.22 rifle accuracy... Bullet recomendations

I have a 10/22 that I am setting for squirrel hunting this year. I took i out today and shot some amo and was very disappointed. I tried a 40 gr bullet that is target match quality (330 for $15.00) and I was having 3 inch groups at 50 yards. I tried the cci stinger on 30some gr and the group closed to 1.5 but that is not good in my opinion for popping a squirrel in the head at 50 yds... This is their carbine model with a synthetic stock. I have a simons scope on it mounted on "weaver see tru" rings. I set the scope last night using my fat tool and loctite so it is secure. The scope bottomed out so I am making he change to a leupold vxII I have.
What amo do you guys recommend/use? im interested to hear, please let me know if you are using a similar gun.

Thanks!

try wolf match? little spendy, but works very well for many.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Blue Avenger

try wolf match? little spendy, but works very well for many.

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Agreed. It is my choice for 'affordable' accurate .22LR. I use it in all my savage MKIIs. And it worked well in my 10/22 before I sold her off to pay for another MKII ;)

Although ammo companies like to use the word "target" on their .22 ammo, if it comes in a bulk pack of 330 (or any number) it is NOT target quality.

Bottom line is that different firearms like different ammo. Search this and other forums for "22 ammo accuracy" threads and you will see lots of suggestions.

Here is a good thread to review: http://savageshooters.com/SavageForu...c,44609.0.html

Try a lot of different ammo brands and types. Typically the slower ammo (standard velocity, subsonic and match ammo) is more accurate, but that is not necessarily true for any one particular ammofirearm combination. I think that most agree on Eley 10X as being the current "ne plus ultra" .22 ammo, but at almost $20.00 per box of 50, it approaches the price of centerfire ammo. Probably not really worth it unless a) you won the lottery, or b) you are competitive in World Cup and Olympic events.

Even slow target and subsonic ammo will kill a squirrel dead, dead, dead at 50 yards. Find what works in your rifle, work on your accuracy until you can consistently make head shots, and then get out in the woods and show those tree rats the meaning of the phrase, "One shot, one kill."

All the best!

MiniMags and Stingers are working the best for now.. I still have not test enought but so far is good enough to hunt with it.

I agree with Thomae... one shot one kill. No hyper-velocity round will match the accuracy of standard or sub-sonic. But every rifle is different, so test different ammo. I use Wolf MT and Fed510 in my TRR-SR and CZ453, respectively; each likes its own ammo. If I can't put 5 shots in .125 at 25yds or .3-.5 at 50yds, why bother (of course there are flyers). 100yds accuracy? I don't shoot squirrels at 100yds. I rather come home with two headshot squirrels (one shot each) than my limit with mostly gutshot or multiple-shot animals while losing 1-2 that crawled away wounded. I don't think much of someone using CCI Minimags and hitting a squirrel anywhere in the torso or head and blowing it in half. Why not use a .22-250? To me it's a sport, I'm not subsistence hunting. I know everyone has different funds but save for a good setup for whatever purpose. Don't expect a $150 Savage from Walmart with $10 rings and a $39 scope to perform like a $500-$700 package. I also hunt with a Remington 514, open sights, but I know the rifle's limitations.

wolf match, not the "match extra".

Be sure the action screws are tight too.

I found my "Remlin" model 925 likes Mini-Mags and CCI Blazer the best to date, shooting those into .6 to .8 at 50 yards. Winchester SuperX and Remington Subsonic was a waste of money, they patterned, not grouped. Each rifle is an enigma so you will have to try all brands to see what shoots the best in your rifle.

My 10/22 that i reworked shoots CCI Velociter ammo into a dime at 50 all day long and does a great job at stopping those pesky tree rats.

I think the problem may be your rings.....this puts the scope way too far above the centerline of the barrel to achieve the best accuracy. I have never had a problem shooting 1/2 inch groups with any .22 I have owned at 50 yds, including a crappy Remington semi-auto that was wrapped in plastic. I currently use CCI short hollow-pts for all my squirrel hunting and never have any problem making head shots out to 50 yds. The low noise of the shorts allows me to shoot several squirrels without spooking all of them and is plenty strong enough for squirrels. Of course this is on an older model Remington that would shoot short/long/long rifle. Most of the newer guns on shoot long-rifle ammo for some reason. Not sure what that is all about.

In my 10/22 I shoot CCI mini-mag hollow/pts and they are very accurate with the small scope I have on it 4 x 32 compact I think it is.

In my custom 10/22 the only 2 ammo's it will shot 1/2 inch and less groups at 50 yard is Aguillia (parden my spelling) and federal auto match. Believe me I tried every brand out there!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Blue Avenger

try wolf match? little spendy, but works very well for many.

