Thread: Why do .22s have such different accuracy with different ammunition?

Accuracy at 25 & 50 meters get yourself a PCP air rifle.
This is a 22cal FX wildcat

Originally Posted by Hermitage

Hmmm but if it's barrel harmonics why don't I see more barrel weight tuners on .22 rifles?

Because order of easy/effectiveness of getting better accuracy out of a 22 is as follows:

Good ammo -> technique -> good trigger -> good barrel -> good action -> tuner

Basically most people stop as good action. There is no need to go for tuner unless you are competing small bore or benchrest.

As someone else has pointed out, you are still using hunting grade ammo. IMHO you first step should be start using high end target ammo for performance bench mark and mid-range target ammo for practice.

Originally Posted by Hermitage

As for ammo dimensions....can't do much about that...

Well, if you buy target grade barrel and ammo, you will get a decent fit.

Originally Posted by flock

Accuracy at 25 & 50 meters get yourself a PCP air rifle.
This is a 22cal FX wildcat

$2800?

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

its a .22lr.......unless you are punching paper and trying to shoot tiny wee groups how accurate do you need??

You are 100% right. You can get a 22 very accurate at 100m but you cannot/should not use it for hunting. Because to get good accuracy you must shoot target ammo, which are crap for hunting.

Originally Posted by Ultimitsu

As someone else has pointed out, you are still using hunting grade ammo. IMHO you first step should be start using high end target ammo for performance bench mark and mid-range target ammo for practice.

Yeah, you are making sense.
I was thinking of hunting ammo due to the hollow points for expansion, but at the distances I'm shooting out to, the hollow points are not expanding anyway due to low velocity of under 900fps. @Mooseman said to open up the cavity of the hollow points to get the expansion but they still don't expand at those distances. So now I am only going for headshots.
Therefore I could use the target ammo which is solid lead....really no difference except for increased accuracy.
Yep you have put me onto a good idea I think
Cheers

Originally Posted by Ultimitsu

You are 100% right. You can get a 22 very accurate at 100m but you cannot/should not use it for hunting. Because to get good accuracy you must shoot target ammo, which are crap for hunting.

But not for headshots (using rangefinder and 4-16x Bushnell Elite at 16x).

For hunting, assuming you do not always shoot prone and with support, i say stick to hunting ammo. it is better to aim for a body shots with a hunting ammo than headshots with target ammo.

Back to the original question of why .22 ammunition type is so vital to precision. To put it simply, its the ratio of powder dispensing error vs case size.

If say all bulk ammunition machines accidentally introduce a + or - .1gn error. In a 50 cal case thats .01% of the over all charge in every case. But the same margin of error in the .22 machine.... that makes a 5% margin of error. In short, .22 is a bitch to keep consistant. Any reloader will tell you that not all kernels of powder weigh the same (some have more /less carbon). Humidity would also effect on .22 ammo. Then there's the priming agent... even more variation. Im surprised anyone gets accuracy out of this cal really.

so an average .22lr projectiles is what??? 2 grams in weight average rabbit is what 1000grms in weight.so its a 1;500 difference

for ease of calculation lets pretend deer is 50kgs so you would need to hit with 100grms of lead to be the same......
100grams of lead=ummmmm ,ummmmm most centre fire is under 10grams so what??hit 10 times with your .308 in same place at same time.

head shot can be just as bad as a gut shot,even using .222rem if you get it wrong with target ammunition. varmit ammo in centrefire and hunting ammo in rimfire is much better and gives more room for error. a headshot is saying you can hit the lid of beer bottle EVERYTIME.... we did it all night long when recovering carcase for dog tucker/commercially BUT average range would have been 30yards,sitting with rifle rested on door frame,cool calm and non stressed. if bunny was at fifty plus they were chest shot....we got paid less,but we got dead bunny.