Ammo selection for a RimX/Proof build...not competing with it

[BravoSector1]

I recently took a RimX barreled action on trade and wanted to get an idea of what you guys would use for ammo. I'm not competing with the stick. Casual hunting (suppressed) and pinking. Proof Research carbon fiber 16.5" barrel on the action right now. I have zero background with respect to precision shooting in .22LR. Don't want to break the bank on ammo but also don't want to run CCI standard either. What might be the go to ammo for this rig? Thank you in advance.

 

[Kadams1563]

Sk Standard

Especially when it was half the cost it is now.

 

[021411]

Norma Tac 22 works fine for plinking.

 

[oldrifleman]

I would use sk rifle match

 

[Kadams1563]

Norma Tac 22 works fine for plinking.

This is true I bought a bunch of it they had a great sale a couple of years ago and it shoots well.

 

[Mr. Wolf]

Eley Contact has been a great hunting/plinking round for me.

Contact .22lr Subsonic 42g Rimfire Cartridges

ELEY contact is a subsonic semi-automatic .22LR round designed to deliver extreme accuracy and improved knock-down performance with a softer sound and minimal recoil. The reduced recoil delivers quicker sight picture recovery important for the competitive semi-automatic shooter.

www.killoughshootingsports.com

I saw Womfat from YouTube joke that it's the 338 Lapua of the 22 LR world...

YMMV, happy shooting

 

[woogie_man]

Have a case of the SK Match that shoots wonderfully well out of mine

 

[LR1845]

Might try some wolf ammo.

 

[Milo 2.5]

I'd just test some ammo in the price range you are comfy with and sort from there. I made a fair amount of misconceptions concerning ammo when I first started shooting 22LR for high levels of accuracy. I totally discounted Eley ammo as a whole after firing some in one rifle.
For casual hunting and plinking your choices are many, for all you know, CCI mini mags may be the ticket, but defeat the purpose of the can.

 

[AmmoFort]

Might try some wolf ammo.

Wolf shot 2 moa at 100 yards for me out of a Rim-X and proof combo.

 

[MajorD]

Wolf shot 2 moa at 100 yards for me out of a Rim-X and proof combo.

And wolf is just eley in a different box. Unfortunately the ammo considered the go to these days ( lapua and sk) is limited in availability while most types of eley is more easily available. I have had good luck with even the lower end eley club and contact ( different rifle) but you never know until you test in yours.

 

[RTH1800]

I will add this to the conversation. Rimfire accuracy is not as complex as folks here seem to make it.

Think of it as a chain. The limiting factor is the weak link. It could be barrel, bedding, chambering, shooter, sights or ammo. Whatever it is, on a statistically significant sample size you will not out preform the weak link. You will not find a magic rifle that shoots bulk ammo like Lapua Center X or Eley Tenex. Lot testing is hair splitting. Good ammo shoots well in well made rifles with good sights and good shooters.

The magic cheap ammo that shoots .25 MOA at 100 yards will always be found to be based on an insignificant sample size. I seldom encounter a well made rifle that does not shoot quality ammo well. I do see huge vertical dispersion with all brands of cheap ammo.

I think lot testing is over done for most non competitive shooters. You will not find a lot number that will make your Marlin mod 60 shoot like an Anschutz Olympic rifle. As someone said, get some ammo in the price range you are comfortable with and start shooting. If you care to, get a few different types.

Have fun shooting.

 

[oldrifleman]

I will add this to the conversation. Rimfire accuracy is not as complex as folks here seem to make it.

Think of it as a chain. The limiting factor is the weak link. It could be barrel, bedding, chambering, shooter, sights or ammo. Whatever it is, on a statistically significant sample size you will not out preform the weak link. You will not find a magic rifle that shoots bulk ammo like Lapua Center X or Eley Tenex. Lot testing is hair splitting. Good ammo shoots well in well made rifles with good sights and good shooters.

The magic cheap ammo that shoots .25 MOA at 100 yards will always be found to be based on an insignificant sample size. I seldom encounter a well made rifle that does not shoot quality ammo well. I do see huge vertical dispersion with all brands of cheap ammo.

I think lot testing is over done for most non competitive shooters. You will not find a lot number that will make your Marlin mod 60 shoot like an Anschutz Olympic rifle. As someone said, get some ammo in the price range you are comfortable with and start shooting. If you care to, get a few different types.

Have fun shooting.

Wise words, I am in a never ending quest to make sure I am the weakest link.

