Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires What's your favorite 22LR ammo??

I purchased a variety of 22LR rimfire options to test out in my rifles/pistols and will be posting the results as I go.

While we're at it, I'd like to also hear what your favorite cartridges are when it comes to hunting or target shooting.

If you can, please specify:

Rifle/Pistol/Optic
Cartridge brand w/ bullet type and weight
Group size w/ target distance

Field pics or group pics a plus!

Here's a sample of what I'll be testing this Spring!

Winchester CPHP 36gr 1280fps
Remington Golden Bullet HP 36gr 1280fps
Federal Champion CPHP 36gr 1260fps
CCI Standard Velocity Target RN 40gr 1070fps
CCI Green Tag RN 40gr 1070fps
CCI Suppressor Subsonic HP 45gr 970fps
CCI Segmented Subsonic HP 40gr 1050fps
CCI Subsonic HP 40gr 1050fps
CCI Mini-Mag Segmented CPHP 40gr 1235fps
CCI Mini-Mag CPHP 36gr 1260fps
CCI Stinger CPHP 32gr 1640fps
CCI Copper-22 21gr 1850fps
Fiocchi Subsonic HP 40gr 1050fps
CCI Velocitor CPHP 40gr 1435fps
Fiocchi Exacta Winter 1120fps
Eley Force RN 42gr 1250fps
Eley Target RN 40gr 1080fps
Lapua Center-X RN 40gr 1073fps

I've been using Aguila Super Extra- High Velocity Copper-Plated ammo since about 2015, I buy it by the case when I can catch it on sale, but it usually sells for $2.50/box at Academy.
Overall, it shoots better than CCI mini-mags in eight rimfire rifles I have, all of them have 3-9scopes on them, and I usually shoot at 50 yards. Some folks call it Mexican MiniMags because it's equally reliable and fairly clean-shooting.
I also shoot some CCI Blazer in a couple of those rifles, simply because it works and is cheap and relatively accurate. I have a 10/22 w/Green Mountain barrel that likes it pretty well.

I shoot whatever I can get cheap in my .22 Pistols and revolvers, usually WallyWorld Federal bulk. I refuse to buy WInchester or Remingtons, in particular, because they've usually awfully crappy.

I have several .22s, but I keep the optics the same or equivalent on them all. The Aguila will better 3/4" in all of them, and it usually does better, down to about 1/2", @ 50 yards. Lapua Pistol King beats out CenterX in my CZ 452, you might try some of that if you can find it, should be the same price as your CenterX. I don't shoot much of it, because of the price.

Norma Match for target/accuracy load. Stinger for messing stuff up. Right now for my hunting load it's Remington standard velocity hollow points, but I want to see if I can do better than that in some of my rifles.

I know you asked for more info than that, but I gotta bail so I'll catch it up later.

CCI CB shorts. Rifle. Dead pigs

Wolf MT/SK Standard Plus. Rifles. Target & dead stuff, to include pigs.

For hunting and some match shooting it's RWS Subsonics. Won a lot of pistol matches with the RWS Subsonics using a S&W 41, it really liked that load. It shot Lapua,
Eley, and the old Winchester Pistol match (yellow label box) well also, but it loved those RWS's. My KDF K22 won several sporter matches using that same ammo.
In rifle I plink a lot with Norma Tac 22 and their Subsonics. With pistol its Federal bulk HV in a Ruger and Fiocchi subs. in my Walther.
Being an accuracy freak when it comes to rimfire rifles, high velocity ammo never see's the inside of my rifle barrels. 5 shot 1/2" groups at 50yds. are to big for me. It's alright for 50rds. but 5 rounds? nope!

My rimfire ammo shelf is stocked with: RWS, Lapua, Wolf (older version), SK, Eley, Win. Subs, Rem. Subs, Rem. Match (made by Eley), Fiocchi match, Fiocchi subs., PMC match, PMC pistol match, PMC moderator (these are the best and quietest subs ever produced), Aguila subs, Norma subs, Norma Tac22, Norma Match, and some S&B subs.

