Ok, so I got a precision .22lr bolt gun (Bergera B14r) at exactly the wrong time, then I found myself pan-DEM-ic buying most any non bucket-o-bullets .22lr that I could find.  

The common wisdom has always been buy lots of different ammo and try it to see what your rifle likes, but that hasn't been possible for months.  Buy one lot that you have verified your rifle likes...uhm, yeah, no that is impractical too.   What HAS been possible is go to the store and buy your 2 - 4 box limit of whatever random brand or type they happen to have... And by the way you BETTER buy whatever you can because an hour from now they will be out and you will never see that particular brand/style/lot again.  The absolute panic that exists in the ammo market did have one interesting, positive side effect in my case.  I found myself being able to buy a variety of different boxes of ammo that I had never seen on the shelf before because that was the only thing the store could get.  Bulk .22lr is being bought up so fast that the boxes often don't make it to the shelves, so the only thing that I have been seeing (albeit randomly) is the more expensive Ely, RWS, Lapua, etc.  

After the ammo completely dried up around me, now I have a couple of ammo cans of mixed and functionally irreplaceable ammo and I need to sort it out.  Since I am just getting into this, I don't think I have the patience to sort by rim thickness or ogive, etc, but I am pretty sure I DO want to sort by Reputation, and that's where y'all come in.  I think I want to play the FMK (F*ck, Marry, Kill) game with this ammo which would be PMS (Practice, Match, Sell). I think the easiest way to do this might be to quote me and add your comments?  Oh, this is not a for sale thread, I didn't go through this trouble to get this only to sell it, I just thought the acronym was funny.  If I discover anything that is actually trash, I will just use it as plinking ammo.

So, here is what I have (don't judge me, just the ammo), and what I am assuming I am going to have to pick from for the foreseeable future for everything from NRL22 matches to plinking with the kiddoes.

Eley
Team - 500 (2 obvious different lots, 400, 100)
Contact - 300
Tenex - 350
Rem Club Xtra - 100

Norma
Match-22 - 500
Tac-22 - 200

RWS
Special match -100
Target Rifle  - 250
High Velocity HP - 150

Aguila
Super Extra (high velocity) - 2050
Super Extra Standard Velocity (1130fps) - 500
Rifle Match - 100
Super Colibri - 600
Colibri - 150

CCI
Standard Velocity - 1300
Quiet - 50

Federal
Target 711B - 50
HV match - 500
Automatch - 650

Geco
Rifle - 50

I don't know what you spent on that, but eley and lapua both have testing centers.
you can ship your rifle there and if you buy half a case at one of them or full case at the other, (min purchase) they don't even charge you for the testing.
They give you images of the groups and you pick the lot you want to buy. one has a min of 2500 rounds of that lot, the other has a min of 5000 rds of that lot.
They say they have at least 1 case min of the lot you want or was it 5? eh anyway, if you are really hunting for precision, do that instead of piecing together ammo.
Lapua doesn't say what the current rate is, eley says 19 bucks per 50.

going to be expense, but at least you will be more consistent. if you have/are willing to fork over that much for ammo right now.
IT was cheaper than retail for the same ammo. I did look it up.

I'm no .22lr expert by any stretch, but if it were my stash I'd assume the CCI SV would do the best (it's what I shoot in NRL22 matches) and probably some flavor of Eley.

The Federal bulk pack HV stuff would be closer to the bottom of the list for accuracy IMO. For one, HV .22 ammo gets weird around 75yds or so.

I know nothing about Aguila but I don't think I've ever seen it come up in conversations about accurate ammo. But you'll have to get another opinion on that to be sure.

OP, I'm in a similar situation.  I've got around 10K rounds of assorted .22--and different lots of each brand.  My rifle is just a built up 10/22, but with Eley match, its about 1 MOA at 50 yards.  With the cheap bulk stuff, it's closer to 3 MOA.


That being said, I agree with Rob01.  I'm in the 'don't sell it' camp because I can't replace what I sell right now.  I'm also frustrated about the lack of accuracy.....its not nearly as much fun shooting when you aren't hitting.  And what's the point of practicing if you can't tell if your misses are due to lousy ammo or poor technique?  

This got me going down the internet rabbit holes, and I found some possible solutions.....bullet resizing dies that 'squish' a projectile to a uniform diameter.  There's a few different versions out there, but most seem to rely on hitting your ammo with a mallet.  (I'm pretty sure I saw a Bugs Bunny cartoon about that)  The one setup I found designed to use with a press is made by Neal Waltz.

Anyway, I just ordered one of the Waltz 22LR accurizing die sets, and it should be here next week.  I'm looking forward to testing it and seeing what it can/can't do.  Internet rumor is that it does pretty good with making cheap bulk more accurate, and even though I'm skeptical about the reported results, I was willing to spend $150 to try it for myself.  Hopefully, it's not just a gimmick.....but even if it is, at least I'll be getting plenty of trigger time during the testing.

I'm sure it doesn't measure up to the accuracy of Eley, but Aguila, Fiocchi, and PMC used to all be made in Mexico in the same plant.

It was amazingly accurate stuff for $1.50-$2.00 per box!

I don't think PMC even sells .22 ammo any more and Fiocchi now has CCI make theirs I think.

But for the money don't discount Aguila.

Many of us have the same dilemma!
For almost all purposes and circumstances some version of standard velocity ammo is most likely to shoot best in your rifle
As a general rule, the higher price ammo does better. However some guns will show a preference for a mid price range ammo too.
As you mentioned you could test your supply of ammo and find brand a, type b lot number c shots best in your gun but never be able to find that lot or even that type again, but it is still fair to use that as a base line.
( for example if your supply of Eley club shoots best in your gun, while a limited gamble, resupply with another lot of club still gives you the best chance of getting good performing ammo)
It has been proven repeatedly that doing crazy time consuming things like weighing rounds or sorting by rim thickness rarely if ever results in a consistent statistically significant improvement in accuracy for the effort spent.

The Eley ammo always shoots well for me, even the Team.  Contact is intended for semi-autos.  I've not tried it.  Tenex ought to bring out the best in your rifle and you.

At the other extreme, the Aguila Super Extra (high velocity) is plinking ammo.  Decent for that and training kids to shoot.  Glad to see you got a good stash.  It will not do for competition, but its always good to have around.

If you can find anything in Lapua, grab it, expecially the Center-X.  That will give Eley Match (black box) and Tenex a run for the money in most match grade barrels.  If you find Eley Black Box Match, scoop that up, too.

Of the ammo in your picture, the eley team is the one most likely to give best results