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?

You're shooting "Gofers"? Do you have something against office errand boys, or are you practicing for shooting "gophers"?

Haven't tried em yet.....I just got it and wanted to figure out which ammo it liked first.
I'll get around to it one of these days.
I probably won't use them much but I figured a rifle with good irons might as well have QD's.
FWIW....CZ has actually started using a Fiber Optic front blade in their Carbines....something my old eyes will appreciate.



LOL....and still that old debate lingers..

Great thread and thanks for the report Charlie. Also some great information from Nifty-Two-Fifty, although I think I at a minimum parallel FG's sentiment that there's some horse-schitt not necessarily worth shoveling. You mileage, experiences, and needs may differ.

That said, I still need to get my CZ-452 .17 HRM out and find it's best ammo, hence my interest and appreciation for this thread and the thoughts and information provide.

Happy (almost) Easter gents.

Thats some nice shooting with the CZ...most are quite accurate at their price point, althought I have had a couple that were not so great I still like them.....check the nickname !

Anybody that's nutz about CZ's is ok in my book.

Since the Eley and SK are producing the best groups I did a little shoot out at today's weekly range trip.

Ten shot groups at 50 cept for one of the SK's....I lost count..

I'd give Eley a slight edge but it costs 40% percent higher so I'm calling it a draw.

I won't pay the price for Eley, either. Way too much other stuff that shoots well.

MY main bullet once I start shooting gofers will be Mini's but I'm having fun playing with some of the better target ammo in the mean time. I try to keep it in the $.10 a round range though and the Eley's about $.14. Only reason I bought a box of 50 was to get that particular order to qualify for free shipping.
I have 1 brick each of Norma Tac and SK Standard Plus on the way...stand by....

Looks great to me. You are doing very well and your rifle is damn accurate...

Dang Charlie you and that CZ were made for each other!

It makes me wish that i would have rat-holed several CZ 452 rimfires before they became popular.

Thanks Lonny....I'm pretty happy with it.
The only other really nice 22LR bolt gun I've owned was a Remington 504.
It was a nice gun and pretty accurate although inconsistent, even after pillar bedding but it wouldn't hold a candle to this little beast.
My Marlin 39's pretty accurate. It would be interesting to put a scope on it and do a head to head but there ain't no way in hell I'm putting a scope on that little classic. It's got a pretty good peep sight on it though....I might see how they match up at 25 one of these days but right now I'm having too much fun with the CZ.

Damn Charlie, nice shooting. you still have it! You may find that the SK Standard Plus equal the Ely your using.
My 504 is in love with Norma Tac 22's, some older CCI subsonics and Fiocchi subsonics.
Ely, RWS, and Lapua prices are getting beyond my reach. I do keep enough RWS Subsonics around to hunt with, but don't shoot much paper with them anymore. Now that RWS is making Norma and Geco and offering it at lower prices, the same with Lapua making SK jag and Wolf, it makes it more affordable and with darn good accuracy.
I see where RWS also makes the Federal Gold Match ammo. So who is making the Fiocchi subsonics.....CCI? They shoot pretty good also.

Where did you get the info that RWS is making the Ultra Match for Federal?

Seems a bit odd since Federal is fully capable of making it themselves.

I simply read the box. The Federal Gold Medal Ultramatch is made by RWS in Germany. Even the flap end says which is RWS's flag ship match ammo.
Federal maybe fully capable of making Ultra Match themselves as is Remington, but Remington's match ammo is made by Eley.

Thanks Jim....I credit it to my decision to switch to lite beer.
I'm telling ya...if they ever make diet whisky I'll live forever and there goes any chance you might have had of getting your hands on that spatula.

It's been reported that diet whiskey makes you delusional. Some, its reported have become nice to others, while a larger portion have given away their most prized possessions to long distance friends.

I'll send you a full case of it.

The Norma Tac 22 hasn't showed up yet but the SK Standard Plus from Brownells came in this week so i tested it against some SK Magazine during my weekly range trip today.

The "expurts" over on RFC say it's the same stuff....

I tend to agree...what do ya'll think?

The usual ten shot groups at 50 with a 4x Scope.

WOW!! That lite Beer is still working.

Very nice groups.

FG,

That's some fine shooting.





Travis

Good God.

I zero and go.

Bought 2,000 Stingers and I'm down to my last 200.

I miss with my CZ and 77/22. But not often.

Case of Browning HP's is getting cracked next.



Dave

Interested to see how those Browning HP's work for you in the accuracy dept. Heard mixed reviews.

If that were true why is there no change in my second or even third groups.

I also think that shooting groups at 100 with a four power scope would be pointless.

Some folks want to turn a simple 22lr into a friking science project and others just like to find fault with every thread they see. Whatever blows your skirt up is fine by me but that doesn't mean that I agree with it.


Or in other words.....what a load of crap.

I once shot my 22lr. at 100yds. It was fun, but rather useless for me. My best 50yd. ammo shot the best at 100yds. and my worst 50yd. ammo shot the worst at 100yds. Duh!
I'm sure if I kept testing at 100yds. with different changes in temperature that my groups would be affected by that also. Again....duh!
My rimfire shooting is pretty much aimed at Squirrels and other small game of that size. I don't shoot any Squirrels farther than about 40yds. so shooting 22lr. ammo that far is a waste of time and ammo for me. That's what my 22 mag. is for.

Then I want no part of it. It's not worth the risk.

"Duh" X2.........couldn't have said it better.

Just an FYI - I tried some Aguila standard velocity and high velocity in my 582 on Saturday. I didn't measure any groups but they both shot well and to the same POI. Much better than typical bulk ammo but at about the same price (I paid $29.50/brick at a local gun store). Almost as good as CCI SV. Definitely good enough to show me if I pulled one or not. Good practice ammo and was pretty clean too. Yes it smells funny but who cares? Its no big deal to me.
Some online sites have it for $25/brick plus shipping. I've even seen it for $225/case in case anyone wants to stock up.

To be clear I was shooting plain Jane Super Extra not the SV Target stuff.
And the copper coatwd high velocity stuff didn't seem any faster than the standard velocity. It was curious.

Aguila SE standard velocity at 25 yards from my CZ 455. Yet another shooter induced flyer but you can see what I mean about it shooting well.