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One .22 ammo for all my guns

Discussion about what manufactured ammunition feeds your Henry or other firearms
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Blackdog
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One .22 ammo for all my guns

Post by Blackdog » Sat Sep 29, 2018 8:35 am

For the past few years I've been buying some of this and some of that trying to feed the rimfire rifles and handguns I have. One, a Marlin, was pretty cranky and only wanted Norma Tac 22. I began to feel like a mother with a finicky child - I'd cook steak and the finicky one wanted Mac & cheese - so I had to cook two suppers (sound familiar?)

Two weeks ago the Marlin found a new home and the owner seemed happy to have it. I was rather happy to see it go.

Now, I have one ammo that works well in all of my firearms. Yes, slightly better is some and slightly worse in others, but generally I can buy CCI Tactical AR .22LR and hunt squirrels with it, shoot Lever Action Silhouette, punch paper and knock cans around. I've found it accurate at 100 yards, it feeds well and no FTF or FTE.

I'll stop looking for the "ideal" ammo for my Henry now - CCI Tac AR .22 gets my vote.

Michael
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Abnermal
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Re: One .22 ammo for all my guns

Post by Abnermal » Sat Sep 29, 2018 10:32 am

As far as hunting ammo goes Eley Subsonic hollow points are all I use. Just picked up a brick of Aguila Subsonic hollow points to try. Can't have too many good ones to choose from.
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North Country Gal
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Re: One .22 ammo for all my guns

Post by North Country Gal » Sat Sep 29, 2018 10:38 am

Good for you, Michael. Glad it works out for you. We have too many 22s to keep things that simple, but I do follow a general rule of standard velocity, target ammo for our guns that are capable of match grade accuracy and bulk ammo for our shoot for our "just for fun" kind of 22s. Over the years I've found that it usually, though not always, takes a match grade gun like our CZs or Contenders with match barrels to make good use of match grade ammo. It is worth the expense feeding these guns the high dollar ammo when we're trying to shoot those small groups. On the other hand, have found that feeding our fun shooters like a 10/22 high grade match ammo is a waste of money. Those types of guns do about as well with the cheaper stuff.

One nice compromise I've found that is still very affordable, but that shoots well in a lot of our 22s is CCI SV. It's not always the best in our guns and a few guns don't like it, but it's where I usually start when I want to do accuracy testing with a new gun.
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Re: One .22 ammo for all my guns

Post by PT7 » Sat Sep 29, 2018 11:16 am

Cool 8-) commentary, Michael. It's most interesting to hear from someone who can make such statements about ammo.

And I like NCG's description about generally how difficult it is to "keep things that simple." There are not many Folk that achieve a one-ammo-for-all-firearms point, although I'm certain many have tried. As far as my .22LR ammo, I only have two guns that I use to shoot this caliber: my Henry SGC and my Ruger Mark IV. Both like CCI Std Velocity 40gr LRN and Browning Performance Rimfire (BPR) 40gr RN ammo. Since I have a pretty good stock of both ammo brands, that's about as close to simple I can get.

I'd say congrats are in order.
PT7

Blackdog wrote: Now, I have one ammo that works well in all of my firearms. Yes, slightly better is some and slightly worse in others, but generally I can buy CCI Tactical AR .22LR and hunt squirrels with it, shoot Lever Action Silhouette, punch paper and knock cans around. I've found it accurate at 100 yards, it feeds well and no FTF or FTE.

I'll stop looking for the "ideal" ammo for my Henry now - CCI Tac AR .22 gets my vote.
Michael
NCG wrote:Good for you, Michael. Glad it works out for you. We have too many 22s to keep things that simple...
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Mags
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Re: One .22 ammo for all my guns

Post by Mags » Sat Sep 29, 2018 11:36 am

.
How well do the subsonic shoot? Accuracy, range and noise for starters. I've been thinking off and on about trying subsonic but never got around to actually buying any. Had plenty of opportunity, but seems when I am at the LGS I have other things on my mind.
Abnermal wrote:As far as hunting ammo goes Eley Subsonic hollow points are all I use. Just picked up a brick of Aguila Subsonic hollow points to try. Can't have too many good ones to choose from.
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Henry88
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Re: One .22 ammo for all my guns

Post by Henry88 » Sat Sep 29, 2018 1:10 pm

Mags wrote:How well do the subsonic shoot? Accuracy, range and noise for starters.
I usually shoot at about 30 yds and at that range there is very little difference in POI; about an inch? Something like that.

