22LR Ammo - match/non-match

[TMan]

I guess I really don't understand 22LR ammo. Wolf, for example, has 3 different 22LR offerings.

Shooting the Wolf Match Extra, their best offering, in my Remington 597 was terrible. However, shooting the Remington Golden Bullets, gave fairly decent groups.

In the Remington 504-T the Remington Golden Bullets will not even eject and make it difficult to close the bolt. However, the Wolf Match Extra give even better groups in the 504-T than they did in the Ruger 77/22.

What is going on? Is Match grade ammo only for match grade barrels? Can you not shoot regular ammo in a match grade barrel?

Incidentally, my friends Anshultz liked the Match Extra very well too, but could also shoot the Remington Golden Bullets and got decent groups.

My dealer was shooting Federal Champion in the 504-T and got just is good a grouping as I did with the Wolf Match Extra. What is going on?

[MLB]

I had imagined that the only thing that made any ammo "match" grade was the consistency or tolerences of the bullets, case, and powder. I'll have to look up some of the promotional material and see what the claims are.

I'm afraid however, that all I will find is that the ammo gives "better groupings. :

[5ontarget]

Some people even claim that two guns from the same maker will shoot very differently with the same ammo. I pretty much use 3 (with a rare 4th variety) varieties of .22lr, and haven't noticed what I would consider a significant difference. Maybe I'm not a good enough shot, or my guns aren't accurate enough to see the differences between the 3. I usually have one of two different varieties of Reminton on hand (golden bullet, or the other is thunderbolt or lightning or something like that), and some CCI minimags. I also occasionally have some CCI stingers on hand, especially when the varmint population blooms.

My dealer was shooting Federal Champion in the 504-T and got just is good a grouping as I did with the Wolf Match Extra. What is going on?

Depending on the sequence, it may be partly the amount of fouling in the barrel. Some guns shoot better with a little crud in the barrel. I know in some benchrest matches the competitors are allowed a certain number of fouling shots, often 3-5. The problem comes when your gun shoots best after 8-10 fouling shots. On the other hand, if it was too fouled, then accuracy would start dropping off agian.

See isn't that convienent, arguements for both sides, you can win or lose either way. Gee, wasn't that helpful.

Or it could have been the gravitational pull of the moon and the sunspots, and the wind shifting, and the small earthquake, and the convection currents generated from the Earth, all working against you.

How'd your dealer shoot with the Wolf? You mentioned the groups with Federal were as good as your groups with Wolf. How did your groups of Wolf compare to your dealer's?

[TMan]

Whoops, sorry so late in answering. Her's were better.

Also, her husband was in a match this past weekend and came in 46th out of 50. Now she wants her husband to go shooting with her. He wants a picture of me - wanted to know if I had a shirt with a bullseye on it. ;D

I'm taking her again on Monday, but I'm not sure what I'm going to let her shoot. I want to mic some ammo this weekend to see if I get different sizes of the bullets/cases.

[MLB]

That would be interesting for the cases, but I'd think due to the waxy coating on some rounds and the malleability of lead that mic'ing them would be tricky. It'll be interesting to see what you come up with.

[TMan]

I didn't get around to measuring the rounds this weekend because my Sunday afternoon was spent shopping and cooking. (I met with friends for supper Sunday night and had to take a dish).

However, I did find out this morning that the CCI Standard Velocity shot the best in the Remington 597. I had put a shim under the front post in order to float the barrel, but I couldn't see much difference in the accuracy. Golly, the 597 just isn't as accurate as the Remington 504-T, which costs 5 times as much. Go figure!!!

I do remember a really nice, but somewhat odd, fellow that brought a weird looking, custom made 22 to the range one day. You would have thought he was Jesus Christ the way people flocked around him to hear what he had to say. What I remember the most was that he said that the bullet had to be leaving at 1070 fps to achieve the most accuracy. He had developed his own lubricant in order to achieve that. I asked him about the crown and he told me that it was at 11⁰, and he had cut it himself on his own lathe. At this point, I wouldn't have been surprised to see him turn some water into wine. I also found out that he has traveled around the world shooting in matches, and he teaches shooting for some college.

I'm saying all of this, man am I verbose, to say that on the box of CCI Standard Velocity ammo they state that the speed is 1070fps.