Nebraska: Top right ammo in your fine picture is what I consider THE best "all around" small game and Varmint ammo - taking in to consideration: accuracy, velocity, lethality, price, availability, reliability and the like.
I go through about 4,000 of these Federal 36 grain hollow-points a year - 99% being shot at live targets.
Gonna run a bunch through my guns today in fact (once it warms up!).
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

VG,

I agree with the caveat that the Winchester 555 on the upper left is about as good.

Was a time when I counted on CCI Mini Mag hp above all for reliability. I have always experienced some misfires with about any rimfire ammo in pistols. Until recently I had never had a misfire from the Mini Mag hp in a rifle. Mini Mag misfires are not uncommon in new manufacture ammo, IME.

Mainly I'm a paper shooter with a dedicated Vickers Martini, 20x Bausch & Lomb. I like the old Eley Club as nice balance of affordable/accuracy/uniformity. Unfortunately, Eley has overhauled and renamed it's entire product line...so I am foundering and searching for a replacement for my dwindling supply of the old stuff.

I urge folks to try Aguila 40 grain standard velocity for low priced accuracy. It's also among some of the lowest priced 22 there is.

I thought Aguila 38 grain HVHP was a triple win, a bit faster than most hi velocity 36 grain HP, 2 grains heavier, & cheaper. Dependable for fire & function, but failed on Jackrabbits. An on the spot switch to Mini Mag HP clearly made quicker kills. This was in a 5.5" pistol, rifle performance may vary.

My test show CCI standard velocity to be every bit as good as Green Tag. At the cost, doubtful I'll ever shoot GT again.

40 grain Blazer is better pretty much all the way around than same named 38 grain.

The newer Federal 550 pack in the orange box is a lot more dependable to me than the older blue box stuff.

The older Wolf MT is the most accurate stuff I've found for under 8 or 10 bucks a box.

The Remington 547 really likes Eley Match, but I don’t shoot it much because I’m not competing. It will put it into tiny groups at 50 yards. But I’m shooting steel targets with open sights so that level of precision is wasted.

The 547 likes Eley Contact almost as well as the Match. It’s a great round too.

The VQ likes Eley Contact. I’m guessing it would like Eley Match but I refuse to put it through her.

But the VQ likes CCI SV fine. About an inch groups at 50 yards. Definitely good enough for a 4.5 lb rifle, and definitely good enough for our 10- and 12- year olds! They will shoot them faster than I can load them if I let them.

The Remington 550-1 likes Remington Yellow Jacket ammo but I haven’t seen it for sale in a long time.

Most of my 22lr exploits are for hunting so the Winchester XPERT HV with that big hollow point 36g seems to kill bigger critters than it should

For pest control around the house it's a CCI Quiet through a suppressed CZ rifle. Looking to try out some CCI Quiet segmented when it can be found.

Most of my 22 shooting is in rimfire silhouette. I usually shoot in excess of a case of SK standard plus a year, and several bricks of Lapua Midas + in competition.

For the occasional gopher shoot I generally use Winchester HP power points.

Been shooting Aguila SE/HV, 40gr copper plated also. Eley primed. Seems pretty clean, accurate. I' m only shooting thru a Marlin 39A and Marlin 25N. These seem to be very comparable to the CCI mini-mags I also shoot. What's with the "Eley primed" .22's? Whatever it actually is, it seems to work.

Anything but Remington.

The newer "Aguila Primed" ammo is just as good, if not a little better in my rifles. Aguila had purchased the rights to the Eley priming formula, until developing their own. The Eley stuff has a distinct smell that some people don't like. I've developed an immunity to it.

Yeah, there is a different "smell" to the Eley stuff, but, it works. Thanks for the info on that.

Lennie; those and that Win "333" box of crap. Junk!

I have some old winchester power points. Most accurate ammo out of my cz 452. A close tie is federal hunter match.

CCI Standard and Lapua Match for the bulk of my 22 needs.

We fooled around with NRA Bullseye at our club years ago. I soon found that in my Ruger gov't target, that blue box Remington Target was super accurate.

But, you couldn't fire 30 rds. without a misfire! Usually a restrike still wouldn't fire! and that Ruger almost never misfired on anything,

What is wrong with Remington?

Rem. Thunderbolt 40 gr. 1255 fps. Target, plinking, small game and varmints. Winchester 1906 loves them.