22LR Ammo and Pistol Comparison (22/45 vs SW22)

[docohm]

I recently read an article that compared several brands of 22LR and I wanted to compare my two 22 pistols so I decided to test them all at once!
First, I bought several types of 22LR ammo, mostly match grade. Then I setup some targets at 50 ft and recorded the results. With each type of ammo and each gun I shot 5 rounds to foul the barrel and acclimate it to that particular brand of ammo, then I fired 5 shots into another target for scoring. All these were shot from a rest.

I used my Ruger 22/45 MkIII which has several mods on it, Volquartsen trigger, gamechanger compensator, and Williams fiber optic sights. I compared it against my much newer S&W SW22 Victory which is factory stock.

See the attached PDF file for the results, I put them all in a spreadsheet and a pdf file is the easiest way to see them.

OR would you like the bottom line? Ok...
Pistol________________Best Group___Ammo_________ Average Group Size
Ruger22/45 w/ several mods_0.75 Winchester HV __________2.19
S&W SW22 Victory (stock)___1.25 CCI Pistol, Armscor, Win HV 1.88

The Ruger had the best group (0.75") but I think that was a fluke, the S&W had the best average group size (1.88") using all the different ammo. I'm planning to buy some more Armscor Precision 36gr HV ammo, my SW22 liked it the best and the price is right.

 

[D. Hargrove]

Good write up, thanks. My SW22 eats CCI Standard Velocity like halloween candy. Off a ransom rest I got (best series of 10) 1.07 @ 50'. Thanks for validating my data. I added a Halo charging ring and a Tandemkross trigger, seems to feel really good to me.

 

[druryj]

Excellent comparison and well written. Thanks for posting this.

 

[beastep]

What a fantastic subject. Did you have a ransom or is that you off a bench? If thats you then Im impressed. Anyway, dont be surprised to wright it off as a fluke. I shoot my Lite at 100 yards all the time and can do surprising things with it. Even with CCI blazer. It will throw an obvious flyer every now and then with the CCI which Im sure is the ammo. Ive never ran any match stuff through it. Ill be excited to see what happens if you did it again.

 

[docohm]

What a fantastic subject. Did you have a ransom or is that you off a bench? If thats you then Im impressed. Anyway, dont be surprised to wright it off as a fluke. I shoot my Lite at 100 yards all the time and can do surprising things with it. Even with CCI blazer. It will throw an obvious flyer every now and then with the CCI which Im sure is the ammo. Ive never ran any match stuff through it. Ill be excited to see what happens if you did it again.

It was all from a rest, I have a plastic MTM rest like this one:
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/913106/mtm-front-rifle-shooting-rest
That also works well for pistols, you can rest the barrel and grip on the rest and then just concentrate on keeping the same sight picture for each shot. I found a bunch of different match ammo at the Stillwater Academy for reasonable prices, I didn't buy the $15 for 50 rounds stuff! If it was less than $10/50 then I bought some of that. I also bought the top 2 or 3 that were from the Guns & Ammo article, that was the Wolf Match and Armsco stuff, found those online.
I think the next nice day I'll repeat the test with just the top 4 or 5 types. A cold front came through while I was out there and it started getting cold and windy so I may have rushed the last few tests. I think the S&W is more accurate than the Ruger but maybe that compensator on the Ruger could be throwing it off a bit? The S&W has a nice looking crown, that compensator on the Ruger doesn't look so uniform. I'll take it off next test and see if the Ruger does better.

 

[D. Hargrove]

I am actually anxious to see your results. I really like the S&W22, your work is certainly appreciated.

 

[docohm]

I am actually anxious to see your results. I really like the S&W22, your work is certainly appreciated.

Did you download the PDF file on the first post? All the details are in there.

 

[steelfingers]

Nice. Thanks.

 

[docohm]

Good write up, thanks. My SW22 eats CCI Standard Velocity like halloween candy. Off a ransom rest I got (best series of 10) 1.07 @ 50'. Thanks for validating my data. I added a Halo charging ring and a Tandemkross trigger, seems to feel really good to me.

Can I borrow your ransom rest and adapter for the SW22?!?!? It would be nice to have one for this sort of thing. Maybe I can find a good deal on a used one someday.

 

[MadDogs]

Great write up! Thank you for sharing!

I used to have a S&W 41 and a S&W 2206. The 41 would only run on match grade ammo. Really accurate pistol ... but so was the 2206 and it would run on any ammo. Ended up selling both and getting a Buckmark.