Bullseye Type Pistol Competition Ammo

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WatchmanUSA

Bearcat
Joined
Jul 11, 2008
Messages
4
Location
Minnesota
I have a stock MK2 Ruger .22lr pistol and I am beginning to shoot in a bullseye target shooting league. I have been practicing with bulk Remington and Winchester WildCat. I'm having TFT and stove pipes enough that I don't want to use in completion. I'm looking at CCI Mini-Mag, CCI Standard and Federal AutoMatch because they are available in my area.. Any suggestions on quality ammo that won't break the budget?
 

Snake45

Hawkeye
Joined
Mar 14, 2009
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+4020
Try all three of those, and anything else that's priced reasonably.

Sounds like you're mainly interested in reliability of function, so concentrate on that.

Be honest about your own abilities. Tested from a rest or the bench, one type of ammo might be more accurate than another, but if it's priced significantly higher, is it worth the cost? If you're a beginner, you probably won't be able to tell the difference between the "best" ammo and the "worst" shooting offhand, and your money would be better spent buying more of the cheaper ammo and practicing with it.

Stay at it and eventually you will be able to take advantage of the improved accuracy of better ammo from offhand. I know; I've been shooting about 35 years and I hope to get to that level in just a few more years. :lol:
 

1gunsnotenough

Buckeye
Joined
Nov 30, 2008
Messages
1,873
Location
Athens ,Ga.
I shoot a lot of rimfire and I find all the Federal ammo does well. Federal Ultra Match being the best of the Federal. I compared Federal Bulk, Champion, 510 and Ultra Match a few weeks ago. I could get under a 1" group on all of them. The Federal Bulk had a tendency to have 1 flier out of a 5 shot group. The Federal Ultra was able to acheive a 1/2" group. This was all done in a Springfield M2 at 50yds with iron sights. So they also should do well in your MKII as I shot them in mine all the time. Bulk Remington is very unreliable and I am not fond of the Win. Wildcat. Federal has very very few FTF. It is very reliable.
 

I_Like_Pie

Blackhawk
Joined
Aug 24, 2006
Messages
659
Location
Chattanooga, TN
The fliers are inconsistent primer spins or low powder charges.

If you weigh them before a match you should be able to pick out the ones that will give you problems. weigh 20 or 30 and get an average weight then cull out ones from your box that deviate from that average .

This really is only practical if you have a digital scale.
 

contender

Ruger Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2002
Messages
25,142
Location
Lake Lure NC USA
All good info above.
Weighing ammo, and using Federal quality ammo will help a bunch.
And, sometimes a Paco tool will help as well.
 

WyoGunner

Single-Sixer
Joined
May 27, 2009
Messages
193
Location
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Be careful with the Federal Auto Match. I bought a box to shoot out of my Mark III and it was unbelievable how terrible it was. The charges were very inconsistent and a few rounds felt and sounded as if they hadn't even made it out of the barrel. I complained to federal and sent the rest of the ammo back and they ended up replacing it with the same stuff. The replacement ammo performed much better, but I don't know if I would trust it in a competition.
 

roca7

Bearcat
Joined
Sep 11, 2009
Messages
13
i picked up some federal auto match at walmarts and had a lot of light discharges, around 25 out of 100.
tried some winn 333 and not impressed.
shot about 1500 cci mini mag's the last two day's and liked it a lot. only a couple of problems with feeding due to the magazine's.
4 bx's of federal 550 bulk the last few week's and no problem's.
i see your from Mn. and are you close to st. paul? sportsmans guide has a retail store there and i have been buying all my cci from them on line. a gun shop in town has them cheaper but there taxed and i pay for shipping from sprotsmans and save with coupon's for shipping so it come's out about the same.

Retail Phone Number
651-552-5248
Address
490 Hardman Avenue in So. St. Paul, MN
 

tomiswho

Single-Sixer
Joined
Feb 2, 2008
Messages
323
Location
Georgia
Years ago (somewhere 86-92) I shot in an indoor pistol bullseye league at Ed's Gun and Tackle in Marietta, Georgia. .22 was one night and centerfire another. I used my old Standard, and can't ever remember being concerned with which particular ammo I had..... whatever was on hand... I doubt it would have made much difference (for me). I had a blast!
 

dbart48

Bearcat
Joined
Nov 21, 2006
Messages
4
Location
greenfield, wi.
Watchman USA - I have a Ruger MK2 that is set up for serious bullseye competition.

