New-ish 22 ammo brands

[Kevin]

Was at the Bass Pro Shop today. I can't remember the last time I was in a Bass Pro Shop. It's very nice. But anyway, I got some ammo.

There seems to be all sorts of newer brands of ammo. Mostly the rim fire ammo.

For example Herters makes 22lr. I've not seen that before. It's rated at 1,280 fps and 1,300fps. I bought some of each.

and I picked up some CCI "Target" in 22lr. I haven't ever seen that before. I used to love CCI Green Tag, but can't find that anymore. I hope the "Target" is just as good. They also has CCI in 22lr "Suppressor" I couldn't see what speed they were predicting, but it said it's for small game. Didn't buy that.

But I also saw some Agulia 22lr. I know they've made ammo before but I haven't seen this before. It was marked: "Super Extra," and "Super Extra Hollow Point." I did buy some of each of that.

Anyway, I hope this isn't just a short term thing. I like full shelves of ammo and not having to wake up extra early to beat the ammo hoarding crowds.

 

[BBarn]

Herters has been BPS and Cabelas' house brand for a few years. It;s made by someone else.

Not sure how long CCI Target has been around, but it's considerably cheaper than Green Tag, which is still listed on their website.

The various Agulia varieties have been around at least a few years.

Hopefully you'll find one or more that shoos well in your rimfires.

 

[Kevin]

Thanks I didn't know that about Herters being the store brand of Bass and Cabelas. Interesting.

And who knows why, sometimes I just never think about going to the company's website. I see CCI still makes Green Tag, but holy cow! $29 per box, no wonder I don't see it on any shelves. I remember it used to cost $9 at Bass while a box of the CCI standard velocity was $3. I guess in proportion it's still close to the same though, huh?

What shoots best? Who knows. Usually it will all shoot in one gun or another. I think I acutally like CCI Standard Velocity best. The Mini Mags shoot clean, but depending upon the gun, revolver vs, Mark IV Lite, it varies. Standard Velocity seems to be the most consistent from one gun to the next.

 

[noahmercy]

Aguila has been around since 1961, although for the first couple decades their ammo wasn't available in the US. They made ammo for PMC for several years, and their current Super Extra rimfire is possibly the best bulk stuff available from a reliability standpoint, due largely to their use of the Eley priming system. I usually don't get gilt-edged accuracy from their least-expensive Long Rifle ammo (and I find the solid point shoots tighter than the HP), but their standard velocity and subsonic loads yield excellent accuracy from my CZ452.

 

[Mobuck]

Aguila Super Extra isn't a higher performance round but denotes the higher grade of ammo as I remember. I shoot quite a bit of 22lr Super Extra copper plated HVHP and it performs fine. In the sub-sonic line Aguila HP is very accurate in my suppressed RAR compact.

 

[Hankus]

Did they by chance have any .22 Short ammo? I recently picked up a pair of OM Bearcats for my grandsons and want to start them off with lower power rounds.

 

[Cholo]

↑ In a pinch you can use CCI Quiets in either short, long or LR. They're much quieter than regular shorts. All my kids learned to shoot with what are now called Quiets.

 

[Kevin]

Yeah, what Cholo said. Question though, what were "Quiets" called when your kids leaned to shoot them?

I'm sorry I didn't see any shorts, but I wasn't looking for any. I did see my local LGS had shorts about two weeks ago. I didn't buy any though.

I did see Bass had a nice variety of 22 magnums, at fairly decent prices too. I just don't shoot a lot of magnums but have found most single sixes do shoot magnums better than regular 22lr. For me anyway.

Thanks for all the background on Aguila I didn't know this.

 

[Cholo]

Yeah, what Cholo said. Question though, what were "Quiets" called when your kids leaned to shoot them?

CCI made them and they were called CB Shorts and CB Longs. The longs were actually quieter than the shorts, though the velocity was the same.

I've shot many bricks of the longs for backyard pest control with a Rem 581 since 1976. I only switched to the LR's in the last 2 years when I changed my pest gun from the 581 to a CZ 452. The 581 shot the longs great; the 452 not great at all. It loved the LR version so I bought 5 bricks.

They go quickly, and they all get shot out my back door

 

[Gopher]

Be careful with the Agulia Super in your older firearms. I split the slide on a Taurus PT 22 (I know, I know ) and have seen split cases out of my old MKI and 10/22.

 

[kmoore]

Back in the 70s when I was hot into competition. CCI rep came to the rifle club and explained, Green Tag was ammo that came from the 1st half of a production run. At that point in the same production run the remainer of the .22 lr match ammo was labeled Mini group. I had 2 friends go into the Marine Corps rifle team. At one point we discussed Ely Tennex and Ely Black box match ammo. My buddy told me they did the same thing.
So retail costs the Green Tag is highest price, and the 2nd half of the run is lower priced but many times it will be the same quality. The question was should I trust that ammo in a match. Myself and friends only used Tennex in matches just to shoot the best every time and Black box or if not available in my case Green tag in practice. My limited testing showed at indooor ranges shooting at 50 feet. All ammo I listed shot really well. Outdoors jumping into 50 yd/ 50 meter and 100 yd. Green Tag held well but Tennex always shot better.
If all that holds true today, I can't say.