Henry Rifle Forums

After reading another thread on .22 rifles and some ammo issues; I wanted to ask the rimfire shooters, and there are many, what seems to be your preferred ammo? I'll start: I only have two rimfires currently; A Marlin 39A and a Marlin 25N bolt action. They both shoot CCI Mini-Mags and Aguila SEHV 40gr. CCI's have always seemed excellent, but, was happily surprised with the Aguila. Well?

As I recall my 25N shoots the minimags very well also, but due to noise constraints I shoot the CCI SV 95% of the time (Walmart $3.49). The other 5% would be Quiets, and that is mostly out of the .22 revolver.

We are target shooters, so standard velocity loads are the mainstay of what we shoot. Some HV loads can also be very accurate, of course, but, overall, there's a reason all serious target shooting with 22 LRs is done with standard velocity loads. CCI SV is our bread and butter 22 LR load. It's been consistently the best value in target ammo with a wide variety of guns. Federal AutoMatch is our favorite bulk load for plinking and it actually does very well in some specific guns. For serious accuracy work with our best guns, though, I go to high grade ammo like Eley, RWS, SK and so on. The one place I do find HV to be useful is in some semi autos that can be fussy about cycling SV loads. CCI Mini mags have always been good for this work.

Note that shooting premium target 22 LR won't turn a mediocre gun into a competition gun. You have to have a gun with enough inherent accuracy to take advantage of the better ammo. In some guns, you'll get little or no improvement in accuracy for the hefty increase in price. With any gun, though, you can find a load that is the best tradeoff of accuracy and price with a little ammo testing.

Most of my .22 LR shooting is plinking with grandkids. I usually use the Federal bulk .22 LR 36 grain HP and the CCI bulk mini mags 36 gr. HP. I usually shoot in one handgun competition every summer at the gun club and use Federal 40 gr. solids for that. For fall squirrel hunting, I use the 36 gr. HP bulk ammo.

Im like Steve. Im just a plinker and will shoot whatever I can buy the cheapest of the copper plated bullets. I like CCI mini mags the best but there not always the cheapest in fact they rarely are. So I shoot Federal Aguila and Remington.

Like NCG said - CCI Standard is our favorite 22LR unless it won't cycle the action - then we use Mini-mags.

CCI Mini Mags for me.

For all my normal shooting - and some competitions - I use SK Standard Plus. For competions that I would like to win, I use Eley Match.

I mostly just plink and my Golden Boy will cycle anything I’ve run through it so far. I prefer CCI Ammo. Mini Mags and lately CCI Short HP 27gr 1105fps have become a favorite. The shorts are copper plated and of course quieter than Mini Mags. They’re just perfect for shooting at my steel resetting rimfire target. And I can get 22 rounds in the tube magazine.

deano5150 wrote:I mostly just plink and my Golden Boy will cycle anything I’ve run through it so far. I prefer CCI Ammo. Mini Mags and lately CCI Short HP 27gr 1105fps have become a favorite. The shorts are copper plated and of course quieter than Mini Mags. They’re just perfect for shooting at my steel resetting rimfire target. And I can get 22 rounds in the tube magazine.

I like shooting shorts in my Mare’s Leg because I can get more in the tube.

I've always found the Federal "Champion" 525 round value pack to be a cheap and reliable plinking round. I believe they are around 1260 fps.
With that said, I hardly use anything beyond the sound barrier in my .22 LR rifles anymore...If I want more juice, I'll reach for a .22 WMR. As others have mentioned, the CCI Standard Velocity is a good one. I've had great luck with CCI's subsonic segmented hollow point round as well. I am a plinker, and none of my .22s are properly set up to take advantage of the various "match" rounds available. I think I have one package of Eley ammunition (Force), and even it isn't a "premium" round.

In my little break-barrel single shot, I have a hoot shooting Shorts, CCI Quiet .22s, and Aguila Super Colibris.

Aguila pistol and rifle match are both great in my Henry. Just like Roddy, I don't shoot any supersonic rounds in my 22s anymore.

Likin' the answers here. It seems for the most part, we're plinkers with our .22's. When out in the desert, I'll shoot 20-30 rounds thru whatever rifle/handgun I take[centerfire], then, about 50 .22's. Love the darn things. And with prices coming WAY down from what they were, more fun.

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Me too.

Bugs wrote:CCI Mini Mags for me.

I would say CCI Mini Mags would dominate the 22 ammo stash with some CCI Quiet, CCI Standard Velocity, Winchester Super-X and some Federal of some type mixed in.

I can't say I have a lot of experience with different ammo as when I got my .22 there was a great sale on some Win. 36 grain, hollow points, copper plated,1280 FPS. I bought a lot of it, I mean a LOT of it. A year later I am still shooting it. I can not complain. It is accurate enough for me. I just plink.

I shot Remington Golden Bullet HP out of my Frontier. It is about the cheapest plinking ammunition I found in my area. Resting my elbows on a picnic table in my back yard I was able to consistently shoot 1" groups at 50 meters with the Golden Bullet cartridges. Golden Bullet groups opened up to 5" at 100 meters. The bullets might be running out of gas at that distance.

I sold the Frontier and just ordered a Golden Boy, because I like the way they look. I'll report back if accuracy is not the same with the Golden Boy.

Welcome from the Show-Me-State, Flinch! Trust you'll really like the Golden Boy. No doubt about it. That Henry is a "looker" for sure. And I hope the accuracy is even better for you. Enjoy-enjoy!
PT7

Flinch wrote:I shot Remington Golden Bullet HP out of my Frontier. It is about the cheapest plinking ammunition I found in my area. Resting my elbows on a picnic table in my back yard I was able to consistently shoot 1" groups at 50 meters with the Golden Bullet cartridges. Golden Bullet groups opened up to 5" at 100 meters. The bullets might be running out of gas at that distance.

I sold the Frontier and just ordered a Golden Boy, because I like the way they look. I'll report back if accuracy is not the same with the Golden Boy.

Flinch wrote:I shot Remington Golden Bullet HP out of my Frontier. It is about the cheapest plinking ammunition I found in my area. Resting my elbows on a picnic table in my back yard I was able to consistently shoot 1" groups at 50 meters with the Golden Bullet cartridges. Golden Bullet groups opened up to 5" at 100 meters. The bullets might be running out of gas at that distance.

I sold the Frontier and just ordered a Golden Boy, because I like the way they look. I'll report back if accuracy is not the same with the Golden Boy.

Welcome to the forum from CT, Flinch. I look forward to reading about your new Golden Boy and reviews of 22 LR ammo.

What is interesting is that Wolf Match Target 40g RNL did not group much better at 50 meters. I never installed a scope on the Frontier and used iron sights to shoot groups. I did not shoot Wolf MT out of my Frontier at 100 meters.

Given the cost difference I save the Wolf MT for shooting matches with my scoped bolt action rifle.