Cleanest most accurate 22lr ammo?

What is the most cleanest and accurate 22LR ammo avail?
Price is not a concern--

Forgot to add----36 or 40 grain??----max of 50 yds, most at 25yds.

Thanks

I am looking for some for my incoming 617 --

Thanks!!


Stash

I'd vote for CCI Mini Mags,but that is just my preference ..

Thanks for the info----After I posted I googled it , and CCI mini mags also came up at the top of the list.

Any others?

Thanks

Stash

Cleanest doesn't exist in rimfire ammo. As far as most accurate your gun and the very next one off the line might not like the same round. Normally the most accurate target ammo is 40gr and standard velocity, but until you try a variety of ammo you can't compare what works good for someone else.

I have a box of every type of .22 I can find. I go to the range and shoot groups until I find the brand and bullet weight that particular firearm likes.

SWCA 892

PS. If I plan to shoot that firearm alot I try and get a bunch of .22s with the same lot number

handgunner356 said:

Cleanest doesn't exist in rimfire ammo. As far as most accurate your gun and the very next one off the line might not like the same round. Normally the most accurate target ammo is 40gr and standard velocity, but until you try a variety of ammo you can't compare what works good for someone else.

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This has been my experience. I'm pretty sure that if you ask around among people who have far more experience than I do, you will hear the same thing.

As others have said, each gun is different as far as accuracy goes. The only way to find out for sure is to buy several different brands of ammo, take your new 617 to the range and shoot it, a lot. Hey, it's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it!!!

I shoot rimfire with two guns, my S & W 617, and a S & W Model 41. My 617 is by far the less picky of the two, it seems to do well with any of the following rounds: Federal bulk pack from Walmart, CCI Minimags, CCI standard velocity, and Federal 40gr. Gameshock high velocity. Of these rounds the "cleanest" (hey, the term is relative with rimfires) seems to be the CCI standard velocity. Which is to say that it's slightly less of a PITA to clean up after than the other rounds. But, only slightly.

For reasons that I've never been able to figure out, my 41 shoots the Gameshock ammo more accurately than anything else. S & W recommends that the gun be fired with CCI standard velocity. I've tried that, the gun does well with it, but it really shines with the Gameshock. So, that's what it gets fed.

None of these ammos are premium ammunition. I can't imagine that I'd shoot either of my rimfires more accurately with the premium stuff than the rounds that I presently fire. To be honest, I'm just not good enough to take advantage of an ultra precise round. On a really good day I can get a 2" group, either with my 617 or with the 41, at 15 yards. That's shooting off hand, unrested, and the case of my 617, double action. I'll take that to the bank. If, by some chance, the groups narrowed down to, say, 1 1/2" with premium ammo, that difference just isn't worth the price differential to me.

CCI Green Tag in my SuperMatic Citation Model 107 really like the Green Tag. The best I have tried so far. Also my S&W 17 like it too.

I have found that the Federal American Eagle 38 grain HVHP ammo shoots very clearly in my 1970s Colt Conversion Unit. That matters a lot as the "floating chamber" has a very low tolerance for debris and fouling, and can lock up in as little as half a box of most ammo. I found out, mostly by accident, that with this stuff the unit keeps on like the Duracell Rabbit. I usually clean it for something to do long before it gets sluggish.
I can't explain it but I sure appreciate it.

As for accuracy, I use it in all my other .22s and it's better than I can take advantage of. Consequently I buy it by the case.

22lr rifles an handguns are the most quirky when it comes to ammo. The one I've found shoots the most reliably out of all my .22lr guns is CCI Blazer 22lr SV. Its the most consistent for function, and accuracy.

This covers every thing from a K22, PPK/s, 2206, MKII, MKIII 22/45, three 10/22's, Anschutz 1451, Remington 581LH, Marlin 39A.

I agree with IDP4570. CCI Blazer in the silver and black boxes. Almost the cheapest stuff you can buy, about the cleanest I've found, and the most accurate by 10% to 50% depending on firearm and "other" brand of ammo.

Last case was $190 including tax at an Atlanta guns show. This is the fourth case I've bought over the years. In the 1980's, CCI Mini Mags were the best (my opinion) but cheap stuff was 90¢ per 50 rounds and Mini Mags were $2.25 per hundred. Sure glad I saved all those plastic boxes because I'm not paying $7 per hundred today.

along with MimiMags I've good great results with SuperX Win but as minimags price has skyrocketed last few years
I shoot Blazer a lot and federal for 'plinking' purposes.

In my warped mind I'm seeing a triangle. The corners are accurate, clean, and cheap. There might be a little middle ground, but I've not found anything recently that covers all those bases.

