Any 22LR ammo to avoid for Appleseed shoots?

[Sheepdog87]

My son and I went through almost an entire box (1100 rounds) of the Federal Blackbox 38 grain CPHP at an event without a single dud (my ER Shaw barrel got dirty towards the end of day 2 and had some failure to feeds). I was able to shoot one 242 with that ammo and was consistently in the 230s. That said, I'm starting to wonder if that was a one-off promotional that Federal was running back around Thanksgiving as I have been seeing some things around the interwebs that indicate that ammo is no longer in production. Can anyone confirm?

[Catch-10-22]

The Federal Black Pack was in stock up till the current shortage at Natchez and various other sites. The rebates and sales (3.4 cents per round) that Federal was running on it ended. Hope production didn't.

I bought 8800 rounds (2 cases) in February/March to hedge against future shortages and quality declines as the factories ramp up. So VERY happy to hear it is reliable and accurate.

[Sheepdog87]

Well, take my experience for what it is: anecdotal, at best. But it sure made me want some more, especially at the price point. Yeah, the promotional rebates ended, but I, like you, hope it stays in production, even at MSRP.

[TrapperPete]

also worth noting Any 22lr ammo can go bad in 1 years time with bad storage


had a case of Federal auto match 3250 rounds.  shot half the case in the spring , it sat in my van in a tool box 1 year till the following spring. shooting the second half of that case of ammo was infuriating it turned the 22/45s it had cycled well in the previous year into jam-o-matics  ended up getting used in bolt action rifles as it would not fully cycle about 30% of the time many more duds than the previous year from less than 1 in a hundred to around 1 in 25.

when you get ammo especially 22lr , seal it up dry and keep it in a climate controlled space in an air tight ammo can if you can

the toolbox was wood and the ammo was in the factory boxes 

[scuzzy]

Remington Golden Bullet - stay away. The 3 times I used it was really really bad.

The accuracy was horrible - maybe 12 MOA at best one time. I thought I was losing it and had another instructor try. Same results. I wound up giving the people that had it some CCI and then life was good.

Other times was maybe 6-8 MOA at best. And I usually shoot in the high 230's. Lots of times in the 240s. So it wasn't me.

[jtdiver]

Take your intended ammo to the range, fire several boxes.  I know tough to do with the days shortages.  Zero your sights and watch what is going on with your ammo.  With a 10/22 failure to feed can be several things, but the thing I run into most is mag problems, the metal lips are too rough and will not consistently release the round, shows up by the bolt just pushing the round down instead of feeding.  If ammo has too much wax, it builds up making life tough at the range.  Thunderduds has to be the worst.  SK has lots of wax, Geco shoots well until the wax starts to build. wiping off the wax helps.  CCI, Blazers, Aguila shoots well.  Browning has always shot well for me but is usually bought in bulk. Mostly what your rifle likes, so do the time, stay away from what doesn't work for your rifle. 

Good luck,

Jtdiver

[Gus]

I have been finding that with Federal Target and CCI I get about 250 to 300 rounds of worry free functioning before the failures to eject (FTE) begin. A quick swab of the chamber and I'm back in the game.

Aquila, which is pretty good stuff, gives me around 200 to 250 rounds of worry free functioning before the FTEs begin. 

Remington seems to function ok, but useful accuracy is not there.

However!  In this day and age of ammo shortages, if I found a box of remingtons, I would buy it and use it.

Gus

[Aliquippa]

my ruger 10/22 cycles Eley 40 and Blazer 36 well. CCI of course when you can get it. Everything else...not so much.

[Salty]

At 3 to 6 cents a round we cant complain too much.

I didn't realize how old this thread was and I saw this and I was about to ask "where the hell are you getting ANY 22lr ammo for 6 cents a round?" Then I saw the date was back in 2019.

[Catch-10-22]

One note - as instructors, we should pay attention to what people are bringing to shoots. While I am not concerned with specific brands/loads (although we all have learned lessons from different manufacturers), we have had shooters bring ammunition that caused equipment issues:

• 22 Long/Short/CB: Sometimes the boxes nearly exactly the same and inexperienced (and desperate) shooters may buy thinking it is all the same (or it was all they could get). This ammunition will likely cause malfunctions in semi-automatic rifles. We had someone bring 22 Long to a shoot in Annapolis a couple years ago, and that was before the shortages.


