.22 Rimfire Ammunition

[IanB 0]

I've only ever used 4 brands of subsonic rimfire ammunition, normally eley subsonic are my choice by a country mile, but recently the last couple of times I've been left with a choice of winchester super x OR RWS subsonics when arriving to pick some up at the local supplier. I stopped using the winchester over a year ago when they altered the case size and they created problems with the shells jamming and not ejecting once fired, this was a problem with my cz rifle and I've heard of others having similar problems, although the older cz's don't seem to suffer with the shells sticking, other than that the winchester rounds were brilliant and done a super job with accuracy to boot. After not being able to use the winchesters, I moved over to the eley subsonics, a super little round, and very accurate/consistent even if they do stink, when demand was high at eley, the supplier I dealt with had some RWS in, so left with no other option before a nights lamping ahead of me I bought 500, and later on another 500, same again its all that was available.. I'm personally going to avoide the RWS like the plague from now on, I only head shoot rabbits the eley are consistent and hammer home everytime, the RWS nearly every third shot is a inch out or so thats testing a 1000 of them and zeroing before a lamping session, I missed a lot of rabbits that the eley would have connected with a clean head shot... so my little rant over.. my view on RWS, to put it in technical terms... "There Wank"..

[mattydski 560]

Ian, I am sure we had the discussion over Winchesters jamming in our CZ before. At the time I never had the issue. Since then I had had sporadic jamming of fired and non fired cartridges in mine. But every time it was down to excessive wax in the chamber. A quick clean out with the .243 brush, solved the problem. I am not sure this was down to my cleaning regime or not, as it had never been a problem before this particular batch. I wonder whether it was a combination of the increased case size making the ejection more sensitive to a build up of wax..

But I carried on with the Winchesters because they just work... I am the same as you, I only head shoot, as nothing else has any value..

Interested about your comments on RWS, we found the same, but fortunately didn't buy a 1000..

Also rejected was CCI...

 

Eleys are cheaper for us.......substantially so....but Winchesters all the way.

 

Matty

[IanB 0]

Was speaking to a keeper today he buys 10,000 eley at a time, said he went to buy some and they had non in stock, so bought some RWS he suffered the exact same problem as myself, there not consistent at all and very very waxy.

[jamie g 17]

used eley's in my cz style 22lr and got to agree they where spot on. very accurate and consistant

[archiekale 427]

used eley's in my anschutz 22Lr then changed to Winchesters will be sticking with Winchesters a very accurate round

[IanB 0]

Updated this post with a poll, if you use another manufacturer not shown let me know and I'll update the options.

[Geoff.C 0]

I voted for Winchester, as my new CZ Style carbine seems to perform best with these. Actually, it seems to perform equally well with Eley or Winchester, grouping nicely even if you put them through in random order. The Eley though, are 50p per box of 50,more than the Winchester, so as there is no noticeable difference I will buy on price. Ian, can you adjust my price to 40 pounds? I forgot to allow the discount for 500, and put full price.

[IanB 0]

I voted for Winchester, as my new CZ Style carbine seems to perform best with these. Actually, it seems to perform equally well with Eley or Winchester, grouping nicely even if you put them through in random order. The Eley though, are 50p per box of 50,more than the Winchester, so as there is no noticeable difference I will buy on price. Ian, can you adjust my price to 40 pounds? I forgot to allow the discount for 500, and put full price.

 

 

Hello Geoff, you can remove your vote and vote again for both.

[Deker 3,478]

This ammo business really does get you scratching your head sometimes.

 

I use Magtech Subs almost exclusively in my Silhouette and they work remarkably well for me! I am well aware of the views of many on this ammo, and yes I get the odd one that goes noisy! A few months back I was out with a pal who has exactly the same rifle as me and exactly the same moderator, and it is also a very similar age. He had used Eley from day one but was impressed with the way mine handled Magtech.

