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Accurate Ammo

Rlandry

Gunny Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Feb 16, 2019
857
911
After doing some research, I find that Federal Auto Match is not match ammo, but ammo that somehow functions better in semi-autos.

So, I'm looking for an "off the shelf" ammo that performs well and won't break the bank. That is assuming that at some point in time we will be able to find rimfire ammo. I don't shoot competition, so I'm not interested in Ely, Lapua, or any of the ultra high $$$ stuff. Just something that I can plink and shoot paper with that won'r frustrate me.
What do you casual rimfire shooters have the best results with.
 
I've also had good results with CCI Standard Velocity for casual plinking
 
It' really depends on the gun, but I've had good results or luck with the Norma Tac (black box) and the Norma Match (white box). SK entry level stuff is fairly consistent, BUT it really depends on whether your gun likes it or not. The Norma stuff used to be $4-7/box, now it looking at $10 for the Match stuff last time I looked. Plinking is not cheap at this point in time.
 
If it has match on the label, it usually ain't.

It depends on the distance.
At 25 yards most 22lr will group if the rifle is capable.
At 50 yards most 22lr is capable of 1 inch groups.
If you want sub half inch consistently at 50 yards,
it won't be American made 22lr.
Y'er gonna be looking at European manufactured 22lr.
CCI, Winchester, Federal, Remington, Armscor, Aguila, make only hunting, plinking rimfire cartridges.
They lack the quality control needed to do better. :(
 
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If it has match on the label, it usually ain't.

It depends on the distance.
At 25 yards most 22lr will group if the rifle is capable.
At 50 yards most 22lr is capable of 1 inch groups.
If you want sub half inch consistently at 50 yards,
it won't be American made 22lr.
Y'er gonna be looking at European manufactured 22lr.
CCI, Winchester, Federal, Remington, Armscor, Aguila, make only hunting, plinking rimfire cartridges.
They lack the quality control needed to do better. :(
This should have a "YMMV disclaimer". I have two ruger rimfire rifles that shoot CCI-SV sub MOA out to 100 yards...with that being said, both of those rifles do not shoot sub MOA with a the "lot" of SK Rifle Match I have. I also put a bunch of that same SK Rifle Match though my new Vudoo, and it isn't as good as other SK ammo I have. I have not put any CCI-SV through the Vudoo, and won't unless I run out of "better" ammo.
 
CP, even CCI gets it right once in a while.
They get it wrong quite a bit too.
I communicated with Cody at CCI,
his statement was...

CCI SV is expected to average 2 inch five shot groups at 100 yards.

When the factory rep says "average" that means you're gonna see anything
from 1/4 inch to 3-3/4 inches from the same box.

That's not consistent according to my OCD.
That's hunting and plinking ammo.

I enjoy contacting the manufacturers.
They offer quite a bit of information you can't get anywhere else.
Unless the word proprietary comes up.
Then it's a dead end.

Here's a comparison of multiple rifles, in a tunnel, at 100 yards.
Group averages and group aggregates.
Check the results for y'erself.
European brands top the results.
American rimfire, also rans.

 
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CCI SV is expected to average 2 inch five shot groups at 100 yards.

I have been really happy with CCI SV out to 50 yards, but I am a Newbie happy with those results sub MOA. Out to 100 yards it all goes to hell, now I am going to blame the SV ammo.
 
JA, I have "old box" (several different orders, but CCI doesn't put 'lot numbers' that I can find anyway), and "new box" CCI-SV, they all shoot very close to the same out of my Ruger 10/22 Target and American Rimfire Target. I probably should have included a "YMMV disclaimer" on my post also. LOL. I do appreciate all of your testing and contributions to the various forums on this subject. :cool:
 
After doing some research, I find that Federal Auto Match is not match ammo, but ammo that somehow functions better in semi-autos.

So, I'm looking for an "off the shelf" ammo that performs well and won't break the bank. That is assuming that at some point in time we will be able to find rimfire ammo. I don't shoot competition, so I'm not interested in Ely, Lapua, or any of the ultra high $$$ stuff. Just something that I can plink and shoot paper with that won'r frustrate me.
What do you casual rimfire shooters have the best results with.
Eley makes Target and Club. Lapua makes SK ammo also. Standard+, Rifle match and others. Wolf has Target and Extra. All should run from $ 5 up the $10 a box from good ammo places.
Mark
 
Eley/SK/Lapua/Wolf


Anything in a bulk pack is wasting your time past 25 yards if you're really trying for tight groups.
 
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Agulia super extra HV 50 yards
 

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With that lot of Fiocchi that was a regular thing out of that rifle. I can no longer find that ammo. It's made by CCI and apparently it's the same as mini mags but mini mags will not shoot quite that good
 
With that lot of Fiocchi that was a regular thing out of that rifle. I can no longer find that ammo. It's made by CCI and apparently it's the same as mini mags but mini mags will not shoot quite that good

I had one lot of mini-mags that shot .5moa at 100.

The next lot was 2moa.


Buy real target ammo if you want it to shoot well consistently.
 
I bought a case of CCI SV a year and a half ago when I found a sale that came out to about $260 shipped. It shoots well enough that I use it for positional practice on a 2" swinger at 100 yards. Past that...pfft. Fling it out there and see where it lands.

The reality is, I don't shoot a lot of it because I'd rather shoot 50 rounds of Lapua-tested Center-X in which I have confidence that it goes where I aim it out to 300 than 100 rounds of SV that gives a lot more "wtf was THAT?" impacts. Yes, certainly there will be the occasional CX round that lands high or low out past 100.

Is the CX worth 4x what I paid for the SV? To me, yes. But I do shoot competition where guys are paying as much as $25 a box for absolute top-shelf .22.
 
I have two lots of Lapua test center Center X. I was just there a few days ago so I have two more on the way. Nothing compares to it in my rifles out to 100 yards and sometimes at 200 yards, but it sucks at 300 yards. I’ve shot about 20 300 yard 6x5’s this year with different types of ammo. I keep trying CenterX even though it never performs I guess because I cant believe it. I’ve never got a good average with it because there are always some real low “droppers”.