best ammo for my rem 40xb for best accurecy?

donniedee512

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Minuteman
May 7, 2017
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what 22lr ammo are you guys using in your Remington 40xb 22lr rifles for the best accuracy? I have a private range where I can shoot from zero out to 500yrds wanting to be as accurate as poss out to 150-200? thanks lets see the resultsd your getting out of your 40xb rifles targets/
 
[h=2]Best ammo for best accuracy?[/h]
Changes every time I run out of the last order of lot tested 22lr.
I'm down to my last couple boxes of Midas+ with an ES of 20 fps.
Recent sample orders of RWS R50, Tenex, Midas+ have all been showing 30 to 40 fps ES.
That's not a problem for use at 50 yards with a tuner, but for 100 and 200 yard paper punching
cuts down on the probability of sub-moa results due to time of flight differences.

Brand does not guarantee results.
Quality varies with every batch as it comes off the production line.
This year it was Midas+, Last year it was a good lot of Tenex.
I've even found a brick of RWS R50 that was amazing.
Of course by the time I tried to order more, it was sold out.
 
There are a number of threads already going on this subject. I reference them because the answer to your question is not as simple as "Use XYZ ammo." .22's are picky to brand and type as well as individual manufacturing lot.

Lots of guys shoot Eley, Lapua and Wolf.

Just to be more specific: I would suggest that you test several lots of the following - Eley Black, Eley 10X, Lapua Center X and Lapua Midas+, RWS R50. Within that group you will find something good. None of those are cheap. You can try others, sometimes you will find a rifle that likes cheap ammo but in my opinion those are rare. There is a reason the match ammo costs more. Almost all of the BR shooters that I know are shooting custom 40x rifles or custom actions that are based on the 40x design more or less. 90+ % of them are competing with Eley Black (Match) ammo. The rest are using Lapua. Now that may be a local thing since both are available here from the same supplier.

For cheaper practice ammo Eley White box if you are using Eley, SK or Wolf if you are using Lapua and Norma if you are using RWS. They are each made by the parent brand, use same cases, bullets, lube, primer but just not to the same exacting specs.

I have not seen any non-Euro brand ammo that comes close to those listed above. Winchester, Remington, CCI, Aquilla, Federal all struggle to even match the performance of the SK/Wolf/Norma stuff and falls short in my case. I know guys that swear by CCI brand but I never see them shooting in the matches. Of all the USA stuff, CCI is probably the best today. Back in the day when Federal still made the Ultra-Match Olympic ammo, they were on par with the best in the world. But that is just a faint memory. The Russians reportedly make some world class ammo called "Olimp-R". I have only heard of it but would like to try it. It cannot be imported to the USA today. Maybe Pres Trump will change that since he is reported to be on such great terms with the Russkis? I have some Russian Vostok ammo that I got from a single source but it was all imported before the import restrictions and is only OK. It is similar to Wolf and SK in performance but not better. It is also very greasy (messy). Used to have some of the Russian steel cased Junior ammo that came in the blue box. It was std vel and not that great from what I could tell. I would not shoot it in a nice rifle.

Irish
 
I've been shooting a lot of samples from various lots, brands, & grades of 22LR since building myself a high-end trainer on a Stiller 2500XR/Krieger/Manners Elite T4A in Feb. '16. Of course, once the 22RF precision rifle bug bit me, I had to send off an older 722-style CMP 40X to have jelrod1 do RAVAGE88's repeater conversion, then re-barreled it with a Benchmark 3-groove bbl. That in turn led me to decide to do the same thing with a newer CMP 40XB, which I did Lilja titebore & Krieger bbls for. Then there's a nearly NIB Anschutz 2013/2011 sitting here that I needed to find good ammo for....I have Athlon Cronus 4.5-29x56 scopes on both the 40Xs, since selling the Stiller based rifle, and have had very good results with both of these scopes. Optical quality is not just "good for the price range", but quite comparable to my Kahles K624i scopes. Just throwing this in so no one will assume my results are limited by the quality of the optics I'm using.

What I've found so far is that select lots of SK Rifle Match will consistently put 6 or 7 of 10rds into one ragged hole at 100yds in good conditions. But I've yet to find a lot of RM that will put all 10 shots into that ragged hole - there's always 3-4 shots that land 1/4"-3/8" outside that hole. Knowing my own limits, I realize there are times when I'm just not shooting all that well - sometimes due to fatigue, vision issues, etc. But even on a good day, I see this same pattern with SK RM.

I've also tested quite a few lots of Lapua Center-X, and have found a few lots that would fairly easily hold 1" or slightly less for 10 shots at 100yds. However, none of the Center-X I've shot seems to have any tendency to do the "one ragged-hole" thing - there will be a couple of doubles in most groups, but none of the 'gee whiz' really tight groups some of the guys here post photos of. And when I get a day with really decent conditions and shoot out to 200yds, I'm not seeing any real improvement over SK RM.

I can be a cheap-a$$ at times - like now, when it doesn't seem to make much sense to spend the big bucks on custom actions and/or barrels, then try to get by on less expensive ammo. But from what I've seen over the past year+, at least to this point in time, spending $4+ more per box (comparing SK RM to Lapua Center-X) really isn't paying off. I do need to get more experience at 200yds comparing my current favorite lot of SK RM to a good lot of Center-X. But wanted to put this out there & see what sort of response I get from those of you who're doing this type of 22RF shooting.
 
