Been using CCI Mini-Mgs for years. Can't recall the last tiem I had a misfire in either rifle or handgun use.

Bulk ammo is a result of packaging, not production. Simply put, it's a quantity purchase, not a quality purchase.

Another vote here for CCI. I've also had excellent results with Aguila Super Extra HV and Match Rifle. I can't recall any misfires with either brand.

I've been using RWS for as long as I can remember, and many thousands of rounds in all manner of .22's, in all states of cleanliness, and I honestly cannot remember ever having a single failure. It's all good; but the R-50, and R-100 when I can get it, are the best. Nothing but fuzzy holes for groups in the paper. Pricey yes; but I then I like to hit what I aim at. My father told me that a poor man can only best, and in my humble opinion, RWS is the best.

What brands in your experience have proven to be relatively dud-free? I'd be interested in your experiences here.

I have had completely excellent results using Federal Champion, CCI Mini-Mags. Function and accuracy have been excellent in both my S&W 17 and 18. JMHO. Sincerely. brucev.

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DeadAye - my cheap Marlin Model 60 shoots just about any ammo with no failures to date - and I cycle cheap and expensive (as if .22LR ammo is expensive..) thru it.

8 tracks and 45 records are obsolete but not rimfire ammo in a good gun.. Just my opinion.

40 gr CCI mini mags are what my .22 like the best. From my M&P 15-22 to my Glock conversions to my Ruger. That has been the best for my needs. Never had a problem so far. Picked up some Winchester 40 gr and they seem to be ok. LGS did not have any CCI that day.

My wife and I burn through a large amount of .22 LR ammo in the course of a year. The best cheap stuff is Federal Champion 40 grain or the 36 grain HP bulk pack. CCI Blazers are reliable but lead the heck out of many of our guns. CCI Standard Velocity is accurate and reliable out of just about any .22 LR firearm! CCI Mini Mags make finicky semi-autos run like a Swiss watch. The Federal Match Auto bulk seem pretty good too. Fiocchi is worth a try if the other brands aren't accurate in your guns as is Aguilla.

Now on to total worthless garbage, Remington Yellow Bullet, Thunderbolt, Cyclone and Yellow Jacket. Squibs every 5th to 10th round. FTF's at least once every box of 50. No wonder some people hate .22's. Winchester 333 and 555 are OK, but seem to have inconsistent powder charges leading to the POW-Pow- POW-puh- POW sound we all hate.

550rd bulk pack Federal from Walmart. After tens of thousands of rounds in many different .22 rifles and pistols I can remember maybe 2 or 3 that did not fire. It also seams to be the most accurate of all the bulk .22 ammo (least amount of fliers).

ANYTHING but Remington...

It has been my experience that anything with the Remington brand on it is pure junk. I won't buy anything with the Remington brand on it.

Ya know, I do understand why folks take a dislike to a brand because of a bad experience or two. Time was 40 or 50 years ago Remingtons were about the best for consistency. I'm pretty well convinced that accuracy has a bunch more to do with the gun and the guy jerking on the bang lever than the brand of the ammo. Maybe one of the most important things to take from all this is things change over time. What I'm thinking is the variability of rimfire ammo is more connected to the priming charge than anything else. And they don't have a machine that looks down each shell to see if some is in it or not. Back in the distant past/dark ages/my youth the did that on target grade ammo. Or maybe they just used more priming mixture (or maybe it was a better quality) and it was more likely to be there. Could also be the speed of today's machines tends to allow too little time for it to be deposited down in the rim.

Regardless, I prefer to form my own opinions on things like ammo. Your hated brand might work fine for me, indicating its another factor like the gun.

About 30 years ago we had a group that would go out to a hilliside and burn some powder on weekends. Good group of guys, mostly. But one day a guy that someone knew wanted to come along. We were pretty open minded back then, so no one objected. After a very shot time the new guy wanted to "borrow" some ammo. He could see me and another guy working out of a coffee can of reloads, so he wanted to use some of ours. I didn't object, so he shot a couple of gun loads and pronounced my reloads to be junk and dangerous. So he stopped shooting. At his feet were maybe 10 or 15 of my finest. He didn't stay long and drove off to do something else.

I walked over and picked up the brass the guy had dumped on the ground, and of course my reloads to see what was going on. All of them showed slight marks on the primer, or rim right beside it. First time I'd ever seen that. A gun so far out of time it was hammering the rim and missing the primer. My buddy was looking at them, and loaded up his gun and every one fired first time. I asked him to toss the empties in the creek, I didn't want to reload brass that had those dents.