Worse, I've been burned a few times in the distant past, so I stopped assuming stuff. Back in the mid 1960s, I plunked down some of my summer earnings and purchased a Browning Tbolt. The guy at the gun shop where I got it took pity upon me. He'd been watching me enter his shop for weeks on end, never buying anything, but always looking longingly at the T2. When I had enough saved up (skimmed, really, because my parents thought I should be saving for college) I made the purchase. The old guy tossed in a 2nd can of Browning oil and a box of every brand of 22 ammo he could lay his hands on quickly. That was my discount. His advice was to go shooting and see what worked best for me.

It was good advice, and the winner of the competition was pretty unlikely. It was Remington golden bullet hollow points. No reason for that, except the gun just liked it. Remember my skill or lack of it was a factor. So I bought in big. Well, as big as I could given my anemic funding levels. And surprise, I still have several boxes of it stashed in the vault.

As I got rich (its all relative) and could buy more to stock away, a funny thing started to happen. My prize rifle got dirty and my groups opened up significantly. Cleaning my gun wasn't much of a chore, I loved it. But the groups were. So I buckled down but no joy. So I rummaged around and found some of my earlier ammo. Clean and accurate.

What had taken place was the factory apparently had changed some stuff in the manufacturing process. Just like we learned in 2008, all change isn't necessarily for the better.

So over the years I settled into a buying routine, much like that used by the military or labs. You buy a sample, test it, then make your decision if the stuff is up to your standards. My system was pretty simple, it had to measure up to the early Remingtons, and it made me value the small and dwindling stock of my "standard" even more. I'd just go out and find a likely candidate, purchase a single box of it, or of several, then go shooting. If it was good enough, I went back and plunked down as much as I could afford, often a full case. The only way to insure consistency is to have the ammo be from the same case lot. And the only way to know is to test it.

Frequently enough over the last 40+ of playing the game, I've gone back to the same store where I bought the last batch, and then purchased a test box. And it wasn't nearly as clean or accurate as the stuff I'd been using.

But now that I've rambled this long I realize there is now a 4th consideration. Its not just clean, cheap and accurate I value. Its also got to go bang when the rim is struck. If I have even a single misfire or dud in a box of 22s, I consider the ammo to be unsatisfactory for my purposes.

Engineer1911 said:

I agree with IDP4570. CCI Blazer in the silver and black boxes. Almost the cheapest stuff you can buy, about the cleanest I've found, and the most accurate by 10% to 50% depending on firearm and "other" brand of ammo.

Last case was $190 including tax at an Atlanta guns show. This is the fourth case I've bought over the years. In the 1980's, CCI Mini Mags were the best (my opinion) but cheap stuff was 90¢ per 50 rounds and Mini Mags were $2.25 per hundred. Sure glad I saved all those plastic boxes because I'm not paying $7 per hundred today.

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FWIW - They show it still available

Dunn's sporting goods

One thing I did not notice in quick scan of posts to this thread. Is gun only for 22LR or is it a combi gun, one cylinder for 22WMR and one for 22lr? I bring this up because some years ago I bought a Ruger Single Six combi revolver. Quickly found that some 22lr ammo leaded badly (all versions of Remington of those I tried), even to extent that bullets would keyhole after only a couple of cylinders full, some brands and sorts shot cleanly, no leading and, no surprise, gave smallest groups.

I learned, finally, that 22WMR bores (at least Ruger's) are a few thousands larger than 22lr bores, as well as, that some 22lr ammo has bigger diameter bullets than other. Revolver shoots cheap Winchester Wildcat and Federal bulk 22lr and CCi 22lr into nice small groups but all Remington ammo is wasted in this revolver.

All 22lr ammo is practice and plinking ammo in this revolver. 22WMR is what gets careful checks for group size, with Federal 50 grain ammo being preferred.

Niklas

I am curious about 22LR ammo. I know it is one of the dirtiest calibers for a pistol, but how is it in rifles? Is that round just as dirty in a 18" rifle? The barrel is longer so it should give the ammo enough time to burn so it should be cleaner, but is it still very dirty?

It is still dirty in my rifle. Shell casings are always blackened when ejected from my 10-22.

If you talk to rimfire target shooters, you will find that accuracy is a fleeting goal. When they find a particular bullet they really like, they will buy every box of that lot they can find. The next lot of the same bullet may not shoot anything like the one before. Some will have rim thickness gauges to sort through their ammo. This sort of thing drove my buddy out of rimfire competition, because he couldn't control the accuracy he got from his ammo.

Accuracy and cleanliness are almost 100% a matter of the gun, not the ammo. What gives lousy accuracy in my gun may give gil-edged target performance in yours. And surprisingly, what may foul my gun horribly may shoot clean as a whistle in yours. I have no real idea why this may be true, but suspect it may have something to do with how well a gun smacks the rim, which can markedly affect combustion.