Is one better than the other? My only use will be backyard plinking and squirrel hunting. I haven't bought .22 ammo in close to 30yrs. Thanks.
For plinking I buy the Federal 550 bulk packs. A great deal for peformance to price ratio. You can even buy them at walmart for around $18 a box.
Is that head "OK" for squirrels? I'm doing some reading, and this is interesting stuff. Either I lived in a bubble....or .22 ammo has come a long ways, since I was shooting these guns. We used to get "shorts" or LR.
I kill squirrels all the time with the CCI cb longs. 710 fps. 29 GR. 32 ft lbs at the muzzle. So any of the higher power stuff is fine. I also use the federal bulk (525 rounds) and many others. My only complaint about the Federal was that I had lots of duds. (I think this is a problem for any cheap bulk .22 ammo) If you cycle out the round and try it again it will usually shoot but in timed shooting events that dud will really make you mad. For squirrels... not such big a deal.
I agree on the CCI, good stuff. I don't know what rifle you are using Jeff, but my 10/22 has never liked the bulk federal ammo. It shoots ok, but it makes the gun jam pretty often.
I was reading a pretty in-depth review of all the ammos (all .22LR). They had specific loads for specific critters....with specific heads. I was blown away...lol. Chris...thanks. The CCI's sound a lot slower than the 1200fps+ I've seen on the rounds the review I was looking at was suggesting. Is there a reason for that? More head weight? Like I said, I'm trying to learn as much as I can in a day! I'm picking up my .22 tomorrow, and I wanna get some ammo to squirrel hunt with, Saturday (I'll have time to shoot it tomorrow and Friday, also). Good stuff.....thanks! BBM....I bought a used Henry lever ($225).
I have put about 4 550 boxes through my newest .22 and have only had 2 failure to fires, and it has yet to jamb even once. Even with rapid firing 25 round magazines. I have a 525 Federal box (a differnt load than the 550 boxes) but have yet to shoot those.
It might be different standards on the ammo between the 550 box and the 525 then. When I brought the bulk stuff to the Appleseed shoots and had problems with duds, the shoot bosses pretty much all said "You using Federal Bulk?". So it must be a pretty common problem. I won't discount that the .22 I had the most problems with is an older one and the firing pin might not as good as it used to be. However, I didn't have the same issue when I switched ammo.
If I was using the ammo strictly for hunting purposes I would buy CCI. But, for what I am doing and the amount of ammo I go through in short time, the Federal Bulk is perfect. It holds nice groups when I am group shooting and has been very reliable.
I bought this thing for a reason to go in the woods after deer season. But, WE'll get a lot of enjoyment, plinking. Gotta start somewhere. I'll pick something in the 1000fps range with a CP head and start, there. Shooting open sights, it'll all likely be more accurate than I can shoot it.
I also shoot the Federal Bulk out of my .22 no problems thus far. If you really wanna knock a squirrel on it's butt, pick up some .22 Stingers.:D
I've got a Walther P22 and it is picky about ammo. What it does like is CCI mini-mags. I would assume that in guns not picky about ammo that CCI would be a good place to start. I know I have a mixed bag of .22 lr I shoot out of my ruger 10/22 and every once in awhile I have a misfire. Once I'm through it I am going to switch over to CCI and bet it will cure my problem.
I have a Remington 597 semi auto. I sighted it in a couple of months ago with a bulk box of Remington ammo. About 1 out of five were duds. I switched to a box of bulk Federal ammo and didn't have one dud. Maybe it's possible to just get a bad batch?
No. I've had the same results with the Remington ammo before. Shooting them out of my Remington Speedmaster and half of them won't even eject after being shot. Switched to Federal and have had no problems. I've used the CCI stingers on coon before. I never had to shoot one twice!
My experience with Remington ammo is that it is very poor quality. (not just.22 either) GMMAT there are huge differences in ammo and every gun has it's preference. You will need to try a few different brands to see which one your Henry likes best.
I only use the CCI Velocitor, great round, a bit more expensive but worth it in my book! I always shoot what I hunt with!
I went out on a quest once to find the most accurate for me at 50 yards. And I have about every 22LR ammo you can get. From the cheap remingtons, to the high dollar competiton ely stuff. The most accurate out of my 10/22 is CCI Stingers. I have killed squirrels and groundhogs up to 60 yards with it. It not like the comp stuff, that is subsonic, but is supersonic. But I just found what was the most accurate.
