What rimfire ammo to use?

[Fireant]

OK, I found a pistol that will feed anything. Not a single failure to feed or extract through 2 boxes of the cheep 550 round value packs from walmart. But it does not always go bang. CCI mini mags were better, but still not great. What else is working for you?

[wide45]

How often does it misfire? Sounds like the problem might be the gun.

I have a conversion unit that will feed 100% with any Federal ammo. It gets iffy when I switch brands.

15 years ago, I'd get about 1 dud per brick. Quality improved, and 10 years ago I ran several bricks that functioned 100%. Have not shot it enough recently to know what your going to get today.

[Bud]

OK, I found a pistol that will feed anything. Not a single failure to feed or extract through 2 boxes of the cheep 550 round value packs from walmart. But it does not always go bang. CCI mini mags were better, but still not great. What else is working for you?

I have a Kimber rimfire conv. I use alot and recently found the remington wally world stuff to be totally unreliable...4-5 no-gos per mag!! went back tried the federal and...yeah like it should be about 1 cold one per 550....went back bought lots more.

[kgunz11]

I have several .22's, all threaded for the can, from bolt actions to 10/22's to 1911 conversions. The CCI Standard Velocity works extremely well for me. In the past 6 months I've shot 5000 rounds and have not yet had one problem.

[BillL223]

CCI Mini-mags have worked for me in Browning Buckmark, S & W Model 41, and Ruger 10/22. I could never see an advantage in high grade match ammo for "22 speed' sports.

[Jaxshooter]

I have been using Federal Auto Match. It comes 365 rounds to the container and is not expensive. Wal Mart use to have it in Jax but not anymore. You can order it from Midway or most of the other suppliers like them.

[pjb45]

In my limited experience, I noticed that the specific gun is the deciding factor. I have a Browning which if I do not make sure the screws are tight will generate a lot of misfires no matter what ammo.

CCI MiniMags for my Marvel conversion are the ticket. The Remington Hornet(I think that what is called) works but is very dirty. Dirty to the point I will not use the remaining 200 rounds I have of it. I could not get a brass brush through the barrel!

Laupa makes great stuff if you are shooting a match but it is very expensive. So I am sticking with CCI.

BTW: I was at an indoor range today and rented a Ruger22/45. They required CCI MM for their rental guns. Their experience is that all other ammo is way too dirty. It was too hard keeping the guns clean. CCI is expensive as compared to Wally World stuff but still is way cheaper than reloading my .40! So I am just biting the bullet so to speak and have standardized on CCI.

[Tom Freeman]

I bought a ton (15-20K) of the Federal bulk packs, both Auto Match and regular, and have had excellent results with it.

Remington bulk is bad. Very bad.

I also found Eley Club on sale for a touch cheaper than the Federal bulk packs. A case followed me home.

Best as far as accuracy and reliability next to the Eley is Winchester Dynapoint.

Consider reshaping your firing pin. Make it a touch sharper.

And, pull a boresnake through the barrel every 200 rounds or so. Lots of times it is the chamber that gets cruddy and the round does not seat all the way. The firing pin just seats it the rest of the way in the chamber. Kinda like high primers...

[DougCarden]

I did the same thing as Tom and bought over 10k of the Fed 550s. A dud here or there, but for practice it is the shizzle. I just noticed the Dynapoints were a dollar cheaper at the walmart and bought some. If they shoot in the marvel and my 2 rugers I will start cleaning them out as well.

I have had really good luck using Wolf MT or the equivalent SK match ammo for matches. It will shoot on top of each other at 50yds and havent tried it at 100, but we got our new plate racks, so I will soon....

I heartily second the cleaning the bore thing with the .22s....once you realize that to keep them running they need more maintenance they will run all day....

DougC

[MichiganShootist]

I teach pistol classes and run through cases of .22 LR in a year.

The most reliable and functional ammo I have found, for the money, is Winchester Expert available at Wally World in 500 round boxes.

If that is what you are shooting... any duds can probably be attributed to the gun. I believe this Winter we averaged less than one misfire per 500 rounds... and that is in all forms of 22 pistols (many which were poorly maintained)

[Coach]

I just bought a semi auto .22 and have found the number of duds in remington to be much much higher that in federal. I plan to try out CCI and Winchester as well, but remington does not work well in my gun.

[Fireant]

I'm going to try some Federal for our next match. It was Remington that I was having the most problems with.

[proff]

With a ruger 22/45 the only ammo I have hade NO problems with is the CCI pistol match. It costs a bit more but so far has worked 100%. I have some Federal I am going to try and will report.

[underlug]

I bought a ton (15-20K) of the Federal bulk packs, both Auto Match and regular, and have had excellent results with it.

Remington bulk is bad. Very bad.

I also found Eley Club on sale for a touch cheaper than the Federal bulk packs. A case followed me home.

Best as far as accuracy and reliability next to the Eley is Winchester Dynapoint.

Consider reshaping your firing pin. Make it a touch sharper.

And, pull a boresnake through the barrel every 200 rounds or so. Lots of times it is the chamber that gets cruddy and the round does not seat all the way. The firing pin just seats it the rest of the way in the chamber. Kinda like high primers...

As far as just going off, I have found the Remington Golden Bullet to be superior to the Federal Bulk Pack, the Federal being a bit more accurate. This is in a 617 and I go thru a lot of it.

