If you want to shot 1" holes at 50 yards with your M&P, but not purchase match grade 22LR. Here is a way, although a bit time consuming. Get a .22 Rim Thickness Gauge (RTG), buy bulk 22LR ammo that works the best in your M&P 15/22. Here is the time consuming part, drop it in the RTG and slide the scale over till it stops (one round at a time), the number the slide stops is the thickness of that rim. You will find a variance from 3 to as high as 8. Brass for 22LR varies. Then you just break out little boxes of the different sizes you separate and start shooting the box of 22LR with the different sizes until you find the one that gives you the best results. Included the link for the gauge..Now you can continue to purchase bulk and shoot like a Navy Seal...


.22 Rim Thickness Gauge :: Miscellaneous :: Bullseye Gear

Also weigh each round. Freeze ammo groups, etc..

All a waste of time if your shooting for fun.
Kick Brass!!!

Guy22

please walk the plank on the failboat

Ace,
Like most everything else in life, you get what you pay for. .22 ammo accuracy just proves this rule.You may find one Lot of promo ammo that shoots well, but the next Lot will be garbage. You also need to have a rifle that will show you the difference.

FWIW, it's the BULLETS that are the prime source of .22 RF inaccuracy. You can research the efforts of FEDERAL and their Olympic efforts several years ago if you're interested.

RF Schuetzen shooters have also had great success with breech seated cast bullets with the RF, but their techniques are not yet legal in competition.

Good shooting.

aceman...the use of a rimfire rim measurement gauge works in certain circumstances. try this experiment...look at the head stamp of the cartridge when you measure it, and then measure it again after you turn it 90 degrees...and then turn it 90 degrees again and repeat, and then once more. did you get the same dimension each time?
probably not...so if you measure at one orientation you must load your sorted ammo with the same orientation, usually in a single shot manner in a bolt gun, to get the full effect of eliminating rim variances in the accuracy equation. good for small bore bench rest and /or silhouette competition...not really "effective" for a bullet hose like the 15-22...but it's your time and effort, go for it!

Guys, your all right..... it is true if you turn the 22LR, you can and will get a different measurement.... but, I have found some consistant results doing it.. I've done some, then stopped because of the labor, it's easy watching t.v., a mindless chore, so I gave it a shot.. But for full shoot'em up, just grab, load and shoot.. thanks..

Note: I went thru a phase and had purchased only top 22LR match round, was told about the rim gauge, tried it, so was just sharing it with others..

Over the last 20 years I have tried just about every trick in the book to try to squeeze every last bit of accuracy out of my .22lr rifles.

I have been sorting my bulk 22 ammo for years with a gauge and digital calipers. I also have learned to make my own bullet lube that closely matches the lube on Eley. I have found that it really does help my groups but when the boys at our informal 22 matches start shooting for real money I break out the R50 or the Tenex.

Here are some 100 yard groups with $20 a brick Federal 714 Target that has been sorted weighed and waxed.





And then a 50 yard group with sorted cheap ammo.


Here is a home made barrel tuner I made to see if the theory was sound and decided against actually attaching a real tuner to my barrel. While the harmonic tuner worked there were just too many variables involved. Keeping track of all the temperature and barometric pressure et.et.et was too much like work.

__________________
Regards,
Guy-Harold Smith II