22 LR ammo?

[karbo]

Any suggestions for 22 LR ammo that you've found accurate in your contender/G2?  Stuff that's still reasonably inexpensive.  I bought a brick of the cheap Peters stuff for about $10/500.  I should have never fired it over the chrono.  It ranged between 810 to over 1100 fps.  As always you seem to get what you pay for but I never thought it would be that inconsistant.

[flatlander]

I've had great luck with Winchester Super-X. I don't own a 22 that doesn't love it. Also the Federal bulk stuff you can buy for cheap doesn't do too bad. I bought every kind that I could find in town and tested them all out, and when it was all said and done, the Super X did as good as any but the very expensive stuff, and the difference wasn't enough for me to justify the extra $$.

[Possum]

Believe it or not, the quality control on the Dynapoints is in the top 5-10% of .22 rounds.  Combine that with a caliper to check the rim thickness and you end up with a round that will shoot very tight groups at 100yds.  The caliper I use is a electronic cheapy from the flea market and a .223 casing. I measure the casing and then stick the .22 round and check the variance from average.  You can get the average from checking a few and seeing what pops up on the caliper the most.  Easy to do while watching TV.

[KYODE]

i like the federal american eagle 38gr copper plated hp, and wolf match target 40 gr solids.

[Sixgun]

I have 2 10" match barrels and they both really like the Winchester X-Pert ammo.  I get it at Wally World for about $7.50 a box.  

Sixgun

[Steve P]

Both of my 10" contender barrels prefer cci minimag hp ammo.   Have not found anything to shoot better beyond 75 yards.

Steve  

[Catfish]

I have gotten great groups from Rem. Sub-sonics. In a test I ran with my up graded 10-22,  the only ammo that out grouped it cost $10 a box, target ammo. It has done real well in all of the .22 I`ve ran it through. DO NOT  run it through your crono though or you`ll never shoot it. It`s good for squirrel, but is lacking in power for groundhogs. I also have had pretty good luck with the gray box Win. at Wally World. They don`t group quite as good as the Rems., but for the price they are hard to beat. They hit alittle harder than the Sub sonics, but are still alittle lite for groundhogs. For groundhogs the CCi Velositators???, are as bout as you can do. Accuracy is not real bad and they hit real hard.

[DWARREN123]

Wolf Match Rifle or Match Extra, the MR is cheaper, the ME is better but more expensive.

[Javelina]

Hello Karbo,

Winchester DynaPoint and Wally-World bulk Federal (both for under $10 for 500+) seem to work well in a wide variety of barrels, but not 100% of them.

Each T/C barrel (you can expand that to any firearm barrel) is a law unto itself no matter if it's chambered for rimfire or centerfire cartridges.  There are no absolute best choices for ALL of the barrels.  You may find a combination that is good for most of the barrels, almost all of the barrels, or "every barrel you've ever seen," but it will very likely still not apply to ALL of them.

The very best advice is to try a box or small quantity if you can talk a buddy out of 10-20 rounds of as many types of ammunition as you can that fall into your budget requirements.  Personally, I'm as cheap as they come so I always start with the cheapest 22 ammunition I can find that meets my requirements and work up until I find a load that has the accuracy I'm looking for that also meets my financial needs.  If you can get a Winchester Dynapoint or Wally-World bulk federal to do what you want it to do, why not save a few (or a lot of) $$$?

What we're talking about here is 22 LR rimfire ammunition.  It will never have 22 Hornet, 222 Rem, or 22-250 Rem power.  If you keep that in mind and look for accuracy and consistency (two forms of the same thing) rather than higher speeds which will usually only be generated by the hyper-velocity cartridges like the Velocitors, Stingers, etc., for your general shooting, you will find that there are probably several wallet-friendly types of ammunition that will meet your requirements.  Don't try to make your 22 LR be something it's not and as long as you stay within it's limitations, it's a GREAT cartridge. . .I shoot as many of them as I can each year because I like them so much.  Cheaper ammunition means more shooting - that's the bottom line.  As long as you can "pot" a squirrel, rabbit, or any other type of small game  with your 22 LR by making an accurate shot for a humane kill, or you get good accuracy on a paper target, and if you've saved money by using the least expensive ammunition for the job, YOU WIN!

Good luck with your ammunition choice!  Please do us all a favor and report back with your findings so we can learn from your efforts too!

Safe and good shooting to you!  

Javelina