Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Tested some more ammo yesterday.

I'm starting to think it'll be hard to find ammo this danged CZ doesn't like.
How does that old saying go...."boringly accurate" or something like that.

I tried four more brands and to be honest some are a tich better but any one of the seven I've tried so far will work for my intended use.

Left to right, WW Super X (overall the worst of the lot but still acceptable for Gofers), Wolf Target Match, SK Magazine, Eley Target, CCI Sub Sonic, CCI Standard Velocity, CCI Mini Mag.
I cherry picked these targets because I don't feel like uploading a bunch of pictures but almost all of the groups had all five touching.
Five shot groups at 50yrds with Leupold 4X Rimfire.

http://www.championshooters.com/ind...irtuemart_category_id=214&Itemid=111

Try some of these.

For small game hunting based on your target results and to keep it simple I'd lay in a supply of the CCI Mini Mag's, the same lot number shot for group. That said I prefer sub sonic hp loads for most of my needs.

Curious... are you shooting a number of rounds of the next ammo brand to "season" your rifle barrel before shooting for groups?

Yea...that's my plan...partly because my two other 22's like Mini Mags but I also like to support CCI because it's a local company.

I don't usually shoot any fouling rounds but I don't clean rimfire barrels every time I use them.

More than anything I'm surprised at how many brands of ammo this gun shoots well.

FG, that's the conclusion I came to, also.

One of the first few times I had mine out after I got it, Mannlicher and I went out shooting some rimfires.

Took the first shot with the 452 with one brand of ammo and then another shot. I was straining to see where the second shot went until I realized it went in the same hole.

I turned to Mannlicher with this WTF look on my face and he spouts one word:

"Boring".

Picked up a CZ 455 back in January and that "boringly accurate" description fits mine as well. Still have lots of other stuff to try but so far it seems to like anything I put in it. One thing I really like is CCI Blazer, because not only is it priced good but it seem to work well in most .22's. The CZ 455 really likes it, I've got 5 or 6 bricks of it so it may become one of my standard things for the 455.

My 455 absolutely loves Eley Subsonic hollow points.

I have a question Field Grade.
Are you shooting these groups one after the other.
Are you cleaning between groups.
Are you shooting enough between groups to season your barrel. Hasbeen

I don't do any of that.

I seldom clean a rimfire and five five shot groups tell me what I want to know.

If I was competing I'd think about it along with rim thickness sorting and all that other obsessive crap but it's a Gofer gun.
As long as I can get five shots touching I'm happy.

FG, you've got yourself a good one there for sure.. great shooting

The folks that claim to know say that you need to clean or season bore between brands. The lube on 22lr is different one brand to another. They say it takes one round per inch of barrel between ammo brands. The lube left after shooting one brand changes how the next brand will shoot with the two different lubes mixed. Hasbeen

Yea....I've heard that before.
Lets just say I'm skeptical.

Great shooting from both you and the rifle. I've yet to bring home a CZ, but if I ever spot one with better than average walnut, I surely will. A .22LR, .17Hornet, and .222Rem are the three I could like the fastest.

You're supposed to clean a 22?

I've absolutely seen it be a factor. But again .22's can be fickle creatures.One things for sure a .22 that isn't finicky is a beautiful thing, and it looks like you've got a great one

I didn't do that either, and mine shoots like a laser.

So, let's just say I'm skeptical, too.

Did I rest it between groups at first? Yes
Did I run a snake through it a couple times between groups? Yes
Do I clean it after I shoot it? Yes, but that does change zero and find myself twisting knobs just about right back to where it was after it gets a little dirty.

I took my new Ruger 77/22 to the range this past week to seriously test ammo to find what this rifle liked best. I shoot a lot of ground squirrels so I tested seven different hollow point loads. I also tested seven assorted standard velocity, subsonic, and round-nose high speed loads.

