.22 ammo
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Almost all .22 ammo is lead. That's what the gun is designed to shoot.
What exactly do you plan to do with your .22? And how much do you want to spend on ammo? Answer those questions and we can begin to find you an answer for yours. :wink:
What exactly do you plan to do with your .22? And how much do you want to spend on ammo? Answer those questions and we can begin to find you an answer for yours. :wink:
Snake45-
I am a self admitted newbie to the .22lr. Granted I had one when I was 12 years old, but i didn't really know what I was doing with it then. My purpose was to buy a gun that I can enjoy shooting often and reliably without worrying about it breaking even after thousands of rounds. I don't need to be a competition shooter. Often friends of mine and I go out camping and will bring random firearms to shoot things with. Basically I just like to shoot. I don't need match quality ammo, but I don't want something that will harm the integrity or reliability of my new firearm. If lead is standard and isn't bad for the gun as you say then I guess it is ok with me. Like I said all this is new to me so you tell me what I need and I will listen. Just because I have had other guns in my day doesn't mean that I am a gun snob and won't listen to advice from the more knowledgeable. I am here to listen to those like you. thanks again!
I am a self admitted newbie to the .22lr. Granted I had one when I was 12 years old, but i didn't really know what I was doing with it then. My purpose was to buy a gun that I can enjoy shooting often and reliably without worrying about it breaking even after thousands of rounds. I don't need to be a competition shooter. Often friends of mine and I go out camping and will bring random firearms to shoot things with. Basically I just like to shoot. I don't need match quality ammo, but I don't want something that will harm the integrity or reliability of my new firearm. If lead is standard and isn't bad for the gun as you say then I guess it is ok with me. Like I said all this is new to me so you tell me what I need and I will listen. Just because I have had other guns in my day doesn't mean that I am a gun snob and won't listen to advice from the more knowledgeable. I am here to listen to those like you. thanks again!
The general rule in buying .22 ammo is: Start with the cheapest ammo you can find and work your way up the price scale until you find ammo that does what YOU want to do at the price YOU want to pay. You can pay 3c a shot for .22 ammo or 25 cents a shot or more.
For 10/22, I like the Federal Bulk Value Pack, from Wamart--about $15 for 550 rounds. Not the most accurate but it's pretty reliable and it's clean and it's accurate enough for practice or plinking. It's also the cheapest .22 ammo on the market that I know of at the moment.
Some of my .22 friends prefer the Federal Champions, which are a little more at Walmart. A little more accurate in some guns. My bolt-actions love them but my 10/22s can't tell the difference.
For 10/22, I like the Federal Bulk Value Pack, from Wamart--about $15 for 550 rounds. Not the most accurate but it's pretty reliable and it's clean and it's accurate enough for practice or plinking. It's also the cheapest .22 ammo on the market that I know of at the moment.
Some of my .22 friends prefer the Federal Champions, which are a little more at Walmart. A little more accurate in some guns. My bolt-actions love them but my 10/22s can't tell the difference.
contender
Ruger Guru
Many of the average guns can use the "cheaper" stuff with only a few hic-cups. In general,, the Federal bulk packs (when you can find them,) from wally-world will do just fine. Winchester, Remington, PMC CCI, all are pretty good & offer a variety of grades & types of ammo.
And yes,, almost ALL 22 LR ammo is lead. Some has a "copper wash" applied, but it's still lead. It will not hurt the firearms.
And yes,, almost ALL 22 LR ammo is lead. Some has a "copper wash" applied, but it's still lead. It will not hurt the firearms.
1gunsnotenough
Buckeye
Any of the Federal ammo is good. I shoot the Fed. Bulk, Lightning, Champion. Fail to fire almost non-existent. I can get sub 1" groups at 50yds out of my Springfield M2 with all the Federal. They run great through my 10/22s and MKIIs.
Function is one thing. If you are lucky, you'll have a 10/22 that is not too finicky about ammo. Then just buy the builk stuff like federal and have a ball.
I was trying different ammos in my slightly modified 10/22 a few months back at 50 yards and worked up to a box of Federal Champion game shot. Before that I was shooting about 1.5" groups but was getting kind of tired. Loaded a 10 round mag with the game shot stuff... emptied the mag and looked closely.... what? basically one hole that looked like it was from a 40 cal. round. If you are 'shooting' for accuracy then ammo will make a difference and I've been told different rifles like different ammo.
One of the fun things about 22lr ammo is you can try different types and brands of ammo and you won't break the bank.
