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View Full Version : Little ammo test in the MKII



subsonic
07-23-2011, 07:09 PM
If I said that I'd fired 10,000 rds through my MKII I'd be lying, because I don't know how many I've fired. But it has been a lot. I know I've fired 5 of those Remington 550rd Golden Bullet bricks since January and I've owned it for 13 years. These shoot surprisingly well for me, when they go off. This gun is STOCK, save for adjusting out the overtravel in the factory "target" trigger.

I recently started getting a lot of FTFs in these Remington Golden boxes and decided to test out some other ammo that I had on hand. All 5 shot groups fired at 25yds from sandbags with factory iron sights (set for 50yd). These groups were fired after the 357 test in my load development thread in 97 deg heat.

Ammo tested included the following:
(RGB) Golden Bullets 2 groups, 1.3" & 1.5"
(FAM)Federal Auto-Match 2 groups, 1.75", 2"
(CCI MM)CCI Mini-Mag one group 1.5"
(CCI Vel)CCI Velocitor one group 2"
(SKSS)SK Jagd subsonic 2 groups, .75", 1.75"
(SKSP)SK Jagd Standard Plus 2 groups, 1.5", .5"
(SSS)Aguila SSS one group, 2" sideways


Groups were fired in this order:
RGB, FAM, FAM, CCI MM, CCI Vel, SKSS, SKSP, SKSS, SKSP, SSS, and to make sure I wasn't loosing it too much, I shot the RGB again and a 50yd target off-hand with the SKSS.

Pic posts with explaination to follow.

subsonic
07-23-2011, 07:12 PM
First group with RGB. Measurements in top thread. What can I say? These shoot pretty good for me. I hear a lot of complaints from others, but when they go off, they shoot good enough!

subsonic
07-23-2011, 07:13 PM
Shot the federal auto-match. This hasn't shot well in my rifles either. RGB outshoots it in both. I haven't shot enough of it to see if I get many misfires.

Will be back with more pics and posts after dinner.

subsonic
07-23-2011, 09:26 PM
Dinner was longer than expected!

CCI Mini-Mag here. Only shot one group. They are expensive compared to the RGB, so I didn't bother to shoot more.

subsonic
07-23-2011, 09:27 PM
CCI Velocitor here. Was expecting better, and might re-shoot this one. If I had to carry a .22LR for defensive purposes I'd carry these, maybe flat-pointed in my Hanned Line SGB die. You can definitely tell these pack more whap!:Fire:

subsonic
07-23-2011, 09:38 PM
Now it gets interesting. These are the SKSS. SK and Wolf Match .22 ammo is made on the same equipment as Lapua and has the same "headstamp" of a cross. This ammo is probably the same as something else from Lapua. It smells just like their subsonic HP ammo. Very sweet. This ammo barely runs the gun. I would say that if I shoot enough of it, I will get some FTE due to the bolt not running all the way. I had at least two of these that felt "weak" and barely worked the bolt. You can guess which two they were. This stuff shot like a laser in my Anshutz 64 and Savage MKII TR. These leave a lot of granules in the bore and are slippery to handle with lots of lube. They have shown a bit of "pickiness" about bore condition in the rifles, shooting best after a handfull of fouling shots, but not after a whole lot of shots. Like clean at about 100rds, then 3-5 foulers or so. I think maybe the powder in these is too slow for a 5.5" bbl. I also think these are just not a great match for this pistol, but they can shoot!

subsonic
07-23-2011, 09:43 PM
SK Jagd Standard Plus up next. This is said to be the exact same ammo as Wolf Match Target. I'm not sure, because Wolf Match Target won't work the bolt on this pistol, but this stuff does - barely. Take that for what it's worth, it was 97deg today. Wolf Match Target is what I feed the two rifles mentioned above on a regular basis as well as my Step Son's YHEC competition rifle (Savage MKII LH). This stuff shoots too! I don't know why one group was larger than the other. I guess it could have been me, but I don't know. I'm leaning toward bore condition. I didn't clean the pistol for any of this and it was very dirty when I took it out of the case.

subsonic
07-23-2011, 09:51 PM
Offhand target @ 50yd, then SSS.

I have shot the SSS before in rifles, but never really tested it in this pistol. Always some sideways. Too heavy and long for 16" twist. Works real good in a 9" twist, or so I'm told. Let me know when you find an off-the-shelf 9" twist .22LR! I've shot it as close as 15ft and they're already flipping at that distance. It always groups well though. Go figure.

