Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Sorting ammunition yes or no?

Other than making my wife think I lost my mind is it worth it?

So the back story is I have aquired a lot of .22 WMR ammunition and have a fairly accurate Savage 93 FV rifle. So I was sighting in my new scope for the rifle the other day and I had some 5 shot groups go under 1" and others over 2" at 100 with the same ammunition. I've always thought of this as a max 150 yard rifle on prairie dogs, if lucky I could stretch it to 200 yards. I felt I was shooting pretty consistent so I was wondering how I could make it more accurate.

So I pulled out two bricks of Federal Premium 30 grain TNT HP and my RCBS 1500 gr pocket scale and took over the kitchen table last night. I was surprised at the wide range of variation in cartridge weights with a low of 54.6 to a high of 56.1 grains. The largest average was between 55.4-55.6 grains. Here is how it broke down.

54.6-54.9 gr = 10
55-55.2 gr = 197
55.3 gr = 86
55.4 gr = 171
55.5 gr = 166
55.6 gr = 239
55.7 gr = 60
55.8-56.1 = 71

I know the proof might be in the targets to tell me if it's worth it or not. Anyway I have several more thousands of rounds to sort, that I'm not looking forward to if this shrinks my groups. I guess if it'll give me more consistent hits beyond 150 yards on pasture poodles I'll be happy.

I HATE Salvage as a fhuqking default,mainly because they are gritty,schitty pieces of schit. Hint.

That being said,sorting by mass,will obviously shorten the spectrum,but I've found sorting rim thickness to bear more fruit in Accuracy/Precision. ES/SD is still akin to a Mad Woman going to take a schit...with no rhyme or reason. 30gr TNT HP's are Dog Schit in "consistency",so in reality you are Turd Stacking. Hint.

Turds Stack even deeper,given their Dog Schit BC,which is akin to shooting parachutes. They slip Transonic,in rock throwing distance,so that's even more ropes to piss up. You are doing yourself ZERO fhuqking "favors". In 60 degree weather at my house,they slip Transonic at the 140yd line. That GRACIOUSLY allowing the Factory contrived velocity. Hint.

If you wanna connect Long Range Rimfire dots,the 22LR has NO equal and that fhuqks with pointy heads and crossed-eyes...because there is NO Transonic Slip. Hint.

Thank me later.

Just sayin'................

Sorting by rim thickness may bear sweeter results. remember that one of the key factors in rimfire accuracy is consistent ignition, and varying rim thickness can't help but hurt consistent firing pin impact. There are rim thickness measuring devices out there, used with a dial indicator, that makes the task only about as onerous as weight sorting. The one I use is double ended for doing both .22 LR (and Short) and .22WMR. (Don't ask me the brand, I don't remember and I'm not at home to go look.)

granola,

Who'da' thunk?!? You Fhuqktards are a hoot! Hint.

RCBS. Hint.




Fhuqking LAUGHING!...............

I'm not sure how far down the rabbit hole I'm going to chase .22 WMR accuracy. I'll look into a rim thickness measuring tool. However I'm minute of prairie dog beyond 100 yds, and it still pounded the crap out of my targets at 100 yards.

The part of al this that surprises me is the small electronic scale that can repeatedly weigh to a tenth.

I'm not doubting the OP, maybe just wanting a scale like it.

RCBS Pocket Scale 1500 GN

I don't believe it's a perfect scale, but I calibrate often and have been using it for more than a year weighing bulk bullets. I get accepable results using it that way, so I thought I'd use it on the .22 WMR.

I use a Frankford Arsenal pocket scale for such chores (not that I've gone too far down the rabbit hole of weighing .22 match ammo). (Free from Graf's a couple years ago, stuck in a box containing a large order of bullets. No clue why.) It jives perfectly with my RCBS 10-10 analog scale, and with the check weights. Of course maybe they're both off and the check weights aren't correct - who knows. Now my head is spinning.

Indeed, I'm pretty convinced that rim thickness is a significant factor in accuracy based on some casual testing. Note the variance in one box between "decent" and "good" ammo

Could be an excuse for an extended range day/testing session, Pugs. Let's do it soon. (But only if shrimp and beer afterwards!)

Certainly a solid idea on a spring day if you have a gauge. Mine's in pre-move storage.

Martini's on me!

Shaken, not stirred.

It's generally conceded that "sorting" is erratic due to so many variables. Best process is to record Chrono of each LOT # you have by testing a whole box. Then look for the 'best' (lowest) ES and use the 'highest ES for plinking.

Tried sorting by rim thickness and found it to be a waste of time. My Winchester M/52 and Springfield 1922 will put 50 rounds of CCI Std. Vel. in one ragged hole @ 50yds.. That's plenty good accuracy for me.

Talk about boring..

It all depends on the level of accuracy you are reaching for. I shoot 22BR and using Lapua CenterX, Midas +, Eley Tenex, and Eley Match and yes you can see some gains in accuracy in the way of reducing the fliers or unexplained shot that happen from time to time.

I use paper to measure mine.

I would bet the rim thickness variation has a lot to do with the consistency of spinning the primer compound inside the case head.Years ago Federal did study on that when developing their match ammunition

I remember reading about that study. Federal spent about $1mil in R&D about why our Olympic shooters would not use American ammo during competition, but they would practice with it. As I recall, Federal guys said 'this is America, we put men on the moon, we should be able to make accurate rimfire ammo'.

Their conclusion was rim thickness played a very large factor in accuracy, along with consistent priming and powder drops. The consistent priming/powder drops were done better by the more experienced operators.

If I remember correctly, the Ultra Match ammunition wasn't produced for long because of the costs. Are you aware of any documentation about the UM stuff? It would be interesting to read. Federal must have picked the brains of the European makers and tore apart a bunch of their product.