So we went along and fired up that entire lot of reloads. 300 or 400 total. Neither of us had a misfire. Policing up the grounds I noticed the guy who had left had a few of his "new" shells on the ground. A couple of those hadn't gone off, either. By the way, he was shooting a 1970 or maybe even earlier vintage Taurus.

After that I saw the guy a few more times, and he never missed a chance to bad mouth my reloads. They were unreliable. Funny thing, during that time period we probably shot up thousands of those wadcutters and never even once had a misfire. I had no intention of supplying the guy with any more free ammo, ever. So I took the abuse without hesitation. No reason to correct the guy, and everyone else that shot with us knew the stuff always went bang. But rather than blame or even consider it might be his substandard gun, he preferred to blame someone else.

If you have 22s that don't fire, the process is fairly easy. You bring along 2 pairs of pliers. If you've got a dud, you turn it in the revolver or magazine and give it a second try. Then you use the pliers and bend the bullet out of the case. Look down inside after dumping the powder. You can see the priming charge if there is any. Its usually a bright contrasting color to the case. Almost always duds don't have priming. If it has some, its probably not all the way around the rim. So look carefully to see if there is priming where the firing pin hit.

If you've got compound and the pin hit that general area, its a really strange thing. I prefer to know why I had a malfunction of any kind.

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Dick Burg

Never had a bad experience with Remington center-fire pistol or rifle ammo, just recent production rimfire.I have examined several of the Remington .22 LR rounds that pulled a DNF in one of my guns. All had either incomplete or completely missing priming compound.
I shoot .22 rifles in bolt, slide and lever action. Revolvers from S&W, Ruger, H&R, and Colt. Semi Auto pistols from Ruger, Kimber, Browning and GSG. They all have misfired on Remington ammo more than any other brand-so there has to be some serious quality control problem in the priming step at Remington.
I did shoot up some 25 year old Remington Target STD Velocity a few months back and every round out of the 400 I had fired with no issue.

And now you know why the Swiss designed a dual lugged firing pin in the .41 rimfire Vetterli Rifle.

I have used Winchester Super X .22 LR HP+Solid ammo exclusively for over 25 years and never had a misfire. Just my experience.

I shot a 525 round box of CCI Blazer through my Mark III, not a single FTF. I shot a 100 round box of Remington, 4 FTF. I would shoot CCI all day.

In all this we're just guessing. No scientific controls at all, but I'm going to pose a theory of mine. The inconsistent priming of multiple brands, most value or cheap ones is caused by modern, high efficiency loading machines. The ones that dump out huge quantities in seconds.

We all seem to agree this problem is newer, and in the past we didn't see it much. Of course none of us much buys top shelf ammo these days, we buy the low cost stuff and probably cause our own troubles. I do have a few rounds of 22 ammo hid away. When I feel in the mood and see it for sale, I even like to buy old ammo. Keep in mind I'm old, so I use that as a guide for what old means. I consider anything from the 1950s as modern stuff. And I buy it, along with 1960s stuff and it all goes bang, just as it did when new.

I don't know anyone who loads ammo. I'm going to postulate the idea that maybe someone in quality control decided they could sell ammo a bunch cheaper if it didn't all have to go bang every time. 22 cal ammo is perfect for that because the vast majority is burned up plinking at tin cans or whatever (shows my age, tin isn't used in cans, so they shoot up beer cans these days.) They even put a pretty face on the malfunctioning ammo. Its to teach you how to run drills to clear the gun and keep going without missing more than a single stroke.

If anyone else has a theory or comments about this, I'd love to hear it.

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Dick Burg

CCI STANDARD VELOCITY, I consider the Remington trash period.

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NRA Pistol/Rifle Inst. RSO

Expect you may prefer std velocity. Have had great luck with CCI of various configurations, particularly Mini-Mags, Blazer in bricks; ditto with Winchester Super-X, both HP and solid, but all HV. A few misfires with cheap Federal in an older pre-17, which might be gun.

Remington around early 80s in the HV Golden Bullet was superb and the finest in one 10-22. Not so good recently. It frankly grieves me to read so many complaints about what was once an ammo of impeccable standards; but...

