have a 22lr it shoots about 1/2inch ten shot groups at 50m useing cci subs. want this to come down a bit what things do you sujust to help with accuracy. its a steirling (p90 i think) have shot more small animals with this than any other gun but my now very accurate 223 has taken over from it and i want to enjoy shooting it again.

Welcome to AR madcharlie.

There are many things a person can do to tune up a .22 but with 1/2" 10 shot groups at 50 I would just try to find a ammo that will stack a bit closer. It sound like your rifle is already there.

MAny companies make match grade ammo for 22lr. It not cheep but is the stuff to use for extreme accuracy.
Match pistol shooters an biathlon shooters use ammo that the rim thickness is measured and sorted for the best consistency

quote:

rim thickness is measured and sorted for the best consistency

this is the kind of info i am after. what brands of ammo do you recomend as top accuracy we dont get much coice here in nz so ill have to hunt it out.

also if i sought ammo by oal will that make much differance???

Eley Tenex is probably one of the best brands and it goes for around $15+ per 50. Lapua also makes very good ammo. Probably the best ammo for the price is the Wolf Match and SK+. It is the same stuff so shoot whichever you can get.

You shouldn't have to sort decent ammo by rim thickness, and you need a very accurate rifle to notice the difference even if you did. Sorting by OAL will not make a difference unless it is very poor ammo. You don't state what rifle you have so we can't give you any tuning tips. Oh yeah, all the bechrest guys use tuners on the end of the barrel.

quote:

Originally posted by madcharlie61:
we dont get much coice here in nz so ill have to hunt it out.

Charlie the first thing to do is gather as many difference brands as you can get a hold of and try them in your rifle as this will give you a starting point in further sorting as in rim thichness, weight etc,
In my rifle ( admittadly it is a kimber) I tried about 10 or 11 different loads and T22 came up trumps but the plain ol Rem Subs are better for the bunnies. I had a Sterling years ago that shot best with the cheapest ammo going.

Von Gruff.

If I had a 22 that would group .5" at 50m I would leave it alone and shoot the barrel out of it.

The things that work on the the big rifles also apply to the rimfire stuff. I would take the rifle and go through it from one end to the other making corrections as I go, starting with the crown, through the bedding, trigger etc..

Sorting your ammo by brand and weight is a good thing to do as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Westpac:
The things that work on the the big rifles also apply to the rimfire stuff. I would take the rifle and go through it from one end to the other making corrections as I go, starting with the crown, through the bedding, trigger etc..

Sorting your ammo by brand and weight is a good thing to do as well.

This makes a lot of sense....however I've read that some folks believe that full length glass bedding the barrel and free floating the action works well on rimfires.....

I've never tried it ...just relating what I've read other places.

I also probably wouldn't mess with it if it shoots that good.

But sorting ammo is a good way to go. Get the rim guage from sinclairs. Get the ammo that shoots best to start with, then sort according to rim thickness.
I buy Eley HVHP by the case because that is what my 1022 loves. I've got tons of different .22 ammo left over from the testing.

dupe

here's a thingie for rim thickness
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewP...productNumber=382448

http://www.bullseyegear.com/bu...ct.php?productid=262

Competition rimfire shooters do not sort by rim thickness any more. If,big IF, it really shoots that good, leave it alone.
Butch

I've seen the most expensive Lapua ammo..."X-act" I believe, outshoot Eley Ten-X in most guns. However, it's ridiculously expensive stuff, and at some point the wind is gonna take over and no matter how good the ammo shoots you're gonna either have to be incredibly good, or your groups will stay stagnant.

If you have a slow evening you might try to sort by weight.
I did this with some rem golden ammo and wound up with 3 different piles of different weight ranges.
I labeled them heavy,medium and light.
It made a difference in the way they shot with the heavies having a lot better functioning string.

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:
Competition rimfire shooters do not sort by rim thickness any more. If,big IF, it really shoots that good, leave it alone.
Butch

+1! Some of that .5 is hold-error or wind. It's probably a .25 rifle without external influence and that is hard to beat in a rimfire at 50M.

quote:

Originally posted by Westpac:
The things that work on the the big rifles also apply to the rimfire stuff. I would take the rifle and go through it from one end to the other making corrections as I go, starting with the crown, through the bedding, trigger etc..

Sorting your ammo by brand and weight is a good thing to do as well.

This sounds like good advise but don't correct the features that are making it a CHAMP right now. Wolf match and SK red dot match gave me the best results. Weight sorting of thousands of cartridges didn't make a great positive change.
Brand and type made by far the greatest difference. 3/8" 5 shot group with the SK red. The actual best was some old Zapper ammo and the Sk red. roger

Measuring over all length would have no real difference as the rim fire head spaces off the rim. You need to find out what rim thickness your rifle likes and sort to that thickness.

Bedding the barrel and floating the action is done because the barrel is the most rigid part of the action barrel combination due to the action being so small. It's not only a popular practice but a proven one as well.

Your rifle (at least apparently) ain't broke so IMO you don't need to 'fix' it.

IIWY I'd find out what brands of ammo are available locally IN QUANTITY and then buy a small sample of each and test. Determine the 2 best performers and then go buy all you can afford of the same lot #s as your samples, minimum 1 brick (500 rds) each and 10 bricks each is much better.

If you delay then the magic lot # will be sold out and if you go the El Cheapo 1-brick route then you'll just hafta do the test all over again in a week or a month or a year. Good luck!
Regards, Joe

Just re-read the first post

.5 MOA 10 shot groups

What does it shoot with a 5 shot group?

As many have stated that is a very respectable level of accuracy. My original statement were based on 5 shot groups. My assumption my mistake.
Really you could try to squeak out a wee bit more accuracy but I think you'd be chasing a gold ring at that point.
I don't think Anschutz are any better then that.
And they are the "ANSI" (actually DIN) standard by which all others are measured