Ammo brand advice

[FBX]

I'd like to preface that I'm new to gun ownership and therefore chose to become a 10/22 owner at a very interesting time.

I've read here and elsewhere that guns are essentially unique, and that a given gun will have certain brands of ammo they'll happily eat and other brands that will FTE/squib each time, and that this is inconsistent across guns. If that's true, are there still some brands that should be generally avoided? My 10/22 has eaten 200 rounds of Aguila without any problems, 100 rounds of FP American Eagle with 1 fail to eject, but had roughly 6-8 squibs and 4-5 failures to eject on bulk Armscor hollow points.

Sadly Armscor is all I could get my hands on but I'd just like to know which brands in general have higher failure rates or are particularly dirty/fouling, to get an idea of relative pricing.

[Packy14]

Tula is junk. Armscor is junk. Aguila is dirty semi junk. Thunderbolts...junk. Whatever you find...is golden.

[AR22]

I like everything CCI and Federal. Used to have good luck with Winchester but they seem to have fallen off in Quality the last few years..

I would stick the two brands mentioned above..

[trigger945]

Well said mrrabbit. What you said made sense in my head.

[Izzy43]

I'd like to preface that I'm new to gun ownership and therefore chose to become a 10/22 owner at a very interesting time.

I've read here and elsewhere that guns are essentially unique, and that a given gun will have certain brands of ammo they'll happily eat and other brands that will FTE/squib each time, and that this is inconsistent across guns. If that's true, are there still some brands that should be generally avoided? My 10/22 has eaten 200 rounds of Aguila without any problems, 100 rounds of FP American Eagle with 1 fail to eject, but had roughly 6-8 squibs and 4-5 failures to eject on bulk Armscor hollow points.

Sadly Armscor is all I could get my hands on but I'd just like to know which brands in general have higher failure rates or are particularly dirty/fouling, to get an idea of relative pricing.

Alot depends on your use of the rifle as well. Hunting, use hollow points. Target shooting, use lubed round nose. For precison target shooting, use Standard Velocity or Sub Sonic ammo from a reliable manufacturer like SK/Wolf, Lapua or Eley ( made in England, not Mexico) (listed in order of cost). For plinking, use anything that reliably cycles your rifle.

Remember that the more you pay for the ammo, the more accurate it will be (if your rifle likes it). CCI or Federal is good ammo for plinking and casual target shooting. SK Std +, Wolf Match Target and Eley Target are excellent entry level precision shooting ammos.

[thenodnarb]

I like Federal and CCI as well. You chose well. A 10/22 should cycle most brands and at least standard velocity ammo. Don't expect semi's to cycle subsonic(but some will).
Mrrabbit needs a wall of text to justify his choices in .22s
A good semi .22, pistol or rifle, will cycle on most ammo. Accuracy can be a different story, however I like Federal bulk for everything. If I could buy all the Federal I wanted, I wouldn't buy anything else.
The only ammo I know of that is "terrible" is remington thunderbolts. I might still by them if they were cheap and I couldn't find anything else.

BTW, I don't think you are getting squibs(I hope not!) a squib is a bullet stuck in the barrel. That is a recipe for disaster. I think you mean you are getting duds. That is somewhat common with bulk ammo. I don't sweat 4 or 5 in a 500 rd brick.

[johnthomas]

Last week I shot CCI, when I dumped the ammo on the table I noticed a few bullets not straight in the cases. I weeded them out, out of 200 rounds I had 3 Failure to fire. I was surprised at CCI.

[Yoteman]

Aguila works fine for me. Think about it! Your 1022 is one of the most popular rimfire guns ever made. It shoots almost everything fairly well.
Everyone I know uses bulk ammo without a problem......me too! Will you get a FTE or FTF every once in a while?....Sure! But overall the bulk stuff shoots fine. The largest ammo manufactures know where their .22 ammo's headin'....in a 10/22, Marlin 60 or several other popular shooters.
If you want to be more discriminating buy CCI Mini Mags ..or even Federal "Champions" formally known as "Lightnings" Get's high marks for 1022 accuracy!
My only rule is to avoid Remington "anything" because it's dirty and inconsistent. That's not just my opinion but if you search you see it's the rule rather than the exception.

[Press Check]

I'm partial to CCI and Federal as well, but I'm not entirely sure that I'm in a position to be picky at the moment. That said, I recently purchased some Armscor as it was the only thing on the shelf.

[as_rocketman]

Since you own a 10/22...

After five years of teaching Appleseed, I've seen around 700 10/22's on my line, using literally every form of cheap to mid-priced ammo under the sun. I've also seen almost every brand of ammo screw up at one time or another. I've kept records on those shoots.

Additionally, I review the safety reports from Appleseeds all over the country, and that includes comments on rifle malfunctions. Often the reports include details of rifle and ammunition.

The only real pattern I've seen is that Remington Thunderbolt is a standout for causing barrel leading and poor extraction. I've experienced this myself in a Marlin.

Otherwise, just about any cheap bulk ammo will work in 10/22's overall, but individual rifles have different preferences. Federal bulk, Rem Golden Bullet, Winchester 555, CCI Blazer all seem about even in terms of quality. Expect some FTF's with all of them, follow the safety rules, don't worry about it. If you get lousy extraction or lots of stovepipes, try switching brands.

The higher quality ammo also seems to experience fewer failures, however since most students bring bulk ammo I don't have enough of a sample to say that with confidence.

Anecdotally, in my personal experience CCI is among the best mid-tier ammo -- SV, Mark AR, and Minimag have all performed well for me, my favorite being the CCI SV which is nipping at the heels of truly high-quality ammo (e.g., Wolf or Eley) in my experience.

But you just never know until you try it. I've had good success with Armscor, Winchester Wildcat, and Remington Subsonic, which seem to get dumped on by lots of folks. Trade it to me! Conversely I can't get Golden Bullet to shoot worth a darn, though I know many folks who love it. Semi-auto rimfires are tempermental.

... so now I also have a boltie that seems to eat everything.

Be safe and have fun.

[happyharold4]

Last week I shot CCI, when I dumped the ammo on the table I noticed a few bullets not straight in the cases. I weeded them out, out of 200 rounds I had 3 Failure to fire. I was surprised at CCI.

Which CCI are you referring to??

Happt

[thenodnarb]

"Mrrabbit needs a wall of text to justify his choices in .22s"

Excuse me?

Not clear on this...is this a jab or a poke of fun?

=8-|

yes, meant to be taken lightly.
Teasing you for your love of the mosquito, which is only known to shoot CCI high velocity reliably, and only on sundays, IF you have read the manual and contacted the manufacturer. Otherwise forget it.

[Teeko]

[4DMASTR]

Have you seen my ammo charts for the Mosquito?

The Mosquito will shoot anything that's:

40 Grain High Velocity Copper Plated Round Nose

..reliably so long as it's not cheap bulk pack ammo like:
Winchester M*22, 222, 333, 555 or Federal Champion 745.

=8-)

The only ammo I have found to be reliable in my Mosquito is CCI AR Tactical and CCI Blazer. It runs Thunderbolt reliably but it has issues lighting the primer off.

[happyharold4]

Which of the Federal products would be closest to the equivalent of the CCI MiniMag 40gr cprn and the CCI Standard Velocity 40gr lead round---Thanks

Happy