.22 ammo experiences

[smith and wesson]

Can you guys post some experiences (good or bad) about ammo brands you've tried.

I've shot all types of cci out of a ruger s22 without a single malfunction.

I bought some American eagle 22 the other day and had a ton of failures to feed. The feed ramp got really dirty and grimey, I'm glad I only paid 3 dollars for 50.

[AK5.56]

I've had good experience with Remington Golden Bullets and Federal Match. Im pretty new to the world of .22 but it sounds like you have to figure out what ammo works for YOUR firearm. Just keep buying small boxes of different brands and then stick with what works.

[Goop]

I typically just buy bulk stuff for plinking.

The only ones that have really given me functionality problems are the Winchester 555 bulk stuff. If you feel the rim, it is a little more ridged than Federal and Remington. I’ve had problems feeding it through a tube fed rifle. Also since the hollow point tip is pretty wide and flat it also won’t feed well into some of my semi auto 22 pistols. It is the only one I pass on pretty consistently unless I know it works in a specific firearm.

Bulk Federal – Very good
Bulk CCI – Very good
Bulk Remington – Decent but dirty and some misfires
Bulk Winchester – too finicky

As a general rule i will always prefer round nose over hollow point. As far as i'm concerned Hollow Point 22's shouldn't even exist. They don't expand at all and seem to be the cause of most feed problems.

[Occams Rasor]

CCI anything works in just about every gun. I shot a ton of bulk Blazers
(when you could get them) in all my guns with out issue.
The rest, just depends on the gun. I have had no luck with Remington, but other people have had good results. I just went through 500rds of Norma TAC22. That did would in all my guns. (1022, RAR, Buckmark, mosiquito)
BTW: I do keep by guns clean, so it is not a maintenance issue.

[YZINGERR]

People will knock rem thunderbolts, but i get better grouping than with "the better" fed cp

[Off the Roster]

Can you guys post some experiences (good or bad) about ammo brands you've tried.

I've shot all types of cci out of a ruger s22 without a single malfunction.

I bought some American eagle 22 the other day and had a ton of failures to feed. The feed ramp got really dirty and grimey, I'm glad I only paid 3 dollars for 50.

i had the same experience last week with that ammo, i do not believe the AE was cycling the slide back far enough to strip the next round from the mag. i swapped over to some bulk federal and was GTG.

[crufflers]

Yeah it is just about you finding what works in your guns. CCI seems like the most reliable overall for everyone who has a lot of different guns YMMV. It is not necessarily the most accurate.

I have a AA Glock conversion slide that has jams just about every shot with some stuff that is on the recommended list (Federal AutoMatch) but works perfectly if it is clean with CCI and Golden Bullets. You have to test your guns. I have learned not to write a jamming .22 off as a POS until you try a bunch of ammo first.

[Off the Roster]

I've had good experience with Remington Golden Bullets and Federal Match. Im pretty new to the world of .22 but it sounds like you have to figure out what ammo works for YOUR firearm. Just keep buying small boxes of different brands and then stick with what works.

True for most .22, but the SR22 is known for its lack of pickiness (i am certain there are exceptions); mine surprised me by even cycling 1070fps like a champ so this "high velocity" AE ain't too speedy.

[SonofWWIIDI]

I've had good luck with all of the .22 I have shot. I think that part of that is due to the guns (browning buckmark contour, ruger 10/22). The only problems I have had are failure to fire in my dedicated .22 ar build, due to mechanical issues (light primer strikes) unrelated to ammo.

I do prefer the CCI (mostly mini mags).

I have used:
Rem golden
Win m-22
CCI
Fed
Aguila

All have functions well for me. I have a friend who used some of my rem in his s&w .22 (don't remember the model, but it looked like a ruger mark series) and the rem had lots of of problems.

[Javi]

I'm a big fan of CCI Blazer bulk. I haven't seen it online or in person for a good while now, though. Loved the American Eagle 500 bulk pack too. It's been very reliable and darn accurate in a M&P 15-22.

[Izzy43]

Can you guys post some experiences (good or bad) about ammo brands you've tried.

I've shot all types of cci out of a ruger s22 without a single malfunction.

I bought some American eagle 22 the other day and had a ton of failures to feed. The feed ramp got really dirty and grimey, I'm glad I only paid 3 dollars for 50.

I've shot a case of that ammo out of rifles (Savage, Kimber, CZ, Henry), pistols (SR-22, S&W 22A-1) with no issues. Perhaps you got a bad batch.

You fail to say what is your main use of the ammo and what you are willing to pay for the ammo. Plinking vs Target shooting will make a big difference on the ammo I would recommend.

The only recommendation I would make is avoid Remington Thunderbolts as they are known to quickly cause leading in some firearms. Otherwise you just need to try different brands and see what your firearm prefers for your type of shooting. Hollow point ammo tends to cause more failures in semi-autos than lead round nose.

[davefromca]

I've shot only several hundred rounds through my 1022 and have never had a problem with any: Remington thunderbolt, cci sv, federal auto match....I had a couple of duds with the winchester white box but I think that might be because we had some noobs shooting and weren't seating the rounds all the way back in the magazine. I thought the federal auto match actually shot the best out of my gun. Of course when I got home the thing was filthy! But part of that may have been because we were in a very dusty area near yosemite.

I've done quite a bit of reading on the subject and seems like people LOVEEEE the cci, especially the hv mini mags. From opinions on the internet, to my own friends I've heard nothing but great reviews. People are also fond of the remington, federal and to a lesser extent the winchester white box.

The two I've read the most complaints about are the m22 winchester and the remington thunderbolts. (Although you see a lot of glowing reviews for the thunderbolts, still you get what you pay for)

[Bobby Ricigliano]

Remington Golden Bullet - NO

Winchester 555 - MAYBE

CCI Mini Mag - YES

[jdouglas]

If it's going to be shot out of a Ruger 10/22 all that matters is that it is 22 LR and you are using Ruger made magazines. The end.

[diveRN]

I have a LOT of Winchester Wildcat .22.

It doesn't have any issues in my bolt guns, but my semi-autos don't particularly care for it, pistol or rifle. Even though all spent cases will eject, it seems to be too underpowered to consistently and reliably feed new rounds into the chamber. A round or two from each box will also misfire, complete with a rim strike, but no detonation. I don't have any cycling issues with Remington or CCI.

The only thing that makes it worthwhile ammo is that it prints consistent groups and I bought it back when you could still get 500 rounds for $15.