 

[Milo 2.5]

I recently took a RimX barreled action on trade and wanted to get an idea of what you guys would use for ammo. I'm not competing with the stick. Casual hunting (suppressed) and pinking. Proof Research carbon fiber 16.5" barrel on the action right now. I have zero background with respect to precision shooting in .22LR. Don't want to break the bank on ammo but also don't want to run CCI standard either. What might be the go to ammo for this rig? Thank you in advance.

I am actually going to put a new Rim X together tomorrow night with a 20" Proof carbon, doing a lighter version of the first Rim X that I owned.
I don't want to shoot 15 buck ammo, but I have a relatively good supply of CX and Lapua Long range w/o homes. More than a casual plinker, I want a rifle for the wife to enjoy if she chooses, and for kids who want to learn.
In my head, Eley Team seemed like one logical choice, though I see it has went up slightly in price over the winter, most likely I will test what I have on hand and deal with costs down the road.

 

[stevieb92]

I've been really happy with SK Pistol Match in my Rim-X and 24 inch Proof steel barrel.

 

[Milo 2.5]

I put the new Rim X Lite together yesterday morning, then tested some ammo at 200 yards in later afternoon. Guess what, it likes expensive ammo.
I have no idea what a 16" carbon barrel would do, heck, it may be stiffer. But I ran all ammo over the Garmin, and every low speed rd from the norm hit high, like clockwork. The harmonics of the barrel are far finickier than a heavy steel, and while shooting, I had flashbacks of why the last setup, same config had a tuner on it.
Overall costs are low compared to other builds, but this BA is relatively pricey, and I want a decent amount of accuracy from it. It will get fed Center X or R50 (2 best subjects), if I shoot even 3 bricks a yr from this rifle, it would be a banner yr.

 

[AmmoFort]

I put the new Rim X Lite together yesterday morning, then tested some ammo at 200 yards in later afternoon. Guess what, it likes expensive ammo.
I have no idea what a 16" carbon barrel would do, heck, it may be stiffer. But I ran all ammo over the Garmin, and every low speed rd from the norm hit high, like clockwork. The harmonics of the barrel are far finickier than a heavy steel, and while shooting, I had flashbacks of why the last setup, same config had a tuner on it.
Overall costs are low compared to other builds, but this BA is relatively pricey, and I want a decent amount of accuracy from it. It will get fed Center X or R50 (2 best subjects), if I shoot even 3 bricks a yr from this rifle, it would be a banner yr.

That sounds like you meant to say the higher speed rounds hit high. Or maybe I’m about to learn something I didn’t know?

 

[Milo 2.5]

That sounds like you meant to say the higher speed rounds hit high. Or maybe I’m about to learn something I didn’t know?

No, I meant what I wrote. I'm no expert on barrel harmonics, I assume exit point was off some from the norm. As far as learning, I'm in no position to teach, I just know what I saw on target, and on the Garmin screen.
Maybe if the target was set at 300 or beyond, these same rds may have impacted low.

I didn't tell the whole story, I went on to test 4 samples at 300, 2 were eliminated quickly, as a 10" plate was too small. At 400 yards, I had a clear winner.
My first carbon barrel seemed harder to find a suitable ammo for also, once found, pretty golden as it was a very accurate platform. Which was kind of the drift of my post.

 

[oldrifleman]

With what you stated about velocity, have you tried the Lapua long range and super long range ( RWS has equivalent rounds). I think they are faster as well.

 

[Milo 2.5]

With what you stated about velocity, have you tried the Lapua long range and super long range ( RWS has equivalent rounds). I think they are faster as well.

Yes, I tested at least 2 LLR samples, and they sucked, no ammo is magical. No SLR on hand, but did test 3 RWS samples.
I wasn't looking for speed as a factor in selecting ammo, the 2 ammos that shined were CX @ 1087, and R50 @ 1108fps. One lot of R100 avg 1157fps, and if you removed the fliers and ignored the vel spreads, it shot tight, and I gave it a few opportunities to straighten out, lol.
I learn as I go, and this day was 55 deg, if I ran the same test in 80 deg temps, would my results be the same? I just wanted to shoot this rifle, get it ready for a road trip.
I have another new Rim X with a 25" truck axle for a barrel that I'm going to pay far more attn to in the next 3 weeks. It shoots well at 300, I just need a really nice day to decide if I want or think I need a tuner on it.

 

[oldrifleman]

That sounds like you meant to say the higher speed rounds hit high. Or maybe I’m about to learn something I didn’t know?

He was actually demonstrating why dedicated rimfire target shooters use tuners. The slower rounds had found a vibration point that resulted in the bullet exiting as the barrel was pointing slightly more up than the faster rounds. And the fact that the groups were larger points to that not being a true node.