Regards,

Dyson

Dick,

If that's their intent, it's working quite well. With Remington Golden Bullets, I've done a heap of FTF drills with .22 semiautos. It keeps those skills very sharp!

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

Until the last year or so, I almost never had FTFs with .22LR, perhaps partly because I was still coasting on prior purchases. Even Blazer was fine. Now, I have experienced some with Blazer, and even more with CCI SV. No problems with Federal 711 or 711B, CCI Select or older Stinger or older anything CCI, or Winchester normal-price (I don't buy any cheap ammo other than Blazer, because it works in some S&W revolvers that won't extract much else). No problems with a batch of Ely I bought, either.

John,
Ignition failures are attributable to both ammo and pistol used. I have experienced ca 2 to 5% ignition failured with Remington Golden when used in some semi auto pistols and 22 conversion units. When I use the same Remington Golden bullet ammo in my S&W 617 revolver the ignition failures are less than 1 in 500.
I attribute it to a brittle priming compound which come loose when chambering the rounds in a semi auto.
In semi auto's I have never experienced a ignition failure with Wolf Match Target/SKJagd Pistol Match, Aquila SE SV, CCI SV or CCI MiniMag, or the real old Reminton SV ammo from the early 1970's.
Tony

I've had great luck with Federal bulk. Not a dud that I can remember out of my Ruger mark III 22/45 or 10/22.

I have to agree with snowman, Federal Value Pack, I have not had one "dud' since I have been using them. Good ammo.

I shoot the Federal value pack through a ruger MKIII with no problems. Its the only semi auto I have in 22lr. For my BSA Model 12/15 it loves the brass cased russian junior. Havent tried the russian sniper 22 ammo yet. I try to buy all the brass cased russina junior I see and the pickin's is getting mighty slim. Frank

I've had perfectly acceptable failure rates (by today's standards) from the Remington Golden Bullets out of manually operated actions, (revolver, bolt action rifle, lever action rifle) at <1% misfire in those applications. With semi auto use the failure rate goes up. On the other hand, I've had failure rates North of 10% with the same bullet in a brand new SIG Mosquito (That has since settled down to around 3% malfunction with Rem GB's after break-in) and about 1%-3% failure in a CMMP .22 conversion unit used in my M&P 15 Sport. Which I can live with. I'd like to buy some mini-mags again, but can't get over the sticker shock. I went many years without shooting my .22's, the last time I remember buying the mini-mags, they were about 2 bucks for a box of 100. Good bullets though, I don't remember any malfunctions from them in the old days.

I use the Federal Bulk from Wal Mart and have maybe two dud out of a couple thousand rounds. Price is right as I shoot a lot of them. .22's are just plain fun.

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Endeavor to persevere. <><

yesterday my cousin came over and we did some shooting. He had some of the bulk packed Rem and around 10 percent failed to fire. This was the 550 pack from Wal-Mart. I still have some of the 525 pack golden bullet that I have had for a while that fires every time. This and the complaints I hear tells me the quality control is gone on their newer rimfire ammo.

John, I have a Colt .22 unit with the floating chamber, as well. I've found that CCI Mini-Mags are the cleanest and go the longest without locking up the floating chamber, of any brand I've tried. ANY bare lead bullet round will lock it up tight, and fast. FWIW, I've had more duds with Remington .22 lr ammo than with all other brands combined. For the past 20 years or so, I've shot more CCI than any other brand, and have yet to experience a misfire with it. Very, very few duds with Federal, more with Winchester, but not a lot. Remington is clearly the Click King.

I second that on the Russian brass cased Junior. My brother and I split a case of 6000 about 20-25 years ago. I am getting down to my last boxes because i have saved it for matches and shoot other stuff for plinking. My M-44 shoots very tight groups with it. I wish I could find more but it is scarce now. I guess they imported some steel cased Junior which has a bad reputation, but the brass stuff works fine for me.

CCI MiniMags.
Remington Match.

Last session with my 10/22 I fired 100 consecutive rounds of malf/dud free Federal bulk.

