Project Appleseed

I've bought 4 10/22s recently. 1 is new the rest are used. I'm bringing 4-7 new shooters to their fist Appleseed. I want to buy 5k round for all of us to use.  Any suggestions on the most reliable all around brand? I can probably get a decent wholesale price from a friend.

Conventional wisdom would say that CCI mini-mags are probably the best, all around most dependable.  But also usually the most expensive, short of match ammo.
I've had very good luck with CCI Blazer in the bulk packs, at a much lower price, the same or almost as cheap as big-box store Federal or Winchester bulk packs.
But .22 rifles are individuals, one will like a brand that its apparent twin will choke on.

  BUT YOU'RE DOING A GREAT THING TO BRING NEWBIES TO AN APPLESEED!   

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

And you might enjoy following this thread:

http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=21267.0

Stay away from Winchester and Wolf.  CCI, is good, but like the earlier post read you may want to try mini mags, a majority of semi autos like those, being how you have multiple rifles that you want to get a large amount of ammo, they are more expensive that standard bulk, but are high velocity and super clean burning so, they function well standard Internet price is normally $6.00 for 100, and $300.00 for 5,000 plus shipping so if you can find it for a better price than that it's well worth picking up. A lot of people like the Remington golden bullets I've heard they function well and are much cheaper, $20.50 at bass pro shop and free shippong for orders over $75.00, and should keep you in the 4moa window for Appleseed.

The idea is not to spend to much, but have something that is reliable enough that they will have a good time and not have to deal with misfires. I would suggest trying a few different brands of ammo and firing them though each one, and whichever one operates the most reliable in all the rifles. You may find that one performs better in one and not the other and vice versa, but you should have one that performs acceptable in all of them.

Now if you can get them wholesale then mini mags may be the way to go, granted you can get them cheap enough.

~PlatzOut~

For me, I would probably buy Federal 550 bricks at Wally World for what? $16 per brick?

5K rounds for 4 to 7 shooters is a LOT.

I've had good luck with the Federal.  Not as accurate as Eley Target or similar, but for new shooters, probably doesn't make a lot of difference.  Federal doesn't gum up the rifle and not a lot of misfires.

I'm not trying to tell the man to buy 5,000 rounds, I'm just trying to give him some numbers to work with. Price points if you will. If you can get the stuff for wholesale though, I would buy 5K rounds just to have them expecally if it only cost me around $300 that's $0.06 a round for mini mags. That's a nice price for quality ammunition.

~PlatzOut~

Hey Pitmaster,

Here's my .02

I have found that the best .22LR ammo is anything that is being shot out of a clean rifle. 

Our Local Gun store (J&J's) sells 5,000 rounds of Centurion for $221. Not bad at all. You have to pre-order though and pick it up at the store. I have no idea where you are, but his shop is at The World Shooting Complex in Sparta IL. Centurion shoots almost as well as CCI and I might get a load feed issue every 900, but never anything else.

RnR

Quote from: SSG Platz on April 22, 2012, 11:09:06 PM
I'm not trying to tell the man to buy 5,000 rounds, I'm just trying to give him some numbers to work with. Price points if you will. If you can get the stuff for wholesale though, I would buy 5K rounds just to have them expecally if it only cost me around $300 that's $0.06 a round for mini mags. That's a nice price for quality ammunition.

~PlatzOut~

While poking around the internet it seems the better bulk ammo is out of stock at a lot of places. One of goals is to shoot an Appleseed every month until I get my Rifleman patch. That might take 5K alone.  :)The next AS where the schedules work out is Memorial weekend. July AS is the first weekend after the 4th. My LTR should be finished in a couple of weeks. I guess I should go but some 50 round boxes and run them through mine then make the purchase. I will be borrowing a few guns for those coming with me. I think the are Savage models. They are loaners the club uses for events. I need to go look at and clean them soon. I've got some time this week so I'll hit Wal-Mart, Rural King, and the large local gun shop to price things and keep watching Midway, Cheaper Than Dirt, and other sites.

PitM et. al.,
   Another possibility is CMP .22 ammo (as well as .30-06, .308, .30 carbine, .223...
Current Aguila .22 runs either $230 or $305/5k + $24.95 shipping, and supporting CMP.  Am fairly sure
Walmart has lower prices - just not as many supported junior shooting programs as CMP.
  Also, recommend you keep eye out @ CMP web site and get on their email list.  Several weekends ago they did a SALE on Remington .22 ammo:  $90 (!)/5k sealed, and $65/5k sealed for clubs (plus shipping, of course).  In a
single weekend, they sold 40 MILLION rounds of .22 ammo, which is...a lot.
   Buy anything from CMP, get a Customer Number, and you're good for 2 years...
Excelsior,
madMark

Pitmaster, a HUGE kudos for the great 7th stepping.  Hope to see you on the line.   (Insert INGO smiley here.)   

QuoteCenturion shoots almost as well as CCI and I might get a load feed issue every 900, but never anything else.

I'd like to add that this is when Centurion is run through our Ruger, Marlin and Savage .22's. Cricket's don't seem to operate well with Centurion.

I find the feed issue happened mainly @ our little range behind the house and most likely when temps were below 25F.

I tend to keep close to 5K (or more) of 22 LR ammo on hand most of the time.