I once read an article by Jim Carmichael where he tested several 22 LR loads against each other. He used five-shot groups at 50 yards. His targets looked fairly similar to FieldGrade's, in that it was hard to tell much difference from one group to another.

Mr. Carmichael then tested the two or three loads that seemed to be the best by shooting 10-shot groups at 100 yards. The results much more clearly showed a difference in group size and shape. He concluded the article by saying that in the future he would always test 22 ammo with 10-shot groups at 100 yards. I decided to take his advice for my testing.

I have also read that it was best to shoot enough of the next load to re-foul the barrel in order to get the best results, as hasbeen and others have mentioned.

I decided to shoot two 10-shot groups with each load before moving on to the next load. Then I would only compare the second group shot with each load against each other. I did not do any cleaning or bore-snaking during my testing session.

On Tuesday morning the conditions at the range were ideal. The air was quite calm, the sky was a high overcast, and the temperature was in the high 40s to high 50s during my testing. I don't shoot rimfire benchrest competition, and my eyesight has deteriorated with age, but my results are consistent, and I do get a lot of squirrels.

My results were quite satisfying, to me. Over several hours I fired over 300 rounds. In almost every case the second group was smaller than the first group, even if only by a bit. Only one first target was actually smaller than the second, and not by much. In some cases the first two shots of a new load were definitely outside the remaining eight shot group. Therefore, I conclude that it does improve results to re-foul the barrel with a few shots of the new load before shooting for record.

A ten-shot group provides a much better picture of how good the load is than a five-shot group. At only 50 yards you would pretty much just have a shaggy hole with that many shots, but at 100 yards you get a pattern.

As for my rifle, the best groups were right at 1 1/2" with American Eagle HPs, and Winchester Wildcat HPs, followed by Eley Target and Aguila Super Extra Standard and High Velocity round-nose, all at 2" or under. CCI Mini-Mag HPs were at 2 1/4".

The bottom half of the loads gave groups from 2 1/2" to 3" except for the worst load which was also the fastest, the Browning BPR at 1392 fps which produced a 3 1/2" group.

After finishing the test portion, I sighted in the scope by shooting some five shot groups at 100 yards and at 50 yards. I achieved a 1" group at 100 yards, and four consecutive 5-shot groups at 50 yards were consistent 1/2" groups.

I am fortunate that I recently bought several bricks of the American Eagle ammo from the same lot number as it is very good ammo in several of my rifles and the price was reasonable. All of my testing was fired through my chronograph. The velocity of the American Eagle ammo, based on 37 shots, averaged 1256 fps with an extreme spread of 77 fps. (The Eley Target had the lowest extreme spread of any of the loads, at 33 fps for 20 shots).

The Winchester Wildcat ammo that did so well was several years old (so not necessarily the same as current production) and it gave a velocity of only 1156 fps. I am glad the American Eagle beat it by 100 fps.

I am now ready to go after the ground squirrels with confidence. I am quite satisfied with the testing procedure of using two, 10-shot groups at 100 yards, and I recommend it to those looking for the best load for their 22 rimfire.

All excellent choices.

I went a little different rout.....

22LR, 223 Carbine, 17FB.....



I just recently picked up the 22LR and carbine.
I'm having a ball shooting the 22LR....should have bought one years ago.
The 223's fun too and the accuracy's coming around to where I think it'll be a keeper.

I'd think about a 222 if I didn't already own a Tikka and a 700 in 222...
I would however pull a muscle or at least sprain something getting my wallet out if I ever ran across a nice full stocked 22Hornet....

Ain't that the truth. I used to think, meh, I'll pick one up one of these days.

Yeah right! Just try to find one! Buddy of mine in NC only owns 2 guns. A Mark 1 .22lr pistol and a .22 Hornet. He figures he's set. That's all he tells anybody about, anyway.

Except for bears, don't know that I can much argue with him.

Looks like you've got detachable mounts on the 527. How good are the open sights?