Most reliable 22 LR ammo

[getitdone1]

I've had some Remington high speed 22 LR ammo that would not fire even though the firing pin put plenty of dent into the rim. Tried more than once with a few rounds.

Couple of questions:

1. What have some of you found to be the most reliable 22 LR ammo?

2. Will firing CCI Stingers in my Marlin model 60 semi-auto harm this gun over time? They function well in this gun. Shot only a few.

Having good luck with this gun and CCI high speed HPs. Box says they are going about 1260 fps while on the Stinger box the fps is 1640. 36 gr bullet with high speeds and 32 gr bullet with the Stingers.

As many of you know this Marlin model 60 is a real popular gun but I've heard it can give some problems. What kind of luck have some of you had with this gun? I bought it because it was so inexpensive and liked the fact that it's buttstock wasn't as short as some of the 22 semi-autos. May trade it in on a Browning or Winchester model 63 one of these days.

Interesting story for you. Years ago I tried to do a trigger job on a model 63 and ended-up with a gun that would shoot semi-auto if trigger pulled back a certain amount and shot full auto when I pulled the trigger back all the way. Of course that made it illegal and I traded it off not long after my faulty trigger job. Full auto was fun and even that little 22 LR cartridge will make the barrel climb when shot full autol. It and the Browning are two of the best 22 autos.

Don

[Hobie]

My favorite .22 LR for hunting is Winchester PowerPoint. Many people think, or recommend, CCI Mini-Mags as the most reliable. I think that within certain limits, it really depends on the firearm.

[Blaine]

I'm not sure I'd go to a match with a target rifle with them, but the Bulk Pac Federals sure do good in all my stuff. I've had crappy luck with anything Remington Rimfire. I got a bunch of the bulk packs many moons ago...still have not finished it up...you can actually hear the duds and many have not fired at all. Just talking the cheap stuff...I've never bought the high price spread, and in my rifles they shoot minute of pop can just fine out to 100 yds or so.

[jdad]

The new production bulk pack Remington can be very problematic. Stingers and any other HYPER velocity 22 ammo has a case that is slightly longer. It also will put stress and strain, over time, on any semi-auto rifle. Buy 3-4 different brands of 22 ammo and see which one shoots the best.

[Kansas Ed]

I grew up with a model 60, and shot so many rounds out of that thing that I'd hate to guess. It ALWAYS had FTF's with Remington ammo. Winchester, CCI and Federals were flawless. It got a boatload of stingers shot through it and never did it any harm. After 30+ years it's still going strong. The one thing about the Model 60 Marlin is that it needs regular action cleaning. Not just a spray down, but a disassembly and scrubbing. (have fun with reinstalling that bolt spring ) It will tell you when, as it will start to jam a lot on you.

As for the Stingers, I've heard so many unverified and unsupported rumors about Stingers ruining guns that I don't even listen to them any more. Case in point...my grandfather had a Model 60 Winchester single shot. From the time that rifle was bought by him at about 10 yrs old, he shot shorts in it cause back then they were so much cheaper. When the Stingers first came out he bought a box, and lo and behold they wouldn't eject. So off it goes for the first time to a local gun hacker. He was promptly told that the Stingers musta bulged the chamber and that's why they wouldn't eject. No one ever thought that there might be buildup from 60 years of shooting shorts. Then my uncles proceeded to propogate that assessment to everyone they met. I mean...come on...the meat around the chamber on a Winchester 60 is heavier than most centerfire bolt rifles. Sigh....

Ed

[jhrosier]

I use CCI minimags to break in new guns. They are a bit more powerful than some of the bulk pack ammo.

Remington ammo has gone way down in quality over the past dozen years. Remington used to be my go-to brand but I won't buy it any more as it is poor quality.

I have had very good results with the Federal bulk pack ammo for the past two or three years.
The 36 gr load in the 550 round box is not target grade but works well in most of my guns and is easily accurate enough for casual target shooting and hunting.

The Federal 325 round packs of 40gr Auto Match cost about the same as the 550 round packs of 36gr.
The Auto Match ammo shoots better groups and is target quality for my shooting skills.

