Just got a Ruger 10/22, and I would like to pick up a few bricks of ammo for it?  Anyone know the cheapest place to buy .22LR ammo?  Anyone know which brands are better than others?  Are there any that I should stay away from?  I'm mainly just looking for reliable ammo at the best price.  I'm not going to be shooting competition with it or anything.  

Thanks.

Remington blue label target works fine for me.  I even use it to hunt squirells.  It's quite a bit quieter and my bull-barrel 10/22 groups it much better than the high-velocity stuff.  Remington also makes a sub-sonic hollow point that is low-noise but deadly for small game.  CCI standard velocity is also good in a pinch.  I haven't found a good high-velocity round that groups well in my 10/22 - there seems to be too much variation in the powder charges or something.

I have had excellent results from the Bulk Packed Federal HP's at Walmart.  Good accuracy, no feed jams, and only about $8 bucks for 550 rounds.  IMHO I would steer clear of the cheap Remington .22LR Bulk Pack.  They appear to suffer from inconsistent powder charges and my Ruger will sometimes knock the bullets out of the cases when cycling.  This has never happened with the Federal.

I recently found that Remington "Cyclones" shoot great through my Kimber .45 with the .22 conversion kit. I bought a brick of them to blast away with. I also like the Aguila brand, Eley's and CCI Green label. The Rem's are far cheaper, though and easier to come by. Do an internet search for .22LR and you should come up with plenty of suppliers. I think the usual internet places carry ammo, like:
www.ammoman.com
www.22ammo.com
www.championshooters.com

Someone told me that you need a special Sub-Sonic barrel to shoot the sub-sonic ammo?  Any truth to this, or can you use your standard 10/22 barrel?

Aguila is cheapo Mexican but it shoots great.

I currently favor the Winchester Xpert 36gr. lead hollowpoints, bulk packed at Wal-Mart.  I have shot many .5" groups at 50 yards out of my bull barreled 10/22 with this ammo.

The Federal bulk pack copper jacketed is somewhat hotter, and will cycle stiffer actions that the Winchester will cause to jam, but it isn't as accurate as the Winchester.

I would also recommend avoiding PMC and American Eagle, as the PMC seems to be lightly loaded and has trouble extracting from some of my autos.  American Eagle is just loaded too lightly.  

I have a brick of Remington (Lightning?) but I won't buy another one.  The bullets are not crimped very tightly, resulting in occasional bullet deformation, and the accuracy isn't anything special.

Wal-Mart has Federal hollow points for about $9 for 550 rounds. You cant beat the price and ease of availability. It shoots great and is copper jacketed.My wife shoots it and carries it. I want to get a .22 just so I can shoot it.
BP

Quoted: I have shot many .5" groups at 50 yards out of my bull barreled 10/22 with this ammo.

my 10/22 turned in a very poor performance this weekend, i want to help itdo better.
this bull barrel, who makes it, and how much is it?

Quoted: Someone told me that you need a special Sub-Sonic barrel to shoot the sub-sonic ammo?  Any truth to this, or can you use your standard 10/22 barrel?

No truth to this whatsoever......

Quoted: Quoted: I have shot many .5" groups at 50 yards out of my bull barreled 10/22 with this ammo. my 10/22 turned in a very poor performance this weekend, i want to help itdo better. this bull barrel, who makes it, and how much is it?

It's a Clerke Arms barrel, 18" long and blued. I paid $60 for it at a gun show.  I sanded my stock down to accomodate it. If you do a search on Google you can probably find someone selling them.

I personally feed my 10/22's box after box of the cheap bulk pack Federal that is available at WalMart. Around here it's about $10/550. I've gone through ten's of thousands of rounds with hardly any problems except for the occasional dud that you get with virtually an .22LR ammo.

Michael

Quoted: I would also recommend avoiding PMC and American Eagle, as the PMC seems to be lightly loaded and has trouble extracting from some of my autos.  American Eagle is just loaded too lightly.   I have a brick of Remington (Lightning?) but I won't buy another one.  The bullets are not crimped very tightly, resulting in occasional bullet deformation, and the accuracy isn't anything special.

Rimfires are notoriously finicky and what is an excellent load in my rifle (PMC Scoremaster) might not be in yours even though it is the same make and model.

I would submit that you buy as many different ammos as you can, try them all, even buy some of the expensive stuff (Eley, Lapua) and spend the day at the range and see what works best in your rifle.

I agree with Maynard...

.22's can be real finicky so your best bet is to buy a single box of as many brands as you will be able to buy in bulk later IE the wal-mart cheapo stuff.  Go to the range and blast away until you find the one that is the best compromise between accuracy and reliability. My old 10/22 will not reliably fire Federal cheapo and my High standard will not feed aguila or cci stingers but the 10/22 shots agulia like a dream while the federals shoot great from the pistol. LOL

Measure twice....cut once.

