How much accuracy should i expect from 22lr

[Kelsey Cooter]

How much accuracy does everyone expect from a 22lr?
I have a ruger 77/22 with a leupold vx1, that iv only had for a couple of months and this afternoon i had a play with 5 shot groups at 50m with CCI standards, CCI minimags, CCI stingers and Remington golden bullets.

My best 5 shot group was the Stingers at 30mm and worst group was cci standards at 48.4mm

What does everyone think of groups like that from a normal off the shelf 22lr rifle?

[bladeracer]

How much accuracy does everyone expect from a 22lr?
I have a ruger 77/22 with a leupold vx1, that iv only had for a couple of months and this afternoon i had a play with 5 shot groups at 50m with CCI standards, CCI minimags, CCI stingers and Remington golden bullets.

My best 5 shot group was the Stingers at 30mm and worst group was cci standards at 48.4mm

What does everyone think of groups like that from a normal off the shelf 22lr rifle?

Sounds okay to me.
How many rounds have been through it so far?

[Kelsey Cooter]

Id say around 200

[Wombat]

Depends on the circumstances.Were you shooting off a rest, bipod, bag or freehand, what position? What is your level of experience?
If you are just starting shooting and were shooting off an impromptu rest, like a fencepost etc I'd say it was excellent.

[marksman]

I am pretty happy with one hole lol

no really if I can get 5 shots into a 5 cent piece at 50 that will do me for walking around spotlighting off sticks, that makes me happy

[Strikey]

Fairly obvious your Ruger doesn't like any of that ammo you tried, go buy some others to try, SK is a good option to start with and usually standard velocity ammo will group better at 50m than the HV stuff.

[Kelsey Cooter]

Depends on the circumstances.Were you shooting off a rest, bipod, bag or freehand, what position? What is your level of experience?
If you are just starting shooting and were shooting off an impromptu rest, like a fencepost etc I'd say it was excellent.

Sitting at a table with a front bag. Have been shooting for years but have only just gotten interested in shooting groups on paper so I would consider myself extremely amateur, but sitting in the same position with my 223 i can consistently get 3 shots at less then an inch at 100yards

[brett1868]

I don't remember who on this forum suggested this guy but I thank you. Very easily understood and some good lessons.

Check this out for a good primer on 22LR ammo selection
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGWS5Vk5Nek

[GLS_1956]

The Ruger 77/22 I have inherited is chambered in 22WMR and I have not fired it yet, so I can't really speak to the accuracy of the 77/22s. But it does seem that you are getting around 3 to 4 MOA with the ammunition you've tried, which is about what I am getting out of my Ruger 10/22 with general bulk ammo. My Marlin Model 60 cuts that in about half and the CZ 455 gives me around 1 MOA.

[Apollo]

Interesting video Brett, I still can't stop laughing... He's a "Professional" ... Really....

Forget the silly "Semi Auto's" ... They don't really even shoot "Single Shot" accuracy. Nice toys, been there, done that.

Okay, to the Topic.... Accuracy from a 22LR.

Using a front and rear rest to have some fun with a 1965 Brno Model 2 at 50 Metres.

I tested my trusty years old ammo that I know works in this rifle, Winchester Power Points (not the current version) and that ammo will shoot less than 15mm groups but it also holds pretty good at 75 Metres where I have it set at Zero for general use. I've tried other ammo which was not as good, I have enough of the old Power Points to see my life out with this rifle... 22's never wear out, so that's me that's going to expire before the rifle.

Now, accuracy...

I had a couple of reasons to do more testing. A 50 Metre and a 200 Yard Rimfire Competition.. Benchrest. Purchased a heap of different ammo from cheap to very expensive to test at 50 Metres. Different brands BUT I cleaned the rifle bore after changing brands, different wax, and didn't test until I fired a couple of dozen rounds before getting serious.

High velocity ammo was still the Winchester Power Points, the newer version not far behind but not flash either.

Standard velocity ammo. The very best was very expensive Eley Target Match and very, very close was Lapua Centre-X at half the price. Compared to the high velocity ammo the 5 shot groups were half the size... The best were tighter than 5 shots touching each other meaning near one hole... (Puts shame on that guy in the Video at 40 Yards).

So, how good is accuracy from a .22LR factory rifle.

