Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Match ammo....22 rimfire pistol

I have a Ruger MK-1 pistol with the 5 1/2" bull barrel. It has been a very accurate shooting handgun. I have used it for plinking and small game, mostly ground squirrels and grouse (when legal). I haven't shot it for a while and took it out the other day to sight in. I used the run of the mill .22 ammo as I use in my .22 rifles. I noticed with the rifles the accuracy doesn't seem as good as the ammo of years past, but it wasn't too bad. With the pistol it was atrocious. I tried Remington, CCI, Federal, Winchester and the best I could get at 25 yds was 9 shot 6" groups from a rest. I am thinking about getting ahold of some pistol match ammo. The pistol, although near 40 years old, is in excellent shape and hasn't been abused. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

Roundup

Is there match ammo specifically for pistols? Wouldn't surprise me but I've not seen it.

Rimfires in my experience respond very well to the ammo they like. I was a fan of Remington Sub Sonic for a while but the last brick had a lot of misfires.

Buy a selection of anything subsonic and give it a try. If it's in good shape then one ammo will stick out. If it's the $15/50 Lapua Midas M then keep looking (although both my CZ and Cooper did amazing stuff with it I just can't see it for my needs) )

yes there is pistol match ammo keep in mind that .22 rimfires are the most ammo picky of pretty much any firearm and the same ammo can vary from lot# to lot# enought to make on go from shooting awsome to oh shet horried i learned this the hard way in a bench match

If it has a screwed on front sight, I'd make sure it's on tight. I think the MK512s are the only ones that have a front sight screwed on the barrel.

+1

Try CCI Std. Vel ammo--$24.99 a brick at Dicks.

It is THE recommended mid level ammo for both S&W 41's and High Standard target pistols.

For more bucks you can always to go up to Wolf MT or SK Jagd Std. +.

Also, Eley and SK Jagd also make dedicated Pistol Target ammo--just depends on how serious you are and what you want to pay

Start with the CCI SV though--fairly priced, burns VERY clean, NO duds ever, and reasonably accurate.

Ratsmacker: Front sight secure...no problem there. Thanks for the suggestion.

SteveS: Will try the CCI ammo. See how it works. Thanks also for the suggestion.

Roundup

Just curious and not disputing you, but "THE" recommended ammo according to whom.

Agree completely on brands of ammo and on the batches too. While not an avid handgunner, I switched batches with one of my squirrel rifles last spring and got a 1/2 inch elevation switch. That is significant when on is bearing down on mouse sized youngsters.

Given their light weight and the less rigid postures associated with handgunning, I'd think ammo consistency would be an even more important issue.

Interesting. I didn't know that. What are some of the brands? I have a Colt Woodsman that I've promised myself I need to get better with this year.

eley,lapua,pmc,sk,and at one time think even cci and win. did. now dontask me the diff. between pistol and rifle match stuff is(a ot of it is listed as same vol.) dont know i do know at one time quite a few bench shooters were shooting pistol match in ther rifles cause it work the best for what was out there at the time

Well I have quite a variety of rimfire match stuff here so I guess I'll play a bit.

The recommended ammo;
High Standard--they test fire their new guns and ones in for repair with CCI SV. You can check this out at Rimfire Central on the High Standard forum and check with High Standard in TX as well.

Smith-- I've also seen posts on Smith 41's stating CCI SV is a factory test ammo and recommended, on the Smith and Wesson site and forums--you can ask over there and they should verify for you too.

I also happen to like it for a number of reasons;
NEVER any duds
Reasonably accurate
Burns VERY clean--nice in a target pistol you don't want to be stripping all the time, yet don't want the action gummed up
Reasonably priced--$24.99 at Dicks or at Champion Shooters
Finally, if I set up my High Standard magazined for CCI SV, they will also always feed Wolf MT, Wolf ME, SK Jagd Std.+ ande Eley Target Pistol completely reliably too

Just my two cents,
Steve

+1

I shoot indoor Bullseye with my Ruger Mk II Model 678 (semi-bull barrel/6 and 7/8" long). I've used Federal Auto Match ammo for a couple years with good success, but recent lots have given me some problems. Don't laugh, but I'm currently using CCI's Blazer standard velocity stuff now. It shoots very well and with great consistency so far. It may be the most popular ammo in my Bullseye group! Still, I concur with the recommended CCI Standard Velocity as the "go to" load to try. I've just ordered some from my local dealer. It's been hard to get in my neck of the woods.

PC

cci blazer !! oh cause you said it first i will confess that is what my p-22 does like the best(high vol. though) but kina afraind to tell too many people LOL the thing with rimfires you just dont know what might work till you try it

I shoot a SW model 41 in bullseye pistol. I tested several brands for 50 ft indoor shooting.

Of those brands tested, the three best were: CCI standard velocity, Fiocci standard velocity, and Federal Gold Medal Match (the $3.50/box version, not the $12/box stuff).

They all clustered in nice tight 10 shot clusters (cover the entire group with a dime).

Others tested were: Rem standard velocity "target", Federal bulk auto match, and Win t22. I had several duds with Federal auto match bulk-but when it went off, it was decently accurate (low confidence level with the duds, so I won't use in a match). The Remington target std velocity seemed to group in two separate groups: high and low. Both groups were pretty good, but you have to count the entire group size-so no good.
Win t22 wasn't bad, but with the strong performance of the others, it was eliminated.

The Federal gold medal match actually shot the best-but I only had 150 rounds of it available locally. I would like to get more of it.

It's worth testing, to find out what is accurate, and more importantly what is reliable in your pistol. Good luck.