My choice of ammunition is CCI mini mags. Some of my fellow shooters recommend CCI standard velocity or CCI Green. Either one of these will work just fine.

The interesting point about these Rugers is that I believe that they will be extremely accurate right out of the box. You can "trick them out" by adding target grips, a good red dot scope, and a trigger job.

Have fun, and place them all in the X ring.

Dave
 

Snake45

Hawkeye
Joined
Mar 14, 2009
Messages
9,120
Location
+4020
One kind of ammo I would NOT recommend for your purpose is Remington Golden Bullets. They produce more noise and more recoil than any other regular .22 ammo I've shot, and you don't need that in competition--unless your goal is to disturb the two shooters on either side of you. :wink:
 

WatchmanUSA

Bearcat
Joined
Jul 11, 2008
Messages
4
Location
Minnesota
dbart48":2as3rxoh said:
Watchman USA - I have a Ruger MK2 that is set up for serious bullseye competition.

My choice of ammunition is CCI mini mags. Some of my fellow shooters recommend CCI standard velocity or CCI Green. Either one of these will work just fine.

The interesting point about these Rugers is that I believe that they will be extremely accurate right out of the box. You can "trick them out" by adding target grips, a good red dot scope, and a trigger job.

Have fun, and place them all in the X ring.

Dave
I tried CCI mini-mags this week and shot my best score ever. Almost 70 points higher than the previous week. That result even though I managed to twitch on the trigger pull and missed three shots on the small targets. For grins I'm going to try to find CCI standard velocity and see how they work.

My gun is a stock MkII standard except I have an open red-dot sight. With the non-adjustable iron sights I had to aim off the bullseye to have a chance to hit the black. I felt like I was throwing a shot at the target rather tham aiming a shot.
 

marlin1881

Single-Sixer
Joined
Apr 25, 2002
Messages
124
Location
Colorado Front Range
I shoot bullseye with my MKII tapered-target 6-7/8" SS gun that I've had for 20 years. Very smooth and accurate. I've put a Leupold reddot and some Hogue finger-groove thumbrest grips on it, and a bit of skateboard tape on the backstrap, below the takedown lever. I've done a trigger job on it to 2.5 lbs (regulation) with overtravel and reset stops. This gun is just perfect.

It likes CCI standard velocity which I use in competition, and I usually only get 1 dud in 1000 or so rounds. Remington subsonics shoot well, but the duds make it impractical for competition. Try to either keep the bullet supersonic to the target, or keep it subsonic the entire way. Crossing that boundary in mid-flight encounters a lot of turbulence and affects accuracy. Supersonic loads are too noisy for continued competition use, so look for dedicated target loads, and benchrest them to find out what your gun likes. Remove all the variables possible when testing (backpack on the hood of a pickup, a bit of crosswind, gritty trigger, etc.). Get a solid rest to test your loads from, and use exactly the same hand grip pressure and posture for every shot. You can literally move the point of impact left and right, just by changing your hand position on the grip. And, when you're practicing, call all your shots BEFORE looking at the target through a scope. You need to know that you're putting that bullet exactly where you aimed it when the trigger broke.

I'm also very careful about lubing my guns, as I only use Hornady One-Shot Dry Lube. The 22 round is quite dirty, and the dry-lube doesn't collect debris like an oil lube does. I've never had a malfunction due to a gummed-up action, only a round that doesn't ignite once in a great while.

There really is a lot to bullseye shooting, and I've been doing well at it lately. The fall season is getting started again, and I'm getting dialed back in after taking a few months off from shooting.

Have fun!
 

marlin1881

Single-Sixer
Joined
Apr 25, 2002
Messages
124
Location
Colorado Front Range
I_Like_Pie":otgpk796 said:
Try wolf target .22lr also. It is priced right for target stuff and does very well at my local silhouette matches.

Wolf target ammo shoots very well out of my gun. It does print about 1" higher than CCI Standard Velocity rounds, so I have to adjust my reddot, or my hold on the target.
 

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