• 22LR Quiet: CCI has been releasing a lot of this low velocity (710fps, vs 1090-ish standard velocity) ammunition online this week. While there are some squib warnings about using it in longer/match barrels (CZ has a warning), mainly it will not function in semi-autos. There is a specific semi-auto variant (45gr @ 835fps) that is supposed to work, but that has been sold out.

Both of these may also sound like a squib compared to normal 22LR. If they are using a bolt action, may not be a big deal.

22WMR and 17HMR: One of my shooters accidentally bought 17HMR for a shoot even though he meant to buy 22LR. Not dangerous as it won't chamber - more of a "doh!" moment. But, again, packaging can be hard to spot for new shooters.

[TimOren]

I run a regular 4H juniors rifle class, and we've gone through a lot of different loads in the last couple years, both stuff we issued and that was brought in by parents.  My current impression for the usual 40 grain round nose load quality is:
Federal = CCI > Winchester = Aguila > Remington = Armscor
Within each brand the predictable variation in quality from premium down to 'bucket o' bullets' (factory sweepings).  CCI has fallen off a bit the last couple years but is still better than average.  Remington has had poor quality for some time now, hopefully the new owners fix the place.  I'd still avoid them, Armscor and 'no name' brands if possible.

'Match' loads are all pretty good as far as going bang, and it's more a matter of what your rifle likes.  Various of our shooters have used Eley, Wolf Match (SK) and Federal Gold with good results. 

ETA:  I run Wolf Match Target in my 10/22 target model, and CCI Tactical (when I can get it, which I can't) or SV in my regular 10/22s.  My wife also uses the Wolfies in the Ruger 77/22 she sometimes shoots at 'seeds.

[Sheepdog87]

With the current shortages, and companies trying to pump out ammo as fast as possible, has anyone seen a decrease in quality of brands/loads that are normally g2g?

[scuzzy]

With the current shortages, and companies trying to pump out ammo as fast as possible, has anyone seen a decrease in quality of brands/loads that are normally g2g?

Yup - even 'good' brands can have an off batch. I usually go with CCI SV and buy it by the case. Last year around this time I was about to buy another case and for some reason decided to only buy two bricks. Good move - it sucked big time. Lots of flyers. Two of my friends had bought a bunch around the same time and they weren't happy at all.

[john hixson]

Question for you all, any one have a good idea where to get 22 ammo these days? Most of the local stores are out. Hard to shot when you can not buy ammo.

[Sheepdog87]

I've been watching the in-stock reloading/ammo subreddits and channel on Discord. Haven't snagged anything yet, but the discord seems to be more accurate than the subreddits. A couple times I've actually been able to add to cart, but then the prices make me almost gag.

[scuzzy]

Question for you all, any one have a good idea where to get 22 ammo these days? Most of the local stores are out. Hard to shot when you can not buy ammo.

https://ammoseek.com/ammo/22lr

They've got Norma 22-Tac listed for 80 bucks a brick. Yeah - way high. But cheaper than what I've seen recently. I'd buy some myself but tapped out right now. It was 14 cents a round a few hours ago - now 16 cents a round. Get it while you can.

I've heard it is pretty decent stuff. One of my friends swears by it.

[Old Navy Doc]

CCI Mini Mags when I positively CAN'T afford any misfeeds. CCI standard is #2. And
I avoid bulk Federal after one of their squibs blew out my 10/22 barrel.
Eley bulk works well in my 10/22 and Ruger pistol but not as reliable in my Glock 44.

Quite frankly, I'm doing MUCH more dry fire rifle practice, and dry fire, laser 9mm cartridge, and air soft pistol practice to avoid running low.