I was trying different ammos in my slightly modified 10/22 a few months back at 50 yards and worked up to a box of Federal Champion game shot. Before that I was shooting about 1.5" groups but was getting kind of tired. Loaded a 10 round mag with the game shot stuff... emptied the mag and looked closely.... what? basically one hole that looked like it was from a 40 cal. round. If you are 'shooting' for accuracy then ammo will make a difference and I've been told different rifles like different ammo.
One of the fun things about 22lr ammo is you can try different types and brands of ammo and you won't break the bank.
CajunBass
Single-Sixer
I've got a bunch of 22's. The count is about twenty at this point IIRC. I've tried several types of ammo in them, but frankly tying to figure out which ammo shoots best in which gun, and then keeping track of that ammo, and keeping it in inventory sounds too much like work to me. I settled on Federal Bulk Pack from Wal-Mart in the brown box, or Federal Champion from the gun store (blue box) as being "good enough" in all of them. It might not be "the best" but it will do the job.
I don't like plain lead bullets. I've had it lead up pistol barrels, but not rifle barrels for some reason. Same ammo, but different results. So I pretty much stick to the copper washed stuff. Having said that, American Eagle brand with the plain lead bullet has never given me any trouble. Remington and Winchester have.
I don't like plain lead bullets. I've had it lead up pistol barrels, but not rifle barrels for some reason. Same ammo, but different results. So I pretty much stick to the copper washed stuff. Having said that, American Eagle brand with the plain lead bullet has never given me any trouble. Remington and Winchester have.
Shoot44
Single-Sixer
As others have said, each gun is different in what it 'likes'. I also try the cheapest and go until I find one that seems 'better'.
If you're only interested in function, just find the one that goes bang and cycles everytime. If accuracy is your main thing, then you'll just have to try them and find out which one(s) your particular gun likes.
Having said that, the ONLY type that I will NOT use now is the cheap Winchester, (I think called 'expert' or something like that), in White 500-round bricks with red print on them. THat stuff is SO SOFT that it leads up my guns like crazy. CHUNKS of lead coming out when I clean the bore!!
When I mentioned this to the guy in WalMart, he remarked that he has heard that same comment from others, so it's not just me, I guess.
Anyway, good luck, and welcome to the ranks of us 22-shooters!
If you're only interested in function, just find the one that goes bang and cycles everytime. If accuracy is your main thing, then you'll just have to try them and find out which one(s) your particular gun likes.
Having said that, the ONLY type that I will NOT use now is the cheap Winchester, (I think called 'expert' or something like that), in White 500-round bricks with red print on them. THat stuff is SO SOFT that it leads up my guns like crazy. CHUNKS of lead coming out when I clean the bore!!
When I mentioned this to the guy in WalMart, he remarked that he has heard that same comment from others, so it's not just me, I guess.
Anyway, good luck, and welcome to the ranks of us 22-shooters!
Yesterday I shot about 300 rounds (combined) of three types of bulk ammo through my 1022 DSP and Marlin 39A. I shot approximately equal quantities of Remington GB's, Winchester 333's, and Federal Champions (#745 load - the 525 count blue box). All worked well: no FTF's or FTE's, none sounded different, etc. I was shooting cans in the offhand position so I couldn't quantify any diferences in accuracy, but they all seemed the same to me. This is not a definitive statistically significant test by any means but just some more data on the inexpensive bulk ammo.
Jim
Jim
Leucoandro
Single-Sixer
Here is what I have seen out of my custom 10/22
Remington Golden Bullets Bulk - Got some about 10 years ago. Very good accuracy. No problems with leading, clean shooting. The very rare round that would not go off. The report when fired would not always sound the same (indicatinig some issues with charge consistancy), but they were very accurate. 0.25" groups at 50 yards.
Remington Golden Bullets 50 Round Boxes - bought around 5 years ago. OK accuracy. Much more frequent misfires. Far more noticable changes in the report from shot to shot. Clean Shooting. Larger than .5" groups at 50 yards
Federal Bulk Bullets - Slightly better than average accuracy. Very consistant with the Report from Shot to Shot. Very rare to have a misfire. About 0.5" groups at 50 yards
PMC - I have not fired these for years and years, as they are hard to find where I am. Back 20 years ago, I found them to be very accurate, very reliable, and very consisitant with reports from shot to shot. 0.25" groups at 50 yards
Federal Automatch Bulk - Very accurate out of my 10/22 (As accurate as the old Bulk Remington golden bullets used to be 0.25" groups at 50 yards). Very consistant report from shot to shot. Never had a misfire.
Eley Ammunition - I tried 4 different types of the ammunition. I was not overly impressed. I found that they would group better than 0.5" at 50 yards, but never got one to group down to 0.25".
