WalMart bulk ammo and the 617?

[Inspector-Callahan]

The federal Bulk pack 550's are the best deal going. The copper plated HP functions far better than any other bargain 22 round I've tried. I actually questioned my sanity when I paid $180 for a couple cases at Walmart when they were $9/bx. Thankfully I still have some left and don't plan to buy anything unless absolutely necessary until prices moderate.

IC

 

[Shooting4life]

I feed my 617 anything walmart has and savethe federal for my autoloaders since it is usually better quality than the other brands. Especially the Remington

 

[jcjacobvt]

Yes. Federal 36 gr. bulk pack .22s are my favorite for my k frame .22s. Cabela's has put them on sale a few times over the last couple of months and probably will again. Until then, $19 is about as good a price on .22s as you can get every day. I wouldn't stock up at that price however because I expect ammo prices will trend down ward back to pre-Obama levels. During the Bush years Wal-Mart charged about $8.79 for the same package.

I think you might be misleading to think ammo costs will go down for any reason. $19. for 550 rounds of .22lr is a good deal with the cost of metals using todays failing dollar value.

 

[C/O]

This is all great news. Since I am getting the 617 as a plinker.

 

[Loco Weed]

I've often experienced misfires and squib loads in Remington bulk ammo from Walmart. However, when searching for the accuracy load for my 8 3/8" 617 I tried the Remington ammo and to my horror it turned out to be the accuracy load for my pistol. Now Remington bulk golden bullets is what I shoot out of my 617 exclusively. The 617 seems to handle most ammo quite well... it's a versatile gun.

 

[617X10]

I shoot minute of steel plate with any ammo that I feed my 617. I like mini-mags because my cleaning time is cut by a significant margin, and a copper-washed .22 isn't likely to wear out a barrel any time soon.

 

[tdan]

As others have mentioned, the Federal 550 bulk pack is decent plinking ammo, if you can tolerate the occasional dud primer. Since you shop at Wal-Mart, you might want to try the Federal Auto-Match that comes in a 325 round bulk pack. This is much better ammo and shoots more accurately in my Smith 22 cal. revolvers. Stay away from the Remington ammo. I've had numerous misfires due to bad primers with their recent offerings. I don't know what's up with that company. In the past, the Remington golden bullet bulk ammo was always a reliable plinking ammo in my 22's.

 

[dullone]

I did a little test with ammo in my 617 10 shot. I wanted to assess accuracy and function. The two best ammos for MY gun from an accuracy standpoint were Federal bulk packs and Blazer bulk packs. Draw on accuracy. (Didn't test any high $ ammo, mainly bulk pack stuff and some Fiocchi )

On the function side I do get a few misfires (duds) with the Federal. Can't remember getting a misfire with the Blazers out of any of my guns. Blazers get the nod on reliability.

BUT the Blazers expand more in the cylinder after shooting and take a little more effort to eject than the Federals. As the gun gets dirty it becomes more apparent. So I shoot Federals in my 617 and Blazers in my other .22s. (Some of the other ammo's were a real bugger to eject because of expansion)

 

[617X10]

Today I went to the range with the 617 and shot another 100 rounds through it. I don't go through a brick at a time like some folks around here claim to because I like to drag a couple of other guns along to play with. I've been working on a 525 bulk pack of Remington Golden Bullets, the 36 grain hollow points. I have whittled that supply down to 255 rounds left with no misfires whatsoever, and as far as I'm concerned they are accurate enough for plinking. Double action or single action doesn't matter, they all still go bang. Due to the fact that I've gone through more than half of this box without ONE misfire out of the same gun, I have to wonder if most of the unreliability claims are from frustrated folks that don't take the time to clean their .22s. This is especially important if you are shooting a semi-automatic. I have a request for all of you folks talking about 10% failure rates. I want you to take a picture of your 52-53 misfired rounds from your box of 525 and post it. And I want to see clear firing pin indentations on the rims. I've already seen the picture of the round with 6 or 7 firing pin marks, so don't bother reposting that. It only proves how stubborn some people really are.

 

[LHS]

My 617 seems to prefer Winchester ammo over the fed, but both shoot good.

I LOVE my 617!

 

[TSQUARED]

The Federal copper washed/plated HV HP bulk pack ammo is a good performer. Above all stay away from Remington Golden and Remington Thunderbolt - the former is very dirty and the latter leads barrels horribly.

 

[LHS]

I try to avoid all Remi ammo in .22 - same reasons.

 

[weldernewt53]

I have the same issues with my model 17-2 leading up after 100-150 rounds. Federal seems to shoot the cleanest but at 30 yrds or more they tend to be less accurate. Winchester Super X does much better but the cost is a lot more. I agree. if it's a 22 it should shoot it. You just have to find what suits your gun and pocket book the best.

 

[Speedo2]

For anyone that hasn't seen this yet....

A very interesting and unusual thread regarding Federal bulk 22's and a 617:
http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-smithing/191587-617-6-22-kaboom.html
In my opinion this was most likely something gone wrong with the gun rather than the ammo; dirt under the primers, or a loose firing pin bushing perhaps. I shoot a ton of it in my 617's and 17's and have never seen anything like it. -S2

 

[CajunBass]

The standard advice given to 22 users is to try different ammo and see what works best in your gun. Good advice I suppose, but I've got a few 22's, both rifle and handguns, and it seems like a lot of work (and expense) to test each one, and it would be a pain in the butt to keep track of which gun shoots which ammo best, and to keep all that different ammo in inventory.

So I settled on Federal bulk pack for everything. In the blue box, or the brown (I only see the brown box at Wal-Mart it seems) it doesn't seem to matter. It may not be "best" in any of them, but it's good enough in all of them.

I do like American Eagle (by Federal) also.

 

[fyimo]

I to have found Federal bulk pack 22LR ammo to work the best in my S&W 22 revolvers of the cheaper bulk pack ammo. I get less dud rounds then with Remington ammo and the federal shoots a lot cleaner.

 

[cptdco]

Might as well add my $.02. I go through a lot of the Fed bulk pack in my .22 revolvers including my 617 which, since I bought it last year, has become my favorite to shoot. I just leave one gun and a bulk box in the range bag until I finish the box, then I might change revolvers and start again with another box. My 41 does best with the CCI standard velocity, and (speaking of stuff in bulk packaging) my Ruger 10/22s like the Auto-match.

 

[Cpo1944]

I have been shooting .22`s for more than 50 years and it`s almost my favorite caliber,But I am not fussy about dirty or smoky stuff. I shoot them all, whatever is on sale and lots of it.
I have found the Mexican made Aquilla is very powerful and fun to shoot. It really barks and sounds more like a .38 instead of a .22.
Aquilla used to be cheap, but I think it has gotten a lot more expensive lately,but if you see it on sale buy some you will like it.
Don`t worry about brands just clean your gun after shooting and enjoy it.

 

[kas9412]

Yesterday, I bought bulk pack Winchester hollow points at Walmart; they were $12.47 for 333 (Northern VA). Shot them in my model 17 today, and every one went bang. I didn't try them in my M41 - it eats CCI SV only!

Good Shooting,
kas

Kas