 

[oldrifleman]

I was wondering how good the extended range stuff would shoot. I have some Super LR to test but then I also have CenterX, Midas+ and Xact.

 

[LR1845]

Yes, I tested at least 2 LLR samples, and they sucked, no ammo is magical. No SLR on hand, but did test 3 RWS samples.
I wasn't looking for speed as a factor in selecting ammo, the 2 ammos that shined were CX @ 1087, and R50 @ 1108fps. One lot of R100 avg 1157fps, and if you removed the fliers and ignored the vel spreads, it shot tight, and I gave it a few opportunities to straighten out, lol.
I learn as I go, and this day was 55 deg, if I ran the same test in 80 deg temps, would my results be the same? I just wanted to shoot this rifle, get it ready for a road trip.
I have another new Rim X with a 25" truck axle for a barrel that I'm going to pay far more attn to in the next 3 weeks. It shoots well at 300, I just need a really nice day to decide if I want or think I need a tuner on it.

I'll be curios to see what effect the tuner has on that 25" barrel if you end up putting it on.

 

[Milo 2.5]

He was actually demonstrating why dedicated rimfire target shooters use tuners. The slower rounds had found a vibration point that resulted in the bullet exiting as the barrel was pointing slightly more up than the faster rounds. And the fact that the groups were larger points to that not being a true node.

This 22LR journey has been interesting, I don't say much about what I do or my rifles. Last yr at this same time, I had Dixon at LRI spin up a 13tw MW for my initial Rim X, threaded for EC V2. Same boat, a ND trip looming Memorial day weekend. I tested over 15 samples CX and LLR ammo, all I ever had after tests was WTF now.
I measured everything under the sun, all I had was a carbon ring factory. Then one day I ordered some Eley ammo, quite a few samples, night vs day. I bought all I could of the winning lot, 5 bricks. While in ND, I found as good as the ammo was, it started falling apart at 385 meters, or close to 425 yards.
When I got home, looked into diff ammo and found one that was spectacular, with a tuner, my vertical dispersion most days at 5-600 was close to 12" or less as adj were made. Thing was, one in 10 rds failed to make it to the target, up to 6' in front of it. Bad ammo? I bought all 7 bricks left of it. Once I learned not to chase the miss, my hit pct was pretty high. It produced virtually no high fliers, was it worth it, to me, I'd buy every brick that ammo on the planet if I could. Others may walk by it.

I was wondering how good the extended range stuff would shoot. I have some Super LR to test but then I also have CenterX, Midas+ and Xact.

Only one way to find out. Shoot some, lol.
One lot of LLR did well in my Vudoo to 600, 16 tw barrel, 1119 fps ave, when conditions allowed. So I was in the new buzzword "mach trimming" all the time, some over, some under.
But my first Proof carbon shooting CX at 1095fps, probably did the best overall of all my rifles from 50-600 yards. It's a friggin crapshoot!

 

[Milo 2.5]

I'll be curios to see what effect the tuner has on that 25" barrel if you end up putting it on.

You and me both! The barrel is a beast.
Story, I pulled a EC V2 of an M24, and replaced it with a Harrell's, I left the threads on the barrel, as it slid inside the hole of the Harrell's, just in case, lol. My ammo choice was proving to be solid with EC, one afternoon trying to tune was a total failure, I may have been close to spinning it apart. BUT, I had bought additional weights for it, both 3 & 5 oz, next outing, the only one, with the 3oz installed, it was coming along way nice, wind came up and I quit. I'm not quite sure that I want friends to see this thing hanging off the end of the barrel though. I'll call it new breed suppressor, with minimal sound reduction, this will fly.
They make up to 8oz weights, so I most likely will try, with the price of ammo, this little sidebar is a minor blip.

 

[oldrifleman]

Yep, always is! I never shoot that kind of distance, I normally stick to 50 yards for rimfire, but my new toy seems to be a perfect chance to move to 100 and possibly 200yrds.

 

[Milo 2.5]

Yep, always is! I never shoot that kind of distance, I normally stick to 50 yards for rimfire, but my new toy seems to be a perfect chance to move to 100 and possibly 200yrds.

LOL, lot of good ammo out there for your needs. You will become a master at 200 in no time and looking to shoot further.
I wouldn't own a 22LR if I was limited to 50 yards, just me. Heck, I slapped a scope on a JP GMR 15 (PCC) and shot 9mm 115gr blasting ammo at 300 yards one day. Your worst day at 200 will never come close to the shitshow I had that day. My overall group size was measured in yards.