cheap ammo, whats the point?

[Izzy43]

This whole topic of ammo accuracy is extremely subjective, as with any caliber. The first thing to address, imo, is the overall goal of the shooter. What may be 'good groups' for Joe may be totally unacceptable for Bill.

Is some of the cheap ammo pretty good? Absolutely. For plinking or (good groups with the occasional flyer) I like Blazer. It's clean, too.

For casual target shooting, tighter groups, but still a flyer here and there, I really like CCI SV.

I'm ramping up to start competing in a local monthly unlimited rimfire match. I bought some Eley Tenex. Costly? Hell yes. Accurate and consistent? Totally.

All ammo has different price points with different intents and a different target audience. the prudent person realizes, however, when to use what. It would be dumb for me to use Eley Tenex to teach my nephew how to shoot tomorrow morning, and equally dumb for me to use Blazer at a match and expect to score high.

I could not agree more. Every shooter has a goal in mind when it comes to accuracy. Ammo that costs 3 cents a round won't shoot as good as ammo that cost 30 cents a round, but then we shouldn't expect it to. If I shoot bulk ammo that groups 1" @ 50 yds then that's great. If I want smaller groups I know I have to spend more. Shooting 1" @ 50 or 3/8" @ 50 is just as much fun given the different ammo.

I do shoot expensive ammo at times but only when it means something, like in the monthly rimfire matches here. Otherwise I am happy just to practice with the less expensive stuff. It's all about expectations.

If you want to tighten up those groups with bulk ammo, shoot @ 40yds instead of 50 that way the bullet doesn't transition back to subsonic before it hits the target. Try it, you might be surprised. Even better, shoot it @ 25 yds. If you aint' having fun it is not worth shooting anyway.

[23 Blast]

Inded, what is the point? One time at the range I was next to a fellow who had a Weatherby .460. I think the cartridges cost about $5 each. He shot roughly 100 rounds. I, on the other hand, plinked away with cheap surplus x39 out of my SKS. Both of us seemed to have a good time.

Truthfully, for simple plinking, the cheap .22LR is just the ticket. My Ruger 10/22 and Sig 522 SWAT love the cheap stuff and, while I don't group them, I imagine they're far better than 8" or 10" guns at 50 yards. Heck, clays at 100 yards are easily hit 6-7/10, and those are what, 5" across? So a guy shooting 8" groups at 50 yards from a rest is either dealing with loose scope rings, a loose rear sight, or simply is that bad of a shooter. When all I'm trying to do is pop clays and make bowling pins dance, cheap bulk ammo works just fine, at 1/4 the cost of premium ammo.

[echo1]

I have 3 sons and my wifes a shooter also. I've given everybody a 10/22 and a .22 pistol or revolver. We live in the country and it's not unusual to get a phone call (or text if your one of my boys) to go shoot. Those guys and their crew can burn through some rounds (mine). To me there's no logic in pricy .22 unless you shoot competition. PAX

[jakuda]

For practice, I use CCI Standard Velocity (paper box version). $2.50 or so a box of 50. I can shoot 50 yards with my Ruger Mk3 pistol, standing one handed, with 4" groups. From a ransom rest, easily 1.5" groups. Even bulk Federal 325 Automatch ammunition shoots very well.

Eley Tenex is about $20 per box of 50. Tenex can group sub 1" at 50 yards with a pistol. 99% of shooters' trigger fingers does more damage to scores than the ammunition, so I stick with CCI SV for now. Good free pistol shooters (50 meter pistol Olympic event) use Eley Tenex all the time. but they are the 1% who can notice the precision difference in Tenex and bulk 22 packs.

If I shot Eley Tenex, my match scores probably wouldn't change. Like in golf, people focus too much on equipment instead of practice.

There is great diminishing returns for expensive 22rf ammunition.

[lagann]

the most expensive .22 ammo i can find is ELEY match, at about $.27 per round. i use wolf for about $.11 per round, and i see many people using federal bulk which comes to about $.04 per round.

what gets me is that the people using federal bulk are also bench resting their guns and using scopes. why?

i can see using bulk ammo if youre just going to throw as many rounds as you can, as fast as you can, at a tree stump or something, but why even attempt to shoot bulk ammo accurately? i did a small ammo comparison, and winchester grouped at about 6in at 50 yards, while wolf is at about the size of a dime, or smaller.

i understand that .22 is finicky with different guns, but the same people i see shooting bulk from bench rest are "grouping" like 8-10 inches at 50yds. so why not use better ammo?

if you are bench resting to see what your gun is capable of, you should be using good ammo to eliminate variables. if you are off hand shooting to see how good you are, you should be using good ammo to eliminate variables.

why even waste the money of going to the range if you arent there to improve you or your gun? You dont know their skill level, nor do you know how their guns shoot. You dont know if they are wasting their time.

sorry, sort of a rant, but i would also like to know if im missing something and there actually is some benefit to buying the cheapest ammo i can find? (besides saving $35 on 500 rounds of ammo)

I only shoot bulk ammo because i want to improve my skill and not let the ammo do the shooting for me. Anyone who at least has the basics of marksmanship can shoot really tight groups with expensive ammo benched at 50 yards.

Your 6 inch group at 50 yards is beyond the "my gun hates this ammo type" problem. I can do better with a Mosin Nagant at 100 yards benched. Have you considered that maybe the ammo is not the problem here? Have you tried any other brands of bulk ammo?

You shouldn't be paying too much attention to other people. Sure its sad that they are shooting 8-10 inches at 50 yards....maybe they just suck.

Do you consider 1 inch groups at 50 yards good? I sure do. If a rifle likes the bulk ammo, a rimfire rifle is more than capable of that. Do i consider .5 inches good at 50 yards? of course i do. Is it worth it by buying more expensive ammo...not for me if im practicing. Would i use bulk ammo in a competition?...i dont think anyone in their right mind would...

Either way, i only shoot benched when i want to stroke my ego with small groups. I practice practical accuracy in all positions because my goal is being an all around shooter....which im no where near...

Do you know what DOES get me? People who hug the 25 and 50 yard benches with their tacticool 8x powered scoped Ar15's shooting benched.

[Saber2Golf]

If these people are grouping 8-10" @ 50yds with a rifle from a rest, not a bullet in the world is going to help them. Either their rifle has something horribly wrong with it, the ammo is a horrible match for their gun, or they don't know proper technique. If they're just randoms at the range, who knows what their deal is, how they learned (or didn't learn) to shoot, if they're trying for tight groups, etc...? I'm a vet and have fired thousands of rounds of everything from .22LR to .50BMG, but was recently chasing the zero around with a cheap scope on my Model 60. If you saw me that day, you'd have wondered WTH my problem was, but unless you asked you wouldn't know the full story.

As for my .22: it's a Model 60, and with a scope and bipod it'll hit clays @ 100yds with CCI Blazer for $16 per 500rds. That's what I use it for and have no reason to spend more. If these random people use theirs to shoot minute-of-barn @ 50yds and they're okay with it, who cares?