The lowly little rimfire .22LR cartridge may be light on report and recoil, but it’s also light on the wallet and one of the most popular sporting cartridges ever developed.
It is beloved by small game sportsmen and competitive shooters the world over and hundreds if not thousands of models, not only rifles but also pistols and revolvers, have been chambered in it.
It’s also the case that this little cartridge has surprising potential with respect to accuracy. A beat-up, old, wood-stocked rifle with a tar-black boar might not be able to hit a barn broadside at 10 paces, but competitive shooters can send .22 bullet after .22 bullet into the same ragged hole at 10 times that distance, time and time again.
This keeps .22LR bulk ammo in strong demand. Naturally, with respect to accuracy, this has as much to do with the rifle shooting it as it has to do with the cartridge itself. There are things you can do to wring a little extra performance out of those rimfire rounds - not the least of which are those things covered here.
Experiment With .22LR Ammo
First, ammo is highly subjective, and think of it as though each gun has its own personality.
Some rifles will feed more smoothly with a certain type of ammo than others, and some factory load specifications will produce more accurate groups than others with some guns.
Remember that no two pairings between rifle and ammo are exactly the same. Once you discover a brand of .22LR ammo that performs well in your rifle, stick to it.
Then, Be Consistent: Bore and Cartridge Lube
One specific aspect of ammo-to-ammo variation to be addressed is the presence of bullet lube.
Many .22LR bullets are (like all lead round nose bullets) lubricated by the manufacturer. This both prevents the premature oxidation (and degradation) of LRN bullets, while at the same time producing less friction as the bullet moves through the barrel.
Every manufacturer uses its own bullet lubricant in its rimfire bullets, though pretty much all of them use some sort of synthetic wax.
Each of these “recipes” for bullet lube are a little bit different, hence the reason to shoot the same rounds over and over. Once you find one that works well with your rifle, fire 30 to 50 rounds through it and keep shooting that.
You don’t want to “ruin” a good barrel that’s been broken in by shooting different ammo through it.
A Note on Barrel Break-in
As a general rule, if you’re shooting lead bullets - non-jacketed lead bullets, that is - your barrel does not need to be broken in.
However, some rimfire rifles come with barrels that have tooling marks and other minor, sometimes microscopic, imperfections left behind on the bore.
These little irregularities can create variations in shot groupings. If your barrel’s bore has been hand-lapped to a mirror finish, it’s unlikely that you need to break it in (beyond shooting 30-50 of your preferred rounds through it), but most rimfires don’t come with premium barrels like this.
As it stands, if your barrel hasn’t been hand-lapped, breaking it in with a few hundred rounds will leave small deposits of lead and wax behind, “filling in” those imperfections and evening out the bore - thus increasing accuracy.
Keep It Clean
Some rimfire shooters refuse to clean their rifles, for the express reason mentioned just above: if the bore is less than perfectly polished, a little bit of fouling can actually seem to shrink groups.
But, in some instances, such as if you shoot copper-washed rimfire bullets that leave behind copper fouling, leaving a bore dirty is more harmful than helpful.
Fouling, specifically heavy deposits of lead and copper (not just lube) will create their own irregularities in the barrel which directly (and adversely) impact accuracy.
Plus, .22LR is well-known as a fouling-generator. It’s a dirty cartridge, anyone that’s shot it can tell you, and since most shooters learn on .22, that’s pretty much all of us.
So, if your groups have opened a little over the past several thousand rounds, take a bore brush to the thing and see if they tighten.
Torque Down
The action screws, specifically. This is more of a problem that afflicts centerfire rifles that shoot recoil-heavy ammo, but it happens to .22 rifles, even though it will take a lot longer for the screws to start to loosen.
After a couple hundred shots, if not a few thousand, check the action screws with a torque-limiting wrench to see what they’re set at. Loose screws that affect the mating between the action and the stock can make it effectively impossible to shoot accurately.
Make sure the screws are tightened per the manufacturer’s suggestions. This should be in your owner’s manual but if you are unsure, reach out to the manufacturer.
If All Else Fails, Re-Barrel
This is not possible for all rimfire rifles, especially without visiting a gunsmith, but if your problem is age and disrepair (or your rifle’s problem, rather) a good barrel can make a difference. In fact, it can make all the difference.
Unless you own a modular rifle like a Ruger 10/22 that can be (laughably) easily re-barreled, visit a gunsmith and figure out your options. In some cases it is much easier than others to replace a barrel, and a fresh one (once broken in) can have the biggest impact of all on accuracy.
Tip: Shoot on a Cold Barrel
One parting tip which has to do with practice and not with parts. When you’re practicing at the range, give the rifle a break after every ten shots or so.
It will take a while for a .22LR rimfire barrel to heat up, but once it does, a hot barrel will produce inexplicable shot-to-shot variations and accuracy will start to flag.
The solution is to let the barrel cool down, then to remember only to shoot over a cold barrel.
Stock Up on .22LR Bulk Ammo
Ready to stock up on .22LR bulk ammo? We have the best .22LR ammo from the top brands, including Federal, CCI, Remington, and others. Whatever you’re looking for, we have it, at competitive prices. Stock up here and make sure you check out our police trade-ins and other deals in addition to our bulk .22LR offerings.