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Usually VERY accurate but velocities are in the subsonic range. I get excellent accuracy in my Marlin 925 out to 75 yards but the Wolf clocked 940 fps on my chronograph (10 rounds). At best it's a 50 yard load on squirrels.

Dug up this target shot at 46 yards with a Sako quad 22 factory barrel. It clearly likes Lapua center x ammo @ 12.50 a box (what luck) I think the SK ammo is half that a box. I now hunt with the 17 Mach 2 it’s the perfect round. I had to buy a Concentricity Gauge the 17 cal. ammo is awful some of it is .18 thousand out of round. It just wobbles when you spin it. I have an older 10/22 a guy at work had. It shot so bad that he gave it too me. It looked like it had never been cleaned so I put a Kidd barrel on it and replaced the stock took it to the range. The factory trigger pull was so bad I haven’t shot it since. I’ll replace the trigger sometime just too many irons in the fire at the moment.

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...CIMG0726-1.jpg

Hey ramdiesel PM "bythebook" he can tell you what to do to your factory trigger for about $40.00 to make it just pretty sweet, He did mine and my brothers and wow!!! ;D

I'm in the same group as though who find guns to make their ammo choices, and it's up to us to figure out what that is. The .22LR I set up for my son does not do well with any of the more expensive stuff. I guess it's a good 'ole wine-from-a-box type that shoots solid groups with Remington Gold. Oddly enough, our SIG Mosquito will only cycle that ammo as well. The stuff also works like a champ in my GSG-5pk SBS.

Lucky for me since that's cheap.. and effective.

CCI standard velocity works well in my 77-22.

SK Mtach
http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/...roductId/17069

The big box of Winchester XpertHV from WalMart was shooting lights out in my 10/22 at the range today.

CCI Blazer shoots 1" groups at 100Y typically on most days from my Savage. Eley Tenex or CCI Green Tag is most accurate.

try some CCI Standard Velocity. It outshoots most anything under $10/box in my Savage MKII and 10/22. Shot many, many sub 1/4" groups at 50yds with the Savage and quite few with the 10/22 with it. Usually about $30/brick or so.

My 10-22 target likes the federal auto match and the Centurion's will not shoot anything else. These are shooting under half inch at fifty yards.

I had very good results with Rem 40 grain Standard Velocity long rifle indoor at 50 feet and outdoor at 50 yards all x ring with my Win 52 D, there is a all kinds of parts available the 10/22 it's the switch barrel everything you would want to use.

My 10/22 prefers theb winchester powerpoint load, looks like their regular hollow point round butt has PP in the part number, has a lot of bearing surface for the rifling. For shorter shots it also really likes the Aguila sniper sub sonic, very heavy bullet and kinda slow but very deadly on rabbits.

Mike

Aguila superextra.. should be about 4 bucks a box.. usually as good as wolf match out of my rifles.

My 10/22T (target) like the cci mini mags but I find it is more accurate with sub-sonic rounds. My spot for ground squirrels is quite open so I have to take a lot of long shots. I feel a little more comfortable at the 100+ yards shots with the extera speed of the cci mini mags. I use sub sonic stuff when I need to head shot bunnys at my friends ranch.

For small game the 36gr HP Mini-Mag is my favorite. However, the 40gr solid Mini-Mag is not accurate at all.

My .22 squirrel rig shoots regular Federal 40 grn round nose really well.

I bought my wife a brand new 10/22 for Christmas last year, and dropped it into a pink Hogue stock.

With a Burris Fullfield II 3-9x40 optic and shooting from a Caldwell Rock Jr rest, Federal Automatch gave me easily <1" and close to 0.5" 10-shot groups at 50yd with CCI SV not terribly far behind.

I was VERY impressed.

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Originally Posted by Tempest

CCI Blazer shoots 1" groups at 100Y typically on most days from my Savage.

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I was going to say the same thing only with my 10/22. The target on the right was my 10/22 with CCI Blazer at 100 yards. You can see my thumb for sizing in the upper left. The left was my Savage .223 before getting it dialed in with some better ammo.

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...53761810_n.jpg

+1 on the mini mags hp, ditch the high rings, and the barrel band you don't need it. make sure the barrel is free floated, that it does not touch the stock.and you can add a pressure pad, two pices about 1/2" * 1/2" of bicycle inner tube right after the v-block

Every 22LR has it's own preferences and they're very hard to predict, but based on my experience with dozens of 22LRs and many thousands of rounds of ammo, here's a few types of ammo that seem to shoot well in "most" rifles.

CCI Mini-Mag HP 36gr - It's my favorite for hunting too.

