TargetTalk

I was talking to a gentleman recently about .22 pistol match ammo. He claimed it was larger in diameter than standard vel. rifle ammo. I had always thought it was loaded a bit hotter. Can anybody shed some light on this?

kolar55 wrote:I was talking to a gentleman recently about .22 pistol match ammo. He claimed it was larger in diameter than standard vel. rifle ammo. I had always thought it was loaded a bit hotter. Can anybody shed some light on this?

Folklore and fairy tale.

At Eley, all ammunition comes off one of two production lines. After it is QA tested at their proof range it gets the label that corresponds to how that batch performed.

There might be slight variations from brand to brand. But it isn't because it is or is not pistol match. Cheaper ammos might be more apt.

Tested and rated Eley is ALL good. Their standards are from Olympic level down to still better than you and me.

There was a recent discussion on the difference between the target pistol vs. target rifle ammo somewhere, perhaps not on this list, and I believe someone mentioned that the pistol ammo has a faster burn rate. This allowed it to achieve adequate velocity in shorter barrel lengths.

However, most of the brands that I've come across don't specify pistol or rifle, so I wonder how significant the difference actually is.

There is some difference between 22lr pistol and rifle match ammo. Aguila Pistol Match would not cycle in my AR-15 22lr match upper. Wolf Match Extra works out of both my pistols and semi auto rifles. There are some other brands of European 22lr that wouldn't run out of a rifle, and there are some rifle match loads that will beat a pistol to death in short order. I think Lapua makes their 22lr in .222, .223, and .224 bullet sizes because not all match barrels are exactly the same size.

I cronocraphed Lapua Pistol king and Center-x once and the were practically no difference in velocity. Values in datasheet are measured from different barrel lengths. Recoil felt little different anyway.

If a box of 22 ammo is not marked "Pistol" then it is usually rifle ammo. That said many brands of non-marked rifle ammo perform very well in a pistol. We ransom rested some Fiochhi running target ammo {mobile} many years ago and it held the x-ring at 50yds. The price was discounted and compared favoribly to CCI standard. We emptied out Gander Mountain's entire supply of that lot# and shot it at Bristol and Perry for many years. 22 ammo is a crap shoot. Try and test as much as you can afford and be ready to buy cases of the lot# and brand that tests well. Pistol ammo should be faster burning powder, but even pistol ammo shot in a rifle will not burn completely. To test this, we cleaned the range and fired it in target rifles. At the end of the session we swept up in front of the positions, picked it up in a dust pan and took it outside and lit a match to it. It ignited. It seemed contra-intuitative but the flames said otherwise. So much for logic.
Chris

I asked about using a carbide sight blacker at the indoor range I go to. I was told that there is actually quite a bit of unburned powder on the floor. They hadn't realized this when they first opened and as they swept up the brass, they unknowingly pushed the powder into the expansion joints in the cement. Apparently, this went on for a while until a spark lit up lines of flame all along the floor. (Wish I could have seen that!)

They've since caulked the joints, but still don't want any open flames.

Roger