Originally posted by Ponyboy                             Quoted:                           Someone told me that you need a special Sub-Sonic barrel to shoot the sub-sonic ammo? Any truth to this, or                           can you use your standard 10/22 barrel?                     No truth to this whatsoever......

Actually, there are 3 kinds of "subsonic" ammo I know of--the Long Rifle loaded to lower velocities, the CB and CB long rounds, and the Aguila Super Sniper Subsonic.  The Subsonic designated Long Rifle rounds along with the CB's are generally VERY quiet out of a long barrel gun (but not so quiet out of a pistol)--I shoot them out of a Rem. 572 pump and they are about as noisy as an airgun.  Out of my 10/22 they are a little louder (maybe a function of the powder gasses behind the round?).

The Aguila (as I understand it--I have yet to buy and shoot any) is basically a VERY heavy (read: Long) bullet in a .22 Short sized case--so the overall length is about the same as a Long Rifle.

So, the Ruger's twist rate (I believe it is about 1 turn in 16") is too slow to stabilize the longer/heavier round.  The same thing happens when you try to fire 68+ grain rounds in a 1 in 12" twist AR--they tumble (a pic below).  It just so happens that the AR in 1 in 9" twist is an excellent stabilizer for the Aguila SSS round--so people report good/excellent accuracy out of an AR with a .22 LR conversion in it, and less accuracy out of a stock .22.

Pic--68 grain bullets at 25 yards (full auto) out of a 1 in 12" twist FNC (it did fine with the few 55 grain bullets we had that day)--

I use two brands almost exclusively for general plinking: Remington Golden Bullet (36gr HP), or Winchester Dynapoints (found only at K-Mart). Both are reliable and accurate. I use Winchester Power-Points for small game.

since i use my 10/22 for plinking go down to wallyworld and just say ill take a brick of the cheaperst 22 lr you have. mine will eat anything and give adquate groups for plinking

Most .22's have a preference for 1 type of ammo or another. No rhyme or reason to it, even in the same model of guns.  Some guns won't feed hollow points, some guns won't feed round nose lead bullets. Get the widest selection you can. Try 10 different types and/or brands of ammo. Find the cheapest ammo your gun likes and then by it in large quanity. It sucks to buy a 500 round brick of something your gun just chokes on. Buy a lot of the little 50 round boxes so you get the widest selection with minimal cash outlay.
Normally a subsonic load is determined by the amount of gun powder and the weight of the bullet- the combination of these two factors give a projectile with a velocity lower then the speed of sound (around 1040 FPS depending on your elevation). So no sonic boom/crack, since the bullet doesn't break the sound barrier.
The only exception I know of is 9 MM- the 147 grain 'subsonic' load was designed for short barrels. like pistol lenght. If you shoot them out of a rifle length barrel, they may pick up enough extra FPS and go super-sonic.

Standard velocity or subsonic ammo is usually more accurate then high velocity because it does not go through the sound barrier.

You either have to stay subsonic or stay supersonic but you don't want to go trans-sonic while the bullet is in flight, does bad things with regards to accuracy.

I have seen tasty results with PMC Zapper though in my 10/22T/TS and it is high velocity ammo.

I tried some Eley Match EPS Sunday out of my new H&R M12, the Behemoth, and it shot fantastic. .2-.4 inch groups at 50 yards and a nice 10 shot group at 100 that was well within the mettalic ram we shoot at 100 yards for silhouette. Other Eley ammo shot well and then some shot like crap, no rhyme or reason, but none shot like the Match EPS.

I probably shot 500 rounds through the rifle Sunday, the weather was perfect with little wind and wonderful December temps.

Shoot on

Federal boxes of 550 from Wal Mart get my vote.

Fed bulk HP's at Walmart (550/box). The most reliable ammo in my semi autos. Once ran 550 rounds through a Colt 22 auto pistol with no jams.  

Fed Lightning .99/box. Most accurate "cheap" ammo I've used in a 52C. It aint 10x but its dam close.

Winchester HP's for general plinking, but when you want some serious accuracy I ues the Federal Gold Medal Match 900A's.  Match ammo is held to tighter tolerances, and I'm not talking about that Remington stuff, Federal, Eley, amd RWS.  Of course you'll pay between $6.50 and $12.50 per box too.

From my experience, Aguila SSS are not as quiet as a pellet rifle when shot out of a standard barrel. Just because a box says it's Subsonic doesn't mean it's very quiet. The CB shorts are more quiet than the SSS.
Now, if you shoot where you have to/want to keep a low profile, shoot Aguila Colibri's. For your 10/22, I believe you'll have to hand feed them. I only shoot bolt action .22 rifles for now.  With proper ventilation plus a very adequate back stop, I shoot in my garage when the weather is not so friendly outside.

Winchester Wildcat .22s.  When they are on sale @ K-Mart, they are .79 a box.  Great for plinking and hard to beat this price...just make sure you don't buy the recalled lots.