Winchester Power Point (not DynaPoint) - It seems like every time I run into a rifle that doesn't like Mini-Mag HPs, for some reason they love Power Points.

SK Standard Plus / Wolf Match Target - Standard Plus and Match Target are the same stuff, so maybe it's just coincidence that I usually have slightly better results with the SK-boxed stuff.

I've never been lucky enough to find a rifle that would shoot hyper-velocity ammo as well as it did standard and/or high velocity ammo, but, of the hyper stuff I've had the best results with CCI Velocitor.

I agree on the rings. Lose the rings. You want solid consistent cheek weld, that you wont get with those rings.

I apologize for not checking this thread in a while, now that deer season is over I came here to see what you guys suggested. This past weekend I went back to the lease to try other bullets and try some of the other old bullets I had. Go figure, I got the best groups with the cheapest bullets I had which I have had for long time put away... go figure, I have about 400 left, hopefully I can find them again but I have not seen that package in walmart in quite some time. I can't recall at this moment (im at the office) but I think they are federal.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by texasgunclass

+1 on the mini mags hp, ditch the high rings, and the barrel band you don't need it. make sure the barrel is free floated, that it does not touch the stock.and you can add a pressure pad, two pices about 1/2" * 1/2" of bicycle inner tube right after the v-block

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I have the barrel free floating and did the pressure pad thing (18 in/lbs) and it did improved. I started working the trigger (not completely done yet) and I dropped it to 2.5 lbs. I still have to smooth some areas and work on the springs. We shall see. I will try to check it by the end of this month. I wanted to go earlier but my second vehicle broke down tuesday... I have 2 broke down vehicles so I am not risking the third one on making long trips to the lease... Might have to go to the indoors range close home but that might not be the best test as it is 25 yards only... I might end up getting rid of the high mounts if I can find a weaver 1 piece for this rifle. That way I can take the scope off and on with my leupold qrw rings depending on what I feel I want to shoot like. We shall see...

Thanks everyone!!!!

An indoor range even at 25 yards can be helpful since it takes the wind and weather out of the testing.

A gun liking the cheap stuff is wonderful. I had a .357 lever action a few years that shot the CCI Blazer aluminum ammo way better than anything else.

I have tried quite a few different types in my 10/22 and 2 stand out above the rest, Winchester 40 gr power point, the box looks like regular wild cat stuff at first glance but it says power point on the corner of the box and has PP in the model number, the other is Aguila SSS for sniper sub sonic, it has a very heavy bullet and really does the job on rabbits and squirrel's.

Mike

I posted this on another forum, some may find this interesting. Spent some time w/ my Magnetospeed. Rifle is a Savage TRR-SR which is basically a MKII action. ES is the spread of velocity from high to low in FPS


CCI Blazer suppressed: (did not effect velocity on average)


Avg 1229

ES 54

2 1 1223 ft/sec
2 2 1218 ft/sec
2 3 1250 ft/sec
2 4 1237 ft/sec
2 5 1196 ft/sec
2 6 1246 ft/sec
2 7 1234 ft/sec



Eley Match:

1060
1071
1041 Avg 1060 / ES 30
1062
1067

Lapua Center X:

1077
1071
1060 Avg 1062 / ES 25 (Note * TRR shot most accurate group at 100 yards so far w/ this ammo)
1053
1032

CCI SV:

1046
1040
1049 Avg 1047 / ES 22
1039
1061

Federal bulk HV:

1233
1233
1257 Avg 1241 / ES 24
1238
1245


CCI Blazer:

1238
1220
1236 Avg 1230 / ES 25 (These were in a box I typically sort weighed rounds. I forget if I did or not. Might explain the lower ES than above)
1216
1241

Remington Thunderbolt:

1198
1138
1213 Avg 1184 / ES 94 (Very dirty and cheap)
1143
1232

CCI Mini Mag:

1260
1243
1242 Avg 1256 / ES 32
1262
1274

Centurion:

1236
1222
1242 Avg 1242 / ES 52
1240
1274


Pretty much confirms that CCI Blazer is pretty darn consistent for bulk HV ammo. Looks like Federal is also but for some reason does not group as good in rifle as Blazer. The velocity on the match grade subsonics were all close. The ES on the Lapua and the CCI SV are close but the Lapua has been way more accurate in my rifle.

The Remington plain sucks but I knew that. It's good/cheap ammo. Will test some more down the road.

Did a few more the other day.

CCI Stinger:

Avg 1483 (high 1502)
SD 13
ES 38

CCI Velocitor:

Avg 1276 (high 1313)
SD 31
ES 73

CCI Mini Mag:

Avg 1251
SD 15
ES 52

RWS HV Match:

Avg 1205
SD 25
ES 69