Guns: Mid-Grade .22 Ammo

Between the big 500+ round bricks of .22 LR on sale at your local Wally World and the nice target .22 ammo you can get off the Web or in gun shops, there's what I like to call "mid-grade .22." These varieties of .22 LR are typically marketed as hunting rounds, and usually comes in small 50 round boxes that'll fit neatly into the average shirt pocket.

The whole cost/benefit calculation is almost analogous to that middle grade of gasoline you get at the pump - you're paying more, sure, but are you really getting more consistent ammo? In the interests of science, I decided to test out a few brands to see how they stacked up against the ole Remington bulk pack.

The results were encouraging. At 25 yards, the bulk pack group was the same size across as the diameter of a Coke can - good enough for plinking, but nothing you'd want to take to the Olympics. The fancier .22 rounds, like the Federal 40-grainers pictured above, were more consistent, turning in 1.5" groups from my Savage rimfire rifle (probably capable of better, but my rifle shooting isn't what it used to be).

I wonder if these rounds are manufactured in the same facility. Are the more expensive .22s merely subject to more stringent quality control? Or are the actual components - the powder, the rim's priming compound, the bullet - better matched in the mid-grade round? In any case, there is a difference. Whether it's worth the added expense comes down to what you're using the stuff for, I suppose.