I recently purchased a savage mk2 and began to stock up on some rim fire ammo. I picked up a couple boxes of cci stingers, rem thunderbolts, and some subsonics. Keep in mind .22 lr is hard to come by around hear so if a store has it you should grab it. I was in academy and they only had federal match grade, the price was 19.99. I thought that was extremely high but thought if I decided to compete, it would be good to have. I've shot some precision matches with 308 and can tell the difference in cheap target ammo and match grade bullets. The federal match bullets just look like solid round nose plinking ammo. So my question is what makes these rounds cost so much opposed to a cci stinger which has a hollow point and a nickle plated case?
- Thread starter weshurley18269
- Start date
Sounds too high, probably cause it said "...Match" on the box, so they doubled the price accordingly.
You may find Eley Tenex or Lapua Gold for about the same price (but you probably do not need it).
I've had much better results with ammo in the range of 1050fps to 1080fps with regard to accuracy.
Of the various .22LRs I've worked with or built since the mid '70s, only a couple exhibited semi-"consistent" accuracy with Stingers (IMO).
For ammo in my current Anschutz position rifle, I am using Eley.
You can arrange to take your rifle to the Eley Center at Winters, TX, or to the Lapua Center at Mesa Arizona and find a lot (or lots) that works best with your match rifle(s).
When trying to get optimum accuracy, the top-tier .22LR match rifles tend to be fussy about the ammo used.
There is nothing to be gained by using hollow-point .22LR that I am aware of unless you are shooting jackrabbits or marmots/groundhogs maybe.
When shooting squirrels a .22LR almost always goes through, no expansion (.22 Shorts work better IMO).
That Old Bitch "Accuracy" doesn't care if the case was nickle plated, or if the bullet was a hollow point.
You may find Eley Tenex or Lapua Gold for about the same price (but you probably do not need it).
I've had much better results with ammo in the range of 1050fps to 1080fps with regard to accuracy.
Of the various .22LRs I've worked with or built since the mid '70s, only a couple exhibited semi-"consistent" accuracy with Stingers (IMO).
For ammo in my current Anschutz position rifle, I am using Eley.
You can arrange to take your rifle to the Eley Center at Winters, TX, or to the Lapua Center at Mesa Arizona and find a lot (or lots) that works best with your match rifle(s).
When trying to get optimum accuracy, the top-tier .22LR match rifles tend to be fussy about the ammo used.
There is nothing to be gained by using hollow-point .22LR that I am aware of unless you are shooting jackrabbits or marmots/groundhogs maybe.
When shooting squirrels a .22LR almost always goes through, no expansion (.22 Shorts work better IMO).
That Old Bitch "Accuracy" doesn't care if the case was nickle plated, or if the bullet was a hollow point.
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Thanks for feedback. I'm familiar with bigger caliber ammo. I can tell the difference between match kings and amax vs Winchester white box and can justify why ones more expensive than others. I was just blown away when I paid $2.50 for rem thunderbolts and $20 for federal match when I can't see much visible difference, I'm sure they're have diff loads and maybe match ones have a more precise bullet. But personally I'd rather spend $20 on a box of over 500 rem golden bullets
Those Federal "match" ammo shoot like crap in my Savage. Find some Wolf Match Extra or good Eley and you'll be much happier.
I got an email notification that Midway had Eley match in at $131.00 a brick of 500. I passed, but match ammo for .22 rimfire is bank right now and the near future. It does make a difference especially out at 50 and 100 yards+. Good luck.
The only sure way to find what shoots best from your rifle, is to take the time and fire many types and LOTS. Lapua and Eley and Wolf all make an assortment of different types of ammo. Champions Choice, has for years sold assortments of various match grade 22lr, by Lot, thus allowing competitors to find the best current lot for their rifle/pistol. If you shoot in a club with a number of 22lr competitors, it won't be uncommon to see them "testing lots". One thing is for sure, unless you're the luckiest guy in the world, the cheap stuff almost never shoots as well as the expensive stuff-but it does happen. When it does, that rifle is a Keeper!