 

We did a swap, I tried Eley and was disapointed to find little or no difference in accuracy, but they arrived and expanded WORSE than the Magtech. He tried Magtech in his rifle and could not get anything approaching a group at all!

 

40 years back I used nothing but Eley for target work and they most certainly did the business.

 

These days with tolerances what they are, and barrels what they are, it is simply a matter of finding what best suits your rifle for your requirements.

 

I am more than prepared to accept that Eley may well still be the most accurate, but their HP is certainly not the most effective!

[Geoff.C 0]

I voted for Winchester, as my new CZ Style carbine seems to perform best with these. Actually, it seems to perform equally well with Eley or Winchester, grouping nicely even if you put them through in random order. The Eley though, are 50p per box of 50,more than the Winchester, so as there is no noticeable difference I will buy on price. Ian, can you adjust my price to 40 pounds? I forgot to allow the discount for 500, and put full price.

 

 

Hello Geoff, you can remove your vote and vote again for both.

Thanks Ian, done that now. It's easy when you know how!!

[IanB 0]

Tried some winchester yesterday and not one case jammed, so maybe I might stick with the winchester again, as there not bad

[hairysausagefingers 0]

I tried loads of brands when I got my RF and stuck with Eley. Magtechs were ok and the hollow point was more of a crater than a hollow! Whilst they looked fantastic and certainly did the damage, I couldn't see the point if they were shooting over or under the target. They were okay at close range I guess, but for work with the rangefinder and dialling-in on the turrets, I can't fault the eley rounds. Head and chest shots to about 115 -120 yds all day long with Eley. There's still masses of energy in the bullet at that range so the expansion isn't really a problem as long as the placement is good. I read it takes only 4/ft lb of enery to bump a rabbit off with a head shot anyway.

It's more fun using the .22 at range than aiming dead on with the .17HMR (and much quieter too), but you can't do it without consistent ammo.

 

CCI were dreadful and the box of Remington I had were a complete joke.

If I couldn't get Eley I'd use Winchester. I remember one of the gun mags did a test a few years back and there was hardly antyhing in it in terms of consistency between the two.

[AzMaN 0]

local shop has run out of eley, says they wont have any untill january

 

ive got some RWS subs, he says they are meant to be quite good its a new type in a silver box (well i think its a new type, having never used rws before im just guessing from the others he had in the cuboard) will take them down the range tonight and compare them to the eleys.

[sully5328 0]

I have recently bought some Lapua subsonic. They are extremley accurate and quite. Two of my friends on my reccomendation have tried the ammo and we have all decided to move from our usual ammo (eley/cci and winnie subs)to the Lapua.The grouping on targets are also tight and consistent.

[Deker 3,478]

I tried loads of brands when I got my RF and stuck with Eley. Magtechs were ok and the hollow point was more of a crater than a hollow! Whilst they looked fantastic and certainly did the damage, I couldn't see the point if they were shooting over or under the target. They were okay at close range I guess, but for work with the rangefinder and dialling-in on the turrets, I can't fault the eley rounds. Head and chest shots to about 115 -120 yds all day long with Eley. There's still masses of energy in the bullet at that range so the expansion isn't really a problem as long as the placement is good. I read it takes only 4/ft lb of enery to bump a rabbit off with a head shot anyway.

It's more fun using the .22 at range than aiming dead on with the .17HMR (and much quieter too), but you can't do it without consistent ammo.

 

CCI were dreadful and the box of Remington I had were a complete joke.

If I couldn't get Eley I'd use Winchester. I remember one of the gun mags did a test a few years back and there was hardly antyhing in it in terms of consistency between the two.

 

It is very interesting to hear other peoples experiences, I am fortunate that I have a lot of tools to choose from and my .22LR CZ Silhouette is now exclusively a sub sonic tool.

 

Going back the odd year or two I did use/try a number of HV rounds through it and the Remington Yellow Jacket Hyper Velocity HP were probably the best, odd looking bullet but it did shoot well(ish), for a High Velocity .22lr and it certainly did the business when it arrived!