Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Cheap ammo isn't worth it

I think end of summer .... and it should be no problem ... heard other sources say it'll be until early next year ... maybe for .223, but not lr.

Again, not based on anything but my own hunches .... I think AR's came back in stock much FASTER than I thought ....

avagadro, hope you are right..have lots of .22 ammo for shooting varmits, but since my gal has six male grandchildren, and they all love to shoot, my stock of plinking ammo must be enlarged..plus most of the gals like shooting as well..Never had a family of my own, so this is different, about as much fun as shooting myself...

I just don't think Americans have the stomach to pay the gougers anylonger... the gougers ain't gonna gouge if there's no market. In a few months the hoarders will start, but most of them leave some on the shelves since they aren't profit driven. Who really knows.

-g

Once the .22's are back, I'm gonna start crossing my fingers for some Vargit, 4895, and 4350 ...

In my area any 22LR is a find, cheap or otherwise. I don't like the cheap dirty stuff either but will take what I can find. I use the cheap stuff in my 617 and rifles, the "good" stuff I save for my High Standard Citation. I will say the Remington subsonic is about the dirtiest ammo I have found. Shoots OK but dirty.. Funny, my BSA Martini model 12 loves the cheap Federal Lightings, as accurate as Elely or Lapua. The Sako Quad likes the expensive stuff for accuracy but shoots anything rather well. Hopefully things will get back to normal soon. Had my son pick up a brick of Winchester HV, $52!!! at a local GS, BS as this was normally $30-$35 pre stupid..

n8dawg6...I saw lots of powder at Cabelas in Buda,TX last week, so I think the powder situation is getting better. Traditionally I use IMR 4895, but had to use H4895 due to the shortage, for some reason this powder (H4895) was available. Still experimenting on new loads, it shows promise.

I usually buy my rimfire ammo from Killough Shooting Sports. I use Eley Sport at $32.50 a brick.Dan list most out of stock, but I put my name on the list and he ships when it comes in.

http://www.killoughshootingsports.com/index.php/ammo.html?p=5

Even tho I just said it on an previous thread, I have a CZ 452, and it isn't overly particular about just about anything ya feed it...

I am not competition shooting with it... but it is good for head shots pretty consistently from a rest on a Sage Rat at 125 yds...

not much to complain about on my end...

I can see where Jim is coming from, had kinda the same thought a few times over the years. A couple years ago I was really working on my handgun shooting and was averaging 30-50 rounds of .22lr per night over the coarse of a summer. Almost all of it shot at 2" spinners. At some point I hit a wall and was really wondering if it was ammo related or me. I was after all using Federal 550 bulk for most of it and it wasn't the best ammo for my Ruger MKII. Groups on paper were close to twice that of the MiniMags I like to use on game. So was it me or a lack of accuracy that caused the wall? We'll never know for sure as that summer ended and while I still shoot, it's not nearly as religious as it was that summer. Still the thought goes thru my mind that the cheaper ammo might of just been spittin into the wind.

Now back in the 80's we'd buy what ever was cheapest and go burn it by the bricks. Usually it was Wildcats, Lightnings or whatever crap Remington had out at the time. All of it bare lubed lead, none of it copper washed or plated. And we'd pull a ton lead outta our barrels when we cleaned. Soon switched over to entirely plated bulk crap and have yet to have the leading problems we experienced with the old cheap crap. Now some will say a copper washed or plated LR bullet can/will lead as bad as bare lead. They'll say that the copper coating is too thin to change things. And in principle they may be right but all I can speak of is from experience and it did solve our problems and when I reach for bulk ammo today it's always washed/plated.

Don't confuse my disdain for cheap, bare lead ammo with the better and more expensive bare lead ammo that was/is available. The better stuff is sized better, lubed better and over all BETTER. Never had a problem with it leading up.

I haven't seen a box of .22 LR in months. For now, it's still a matter of taking whatever you can get.

Something must have changed, a few years ago I was helping 4H... they had LOTS of that same stuff... I saw only a few misfires in many thousands of rounds and it was more than accurate enough to start the kids with.

Looking at the guns after firing, IE cleaning up... you could notice nothing like severe leading either.

Shame things change over time.

My son and I were out shooting yesterday with some Winchester bulk 555 ammo, now granted we were not shooting for groups, just out having some fun, but we never had a misfire with that ammo in our Golden boy, 94/22, or the Ruger MKII target.

Of course this was bought a few years back, I think I paid around $15 per box at Walmart then.

I can't imagine with the push to get out as much ammo as the factories can right now that quality control is at the top of their concerns.

Cheap ammo is relative.
I don't waste RWS, SK Lapua or Eley in my AR 22 conversion kit, and I don't bother with Remington Thunderduds in my Anschutz.

That said, it sure would be nice to see .22s reappear on shelves again. This is a good time to shoot up your crap ammo though, in anticipation of when supply finally catches up.

Midway this morning had some Ely match and Aquila. Have shot the Aguila in the past and some didn't want to fire. Ordered the Ely-500 to a customer-and the Nula likes it. Like you, I see little reason to shoot anything but the good stuff in a shooter. Especially from field positions. You learn little if you shoot well and don't hit. However, it really likes Wolf target.

Today, Dicks in Monroeville, Pa just received a shipment of CCI target. 1x500 at a time.

Some Federal ultra match and RSW50 from today. All targets were at 50 yards, 10 shots and that is a one inch circle. Have never used the Ely match so looking forward to doing so.

The CCI standard velocity was easily more than twice as large.

Nula .22LR

Federal:











RSW50:





Offhand groups were also smaller with the good stuff vs the CCI Standard

Only one additional dilemma to face after finding ammo that a rifle likes: Finding more of it, especially in the same lot #.



Back in the early 80s I shot thousands of CCI Mini Mag HPs in one of my rifles with great results on paper and critters, year after year.

Later Mini Mags weren't even close in that particular rifle, but fortunately it "found" something else it was fond of, which were Kmart Dynapoints.

Then that went ta hell too, as current Dynapoints aren't all that great in it. On the other hand, it's always fun finding the next "great" thing. Or was, when we could still get an assortment of ammo.

You bring up something that struck me yesterday.

The Nula really liked the Wolf Match and I have over 500 left. Same lot. Liked the Federal Ultramatch, but didn't shoot it as well.

Shot some a couple days ago and it wasn't shooting anything great, but the wind was blowing at around 15mph so I shot a bunch of the CCI screwing around. Packed it up and went home and decided it has been over a thousand since I cleaned it, so had it. Shot yesterday and shot enough off hand to season the barrel and then shot some groups. The Federal Ultra outshoot the Wolf big time.

Yet more factors in the great puzzle that is the 22 rimfire.

One of my 10/22s shoots Auto Match pretty well with a bit of crud in the bore, but does not like a just-cleaned bore at all. I generally shot it through about half of a winter's 3 position matches before cleaning it, with just a dry patch down the barrel each week.

Once it's been cleaned, then it takes about 20-30 rounds to "reset" things again. Accuracy doesn't change much through the next several hundred rounds.