I've been running through numerous types of .22 ammo trying to find the best, and the best bang for the buck ammo out there. Here are my findings to date.
For background purposes, the gun is a box stock Ruger 10/22 Target model which has a heavy barrel, lighter factory trigger, and a lamninated stock. The gun has a Redfield 4x12-40mm scope on it with Leupold base and rings. I am a competant shooter, but by no means are you going to see me in the next Winter Games.
Aguila
Aguila Supermaximum Hypervelocity - I wish they would have spent more time thinking of better ways to manage it's accuracy than it's catchy 1980s name. It shot worse than most bulk ammo, but with the velocity it has, it's gotta have nice results on critters.
Winchester
Winchester Super-X HP - This ammo shot decent enough for squirrals and other small game inside of 50 yards. It shot groups the size of a baseball at 50 yards which is unacceptable for target shooting in my opinion.
Remington
Remington Match Rifle by Eley - I was expecting near EPS level of accuracy but the ammo seemed to want to open up more than the EPS at 100 yards. Inside of 100 yards I got pretty repeatable 1/2 MOA groups. Main difference being that this bullet is a RN rather than the EPS style bullet you find on Tenex and Match.
Remington Match EPS by Eley - This ammo has shot the best through the gun to date. There were a few failures to feed which is largely due to the shape of the bullet, but otherwise they went off without a hitch. I got roughly 1/2 MOA at 50 yards, and 0.88 MOA at 100 yards.
Remington Golden Sabers - I've always known this ammo to shoot decent enough to shoot critters at 50 yards, and that's about what I got out of it. There were alot of fliers and inconsistent velocities out of this ammo. I could hear about one in four not breaking the sound barrier which leads me to believe that Remington has some quality control issues on it's priming or load. You can see the two that did not break the sound barrier on the group. They are conclusive with the slower velocity ammo from CCI in where they printed (down and left).
Remington Thunderbolts - I read an old article regarding ammo testing with a chrono and empirical results with a Ruger 10/22 and the Thunderbolts that said they were "an excellent bargain for the performance". Unfortunately I could not duplicate the results of that test. In fact, they shot worse than anything I've shot through the gun to date.
CCI
CCI Standard Velocity - Someone mentioned on Rimfire Central that these were a good performing round in their Ruger, and I'd have to agree. I shot 4 groups with this ammo and they were all as good as the one pictured. Very consistant placement and grouping. I would recommend this ammo for an easy to find, and affordable box o' fun.
CCI Blazer - This is our standard range ammo we've used for years. It gives us very little problems other than being a bit on the dirty side in all of our rental guns, and from the results I got today, it's an affordable plinking choice.
CCI Velocitor - The Velocitors were a recommendation by a friend of mine that also has a heavy barrel 10/22. If I were to of gone off a 5-shot string these easily would have measured about 1/2" MOA. They are fast, loud, and are copper coated which makes them a good varmint round, but they double in the accuracy department also. These were the most accurate I've ran to date.
CCI MiniMags - The group is not pictured but results were on par with the Blazer. One thing I did notice about the Minimags is the number of fliers was substantially higher than the other CCI products I've ran through the gun.
Fiocchi
Fiocchi M320 Match - This shot really well out of my pistol, but really had some issues out of my rifle. It's got an EPS style bullet, and looks like Eley, but shoots nothing like it. I managed a best of a 3 MOA group from several groups at 50 yards with alot of diagonal stringing which leads me to believe that I have a harmonic issue with the combination of the gun and ammo. If the batch were sped up or slowed down a good 20 FPS then it'd probably shoot better. It might fair better out of a shorter barrel gun.
Federal
Federal Lightning - This ammo shot on par with other cheaper ammos I've shot, which compared to alot of the other ones out there isn't bad by any stretch! I got a group the size of a golf ball (~2.0 - 2.5 MOA) at 50 yards. That's good enough to do just about anything, and accurate enough to have some fun with.
American Eagle by Federal - Again, another affordable and widely available round for plinking. It shot as well as the Blazer and Lightning, which is plenty good out to 50 yards. For the cost to return ratio, it wouldn't hurt to buy some.
