A Guns Favorite Meal

Every gun, like each of us performs different depending on what it’s fed. If you feed your gun a steady diet of its favorite ammo you could see dramatic improvements in your shooting results. I have seen expensive custom guns that performed better with cheap ammo and cheap guns that perform better with the expensive ammo.

While gathering ammo for my most recent range trip I picked up four different boxes of .22 ammunition to see what my old Ruger 10/22 preferred.

Remington Golden Bullet- 36 grain Hollow Points

Federal- Champion High Velocity 40 grain Hollow Points

CCI Quiet 22-  40 grain Lead Round Nose

Blazer- 40 grain Lead Round Nose

The little 10/22 has been fed many a meal of the Remington Golden Bullet and the Federal Champions over the years. Let’s face it; the Remington Golden Bullets are pretty much a staple of .22 plinkers everywhere due to the low price and the reliability of the rounds.

Each one of the brands was shot through the same Ruger 10/22 at the same target set at 50 feet. Each test was conducted using 10 rounds from one manufacturer at a time. Secondly, each time the trigger was pulled the little Ruger was aimed at dead center of the bulls eye of the target for that manufacturer.

One of the first things I noticed once the tests was over was that each group had one of the ten that seemed to stray from the group. I will admittedly chalk it up to user error on those four shots.

All but one of the series of rounds cycled well through the 10/22. The CCI Quiet 22 seemed to never be able to create enough pressure to cycle the bolt all of the way. From past experience with CCI ammunition this was the first time that it fell short on expectations. Another noticeable difference in the CCI ammo was that the whole group was below the center of the target. The group that the CCI produced was right in line with the other brands, just over the 1 inch mark.

The Remington Golden Bullets and Federal Champions also managed similar groups of just over the one inch mark. Both cycled perfectly without a single hang-up on either.

The top dog of the shoot out was the Blazer ammunition. Without counting the stray that each group seem to have, the Blazer ammo managed a group measuring only ¾ of an inch. I have used Blazer ammunition several times through the years for my .357 Magnum but to my memory had never ran Blazer ammo through the little Ruger 22. The Blazer’s seemed to make hitting the target almost effortless with each shot. Watching each shot make a bigger hole in the target.

Just because the Blazer performed well in the test gun does not mean that you will get the same results. It is important that with each of your guns to experiment with different brands and loads to see what your gun likes best. I have seen custom built target guns that get the best results with the same Federal rounds that were used in this test. I have also witnessed an old “truck gun” ( you know, that old gun that has been behind the seat of your truck(s) for the past 200,000 miles or so) that would only get a tight group with match grade Hornady. Only with testing and trial and error will you be able to find which one your gun likes best. If you take the time to research it you could possibly turn a cheap gun into a tack driver.

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Happy shooting and God bless America and God bless you and yours.

James

Tags: .22LR, Ammunition, Comparison, featured, test

Category: ammunition, Tips and Techniques