[Evil_G]

I was having a lot of issues with an AR-22 that I had assembled with the copper washed Aguila High Velocity.  The problem came to a head when I had a squib.  Apparently the round didn't get very far into the barrel and it pushed out the chamber end very easily.  I took my calipers to it and found that over 3 lots, they consistently measured .255 inches in diameter where the mini-mags were consistently .224

[TimOren]

I was having a lot of issues with an AR-22 that I had assembled with the copper washed Aguila High Velocity.  The problem came to a head when I had a squib.  Apparently the round didn't get very far into the barrel and it pushed out the chamber end very easily.  I took my calipers to it and found that over 3 lots, they consistently measured .255 inches in diameter where the mini-mags were consistently .224

I've also observed Aguilas that have a rim thickness that is on the short end of spec.  If you've got a rifle with a worn firing pin or bolt handle slot (on bolties obviously) you might have some misfire issues through failure to get enough crush to detonate the primer.  I've run into this on some older Anschutz rifles owned by our youth shooting group that have been shot a lot.  Swapping for different ammo may fix the misfires; I find that Federal is more reliable in those old guns.

[Ramblin' Wreck]

What Doc said. 
In 10+ years I can't remember ever having a problem with CCI Mini Mags. Maybe I've just been lucky, but I choose the CCI over even the Lapua 10X when it comes time to re-qual.
Wreck

CCI Mini Mags when I positively CAN'T afford any misfeeds. CCI standard is #2. And


Quite frankly, I'm doing MUCH more dry fire rifle practice, and dry fire, laser 9mm cartridge, and air soft pistol practice to avoid running low.

[Monkey]

CCI Mini Mags when I positively CAN'T afford any misfeeds. CCI standard is #2. And
I avoid bulk Federal after one of their squibs blew out my 10/22 barrel.
Eley bulk works well in my 10/22 and Ruger pistol but not as reliable in my Glock 44.

Quite frankly, I'm doing MUCH more dry fire rifle practice, and dry fire, laser 9mm cartridge, and air soft pistol practice to avoid running low.

Doc, my list looks nearly to yours; I put CCI Blazer 22lr just ahead of CCI standard - have had marginally better success with Blazer.  That's not saying much, as both have been super reliable for me across several platform types - Ruger SR22, Buckmark Tactical, standard 10/22s, 10/22 Takedown, M&P 15-22, etc.

Fiocchi has been kind to me as well.

[Chico]

Norma TAC-22 . . . Anyone using this?

[Calisnaps]

I love Norma Tac-22, it's very waxy to touch but I haven't had any feed issues.

It's one of my most accurate rounds out of my Precision bolt and runs reliably in my Semi-Auto's.

Coincidentally, Norma sent out a mailer yesterday offering bricks of it as low as $47 through their website, wish I could get it shipped direct but I chose poorly for my home state.

[Smallbore]

Norma TAC-22 is good to go. The wax does build up, but it actually makes the build-up really easy to clean.
I've literally just wiped off the bolt with a paper towel and everything came off.

Ammo to avoid - CCI "Clean," especially the "RealTree" variant. 
The coating that they use has massive variance in thickness, enough to cause serious problems in M&P 15/22 P.C. models, and when it burns, it's harder to clean up than wax or parafin.
I made the mistake of buying 2000 rounds of it, only to find that it's not safe in tight tolerance Semi-Autos.
Pump, Lever, or Bolt only, where you can confirm positive bolt lock very time.

[hawkeye]

What works best depends on how the rifle is setup. Stock rifles tend to run best. The more you hang off the bolt ( extensions ) the more weight the bolt has to move to cycle. Find out what works best in your rifle before the shoot. Over all through the years Standard CCI seems to work best in most rifles. The bulk ammo is cheap for a reason. We ran 5000 rounds thru a 10/22 just to see how dirty one could get before we had an increase in malfunctions. Practicing with cheap ammo works okay but bring the good stuff to the range for Appleseed. YMMV

[Rusty1949]

I personally have had my best accuracy with S&K standard (when I can find it) after that I shoot a lot of Eley target. They both seem to function well with good accuracy in all of my 22lr rifles including 3 Ruger 10/22's. I keep a stock of various 22lr ammo to test in new rifles because you just never know what one will like without testing. I had a Henry lever that shot great groups with Winchester white box bulk ammo, but wouldn't group target ammo for anything. You just never know. And who doesn't enjoy test firing?