I'm fond of Federal, usually have lots of the bulk 525 or 550 round boxes. (I hear lots of good things about the various offerings from CCI as well.) I generally get it (Federal) at WalMart, if they have it in stock. Definitely good enough to get you to 3-4 MOA. Great stuff for new shooters at an Appleseed, and 10/22's tend to like it.

I haven't had good luck with Federal AutoMatch, though. Frankly, I don't feel it's worth the slightly higher cost either. My 10/22's sure didn't like it. Messy stuff, but could've been the lot I ended up with.

For serious work, I'll spend a little more for Federal Champion, 500 round brick of smaller boxes. Better ammo than the bulk, but I wouldn't buy this until you're shooting in the 3-4 MOA range already.

The Federal 550 packs at Wally World are our mainstay.  I wish it was still $16!  $19.98 plus tax around here.  Few issues not bad accuracy.  Not always in stock but usually can be found.

Glen's Army Navy in Grand Rapids, MN sells CCI Blazer in the 5000 count case (10 boxes of 500, ammo is in 50 round boxes):

http://www.glensoutdoors.com/CCI-Blazer-22-Long-Rifle-40-Grain-Lead-Round-Nose-p/21.htm

$147.95 per 5000 round case, plus $9 shipping via SpeeDee.  In MN you get to pay an extra $10 in tax.

According to my research at Rimfire Central it's some of the most consistent performing .22 LR ammo out there (ranked #6 of those tested) and it's also the cheapest right now.   I have tested it in a few rifles and haven't found one in which it won't perform well (2x Ruger 10/22, 3x Marlin 795 and 1x CZ 452 thus far).  Two of us qualified with Rifleman scores using the CCI Blazer, purchased from Glen's, this past weekend from two separate lots at the shoot in Hinckley, MN. 

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showpost.php?s=e8617c8dfb7eb9a7fd2722924667f81e&p=307772&postcount=8

I also noticed they have Federal American Eagle 22 LR / 40 grain LRN for $16 a brick if you don't like the CCI - same price on shipping: http://www.glensoutdoors.com/American-Eagle-by-Federal-22-LR-40-Grain-Solid-500-p/ae5022.htm

My $.02, based on experience at shoots plus running a light rifle class at our range:

Best all around, for consistency and performance in most any 22LR semi-auto:  CCI Mini-mag. (I'm also trying a batch of their new 'Tactical' which is supposed to be cleaner - looks good so far.)  We've also had very good experience with Eley Sport at our range, a good consistent round for the price, but a little harder to find.

Of the bulk pack stuff, Federal has been the most consistent.  Blazer, Winny and Remington all have had consistency issues at times - some boxes reliable, some with a high proportion of misfires or fliers.  (That's sort of what you'd expect - they're cheap because of looser quality control at the factory.)  And there's also some really dreadful off-brand Asian import stuff floating around - avoid!

I've personally had good luck with the Wolf Match Target, but I would not recommend it for beginners.  It's a lubed round and lower than standard energy/velocity.  If you're willing to take down and clean your action every 500 rounds or so, it's very accurate, but it doesn't have the power of Mini-mags to push that bolt through the accumulating gunk.  The lube will also build up in 10/22 mags and cause you to have to tear them down more frequently. 

Dick's Sporting Goods has the CCI Blazer bricks for $20 if you want to trying out.
Remington Golden seem extra Dirty to me.
Lots of smoke as well.

I've got to give a +1 to the Wolf Match Target I used at my first AS. I ran about 200 rounds through a Marlin Model 60 (tube-fed semi) and it was just as accurate on the first shot as the last, with no duds or misfeeds of any sort. It is very quiet and soft shooting (even for a .22). The lube does get messy (and on everything it touches), but I've been happy with my experience with it and will likely provide it to my daughter when she comes out.

http://www.midwayusa.com/find?&sortby=1&itemsperpage=100&newcategorydimensionid=10122

That's the link to 22 Long Rifle ammo at Midway.

+1 Midway, a solid reliable company.

Also, there's Champion Shooters, specializes in target ammo, from low-end up to the very high priced spread.  That's where I get my Wolfies by the case.  They also carry Eley Sport and Mini-mags:

http://www.championshooters.com/store/home.php?cat=284

At the Marion, IL Appleseed this past weekend, I was loading a mag when the bullet of my round popped off in my hand. Looking at the case, there was a chunk of brass about 3/32" wide and 1/16" long gone from the rim and the inside of the case looked brand new. There was not one grain of powder in it. This was a Remmington 550 pk. I got it at the local Rural King.

olefido - I remember that. At our next shoot, why not use some of the Centurion we use - I'd be happy to give you a box. It can be purchased @ the World Shooting Complex - J & J's. They do give a break on cost to Instructors working with/through Appleseed.

mutti

I'm going to try some CCI mini mags next, but I'll be happy to try the centurions if I get the chance.

Yesterday I shot mini mags at 25 and 50 yards at 50 foot red coat targets and I can say out of MY rifle at 25 yards I had sub moa groups out to 50 yards I had wind drift but the majority of my groups were moa to sub moa groups, there were acouple of fliers, and the wind was strong enough that I had to hold 1-1.5 mills right and was still left of center but on target. Also shot a few 50' quick and dirty AQT's at 50yards if you want to see what I came up with you an PM me with your email and I can show you.

~PlatzOut~