Procedure for testing different brands of .22 LR

I'm preparing to test my Smith 17 (and some rifles) with various brands and styles of .22 to find the best one for my gun. When you guys perfom such tests, do you clean the barrel when switching from one brand/style to another? Maybe just fire several fouling shots? In the case of a revolver, do you worry about the chambers being properly fouled between groups?

Thanks for any help.

some will say you need to have the barrel in the exact same condition for testing each ammo. They mean a spotless chamber and barrel followed by a few fouling shots then test for group. I fire 10 shot groups, pull a dry patch with the patch worm a few times then fire 5 fouling shots. You can repeat the test in a different ammo order again if you like to verify. If i'm testing the same ammo but just different lots i'll just fire a fouling shot or two between lots.

This article on testing a 22 pistol at an Eley facility may help. http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nra/ssusa_201303/index.php#/22

Most articles on testing I have been able to find online are as maddening in their methodology as actually testing 22. Most of the good data I have found was from the 3 position rimfire rifle target group, and I think that may be due to their closer connection to members in their groups testing at Lapua and Eley and learning how to minimize variables in the testing.

bkincaid wrote:I'm preparing to test my Smith 17 (and some rifles) with various brands and styles of .22 to find the best one for my gun. When you guys perfom such tests, do you clean the barrel when switching from one brand/style to another? Maybe just fire several fouling shots? In the case of a revolver, do you worry about the chambers being properly fouled between groups?

Thanks for any help.

I think the testing method has more to do with comparing accuracy than the preparation of the barrel/ cylinder.

Greetings,

Years past, I Random Rest tested many 22 pistols.

I did not clean the barrel; but, I did notice that the first two shots down range with a different brand were out of the group. I attributed this to different bullet lubricants.

Once the barrel was "seasoned" with the ammo being tested, three ten shot groups were fired and they were generally quite close in group size.

With the economy ammunition, there will be the occasional "flier" that ruins a good x-ring group.

On the positive side, we did test economy ammo that shot inside the x-ring at 50 yards consistently. Here, we would jump in the car and drive to where we bought the ammo and purchased several more cases of the same lot number.

Cheers,

Dave

I had my Anschutz rifle tested by Eley and Lapua. I got to watch the Lapua testing. The barrel was not cleaned at any time during ammunition testing. If it is un necessary in a rifle, the only reason I can think of cleaning a pistol barrel, would be due to failures to eject due to a dirty chamber.

I can say, I always shoot two fouling shots out of my rifle at the start of every match. The first two shots, from a clean and oiled barrel, land in a different location from the shots from a fouled barrel.

I did a lot of ammo testing when I shot smallbore more.  I would buy 100 rounds of about a dozen brands and/or ammo lots to test.  I'd shoot about four 10 shot groups at 50y to start.  If an ammo wanted the barrel "seasoned", you'd notice it in the first group, and then it would shrink down in the next three.  If the group never shrunk, then that makes it easy to make a decision on that lot.

From those targets, I'd select the ammo's that were cream of the crop.  There were usually about 3-4 that stood out.  Then I'd shoot up the rest of the samples I had in 10 shot groups at 100y.  This would almost always result in one ammo standing out.

I'd buy 10-15k rounds of that, and use the first brick to experiment with the torque settings of the bedding screws.  This would dial in the ammo a bit more, via a lot of work, but worth it since I would be using this ammo for a few years.  

I'm somewhat new to bullseye, and am no where near good enough to out shoot any ammo any better than a box of rocks.  I imagine the above process would work minus the 100Y and bedding screw steps.  I'm sure some will function more reliably than others, but different recoil springs might take care of that.  

Good luck!

most guns and decent ammo will hold the x ring in our sport.  My Pardini will shoot under 1/2" at 50 with eley 10x and about 3/8" for Tac22 black box.  CCI is in the same range.  

For 22 you are going to impact the group size more than your gun ammo.