As far as noise, the difference is colossal. No high pitched sonic crack. Some guns, like the Sig Mosquito won't cycle them but most will.

A shoutout for the Remington subsonics HPs as I found them to shoot at least as well as the CCI SV, at least in some guns.
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Re: One .22 ammo for all my guns

Post by Blackdog » Sat Sep 29, 2018 1:55 pm

My primary .22lr targets are steel silhouette animals at 40/50/75 & 100 meters. Subsonic works fine "most of the time", but go to a range where they have slightly heavy targets and you "ring" them with Sub Sonics.
One-hole accuracy is not needed for Lever Action Silhouette, just consistency and down range energy. CCI Tac has this. MY CZ really likes Norma best, and my 10/22 likes (of all things) Federal Auto Match. But both will eat CCI and give acceptable results.
I also tested :
Eley Force - OK, but expensive
CCI Std Vel -2nd best, but Sub Sonic
SK Flatnose - Not worth the extra cost
Aguila Extra - Nice, but often hard to find.
Norma Match - suppose to be "Match version" of Norma Tac 22 - didn't work well for me - Tac 22 better
Winchester Max 42gr - what a joke, skeet patterns!
Federal AutoMatch - my 10/22 liked it, but no one else did.
CCI Quiet - good out to 50 yards, then it runs a wheel off.
CCI Sub sonic HP - OK, I guess, not as accurate as solid Sub Sonic
Wolf Match Extra - no longer made, but was one-hole in my CZ and shot 2MOA in the Henry.
I'll stick with 1200FPS CCI Tac for now. May change in the future, but for now it works best for me, and doesn't break the bank.
Michael
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Re: One .22 ammo for all my guns

Post by Rifletom » Sat Sep 29, 2018 3:14 pm

CCI SV and Mini-Mags work well in my two .22 rifles. Altho I have some Aguila Extra that work just as well. And less expensive.
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Re: One .22 ammo for all my guns

Post by 220 » Sat Sep 29, 2018 5:02 pm

I can even manage one load for one rifle, my sako regularly sees 3 different loads. It loves Lapua X-Act but at over 50 cents a shot there is no way it is going to get feed it regularly even if it is the only ammo I have tried that will average 3/4moa. CCI std shoots well enough for most applications and for hunting any of the 40gr HP loadings at over 1400fps take the 22lr to another level.

CCI std seems to be the best balance of price and accuracy so most of our handguns live on it although S&B std gets a run occasionally depending on availability and I have been trying some Hornady std the last few weeks.

Have only ever shot LA silhouette with the Fed bulk box HV, grabbed it out of the ammo locker the first time I shot the match with my old Erma and managed AA grade. Had no trouble shooting AAA grade scores with it so have never changed. I have never shot it on paper to see how it groups but it certainly shoots better than I can out of the old rifle off 2 legs using buckhorn or peeps.
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Re: One .22 ammo for all my guns

Post by Abnermal » Sat Sep 29, 2018 5:03 pm

Mags wrote:.
How well do the subsonic shoot? Accuracy, range and noise for starters. I've been thinking off and on about trying subsonic but never got around to actually buying any. Had plenty of opportunity, but seems when I am at the LGS I have other things on my mind.
Abnermal wrote:As far as hunting ammo goes Eley Subsonic hollow points are all I use. Just picked up a brick of Aguila Subsonic hollow points to try. Can't have too many good ones to choose from.
Out of my stock CZ452 with a 3-9 scope five shots are a ragged hole slightly larger than the bullet diameter. At 50 yards dime sized for 5 shots.
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