I run through about 1 Fed Bulk pack .36grn HP box a month in the summer, they seem to be the most accurate out of my M18.. I get about one dud per box of 550.. I use the American Eagle bricks (I think 38grn HP) in my Henry levers with about the same dud rate (they probaly come off the same line), I have had lots of duds but I can't remember the names because I quit using them

I bought some brass cased russian junior, olympic and sniper all have given me exactly zero duds. I have some czech 22rf that was sold by the case some years back think it was made by Sellier & Bellot, no duds. never had a dud with the federal value packs. Winchester t-22 or their dynapoint have had a couple duds. Remington I refuse to buy. I sat at our local gun range and watched a guy with a revolver trying to get decent accuracy. I asked what he was shooting, remington golden yellow bees. Since that time have never bought any remington 22rf ammo. Now I have fired some really old cci mini mags in a marlin model 60. Reports of the shots were bang, pop,pop, bang and you get the idea. Dirty rifle, nope cleaner her the night before.Age may have played a part with the old ammo. Frank

I don't know which is best, but Winchester 333 has been the worst for me. Numerous duds every outing. Last night I even had one not make it out the barrel. Luckily enough was sticking out the end to get pliers on it to pull it out.

Yep, never had a dud with any .22 ammo until recently, with the Remington. I've been shooting since I was six, and in that time I have used some very cheap ammo. I use CCI now, almost exclusively.

I have been using CCI Blazers 40gr and get few if any FTF's. I have put over 5K rounds through my 22A and Ruger 10/22 rifle and am currently working on my second load of 5,000 (10 bulk boxes of 525 each)from Palmetto State. Comes out to about $3.20/100 including freight.

I just yesterday did some testing of ammo in a Ruger MKII Standard Pistol, 4.75" bbl, for a friend and posted the results on that forum in the rimfire section.

My criteria in that testing were utter reliability, adequate penetration potential, and clean.

Here are some of the results:
Temp 73F; Wind 12-15, with gusts, from behind; PACT MKIV chrono, distance 5 yards

CCI Mini-Mag solids, 40 grains; 10 shots (ammo ~8 years old)
Hi: 1072 fps
Lo: 1022 fps
ES: 50
Avg: 1046 fps

CCI Mini-Mag solids - test 2, 40 grains, 10 shots (new sleeve of current production)
Hi: 1066 fps
Lo: 995 fps
ES: 72
Avg: 1041 fps
This ammo has been 100% reliable for over 300 rounds in this pistol. In fact, in talking to a couple of friends of mine, who have been using CCI Mini-Mags as I have since it first came out, we can't really recall many problems *ever* with it, if at all.

CCI Velocitor, 40 grains (new), 20 shots
Hi: 1158 fps
Lo: 1088 fps
ES: 75
Avg: 1114 fps
This ammo has also been 100% reliable for 100 rounds, but it has a louder report and a lot of bolt slap. It is certainly worth testing more. I don't think using it would cause any problems for the gun for limited use. I may recommend reserving it for keeping the mag loaded and recommend the Mini-Mags for most practice. The gain of ~70fps is notable when penetration velocity is about your best ally for the 22LR.


CCI Blazer Bulk, 40 grains, 10 shots (new)
Hi: 1099 fps
Lo: 1054 fps
ES: 45
Avg: 1081 fps

CCI Blazer Bulk - test 2, 40 grains, 10 shots (new)
Hi: 1092 fps
Lo: 1044 fps
ES: 48
Avg: 1074 fps
This one was a surprise, both for velocity and consistency. It has also been very reliable in the gun for over 300 rounds , in fact it is in most things I shoot it in. Although, it does tend to lead up the cylinder face of my Single-Sixes after an few hundred rounds and is dirtier than the CCI Mini-Mags. Still, I was both surprised and impressed with the numbers.

I get excellent accuracy from these, at least within the 15 yards tested.

For long range accuracy and reliable function, I have always liked Win Dynapoints, but they are not as easy to find any longer and I am keeping my stash for hunting! I also get pretty decent results from Bulk Federal too and the Win 555.

W/R/T the Rem bulk pack Golden Bullets, yeah they do seem to have some misfire potential but so what? One of the LGS has them for $16.99 for 550. If I get a 2% failure rate, that's 11 cartridges. Even at 5% for that price I can live with it. They seem fine for plinking. My S&W 17-8 seems to like them just fine.

If I am doing "serious" target plinking, then the Blazer Bulk works pretty well (if I'm doing really serious target shooting like with my Anschutz Match 54 then I use the Ely orange box ammo or Wolf Match Target). Some of the more accurate cheap 22LR, besides the much beloved Dynapoints, I've tried lately have been Federal Lightning. I'm getting really good groups from them in a scoped Ruger MKII Competition at 50 yards, rarely if ever over 1.5". My S&Ws like them too.

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" I said, good DAY! "