CCI HiVel Ammo - I have found it to be as accurate out of my gun as Eley. It is very reliable. I do not use it because the Federal Automatch is slightly more accurate.
CCI Stingers/Quik Shok Hyper Velocity - I have found these hyper veloocity bullets to have slightly below average accuracy, with slightly larger than 0.5" groups at 50 yards.
Winchester X-Pert - I was not impressed at all by this ammunition. Leading was very bad. Accuracy was slightly lower than average. The report was pretty consistant from shot to shot, and the bullets always fired. After I decided not to shoot this ammunition out of my 10/22 I decided to use my SP101 in 22LR to burn up the rest of it. Leading was so bad, that after about 150 round, the cylinder would not spin. I had to take a brass brush I brought with me to scrape off the huge amounts of lead from the front of the cylinder. I shot another 100-150 rounds through it that day. That evening when I was cleaning the gun, I decided to see how bad the leading was. The inside of the barrel looked like a smooth bore leading was so bad.
I find it very fun to test different ammunition - I plan on testing CCI Stinger Subsonic ammunition the next time I am on leave. I am going to concentrate on Federal Automatch though.
Charlie
Remington Golden Bullets Bulk - Got some about 10 years ago. Very good accuracy. No problems with leading, clean shooting. The very rare round that would not go off. The report when fired would not always sound the same (indicatinig some issues with charge consistancy), but they were very accurate. 0.25" groups at 50 yards.
Remington Golden Bullets 50 Round Boxes - bought around 5 years ago. OK accuracy. Much more frequent misfires. Far more noticable changes in the report from shot to shot. Clean Shooting. Larger than .5" groups at 50 yards
Federal Bulk Bullets - Slightly better than average accuracy. Very consistant with the Report from Shot to Shot. Very rare to have a misfire. About 0.5" groups at 50 yards
PMC - I have not fired these for years and years, as they are hard to find where I am. Back 20 years ago, I found them to be very accurate, very reliable, and very consisitant with reports from shot to shot. 0.25" groups at 50 yards
Federal Automatch Bulk - Very accurate out of my 10/22 (As accurate as the old Bulk Remington golden bullets used to be 0.25" groups at 50 yards). Very consistant report from shot to shot. Never had a misfire.
Eley Ammunition - I tried 4 different types of the ammunition. I was not overly impressed. I found that they would group better than 0.5" at 50 yards, but never got one to group down to 0.25".
CCI HiVel Ammo - I have found it to be as accurate out of my gun as Eley. It is very reliable. I do not use it because the Federal Automatch is slightly more accurate.
CCI Stingers/Quik Shok Hyper Velocity - I have found these hyper veloocity bullets to have slightly below average accuracy, with slightly larger than 0.5" groups at 50 yards.
Winchester X-Pert - I was not impressed at all by this ammunition. Leading was very bad. Accuracy was slightly lower than average. The report was pretty consistant from shot to shot, and the bullets always fired. After I decided not to shoot this ammunition out of my 10/22 I decided to use my SP101 in 22LR to burn up the rest of it. Leading was so bad, that after about 150 round, the cylinder would not spin. I had to take a brass brush I brought with me to scrape off the huge amounts of lead from the front of the cylinder. I shot another 100-150 rounds through it that day. That evening when I was cleaning the gun, I decided to see how bad the leading was. The inside of the barrel looked like a smooth bore leading was so bad.
I find it very fun to test different ammunition - I plan on testing CCI Stinger Subsonic ammunition the next time I am on leave. I am going to concentrate on Federal Automatch though.
Charlie
Shoot44
Single-Sixer
Update, (of sorts):
Spent yesterday at the range chronographing a bunch of different calibers and loads. Had been so rainy that I had put it off for a long time.
Tested 4 kinds of 22LR among other calibers. Rem "Golden Bullets"; Rem "Thunderbolts"; Federal "Lightnings"; and Aguila "standard velocity". I shot them all through my Ruger MK III Hunter with 6 5/8" barrel. Ten rounds each.
Rem GB's: Ave vel: 1067; Sd: 16.24. (Surprisingly good Sd for such cheap stuff!)
Rem Thunderbolts: Ave Vel: 1029; Sd: 68.94 (!!) Interestingly, these shoot more accurately from my MK III than the Rem GB's do! I have found that at close range, velocity inconsistency does not have much impact on accuracy.
Federal Lightnings: Ave Vel: 1094; Sd: 18.48 These are VERY accurate in the MK III! Note: these are in the 'maroon' box, NOT the blue box stuff!
Aguila SV's: Ave Vel: 998.5; Sd: 16.52. These will NOT cycle my marlin autoloader rifle consistently.