A close friend of mine who juggles dmm, sniper , and. Rim fire matches recommended wolf also. I'll do some searching and try not to jump the gun buying before doing a little bit of research which is hard, the academy sports in my town gets a shipment of. 22 every tues and Thursday morning and it's all gone by about 10:00 so it's difficult not to grab it when you can
Consider getting a Rim thickness gauge. Once you find the bullet weight and velocity your weapon likes, the greatest part of the expense of Match Grade ammo is its consistency. Rimfire headspace is determined by the thickness of the rim. I have found that if I take the time to grade the ammo by Rim Thickness I can get inexpensive stuff to group as well as Match.
I picked up a couple of 5K cases of Aquila from the CMP a few years ago. Some their target grade and some their 'high velocity'. I'm only shooting them out of a stock 10-22 and a S&W 15-22. The target shoots low, of course, but accuracy and function is very good in both rifles. I also have cases of Remington (also from the CMP) which I haven't broken into yet and the ubiquitous Federal red box. The Federal probably shoots the best for me all around.
For my .22Win Mag I've been shooting BVAC 40 grain out of a Savage bolt gun and my PMR 30 pistol. I've tried CCI 40 grainers in my PMR 30 but the tend to keyhole.
For my .22Win Mag I've been shooting BVAC 40 grain out of a Savage bolt gun and my PMR 30 pistol. I've tried CCI 40 grainers in my PMR 30 but the tend to keyhole.
Over on AccurateShooter.com a very, very detailed and lengthy test was conducted on 22lr ammo, it is well worth a read. The test was done at 50-75 and 100. For my money it is the best and most extensive test I've ever seen.
+1 Although the sorting is tedious, it does allow you to get consistent groups from otherwise cheap ammo.
Midway has the Eley EDGE @ 131/brk
Big difference between that and Match.
Quality control costs$$ Federals high end stuff is RWS.
Killough Shooting Sports allows you to pick your speed. Guns like different speeds and it will take some testing. Start with something that he has plenty of in case your gun likes it!
A group of local precision shooters decided to hold a rimfire match. Most of us had access to a variety of rounds. I put all of them through my savage and then started messing around with lubricating the cheaper rounds with a variety of substances-trying to match the performance of Ely and Wolf. I tried to stay away from possibly toxic compounds and stuck to food-grade compounds. I found that Trader Joes Coconut Oil cooking spray had a huge effect on group spreading and consistency on low grade ammo. Rmington and Federal crap ammo began to group at 25 and 50 yds as well as the Ely and Wolf. One of the Anschutz shooter had similar results. Lubricity seemed to have a bigger effect on tighter grouping than sorting by rim thickness or weight.
It might be worth a try for those of you who can find or don't want to pay for match ammo.
It might be worth a try for those of you who can find or don't want to pay for match ammo.
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I tinker around at Smallbore Benchrest for Score at 100 yards and aperture sights,,it takes some very good ammo to hit a 1 inch ring 20 times in a row at 100 yards,,I have my best results with RWS R50 ,Eley Match Black Box and Lapua Midas Plus,,
shot this pair of targets with RWS R100 from a 1957 vintage Brno Model 4 with its factory aperture sight with only mod being a Gehmann 510 adjustable iris,
shot this pair of targets with RWS R100 from a 1957 vintage Brno Model 4 with its factory aperture sight with only mod being a Gehmann 510 adjustable iris,
I tinker around at Smallbore Benchrest for Score at 100 yards and aperture sights,,it takes some very good ammo to hit a 1 inch ring 20 times in a row at 100 yards,,I have my best results with RWS R50 ,Eley Match Black Box and Lapua Midas Plus,,
shot this pair of targets with RWS R100 from a 1957 vintage Brno Model 4 with its factory aperture sight with only mod being a Gehmann 510 adjustable iris,
Mr. B, Nice groups. A good set of peeps will perform nearly as well as a scoped rifle with the correct tgts and as long as you have the eyes for it. Well done. Trouble I have is, I cannot see the tgt with peeps if it is not a nice big round black bull. Even the big orange tgt dots are tough to see clearly.
Irish
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