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Six Various .22 Rifles, Nine Different Ammo Choices! Which one is best!

toobaroque

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The Hen that laid the Golden Legos
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Well, I had some time on my hands the other day (6 hours to be exact) so I went to the range with my heart set on finding out exactly which one of these rifles is the "best" for shooting a variety of ammo types.

I started out by re-zeroing each rifle at 50 yards to make things equal. I usually have my .22's sighted in at 100 yards (groundhog distance), but since 50 yards is kind of the standard for shooting groups, I brought them all back to the 50 yard zero. I did this with each rifle using CCI Standard Velocity so that the base for my analysis would be the same.

I then shot a series of five-shot or six-shot groups with each type of ammunition at a clean target. All shooting was done from the bench with only a forward rest. I did not use sand bags, which I should have, so there is obviously the wiggle-factor as part of this analysis.

Rifles used for this event were:

Ruger Model 77/22 All-Weather Bolt Action with Leupold VX-2 3-9x40 Scope
J.C. Higgins Model 30, manufactured 1950 with Simmons 3-9x40 Scope
Ruger 10/22 with 16.25" McGowen .920 Barrel and Nikon P-Rimfire 2-7x32 Scope
Ruger 10/22 with 16.5" Kidd SS .920 Barrel and Nikon P-Rimfire 2-7x32 Scope
Ruger 10/22 with unknown 18" SS .920 Barrel and Simmons ProHunter 3-9x40 Scope
Ruger Precision Rimfire with Burris MTAC 4.5-14x42 Scope

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As mentioned, I decided on nine different types of ammo for this little test. Some of the ammo is bulk, some is not. With the exception of the Wolf, I shoot all of these other types of ammo on a regular basis and have had really great performance out of each of them.

The ammo used for this test was:

CCI Standard Velocity 40 grain round nose, 1070 fps
Federal 550 Bulk 36 grain copper plated hollow point, 1,260 fps
Federal Automatch Bulk 40 grain lead round nose, 1,200 fps
American Eagle 40 grain lead round nose, 1,240 fps
CCI Mini-Mag HP 36 grain copper plated HP, 1,260 fps
Wolf Extra Match 40 ground round nose, 1,050 fps
Remington Thunderbolt bulk 40 grain round nose, 1,255 fps
CCI AR Tactical 40 grain copper plated round nose, 1,200 fps
Winchester M22 40 grain copper plated round nose, 1,255 fps

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Results are shows in the order they were shot. Each gun was used to shoot all different ammo types in succession before moving to the next rifle and repeating the process.

Without commentary, I'll post the results below. Feel free to comment as you find appropriate with your thoughts and ideas or questions.

Ruger M77/22 All-Weather:

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Winner: Federal Automatch is the clear winner, followed by the Wolf Extra and the American Eagle.
 
Ruger 10/22 with SS mystery barrel (dang, this $200 rifle is accurate)

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Winner: I sure don't know who made this nice barrel, but it's a good one. The CCI Standards might be the winner here followed by the Wolf Extra and Federal Automatch. For $200 investment, nobody could complain. Again, expect an update when I can use sand bags to steady the process.
 
Finally...

Ruger Precision Rimfire w/ Burris MTAC scope

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Winner: Only a couple stand out as the worst, but American Eagle and Wolf Extra appear to be the best. All so close, and I think I was getting fatigued by this point. I believe another range trip is in order. Expect an update.
 
Very nice post. If I could only have one 22 rifle it would be a bolt action so I could shoot any ammo reliably. Thankfully I can have more than one though. I like the magazine compatibility between my Buckmark carbine and pistol a lot. Probably turn the 10/22 into a project one weekend.
 
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