Steel Challenge Rimfire Ammo Selection

[xpierrat]

I now run the CCI blue clean changing over from CCI SV.   it is nice to not have to clean wax off the gun/mags all the time     I also built a new RFRO for this year and worked on it till it would run the clean 100%   The build is as follows   Tactical Innovations receiver , Ruger bolt sent to CPC for a complete make over,  Kidd charging handle , Kidd buffer, 10% reduced spring with 1/4 cut off of it,  Wiland  11oz barrel, Crazy Ivan chassis and custom made buffer stock, topped with C-More red dot.     rifle comes in at 3lb 8oz or so   

 

I trimmed the recoil spring until the gun would run CCI subsonic suppressor ammo (970 FPS ) to give me a bit of cushion just incase one of the CCI clean rounds ( 1070 fps ) is a little soft.  I will not run anything over 1200 in this gun as built. 

[Les Snyder]

I've had very good luck with CCI Blazer 40grain....in my M41, G44, Advantage Arms conversion on my G17, and the BRN22 build that I use for Steel Challenge.... reasonable in price

Edited April 20, 2020 by Les Snyder

[Glockster1]

3 hours ago, Les Snyder said:

I've had very good luck with CCI Blazer 40grain....in my M41, G44, Advantage Arms conversion on my G17, and the BRN22 build that I use for Steel Challenge.... reasonable in price

 

Agreed. They latest Blazer ammo is also available with a 38 grain bullet, but has the same velocity. The latest batches are also cleaner, meaning the waxy lube coating is far less sticky and more harder, even in hot weather. I like that stuff far more that CCI Tactical and it's cheaper too.

Edited April 21, 2020 by Glockster1

[KelsonAK]

Has anyone run into CCI clean hi vel that is actually subsonic in the Christmas packs? I picked some up advertised as 1230fps that doesn’t crack out of a silenced gun.


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[xpierrat]

14 hours ago, KelsonAK said:

Has anyone run into CCI clean hi vel that is actually subsonic in the Christmas packs? I picked some up advertised as 1230fps that doesn’t crack out of a silenced gun.


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Yes I think the QC of the Christmas packs, Breast cancer awareness ( pink ) and the patriotic  red white and blue are pretty poor and you will get a lot of variances in FPS and even a higher number of miss fires than you will with the high vel red and SV blues.  Buy them only if that's all you can get or if you were to find a good deal on them and even then I would only use them for practice.

 

[zzt]

When you chrono any of CCIs 22 LR ammo you see huge variations.  Here are results of testing through my Marvel Unit One 5" conversion.  CCI AR Tactical 1200fps ammo:  Avg. vel 1028fps, SD 20.15.  CCI MiniMag 1235fps:  Avg. 1057fps, SD 42.3.  CCI SV 1070fps:  Avg. 955fps, SD 38.2.  To compare, Aguila super extra 1235fps:  1086fps, SD 4.7.  Federal AutoMatch 1200fps:  1085fps, SD 10.37.

 

Aguila has too many ruptured cases, and AutoMatch does not extract reliably in my guns.  So I run AR Tactical in my comp'd guns and Geco Semi auto in my uncomp'd guns.

[fosters3]

I run Eley Force in all

of my guns.  They use a parafin wax which is slick and feeds reliably even when it is cold.  Contact is the standard velocity variant.  Be careful not to stray away from these two types because other Eley uses a beeswax and is made for benchrest shooting

[jrdoran]

I've had good luck with Eley Contact;  I use it over CCI SV sometimes.    What is interesting is they are 42gr not 40gr;

Runs in my RFRO and RFPO without issue;

Edited June 15, 2020 by jrdoran

[zzt]

On 5/3/2020 at 7:56 PM, fosters3 said:

I run Eley Force in all

of my guns.  They use a parafin wax which is slick and feeds reliably even when it is cold.  Contact is the standard velocity variant.  Be careful not to stray away from these two types because other Eley uses a beeswax and is made for benchrest shooting

 

Geco Semi Auto, Norma TAC 22, SK Standard Plus, Wolf and Lapua all use a wax that is semi liquid.  They work in anything including the tightest match chambers.

 

Force is too hot for pistols where only a portion of the slide moves back.  I found you had to lube the cases for reliable extraction in match or Benz chambers.  Contact, on the other hand, is superb.  It's just hard to find where I shop. I find the Geco Semi Auto to be just as good.  40gr at 1145 fps vs. 42gr at 1095 fps.

[jrdoran]

Steve, good source for Eley contact is from a fellow steel challenger shooter here:   https://www.stevefostershootingsports.com

 

 

[zzt]

Thanks.

[verla]

CCI 40 grain Mini mags and Winchester Super-X 40 grain run great in all 3 of my steel challenge Ruger pistols. Have Volquartsen firing pins and extractors in all of them.