Then, just to test myself and end the day with a little fun, I loaded 5 SKSS up and fired offhand at 50yds. I knew the sights were going up when the trigger broke the on the first shot, which explains the high flyer. Then I settled down and cranked the other 4 into 3.25". I was hot, my eyes were watering from staring at the sights for these tests and my .357 tests, and I had walked 100yds 8 times and the 25yd target 12+ times. I wasn't exactly calm, cool and composed. I thought it would be a good test of how I might shoot at a deer after walking some distance. I think I passed.... except for the high flyer....[smilie=b:

btroj
07-23-2011, 09:56 PM
Did you fire 10 to 20 of each before shooting for group? Different am os have different lubes, bullets makeup, powder, etc and may need some rounds down the tube to settle things down. I think that would make for a more fair comparison.

Interesting test. It can be eye opening to see how a change in ammo can make a huge difference in a 22 rimfire.

subsonic
07-23-2011, 10:08 PM
Did you fire 10 to 20 of each before shooting for group? Different am os have different lubes, bullets makeup, powder, etc and may need some rounds down the tube to settle things down. I think that would make for a more fair comparison.

Interesting test. It can be eye opening to see how a change in ammo can make a huge difference in a 22 rimfire.

No. I have tried it before and not found much difference, except that some of the more "lubed" boolits need some lube in the bore before they shoot.

MtGun44
07-23-2011, 10:15 PM
Try PMC Scoremater, Zapper and Sidewinder. Various of my Rugers have really done
will with these, and the wife's CZ452 does extremely well with Sidewinder, like .35-.4 at 50 yds
for 5 shots, repeatable.

Bill

subsonic
07-23-2011, 10:19 PM
Have some zapper. Will try it, but it doesn't shoot good from my rifles....

oscarflytyer
07-23-2011, 10:22 PM
Once upon a time, when I bought my Ruger MK II Govt (6 7/8" hvy bbl), back in 1987, I planned to shoot Bullseye/competition with it. AS such, I tested about all the 22 ammo out there, up to and including the Eley 10X (EXPENSIVE) Target ammo.

I found that the Eley shot the VERY best, but the Remington Target rounds gave up very little to the Eley, and trounced about everything else. Haven't tested anything new in the gun in over 20 yrs - just keep plinking with whatever, and shoot the Rem Targets when I really want to know what the gun, AND ME! are capable of.

44man
07-24-2011, 03:42 PM
Now, now, the Ruger loves the Mini Mag hollow points and even shoots decent with the Federal Bulk stuff.
BUT, BUT, I tried my old stash of RWS target rounds that I used in my Anchutz pistol for IHMSA.
They blew me away and after putting 9 shots in one ragged hole I just blew the last shot at 25 yards.
These are groups at 50 and 25 with Mini Mags and RWS at 25.
The Ruger will shoot with the best but ammo is the key. Some stuff has turned to junk for production. The original WW Wildcat ammo was a world breaker in the Ruger. Then they messed it up.

44man
07-24-2011, 03:45 PM
Stinking computer lost my picture again.

Changeling
07-24-2011, 05:01 PM
I have shot a great many rounds through various rifles, and considerably less through 22 pistols but I always started with the regime of getting together all the different makes I could of 50 rounds (100 in some cases).

Then taken very seriously ( one fire arm) I would fire these rounds for accuracy 25 yd, give or take from a bench.

I would always end up with a few that were from exceptional to trash! Then I would pick from the high accuracy ones witch attributes I wanted. That then became the brand/design for that firearm for as long as I could get them, Sometimes a new LOT# would turn out to be trash and I would go through this all over again, the only pain was the money, the shooting and testing were great (Surprising how much you learn)!

If you decide to take this route and I absolutely recommend it with ANY new 22 build you basically have to hope the lot numbers are still available so if you find a particular brand/profile you like, you can buy the hell out of it. Usually not a problem but sometimes you can get caught really bad.
Ask me about CCI SGB (there first generation of this bullet).

BruceB
07-24-2011, 06:34 PM
With today's "quality" of ammunition, my FIRST priority in buying .22 rimfires is this: "WILL THIS STUFF ACTUALLY FIRE ON DEMAND?"

I have a goodly number of high-quality ,22 firearms, and I have found a depressing number of ammo types that simply will not fire reliably in any of my guns. By "not reliably", I mean that 15-20% misfires is horrible....and I have seen WORSE! Five per cent is bearable for casual target work...plinking, let's say. For hunting..100% ignition is what I want, and NO mistake.

