Which load shoots the best? -- It depends.

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I keep an eye on ammo costs when shopping, particularly for 22 LR loads. You never know when you’ll stumble onto a good deal. That happened recently when a 500+ - round bulk pack from one maker came in less than another lower cost load – one that traditionally beat everyone else on price.

In this case it was Federal 550-round “Rimfire Value Pack.” Using a 36 grain hollow-point at a nominal velocity of 1,260 fps, I decided to try a box. But what was it any good?

In fact which load shoots the best?

In rimfire guns – rifles and handguns – the answer is “depends.” I’ve been shooting 22s since the mid-1960s. One load will shoot very well in a particular gun, but won’t seem to group out of any other 22 you try. There’s a lot of variation apparent – in ammo and in guns.

I thought I’d select a group of 22 loads and a pair of guns to see where we were in terms of accuracy.

The first gun was an early Smith & Wesson SW22 Victory. This was a gun I had some months before they were announced. I’d installed an after-market barrel – the Volquartsen carbon fiber THM tension barrel – and a red dot sight, the C-More RTS2. I’d fired the gun before and the average of groups from a variety of rounds clustered about 1 ½” at 25 yards.

The long gun would be a favored field gun, the Henry Lever Action Small Game Carbine. Not a target piece, it features the Skinner Peep Sight. That superb rear sight is mated with a brass bead front sight. The peep sight is on the receiver by your eye, unlike the buckhorn style out on the barrel.

The Henry has a barrel length of just over 16”, the SW22/Volquartsen has a just under 7” barrel. The advantage of trigger press was with the SW22, but the Small Game Carbine was plenty good.

I’d shoot from a rest on the rimfire range. The close backstop is less than 20 yards from the front of the firing points. As I was shooting from a seated rest, I was some distance back from the front edge but will call the distance 20 yards. I posted Birchwood-Casey BC-27 “splattering targets” and settled in to shoot groups. Instead of listing the ammo selection, I posted results in tables.

 

The first group from the SW22 Victory was with Federal Hunter Match. It hit way over point of aim and off to the right. Great group -- the C-More RTS2 was quickly zeroed and the work went on.

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S&W SW22 Victory, C-More RTS2, Volquartsen Barrel

Remarkably, the accuracy loads for the target pistol included the “loss leader” load from the big box store. It just seemed to work very well for the SW22/Volquartsen gun. A few notes for those using the S&W Victory are in order.

1.    If you’re using the rail (supplied by Smith & Wesson and used to mount optics), check it to ensure it’s secure before you shoot. That was a lesson learned at S&W when the gun was introduced to media and relearned again here.

2.    The RTS2 has a “lock” screw to keep the reticle from wandering – likewise check to ensure it’s locked before shooting. Check your mounts while you’re at it. You can thank me later.

I think I could have brought the Federal Hunter Match group average down if I’d shot it more. It was the first load shot of the day and the first group measured just 1 ½” – though it was very high on the target and clusterd way right. It’s good ammo, worth every penny, but the gun clearly wasn’t zeroed with that optic. I made short work of that and fired groups.

Remington Golden Bullet also shot well in the tricked-out SW22. I’ve had a lot of good luck with that load and the promotional “ThunderBolt” load in many guns. The CCI Stinger is a good load too, but it’s one of those on the margins – light bullet weight, very high velocity works well in some guns, not others. It’s quality ammo, just check to ensure it shoots well in your guns.

The Henry Small Game Carbine I shot with only a pair of loads as I was running short on time.

 

The Henry Small Game Carbine with the accuracy load in its short test -- the CCI Mini-Mag 40gr had a best effort of five hits into 1/2" at 20 yards.

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Henry Small Game Carbine

Not surprisingly, the carbine didn’t shoot drastically better than the pistol; in spite of the increased points of contact between gun and user (fore-end, wrist, cheek, shoulder), the smaller gun had a one-plane sight – an optic – and a superior trigger. Still, it shot quite well.

The best group was a ½” five-shot group with CCI Mini-Mags, the best of the experiment. The best group for the low-cost bulk packaged Federal hollow-point was right at one inch.

On my way out, I had to try the steel “turkey” target hung at about 70 yards from the firing points. I had a few rounds of Remington Golden Bullet left in the box and I wanted to shoot them up. I’d not fired for zero with that load from the Henry Small Game Carbine, but shot at the “turkey” from standing, bracing against a roof support. Once I found the “range,” I rang the steel repeatedly with the Henry.

While it’s serious to check zero and groups on paper, steel is fun.

Fun is what 22s are all about.

Try your guns with various loads, see what works best for yours.

- - Rich Grassi