Interesting to hear that others here have had the terrible leading problem I had with the Winchester 'Experts'! The Federal "bulk" bullets (blue box) are extremely 'dirty' and will NOT cycle my wife's Walther P22 at all. I didn't even bother to test them, as I only have a few left, having given many of them away.
Spent yesterday at the range chronographing a bunch of different calibers and loads. Had been so rainy that I had put it off for a long time.
Tested 4 kinds of 22LR among other calibers. Rem "Golden Bullets"; Rem "Thunderbolts"; Federal "Lightnings"; and Aguila "standard velocity". I shot them all through my Ruger MK III Hunter with 6 5/8" barrel. Ten rounds each.
Rem GB's: Ave vel: 1067; Sd: 16.24. (Surprisingly good Sd for such cheap stuff!)
Rem Thunderbolts: Ave Vel: 1029; Sd: 68.94 (!!) Interestingly, these shoot more accurately from my MK III than the Rem GB's do! I have found that at close range, velocity inconsistency does not have much impact on accuracy.
Federal Lightnings: Ave Vel: 1094; Sd: 18.48 These are VERY accurate in the MK III! Note: these are in the 'maroon' box, NOT the blue box stuff!
Aguila SV's: Ave Vel: 998.5; Sd: 16.52. These will NOT cycle my marlin autoloader rifle consistently.
Interesting to hear that others here have had the terrible leading problem I had with the Winchester 'Experts'! The Federal "bulk" bullets (blue box) are extremely 'dirty' and will NOT cycle my wife's Walther P22 at all. I didn't even bother to test them, as I only have a few left, having given many of them away.
I found the same thing when I tested Rem GBs at 25 yards. They were making FOUR different sounds (this was in 2005) from squiblike to very hot, but the groups were tight! I didn't bother to test them at 50 yards. (Lots from the last 3 years have been much more uniform, and very hot.)Shoot44":344sudqw said:
Dunno if we're talking about the same ammo but I've found the Fed Walmart Bulks (maroon box) to be extremely clean. I have several "pocket" type .22 autopistols that will not cycle these for the first two or three rounds of the magazine (due to the mag spring pressure) but will run them fine for the rest of the magazine. My solution to that problem is to load (the more expensive) Rem GBs on top of the mag for the first two or three rounds, with the cheap stuff underneath.
Shoot44
Single-Sixer
Yeah, Snake, I found the same thing about the GB's. I have some old chrono data that has unbelievable vel spreads. I mean WILD. Several hundred fps! But as you see from my latest data, that is not happening now. I also find them pretty 'hot' now as you can also see.
The Federals I will not shoot are the BLUE box stuff. The ones I tested yesterday come in a maroon-like box, and are labeled "Lightning". These work SUPER in my MK III.
Well, I will have to try your 'load GB's on top' idea if I get a chance. I note that the mag springs in her Walther are a LOT weaker than the ones in my MK III's. So that might be the problem. But really, as long as it shoots 100% with the GB's, why bother? We're not concerned with the accuracy of that little pistol anyway.
P.S. On re-reading your post, I think that you mean that the spring pressure is too GREAT, right? Must be, as it will get LESS as you go down the stack. So I guess that the LOW spring pressure in the Walther is not the problem then. . . .??
The Federals I will not shoot are the BLUE box stuff. The ones I tested yesterday come in a maroon-like box, and are labeled "Lightning". These work SUPER in my MK III.
Well, I will have to try your 'load GB's on top' idea if I get a chance. I note that the mag springs in her Walther are a LOT weaker than the ones in my MK III's. So that might be the problem. But really, as long as it shoots 100% with the GB's, why bother? We're not concerned with the accuracy of that little pistol anyway.
P.S. On re-reading your post, I think that you mean that the spring pressure is too GREAT, right? Must be, as it will get LESS as you go down the stack. So I guess that the LOW spring pressure in the Walther is not the problem then. . . .??
joshheat25
Bearcat
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2009
- Messages
- 38
I have alot of ammo all bought from wal-mart all Bulk packages. Personally my gun has shot winchester ammo the best and most accurate. Now one word of advice is to shoot ammo that is plated. The bore won't be as dirty compared to shooting non plated.
sheepman
Bearcat
None of the 22 ammo will hurt your gun, it may not cycle, be dirty, or lead but it will not hurt a good quality 22 handgun. Your best bet is to try several brands and see which your gun likes best. For plinking reliability is primary and accuracy second. Most 22s will shoot better than the person pulling the trigger can shoot them. Combat accuracy is considered good enough if 4" at 25 yds, most 22 hand guns are capable of less than 2" with ammo they don't like. Keep your gun clean and lubed and you should be good to go. Shoot safe : Bill
