle. I can actually see the bullet go down range and while I am not crazy about the group size, the slight puff of a report will see it being used in the yard on mr squiggles and herr rabbit., where the shots are generally under 40 feet. The CCI suppressed bullet offered the broadest grouping and trust me, is not quiet in the least. I'll pass these shells on to the grandson to burn up. The CCIShort's report could pass in the yard and actually has a not so bad group size. I just don't think that little 29 grain pill works so well in a 1in16 twist barrel. The old standby Remington Gold bullet's group is, again, not bad but I don't care for the horizontal stringing. I'll give the bullet another shot another day just to be sure it wasn't either me or the wind.

I'm not a fan of hyper velocity and the associated higher product costs so I have no intentions of wasting the money on the lighter faster .22 rimfire food. I'll find some CCI Mini Mag hollow-points to try and see if they do as well as the solids or the Aguila bullet which is a hollow point and has the tightest group. I know I can find the Aguila, the CCIs and that Federal round locally so I'll probably pick up a brick of each of those. Those Winchester Target and Plinking bullets are a whimpy $3.99/box of 50 so I'll get a brick or two of those too.

I'm lovin that rifle and it took very little to tickle some great accuracy out of it this morning. We've got a sustained 20-25 mph blow going right now so I'm glad I went early. The gun is just under 7 pounds with the scope and Burris rings and not an ounce of aluminum. Damn its nice to shoulder a .22 that feels like a real rifle.

Nice read. I haven't experimented much with .22's but CCI Mini Mag's always shoot great out of my .22 rimfires.

 

[MrTom]

I did brush and wipe the barrel between brands. I waited about ten minutes between brands in addition to the time between shots. I have plenty ofammo of each brand left so I'll try the ten rounds to season then ten to pattern next time or two out.

 

[bronko220002]

Tom I found similar results with my Bergata B-14R. I tested over 10 different brands and found CCI MiniMag Varmint the most accurate followed closely by SSK Plus and Federal Target with Norma Tac-22 getting an honorable mention. Aguila wasn't too bad and Winchester (2 types) and Remington totally sucked. To get a better idea how the ammo shot I fired 10 shot groups. This is the result of my second outing of the better ammo at 50 yards. If you notice the first 2 targets. Both were shot with the same lot of CCI MiniMag ammo but the 2nd target the bullets were lubed and held a much tighter group. Same for the Federal Target (sans the one flyer). As I recall the ammo tested was Aguila, SSK Plus, Norma Tac-22, Federal target and standard, Winchester Wildcat and Power Point, Remington Gold, CCI MiniMag Varmint and Standard Velocity, and Eley Brown.

 

[Lee Tilton]

Try some Lapua Center X. I can shoot these 50 yd groups all day long.

 

[MrTom]

That's a nice sheet Bronco.

Here in this area a lot of the brands mentioned here are not available. I usually run into any shop that might sell some ammo and see what they have. I enjoy the shooting so it's not going to be money wasted unless the brand totally sucks. The oldest grandson has a 5 year old that likes to plink with his dad using a .22 so they'll help burn up stuff I don't care for.

When I shot yesterday a flock of the dumbest starlings on earth landed in the field between the 100 and 200 yard backboards. I spent about 20 minutes plinking on them. I'd shot, they fly about ten yards and land. I'd shoot....repeat. I picked up 8 for the freezer and garbage day on Friday.

I haven't had a .22 for 40 years, but have been thinking about picking one up for the last ten. After last Christmas I finally had enough gift cards for Scheels to buy the gun and paid for the scope/rings, cartridges out of my tackle sales. I didn't want a cheapo gun and did some homework and finally decided between the stand model American and the CZ but the CZwasn't available for another month or more so I got the American. I've really missed just going out and plinking.

 

[Shorty]

Tom I found similar results with my Bergata B-14R. I tested over 10 different brands and found CCI MiniMag Varmint the most accurate followed closely by SSK Plus and Federal Target with Norma Tac-22 getting an honorable mention. Aguila wasn't too bad and Winchester (2 types) and Remington totally sucked. To get a better idea how the ammo shot I fired 10 shot groups. This is the result of my second outing of the better ammo at 50 yards. If you notice the first 2 targets. Both were shot with the same lot of CCI MiniMag ammo but the 2nd target the bullets were lubed and held a much tighter group. Same for the Federal Target (sans the one flyer). As I recall the ammo tested was Aguila, SSK Plus, Norma Tac-22, Federal target and standard, Winchester Wildcat and Power Point, Remington Gold, CCI MiniMag Varmint and Standard Velocity, and Eley Brown.View attachment 35264

Hi Clem .. what do you mean lubed?

 

[Shorty]

I always liked shooting the .22’s.. i have about a dozen of them little plinkers. Really cheap to shoot and pure fun. We have butchered cows and pigs with them in long rifles and pistols too.. my most accurate one is the ruger precision, which we shot up to two hundred yards hitting the gongs all the way… its bolt action but you can get the 25 round ruger mags if your state says its o. K.

 

[anonymouscowherd]

Hi Clem .. what do you mean lubed?

Not intending to insult or anything

But some people will go to extremes with cheaper ammo in an effort to make it shoot better groups. Sorting by weight, length, rim thickness, running thru a sizer, or adding some type of lube

A number of years ago someone on rimfirecentral did some rigourous testing and found the best shooter applied lube was preparation h


Perrsonally I just say "buy better ammo"

 

[bronko220002]

Shorty I rubbed

Hi Clem .. what do you mean lubed?

Not intending to insult or anything

But some people will go to extremes with cheaper ammo in an effort to make it shoot better groups. Sorting by weight, length, rim thickness, running thru a sizer, or adding some type of lube

A number of years ago someone on rimfirecentral did some rigourous testing and found the best shooter applied lube was preparation h


Perrsonally I just say "buy better ammo"

Shorty just what I said. I just rubbed a little lube on the bullets to see if improved accuracy and as you can see it did - by a good margin.
And Anomymous if you read my entire posts you would have seen that I had tested 1q different brands of ammo from elcheapo Winchester Wildcat ammo to match grade Eley ammo. And just to let you know its not only the ammo but also the rifle. I have another 22 lr that will shoot the cheap Winchester ammo better than any other brand or type. So your "buy better ammo" theory doesn't hold water. I've shot many 22s both competitively and for fun and each rifle, like a muzzleloader, has a favorite.

 

[bronko220002]

Try some Lapua Center X. I can shoot these 50 yd groups all day long.

Nice but I always shoot 10 shot groups to get a better feel how the ammo shoots.

 

[MrTom]

I always liked shooting the .22’s.. i have about a dozen of them little plinkers. Really cheap to shoot and pure fun. We have butchered cows and pigs with them in long rifles and pistols too.. my most accurate one is the ruger precision, which we shot up to two hundred yards hitting the gongs all the way… its bolt action but you can get the 25 round ruger mags if your state says its o. K. View attachment 35275

I was looking at that one along side of the standard and decided on the standard. I had the gift cards to cover the standard and didn't want to have to dig in my shallow pockets.

 

[bronko220002]

When I shot competitively back in the mid-80s I shot a Winchester 52 Target with a Unertel 20X and Eley Green ammo. I fired thousands of shots with that rifle and never cleaned it and it would knock the gnats of a fly's butt at 50 yards!
I wish I still had it.