[Zardoz]

I admit I've never shot steel challenge before.  My experience so far lies predominantly shooting bolt action rifles.  There, Lapua and SK ammo were always excellent, if more expensive, choices.  For SC, a good choice might be SK Pistol Match or Pistol Match Special (if you can find them).

[AzShooter]

I've had real good luck with CCI Blazer.  It actually groups better than anything else I've tested.  I like the faster bullet for reasons mentioned above.  It does make the comp work better and there is very little muzzle rise.

 

Just recently I picked up some Eley Action Plus.  Faster and louder by a big deal.  It shouts great out of my Mamba.  If you can find it it's about $32 for 500 rounds.  I bought Blazers last time for $19 a brick and stocked up.

[Thomas H]

On 4/4/2019 at 2:37 PM, Thomas H said:

I've had horrible luck with Federal Auto Match in two pistols and two rifles----feeding issues everywhere.  (And yes, I clean both my firearms and my magazines.  )  Rem Golden Bullet was great for a several years, then when .22 was scarce the quality went WAY down, far as I could tell.

 

I use CCI AR-Tactical for everything SC related---consistent and reliable in every .22 I have.  Not bullseye match precise, but that's not what I need, and DO I need something that feeds correctly every time in an auto.  AR-Tactical is probably the most-common .22 SC ammo in this area.  PSA had some sales awhile back (and continues to do so periodically), and you can pick up cases on GunBroker on occasion for ridiculously low prices. 

 

 

 

Wanted to add to this (because lots of .22 ammo is hard to come by these days) that I have also seen (and used) Eley Action Plus ammo to good effect.  

 

It interests me how many people are running standard velocity and subsonic ammo out of their .22s.  Given that reliability out of semi-auto actions is the top priority for SC (accuracy is important also, but we don't need PRS levels of ammo accuracy here), I'd think that more people would go for high velocity ammo instead.

 

 

[zzt]

2 hours ago, Thomas H said:

It interests me how many people are running standard velocity and subsonic ammo out of their .22s. 

 

I run standard velocity out of my Marvel Unit One conversion.  I run 1200 fps or higher in my Chet Whistle Custom conversion.  Both run 100%.  The only failures I get are occasional ammo related FTFs.

[GOF]

The way things are right now I'd run whatever ammo you can get that is reliable in your gun. For Steel Challenge there is no big difference in a load that groups .5 inches at 25 yards as opposed to one that groups 1.5 inches. Just make sure it's reliable. One malf can ruin your stage.

[UFO]

Eley Force in everything/division. Can be had at KURTGRIMESSHOOTINGSPORTS.com

[verla]

Have recently been using Eley Action Plus 42 grain in my steel challenge Ruger MKIII and 10/22. No problems with either gun using this ammo. Feeds well and have had no duds or misfires.

 

Try it you will like it.

[old558]

Was lucky today and found 2K Winchester M-22 40gr 1255 FPS. Hopefully they will be ok, otherwise the grand kids will have lots of fun.

 

 

[zzt]

On 10/25/2020 at 6:45 AM, verla said:

Have recently been using Eley Action Plus 42 grain in my steel challenge Ruger MKIII and 10/22. No problems with either gun using this ammo. Feeds well and have had no duds or misfires.

 

Try it you will like it.

 

I found the Action Plus to be considerably less accurate than Force.  I'll be using all mine up in practice, not in matches.

[GOF]

For those of you struggling to find .22LR ammo, Cheaper Than Dirt currently has CCI Mini-Mag 40-grain HV ammo for only $99.89 (plus shipping) for a 100 round box! Stock up at Cheaper Than Dirt! (LOL). You can shoot your next Steel Challenge match for just $300, plus entry fee (LOL again).

Some gougers deserve to be called out. After this I'll never even consider purchasing anything from Cheaper Than Dirt. 

[Ming the Merciless]

I heard they just changed their name to "Cheaper than Klondike Gold Field Dirt"

[BillChunn]

Switched over from Winchester to CCI Mini-Mag Target 40 grain 1235 fps velocity after having feeding and ejection issues on the first six stages of a SC match.  One of the guys in my squad took pity on me and gave me a box of 100 to run on the last two stages.  The RFRO and S&W Victory in RFPO ran that stuff perfectly.  Found a link to the 5,000 round cases and ordered two.

 

Now the Winchester stuff is just for practice.... and it still jams.

 

BC

 

 

[hornetx40]

The last 18 cases through mine and my wife's rifles and pistols has all been CCI Mini Mag 40gr.  It works all of the time in all of our guns. If a gun has an issue it's always because It needs cleaned. We rarely have misfires. It just works.