I am working thru 800 rounds of bulk pack Federals. Lot 1AV747. It is the worst crap I have ever shot and I have been shooting since 1994. About 2 out of every 10 shot cylinder will not ignite while other brands are close to 100%. Those are the good cylinders.

About 6 to 8 times a 525 bulk pack, I get a round that will not clear the 6" barrel and needs to be pushed out and sounds like misloaded .38 (no powder). I have had funky .22 rounds before, but never ones that stuck in my barrel. During speed drills this is dangerous. Misfires and funky rounds I can accept, but rounds not clearing the barrel I cannot.

A friend who is very serious has stopped using the Federal Eagle during competition because of non firing issues. We both are now sticking to CCI mini-mags for competition.

I will not buy Federal again until I've heard they have recognized and cured this problem. I reported this to the person at "Joe's" that sold it to me and he has not heard back. I figured hearing it from a store that sells a lot of ammo would be more forceful than from one customer.

I realize this isn't match grade stuff, but, this is ridiculous

[DougCarden]

Good to know about the Feds......I have about 5k through my guns since last summer and luckily havent had any squibs....

I tried some of the Xpert Win bulk pack yesterday at the range.

My Marvel wouldnt chamber all the time, the round would stick and I had to push it into battery.

In my 22/45 it ran fine, had one hang up into the chamber. These guns dont like the 36gr tapered HP much...

In my 10/22 it ran fine except I had a bunch of stovepipe rounds that didnt clear the bolt. They didnt sound or feel different, but I knew the bolt didnt close. Didnt have my chrono handy, It shot well at 50 and 100yds though...

It didnt shoot "better" than the Fed 550 pack, but didnt shoot any worse either.....

I found one round by feel when I was loading mags that was oversized (the bullet). It didnt want to chamber in the 10/22 either.......Then I knew why the Marvel didnt chamber them......

I will try some more, but in the rifle.......

DougC

[JD45]

The cheap Federal bulk pack(36gr.HP) is very reliable in my Ruger Gov't Target. It has jammed on occasion, but the Federals always go bang. In thousands of rounds over the years I cannot remember it snapping on a dud. But for things like NRA bullseye, it ain't accurate worth a crap in my pistol.

One that is accurate is Remington's Standard Target ammo. And I mean extremely accurate. But the downside is they are full of duds or bad priming mix or whatever.

Before I even shot the first round of the Remingtons two older bullseye shooters told me that the stuff shoots unbelievable but is useless because they snap all the time. No lie, my first 30rd. practice run contained 5 duds, just "click".....no squibs. Then I made it through 60rds. fine. At a match they snapped again(one in 30rds). How in the hell can they make such accurate ammo that won't go bang every time?

[jhgtyre]

Keep in mind that the Federal bulk pack labeled "Auto Match" is not the same as the regular bulk pack ammo. The auto match is both reliable and accurate in all of my .22's while the other stuff is junk. YMMV.

-ld

[DougCarden]

Once I figured out what mainspring I needed for my Marvel (19lb) and keeping my damn thumb off the slide it runs incredible with the Fed 550 box. I had to clip a little off the recoil spring on my 22/45 as well, but once I figured out what it needed now they run 100% with the Fed bulk ammo. I tried the Automatch and like it as well. Most 40gr RN works really well, and it is no exception.

DougC

[underlug]

Once I figured out what mainspring I needed for my Marvel (19lb) and keeping my damn thumb off the slide it runs incredible with the Fed 550 box. I had to clip a little off the recoil spring on my 22/45 as well, but once I figured out what it needed now they run 100% with the Fed bulk ammo. I tried the Automatch and like it as well. Most 40gr RN works really well, and it is no exception.

DougC

I am not arguing with anyone else's experience, just relating mine. I have shot out of 6 boxes of lot 1A747 and have gotten the squibs that have stuck in the barrel. This is the only time(s) this has happened in all my shooting experience.

I get more failure to fires from the Fed 525 bulk pack than the Remington Golden Bullet. The Fed is demonstrably more accurate. The Remingtons give me more uncalled flyers. That is probably if you run thru the bullets you will actually find some that will be loose in the case. That is, you can actually turn the bullet in the case.

Like I say, I go thru a lot of this stuff and I do not have real high expectations. The price of these bulk packs have increased almost 40% or so in my area, so, the decline in quality is especially not appreciated.

I find the squib loads intolerable. The Fed bulk pack is on sale this week but I won't buy it until something gives me my confidence back. Maybe lot 1A747 was an anomaly.

Edited April 7, 2008 by underlug

[SLM]

I've had perfect functioning with Remington Thunderbolt in my Buckmark through probably 1,500 rounds. I know this is no where near the volume some of you guys go through but so far so good. Cheap (when I bought it) accurate and every one has gone bang.

[Fireant]

I shot 250 rounds of the non match federals yesterday. My worked over 13 lb mainspring didn't cut it, so I put a stock 15 lb in and went 200+ trouble free rounds. That means I'll wipe the crud out of the gun tonight and run a bore snake through it and see how it does Sat. Nothing like being able to shoot 3 matches and a practice session on one $13 box of ammo.

[kframe_mike]

Another vote for Federal Auto Match here.Another one I've had good luck with is the Federal Champion 40gr solids.They can be a little hard to find around here though.The Auto Match I can get from Wally World.-Mike

[ken hebert]

CCI mini mags in both my Buckmark w/ Tacsol Traillite barrel and Mk III w/ TacSol Packlite. I get 99.9% out of them, I think I've had exactly one FTF, ever.