At my 200 Yard State Competition I held my own against very expensive specific designed Custom Target Rifles. One target 5 shot group much less than 2", Two 5 shot groups less than 3" and the last two less than 4" for the 5 target competition.... All with Lapua Standard Velocity Centre-X Ammo which I use the not graded lots for bunnies at home. A lot more fun knowing the ballistics with quiet ammo.

Remember, this is 200 Yards with a breeze and mirage in warm weather...

BTW... Normal hunting scope is a Zeiss 4-12x44mm and target scope is a Leupold 8.5-25x50mm.

The point... 22LR can be very accurate, great practice for long range shooters to learn to read the conditions and adjust. Also, cheap even using target grade ammo... Better accuracy, less wasted shots so it's economical in the end.

Also loved my .22LR Pistol Shooting many, many years ago... what a buzz.

[Apollo]

The main point...

With any .22LR. Go and buy as many breeds of ammo you can find. Clean the bore between change of manufacturer. Shoot a dozen or more shots and record your effort, then decide on accuracy and/or price what you choose to use. Pick a nice calm cool day or early morning/ late afternoon.

Australia's best long range shooters that compete all over the world shoot .22LR and are very good at it going Bunny Hunting for a relax.

[Wombat]

Maybe try a rear bag or support as well for testing purposes. Are the groups elongated vertically or just spread? Is the scope a rimfire version? Maybe try to hold a consistent cheekweld. Have you checked torque settings on everything?
Rimfirecentral has a 77/22 section, that may give you some ideas of what is attainable.

[YoungBuck]

Get some more ammo of different brands.That stinger group isn't bad considering its hyper, but that CCI standard group is lousy. CCI HP Subs usually shoot very good for me from my savage mkii (within a 20c piece at 50m) and are only beaten by RWS supers.

[Apollo]

Get some more ammo of different brands.That stinger group isn't bad considering its hyper, but that CCI standard group is lousy. CCI HP Subs usually shoot very good for me from my savage mkii (within a 20c piece at 50m) and are only beaten by RWS supers.

When I had two Brno Model 2's, well one was a Model 2E. They were a 1965 and a 1985.

What breed of 22LR Ammo one liked the other hated. Tiny groups with one and the other looked like shotgun splatter. Then a mate brought up his 1980 Model 2 and it didn't like either good breeds of ammo tried in my two. Certainly pays to get the best selection you can find, even if something different comes up down the track get some and try something new until you are happy with the results.

Other than a thorough clean between using different manufacturers ammo and it takes a lot of shots to settle accuracy, I don't clean my bore with any solvent. Every so often I push a dry nylon brush and a dry patch down the bore to knock out any loose stuff. All these Brno's mentioned don't shoot as well clean as they do when fouled.

BTW.... All my Target Ammo is sorted into batches by Rim Thickness (headspace). I did try this trick with cheap CCI Standard Ammo and it did show an improvement in reducing those odd weird shots but for general use it was very time consuming on average quality ammo.

[Wm.Traynor]

Sitting at a table with a front bag. Have been shooting for years but have only just gotten interested in shooting groups on paper so I would consider myself extremely amateur, but sitting in the same position with my 223 i can consistently get 3 shots at less then an inch at 100yards

Exceedingly good shooting for no-rear-bag

[pomemax]

Show us your Rimfire Groups!

[Lorgar]

With any .22LR. Go and buy as many breeds of ammo you can find.

+1

I tried a dozen kinds of ammo in my Annie, best was 0.39" and worst was 1.30".

Huge difference.

[bladeracer]

With any .22LR. Go and buy as many breeds of ammo you can find.

+1

I tried a dozen kinds of ammo in my Annie, best was 0.39" and worst was 1.30".

Huge difference.

I tried more than sixty types in my Rugers - they varied from 6-7mm up to 150mm+ at 50m.

[Wombat]

The best Ammo out of my Model 2 so far was a nice tight cloverleaf 5 shot group. Sadly it was old stuff I'd had since the early 90's........bugger. The point being try all the readily locally available stuff first. Otherwise like me you could find something that shoots fantastically, but you cannot readily get.
Another thing to bear in mind is that your performance will tail off on longer sessions so maybe limit it to trying 3 or 4 types per session.

[HulkFury]

With a Savage BTVS 22lr at 50m on a bipod, using cheap CCI and Standard RWS.

Doesn't do too bad at 100m either.

Savage BTVS

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