Flatland, I have never seen that much difference between SK RM, Wolf Match Extra and Lapua CX. Like all of it, some lots are better than others. I had one lot of Wolf MX that out shot everything I had but it ran out a few years ago. None of the current lots are that good. I once took an entire brick of SK and weighted it to the nearest 1/10th of a grain and grouped each weight graded group into its own pile. When I was done I had 10 boxes with about 7 different weights. I would shoot only those that weighed the same on a given tgt. By so doing, I achieved some spectacular individual 5 shot groups but there was always one or two shots that were clearly a given weight for a different reason and cause extremely high or low flyers. That made it unacceptable to me and there was always about 20% of the ammo that was of a random outlier weight that was good only for plinking or practice. So, by the time I factored in my own time spent and the loss of 20% of the ammo for being out of spec, I figured it was cheaper to just buy better ammo like CX, Midas+ or 10x and be done with it. When I am retired and have more time than money, my opinion might change. I have yet to test using a headspace gauge. I am told that is worth more than the weight grading.

Irish
 
Thanks for the reply Irish. I recall buying Wolf Match Target & Match Extra for use in my Anschutz 1611 based on advice picked up on German Salazar's "Florida Smallbore Shooting" forum back around 2000 or so, after trading a CMP H&R M12 for the 1611. Didn't seem to make a lot of difference what lot# of either you got at that time - everything I bought shot pretty well at both 50 & 100yds out of that rifle. But several years later, after buying a full case of Wolf Match Extra, I recall being pretty disappointed in the way it shot - not just in the 1611, but also in a CMP 52D & the first 40XB Hvy bbl I bought from them.

It was around that time - 2005-'06 - that I started buying some SK Match & Rifle Match, along with samples of Eley EPS & Tenex. Never did have much luck with the Eley stuff, compared to how well SK & better lots of Wolf shot in the 1611. A good lot of Wolf ME would clean the NRA 100yd smallbore target with irons if I didn't screw-up, although my X-counts wouldn't have won any medals in an actual smallbore match. I used the 1611 mostly as a trainer for my conventional prone HP rifles, all of which were stocked with Robertson H&H prone stocks, which I understand Ian Robertson modeled after the Anschutz stock. I got a lot of good out of that Anschutz rifle - and probably should've kept it. But a friend sent me a link to an auction for an Anschutz 2013/2011 on Gun Broker, which appeared NIB, and which came with several hundred dollars worth of Anschutz accessories, including a set of their top-of-the-line sights, with a rear diopter/polorized filter aperture. I won the auction with the minimum bid - guess no one else found this particular auction, or it would certainly have gone for considerably more than I paid for it. At any rate, I decided I couldn't justify keeping the 1611 after getting the 2011, so sold it to a good friend whom I'd just built a very nice prone rifle for in 6 Dasher, and who would benefit from having a good trainer.

So fast forward to this past year when I built the Stiller repeater, and sent a CMP 40X for the repeater conversion. For either training or PR match use, from what I've seen so far, the SK RM performs plenty good enough so that it's not the limiting factor. In fact, I just bought a case of it that is out-shooting everything else I've tried to date out of the Benchmark bbl on the 722-style 40X repeater, and which is also shooting very well in the Krieger on the 40XB that's headed for jelrod's shop next week. I haven't given up entirely on Center-X, as one of the samples from recent lots is showing a lot of consistency. If I can get just one more decent afternoon for testing with this lot, and if performs as well or better than it has so far, I'll be ordering some of it in quantity. But again, I'm too darned cheap to even try Midas+, at least until such time as I hit some sort of lottery jackpot...
 
This is representative of what I get out of SK Rifle Match at 100yds, shot on an afternoon with quick drop-offs & build-ups in a 6-7 mph wind from 4:30-5:00. Nothing to brag about, but I feel it's not at all bad for ammo that costs $4/box less than Center-X. I shot this out of the 40XB's Krieger, single-loaded, as I haven't sent it to jelrod1 for the repeater conversion yet. Right now, I've got it in a Manners T4A painted woodland camo, with a DBM mini-chassis, Athlon Cronus 4.5-29x56 in TPS TSR rings. I finished the Krieger at 24", threaded the muzzle as per the drawing on Silencerco's website for the Spectre II. All the accuracy testing I've done with both 40Xs has been with the can mounted. Love shooting these 40X rifles, and can hardly wait to get the 2nd one converted into a repeater.
 

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You mean this Stiller Lloyd? I liked that Manners T4A Elite in GAP camo so much that I ordered another one for the 40XB. Not a thing in the world wrong with the B&C #2015 on the 40X above the Stiller, I just really like the molded-in GAP on the Elite stocks with the carbon fiber showing in the black spots. I weighed those two stocks on the same set of scales - the Elite was only 1/2lb lighter than the B&C with its aluminum bedding block. I'm guessing it's gonna be the usual 6 months before I see that Manners; the 40XB bbl'd action is headed to jelrod1 next week. I won't have the finished bbl'd action repeater sitting in the closet for those 6mo, waiting on the stock. Will probably try to get another #2015 & get old 'Picasso with a rattle-can" Ben to paint it for me.
 

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Yeah that's the Stiller. Ain't she purdy? Going to get to shoot it some tomorrow. I'm not ready for the match. I haven't practiced for several months but gotta shoot.
 
Lloyd,
I had a few boxes of Lapua Center-X with me yesterday, from a quantity purchase (3750rds partial case - all Clint Swigert had left of that lot). I'd intended to send a box of it back with you to test in the Stiller - it just slipped my mind. It shoots OK in both my 40X & XB, but no better than the SK Rifle Match I was shooting yesterday. I bought a full case of this lot of SK RM, and from how it performed yesterday at Hutch, I wouldn't mind having another case of it. Matter of fact, I'm going to check on availability this morning - if they've still got some of it, I'm going to place an order. Next time we get together, I'll try to remember to get a box into your hands to try.
 
Thanks Dennis. Yeah I'd say that SK match was shooting well yesterday. Nice shooting, Tex.
I bought a brick of CenterX but waiting for for the wind to die down a little. For yesterday's match the SK shot plenty well, I didn't.