by mickb » 24 Aug 2019, 6:54 am
As you probably know rimfire rifles are more ammo picky than CF, like the fellas said, you need to see what works for yours. They can even be picky between different ammo lot numbers. I hunt and plink, no serious target work. For hunting I start with the fastest and work backwards until I find groups I need. CCi Stinger at 1600fps, Remington yellow jackets about the same, CCI velocitor( advertised 1435, in reality about 1390), minimag( think 1280?). At the moment velocitor is doing pretty well in my gun which is good. Its not quite as flat shooting as the Stingers but probably the best thumper in 22LR with a heavier bullet that penetrates well. These high velocity 22LR do have noticeable knockdown effect on game for the record.
When I was chasing groups to see what the rifle could do I chose the cheapest subsonic ammo and gradually escalated price until I found the best groups. Generic brands then into the match grade stuff, Sk, RWS, eley, lapua etc. The match grade stuff will have an inherent advantage on normal ammo but you might get lucky with cheaper brands first. Also its not the greatest hunting ammo, solid lead round nose, low velocity, drills holes. The reason match grade ammo is subsonic btw is as a supersonic bullet drops down below the speed of sound downrange, it can create a slight instability during that transition. Subsonic ammo aka starting out below the speed of sound, will not experience this problem down range.