A little on ammo choices

I went shooting Saturday - twice.

First time was in the morning, and was me doing some ammo research and working on some things.
Second time was in the afternoon, I helped my sister, bro-in-law, and father-in-law shoot.

Summary:
In the morning, I went early and shot a total of 20 AQT's (of Appleseed fame). I scored one 195 (story on that below), one 209 (again, story below), three in the 210-225 range, and the rest were in the 230's and 240's. My high was also a new all-time high for me: 246.

That morning, I also should mention, my round count was over 1000. I did some side shooting with the Marlins 60 and 795. Predominantly, I shot the Ruger 10/22.

Notes on the 10/22:
The Ruger 10/22 is now functioning quite well - with a new hammer, bolt, and extractor. I shot it over 800 rounds. Most (500 rounds) was CCI mini-mags. I also shot much Federal bulk, Winchester 555 bulk, and one AQT with Remington Golden Bullets. Shooting this rifle with CCI mini-mags on 12 AQT's, my lowest score was 232. I also had my high score with it - 246. Not once did the Ruger jam.

Remington Golden Bullets:
My four lowest scores were shot with the Golden Bullets.
With the 10/22, using the Remington Golden Bullets, I shot 195. Uggg. I know, there are people who would love to shoot that, but given that I had just shot a 246 immediately prior to that - and shot a 242 immediately after - both with CCI mini-mags. Winchester and Federal had none - each was shot at least 160 rounds. I did squeeze out a 209 with the Ruger and Golden Bullets.

I contend that the Marlin 60 and 795 are more accurate than the Ruger. I still hold that opinion. The 211 I shot this weekend was shot with the Marlin 60 and Golden Bullets. And I must say, the bullets started shooting an inch low and an inch to the left on the third and fourth stages of that AQT. The next lowest score I shot was also with Golden Bullets - 221 with the Marlin 795.

For what it's worth, the Ruger was spitting the Golden Bullets all over the place - high, low, left, right, and any combination of those. Also, the Golden bullets had a total of three duds out of 160 rounds. CCI had one out of 500. Winchester and Federal had no duds this day.

Like with Remington Thunderbolts, one can hear several different pitches of ammo when fired. It is obvious some rounds are not loaded with the same amount of powder, as they are not as loud.

Remington centerfire ammo, in my experience, is very accurate. So I cannot explain why their product is not performing better than it does.

CCI Mini-Mags:
The CCI finally gave me a dud. Let's see - I've shot over 2000 rounds of this stuff, and I finally get one that does not go "boom." Not bad. I usually get 1 out of 500 in the Winchester, and Federal Bulk. I've seen 20+ duds in Remington Golden Bullets (500 round bulk packs).

In the Ruger, I often get prone shots with CCI that touch. With the Marlins, that probability actually increases. For some reason, both Marlins prefer the CCI standard velocity. However, I cannot find that ammo at the time, so I'm saving my last 100 rounds.

Federal Bulk:
This stuff works great. I like this the most out of the ammo I use. The only real edge it has over the Winchester ammo is availability. It's always at Wal-Mart. Winchester can be hit or miss. In the 10/22, I was able to consistently get scores on the AQT of 220+. With the Marlins, add 10 points, or more. I shot a 240+ with both the 795 (tech-sights) and the 60 (scope) with Federal Bulk. Not once with the Ruger.

Winchester 555:
I like this stuff. The only reason I don't have more is that it is not usually in stock at Wal Mart. Same price as Federal Bulk. Same performance from my testing. It seems to have consistency, and I have yet to have a dud in about 1000 rounds fired. Maybe that right there might be a reason to bump it past Federal Bulk, but I've gone well over 1000 rounds without a dud from Federal, too. Then I saw three duds in a row. So I'll reserve promoting this ammo until I've seen more from it.

For now, Winchester 555 is perfectly fine, and I would recommend it for rimfire shooters.

Also, I am under the impression that the Winchester 333 is the same ammo, in a smaller box. So I would recommend that, too. I just buy the bigger boxes.

My Marlin scores were better than my Ruger scores with this ammo, as expected. 


Side note:
I shot one AQT a little different. I shot it standing for the first stage - as prescribed. Then I used the sitting position for stages 2, 3, and 4. Stages 3 and 4 call for the prone position, as the targets are smaller and harder to hit. I used the harder position on purpose.

I must note that I used the Ruger and the CCI mini-mags for this AQT.

I shot a 232.

Next up - learn to shoot kneeling.