I've tried some of the much more expensive match grade ammo, like Wolf MT, and my guns and ability do not get any benefit from the more expensive stuff.

Jack

[jnyork]

AutoMatch or Federal Bulk, take your pick..

Friends dont let friends shoot Remington .22 ammo.

[jdad]

The "new" 60 has plastic parts that do/will wear. The old 60's are bullet proof.

[AJMD429]

Here I thought I was the only one with about six or seven rimfire guns which all have problems with Remington ammo...

Federal 'bulk' seems fine, as does Winchester 'wildcat' and 'Super-X'.

Starting to use some of the Colubri or however it's spelled, and like it too.

Dunno what Remington's problem is...!

[Old No7]

"I thought I was the only one with about six or seven rimfire guns which all have problems with Remington ammo..."

You can add me to that list too...

I shot many bricks -- uh, make that "cases" -- of Wolf Match Target when shooting 22 Bullseye Postal Matches in Maine, and I never had a misfire -- ever. It's pricey ammo, but less than Lapua or Eley, and it does really well in all my 22s.

Tight groups.

Old No7

[Malamute]

I've shot tons of Remington 22 shells (probably a couple hundred thousand rds) over the years and haven't had any trouble, but havent shot a lot of it in the last few years. The bulk packs I bought at wal-mart several years ago have been ok, but after hearing so many say they've had trouble with them, I started buying other brands. Guess I just managed to miss the bad ones.

The old Thunderbolt econo rounds were pretty bad tho.

The old Winchester Wildcat cheap 22 shells were always pretty good ammo. They seem to have dried up and everyone went to the bulk packs a few years ago.

The high grade of pretty much all the 22 ammo I've used has been pretty good, like the Winchester SuperX, CCI mini-mags, and the older Remington Golden 22's. Never shot much Federal, the ones I tried in the early 70's you could tell the difference (variance) in the sound of the report, so I passed on them til recently.

[earlmck]

I don't remember ever having a "failure to fire" except from an auto pistol that really got gunked up. Until, that is, I got a Remington bulk pack about 10 years ago. A couple years later I bought another Remington bulk pack. Same thing, occasional FTF. Slow learner here, I bought still another Remington bulk pack a few years along. Surely they'd have their problems worked out after years, right?

Nope, same deal. And a brick of Peters somebody gave me is the same: periodic FTF. Remington's .22 ammo mfg. has gone plumb to poop and they obviously don't care. And I've still not got a FTF with any other brand, including some real cheapo Russian stuff we came up with about 15 years ago.

So I'll never buy another Remington .22 shell, unless I hear from reliable sources that they are OK again. Remington primers, however, are good as ever (unless they've got off track there in the last year or so). I use Remington primers happily, especially in a couple of guns with oversized firing pin openings that are prone to primer piercing.

[claybob86]

I've had trouble with FTF with Remington .22s the last few years too. They usually fire the second or third try, so it seems they're not getting the priming mixture distributed properly. Don't know why they don't fix that. No more for me. That's the only brand of .22s I've had any trouble with. Winchester, CCI and Federal all work well.

[Ravenman]

What Hobie wrote:
"My favorite .22 LR for hunting is Winchester PowerPoint. Many people think, or recommend, CCI Mini-Mags as the most reliable. I think that within certain limits, it really depends on the firearm." The same goes true with any 22 brand. You have to check in your gun what works.
Never had any problems with Winchester 22 ammo. The Winchester HV HP ammo is very accurate out of my different guns (handguns and rifles). CCI Mini-Mags HP are accurate too and work perfect on small varmints. My all time favorite HV ammo is the CCI Stinger. Years ago they were not as accurate as Winchester HV HP ammo. New tests in my guns showed that the quality is far better and they are more accurate than other HV brands or can keep up with them.

[gamekeeper]

I've never had a problem with any CCI stuff, except the bolt on GK jr's CZ wont close on the new stingers, it was fine with some old stingers I had left from way back when.

Just shot my first squirrel with CCI sub sonic segmented HP. it was not a pretty sight!