AFTER I determine that the ammunition will, in fact, fire when called-upon, then I start concerning myself with relative accuracy.

When I was hospitalized in Los Angeles back in '08, Buckshot brought me a gift wall plaque, It shows a grizzly standing on a cliff, rifle at his feet, a swatch of a shirt in his mouth and a hat drifting toward the tree-tops far below. Across the top is lettered:

"LESTER'S- AMERICA'S CHEAPEST AMMUNITION"

and at the bottom:

"IT USUALLY WORKS!"

No more "Lester's ammo" for me....even if it DOES say "Remington" on the box.

I should add that my current choice is CCI Mini-Mag, which is very reliable in function and accurate enough for my purposes.

44man
07-25-2011, 11:11 AM
.22 ammo has gone from great to junk. Long ago WW hp's would do 3/4" at 100 from my Marlin Mounty. Remington's were super.
CCI seems to always work. Eley works but was never able to group from the Ruger. Too slow. RWS was the surprise.
WW bulk has so many failures to fire and too many that go "POOP" instead of "CRACK" that I will not buy them. Rem is as bad. Fed bulk has less.
Rugers seem to like HV best but the slow RWS target rounds are great. Green tag CCI target loads do not shoot. Ultra high velocity rounds with light bullets are junk.
.22 autos are fantastic but we have so little to feed them. Yes, a lot of choices but hardly any that are good and take advantage of good guns.
The High Standard, the Browning, the 41 and the Ruger, all super guns, tied down by sub standard ammo.

Changeling
07-27-2011, 03:17 PM
Basically I think everything here said is correct! However I still believe in letting the barrel tell me what it likes in any 22. For me it's 22 solids only, I don't shoot HP's any longer in 22! I do however shoot variations of the solid and the solid in my 22's because of there better terminal performance. I'll give up slight accuracy over terminal performance, mainly due to penetration!
The all time best were the CCI SGB's (first generation) , at least in my rifles. Accuracy was exceptional and terminal performance on squirrel was awesome without the damage of the HP's!, and a lot more penetration!!!

What they did from generation I to generation II is a mystery to me, because they aren't the same ammo.


I probably should add that last fall (2010) I was running low and getting scared! I started looking for 22 ammo basically to no avail! Finally I found 4 Bricks of Winchester Power Point and bought it.
I have never shot this brand style ammo in my life so, here we go again, LOL, not a lot If it doesn't perform in the Mark I or the 10/22's new barrel I'll be back to ground 1!

Changeling
07-30-2011, 03:49 PM
I would like to take a moment here to talk about what the industry/manufactures are doing to there industry and the shooting sport relative to .22 ammo.

I would be willing to bet that 99% of us learned to shoot and help put meat on the table with a .22 rifle/handgun! It was a learning experience for us that we fully loved. There were and are shooting heroes of the past and some present that led the way to what YOUR industry is today. You owe it all to young men and women that could afford the shooting products such as rifles that had decent barrels and triggers, and especially correctly made ammunition, at a price that still gave corporate America a decent profit and Americas young to learn on a reliable platform!

But evidently that wasn't enough as the greed took hold and the quality went straight down the proverbial tube/hole. The average young person now can't afford the shooting sport with reliable equipment and cartridges, just the never ending line of junk on both ends!
Does corporate America expect there industry to flourish by killing the very "source" that has kept it alive for years?

I sincerely suggest you start asking the citizens and individuals of the shooting sport there opinions!
Do you seriously think it is going to be a $50.00 box of special bullets that is BS anyway, or getting your Poo together on what has been said above?

bearcove
08-15-2011, 06:45 PM
[QUOTE=BruceB;1343886]With today's "quality" of ammunition, my FIRST priority in buying .22 rimfires is this: "WILL THIS STUFF ACTUALLY FIRE ON DEMAND?"

I have a goodly number of high-quality ,22 firearms, and I have found a depressing number of ammo types that simply will not fire reliably in any of my guns. By "not reliably", I mean that 15-20% misfires is horrible....and I have seen WORSE! Five per cent is bearable for casual target work...plinking, let's say. For hunting..100% ignition is what I want, and NO mistake. "end quote

In the 80's when I'd buy a brick or two a week a misfire was unusual. 1 in 2000 maybe. Really don't remember having any.

Now I've decided to shoot 22 k-Hornet for most things. I hate junk, and ammo should never be junk.