Okay I'll be sighting in my Model 60 this week with some old 10+yrs Federal lightning 40gr.. Like anything else times and ammo change, I see there are a lot of pretty zippy loads for the 22LR. Don't want to pick your brains but are the Hi-Vel loads effective and accurate or should I be staying with the standard 40gr. 22LR loads? Thanks for the info.
I am not sure a standard load will cycle the action properly on that gun. It will in a few of my 22's and not in others.
CCI and/or Blazer (the same really) is probably the best, but I have not issues with the cheap 333 or 555 bulk bricks of Hi-Vel Winchester from Wally World (the big white boxes). It is a little cheaper.
I use it in everything from a Rem 597, Ruger M3 22/45, Chippa 22, AR15 22 conversion kit, and a few others with no issues really......a dud here and there, but I get those with all different 22 ammo now days.
In the new Marlin 60 I'd just bought, the Federal HP 36gr., I had a lot of feed issues.
The Blazer 40gr. was flawless and the most accurate and that was by the bricks,
not the bulk 525 packs/box's.
...didnt try anyother ammo in it because Ive only been shooting CCI Blazers in
about every .22lr I own. (a bit partial to them, very accurate in most of the .22's I own)
I use the Remington "Golden Bullet" is what the box says Dicks usually has the 525 round box for under $20. So far they are very good no misfires, and are pretty accurate target ammo.
Don't try to use hyper velocity ammo in your 60. It will destroy the buffer very quickly. It may only take about 5 rounds. Don't use anything hotter than high velocity. The manual states that very clearly and I've heard lots of stories where people busted their buffers using hyper velocity ammo.
I have used almost nothing but standard velocity ammo in my newest 60. I also used it in my old 60. It always cycled just fine for me. But every rifle is different. You just don't know until you try it.
Standard velocity (SV) ammo is actually the most accurate ammo because it never goes through the trans-sonic zone where it drops from super-sonic to sub-sonic. That makes bullets do weird things. But the high velocity stuff will do fine until it drops below the speed of sound. That's usually from around 80-110 yards depending on the load. It's better for hunting because it hits harder. If you want to plink or target shoot I'd suggest sub-sonic ammo (standard velocity and lower). The difference in accuracy especially at distances between 125-200 yards will be pretty noticeable.
Most people swear by Wolf ammo as about the best you can get for an almost reasonable price. It runs about $50 a brick. I've shot a lot of it and most of it is very accurate. But I've been getting an awful lot of flyers with it for over a year. Like everything else it's probably a quality control thing. They want to push out more ammo because the stuff is selling like crazy and quality is ignored.
The most consistent ammo around these days is CCI. Blazer is pretty good but SV is better. Blazer can be bought for $15 a brick or so these days in many places. SV costs about $25 a brick.
The thing is every rifle likes different ammo. But a lot of the old standards have dropped their quality control unfortunately. I shot Federal for 20 years but now I wouldn't give you 50 cents a brick for it. It's terrible. Winchester still works pretty well. But avoid Remington ammo no matter what. Some people (maybe 1 out of 100 like wjjones in the post just before mine - no offense meant here) seem to love it but the rest of us think it's terrible. It's inconsistent as heck. I get so many duds it isn't funny. I get rounds that barely roll out of the barrel and the next round sounds like a .223 going off. It's also very, very dirty. I think they must sell different ammo in different areas of the country or something. There are always people who like it but my experience is that it's the worst ammo ever made.
I use the Remington "Golden Bullet" is what the box says Dicks usually has the 525 round box for under $20. So far they are very good no misfires, and are pretty accurate target ammo.
.22s are notoriously picky about ammo. What runs fine in my 60 may be awful in yours, so it's best to try several different brands to see which your gun is happiest with. Mine likes CCI Blazers and Federal American Eagle. I pointed out in another thread that SV ammo generally runs under 1100 fps, HV 1200-1300, and Hyper Velocity 1400+ fps. Shockingly, age has taught me I don't know everything so I make a point of reading the manual for every gun I buy. Every once in a while I learn something new. The 60 manual says don't use hyper velocity ammo for reasons already stated. IMO, unless you're bench-rest shooting, the transonic issue can be ignored. Shooting pop cans and squirrels at 20 yards is a lot different than trying to hit the X in the center of a 1" circle at 100 yards. Finally, a great many shooters have found the hypersonic rounds in guns safe for them are not nearly as accurate as high-vel rounds. I do have other guns in which it's safe to shoot hyper-vel, and that's also been my experience. (Please note, I said "a great many," not "all." )
Those Lightnings are prolly just gonna tick you off. Thunderbolts will do a lot more than just tick you off. Get some Federal or Winchester bulk or CCI Mini Mags. The CCI are going to cost more but I never saw a .22 that didn't like them. If it won't run with CCI then you have a problem.
My boys 795 works good on cci,I just bought some cci minimags,1235fps but I also bought him a box of wichester 333's and it worked good to.Now they got those real quite subsonic from cci but i havent tried them.goodluck
Thanks guys, the Federal Lightning have been great so far. Thanks for telling me about the Hyper Vel stuff I'll avoid it as I don't want to start replacing parts.
Again the cheapest ammo around these days in my are is the CCI Blazer stuff. I've seen it as low as $12 a brick while most bulk ammo is $18 or $19 now. The Blazer isn't quite as good as the CCI SV if you ask me but in some of my rifles the Blazer stuff works great.
Again the cheapest ammo around these days in my are is the CCI Blazer stuff. I've seen it as low as $12 a brick while most bulk ammo is $18 or $19 now. The Blazer isn't quite as good as the CCI SV if you ask me but in some of my rifles the Blazer stuff works great.
Actually you can get from 525 to 550 in a brick at times. Zane you don't live that far from me. I get it for that price in Columbus at Vance's and also over in Kentucky at Borders. I guess neither is all that close to you but my gun club is out past Borders and I go to Columbus a couple of times a month usually.
Actually you can get from 525 to 550 in a brick at times. Zane you don't live that far from me. I get it for that price in Columbus at Vance's and also over in Kentucky at Borders. I guess neither is all that close to you but my gun club is out past Borders and I go to Columbus a couple of times a month usually.
Thats not bad.. Can you buy online, or just in the store?
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