[Ji in Hawaii]

To echo what others have said my experience with 22 ammo mirrors pretty much what's already been stated. CCIs have never let me down not even their Blazer line of economy ammo. Federals are also right up there. Winchesters have never given me problems. My last brick of Remington ammo is the last brick of Remington ammo their Thunderer ammo being about 80% reliable which is not reliable enough.

[jdad]

Wolf MT/SK Standard Plus is the same stuff, different box, made by Lapua. It's the best value in mid-priced, quality, target ammo. It's about 1/4 the price, of Eley TenX, and unless you're a competitive BR or 4 Position shooter it shoots great.

There's a reason Thunderbolt's are nicknamed Thnderdud's.

[dennie]

I have several .22s and the Fed. Bulk is by far the best in all of them. I have a couple bulk packs of Win. Expert HV and these are problematic in all my rifles. They do not want to feed in my semis or the bolt actions. However, my Ruger MKII eats them up! I do not do target shooting, so the Fed. BP is the way to go for me.
A couple years ago I bought a brick of Peters .22s. They were marked down to $6.89, IIRC. These things are real duds! No failure to fire, or eject, but many of these are duds! You can clearly hear a difference in the sound of many rounds, and the POI is way off from the normal sounding ones.
I have many thousand rounds of .22s, mostly Federal, and Federal will prolly be all I buy from now on.

[Mike D.]

CCIs are very reliable and will not harm any .22 in good condition. I can't begin to tell you how many thousands of them have run through my old 1890 Winchester .22 LR, let alone the Model 12C Remington. CCI, Stinger, Federal HPs are all excellent, but like many have experienced, IMO Remington "Golden Bullet" and Winchester Wildcats are worthless beyond belief and a complete waste of money.

[Charles]

Reliability of 22 LR ammo increased with the price. However of the low end bulk Mart-Marts ammo, Federal produces less misfires and puffers. I shoot in a weekly falling plate match with 22 pistols and we have broken the code on this.

[COSteve]

Federal 550rd bulk packs work well enough for me. About 1 fail to fire in 2 boxes (1,100rds) is what I see in my Henry Carbine, Marlin 60, and 10/22 and I can live with that.

[chainsaw]

I guess I should have read this thread before going out and buying 3 bricks of Thunderbolt.I guess I'll let the kids shoot it all up.

[claybob86]

CCIs are very reliable and will not harm any .22 in good condition. I can't begin to tell you how many thousands of them have run through my old 1890 Winchester .22 LR, let alone the Model 12C Remington. CCI, Stinger, Federal HPs are all excellent, but like many have experienced, IMO Remington "Golden Bullet" and Winchester Wildcats are worthless beyond belief and a complete waste of money.

That's odd, I've had real good results with the Winchester Wildcats, but haven't bought any for probably at least 5 years. Maybe they've gotten sloppy with them since then.

[Ysabel Kid]

Always liked Winchester Wildcats for low-cost bulk fun work. They always seemed to me to be the most reliable of the "bulk pack" bricks.

[Mike D.]

The Federals are the most reliable of the bulk packs. We stock thousands of them for squirrel killing and they work. Sometimes you can run out a full tubular mag in less than a minute when popping at running "dirt devils". My best count for one day was 58.

[86er]

Everyone' s experience is unique but I have had the most reliability with CCI Stingers. Of the dozen or so brand/product combos I've used in 22 rimfire over the years that account for hundreds of thousands of rounds the only fail-to-fire with a Stinger I recall was in 1995 from a Beretta 21A pistol. Every other brand and type has failed to fire at least a few times per 500. Thank goodness the whole misfire-reload-try again process is quick and quiet. I've not lost any hunting opportunities due to a misfire with rimfire ammo.

[El Chivo]

I have tried many types but seem to find the Fiocchi subsonic the most consistent, 2-3 misfires per brick and all fired the second time.

I tried to see if the lower velocity would give me less sticking in the chamber in my 39A and it seems to. Also it is very clean. I run a patch through it every few boxes and it comes out clean.

Smells like super glue, that astringent chemical smell you get with Aquilas.