For background purposes, the gun is a box stock Ruger 10/22 Target model which has a heavy barrel, lighter factory trigger, and a lamninated stock. The gun has a Redfield 4x12-40mm scope on it with Leupold base and rings. I am a competant shooter, but by no means are you going to see me in the next Winter Games.
Aguila
Aguila Supermaximum Hypervelocity - I wish they would have spent more time thinking of better ways to manage it's accuracy than it's catchy 1980s name. It shot worse than most bulk ammo, but with the velocity it has, it's gotta have nice results on critters.
Winchester
Winchester Super-X HP - This ammo shot decent enough for squirrals and other small game inside of 50 yards. It shot groups the size of a baseball at 50 yards which is unacceptable for target shooting in my opinion.
Remington
Remington Match Rifle by Eley - I was expecting near EPS level of accuracy but the ammo seemed to want to open up more than the EPS at 100 yards. Inside of 100 yards I got pretty repeatable 1/2 MOA groups. Main difference being that this bullet is a RN rather than the EPS style bullet you find on Tenex and Match.
Remington Match EPS by Eley - This ammo has shot the best through the gun to date. There were a few failures to feed which is largely due to the shape of the bullet, but otherwise they went off without a hitch. I got roughly 1/2 MOA at 50 yards, and 0.88 MOA at 100 yards.
Remington Golden Sabers - I've always known this ammo to shoot decent enough to shoot critters at 50 yards, and that's about what I got out of it. There were alot of fliers and inconsistent velocities out of this ammo. I could hear about one in four not breaking the sound barrier which leads me to believe that Remington has some quality control issues on it's priming or load. You can see the two that did not break the sound barrier on the group. They are conclusive with the slower velocity ammo from CCI in where they printed (down and left).
Remington Thunderbolts - I read an old article regarding ammo testing with a chrono and empirical results with a Ruger 10/22 and the Thunderbolts that said they were "an excellent bargain for the performance". Unfortunately I could not duplicate the results of that test. In fact, they shot worse than anything I've shot through the gun to date.
CCI
CCI Standard Velocity - Someone mentioned on Rimfire Central that these were a good performing round in their Ruger, and I'd have to agree. I shot 4 groups with this ammo and they were all as good as the one pictured. Very consistant placement and grouping. I would recommend this ammo for an easy to find, and affordable box o' fun.
CCI Blazer - This is our standard range ammo we've used for years. It gives us very little problems other than being a bit on the dirty side in all of our rental guns, and from the results I got today, it's an affordable plinking choice.
CCI Velocitor - The Velocitors were a recommendation by a friend of mine that also has a heavy barrel 10/22. If I were to of gone off a 5-shot string these easily would have measured about 1/2" MOA. They are fast, loud, and are copper coated which makes them a good varmint round, but they double in the accuracy department also. These were the most accurate I've ran to date.
CCI MiniMags - The group is not pictured but results were on par with the Blazer. One thing I did notice about the Minimags is the number of fliers was substantially higher than the other CCI products I've ran through the gun.
Fiocchi
Fiocchi M320 Match - This shot really well out of my pistol, but really had some issues out of my rifle. It's got an EPS style bullet, and looks like Eley, but shoots nothing like it. I managed a best of a 3 MOA group from several groups at 50 yards with alot of diagonal stringing which leads me to believe that I have a harmonic issue with the combination of the gun and ammo. If the batch were sped up or slowed down a good 20 FPS then it'd probably shoot better. It might fair better out of a shorter barrel gun.
Federal
Federal Lightning - This ammo shot on par with other cheaper ammos I've shot, which compared to alot of the other ones out there isn't bad by any stretch! I got a group the size of a golf ball (~2.0 - 2.5 MOA) at 50 yards. That's good enough to do just about anything, and accurate enough to have some fun with.
American Eagle by Federal - Again, another affordable and widely available round for plinking. It shot as well as the Blazer and Lightning, which is plenty good out to 50 yards. For the cost to return ratio, it wouldn't hurt to buy some.
