We’ve posted before more than once about how in many ways .22LR is the king of cartridges.
Not only does it have serious staying power (it started as a black powder cartridge and has been around for well more than 100 years), but it is low-cost, low-recoil, low-noise and low on intimidation factor, making it great for new shooters, among many other things.
All the same, you don’t want to buy a brick or two of .22LR ammo that you never use, or worse, which just doesn’t perform as you need it to. Here’s how to shop .22LR bulk ammo by intended application.
For Introducing New Shooters to the Sport
This rimfire cartridge is easily the best for teaching new shooters how to safely handle and operate firearms for several reasons. It is lightweight, easy to handle, cheap, and doesn’t kick hard, making it fairly amenable even to those that might be very nervous their first time shooting
Avoid the premium loads when you’re teaching a first timer. Look for the lowest cost rounds you can get and stick with cheap, basic, lead-round nose (ammo). Let price be the ultimate determinant here.
For Small Game Hunting
Depending on what you’re hunting, you’re going to need a bit more power here. Either high-velocity or hyper-velocity .22LR ammo is ideal, as it will produce the greatest ballistic energy transfer on contact.
On that note, make sure you’re using hollow points. They could be copper plated or naked lead but either way, hollow point .22LR bullets will minimize the risk of overpenetration while maximizing stopping power.
For Trapline Dispatch
Even though trapline dispatch is fundamentally the same purpose as small game hunting, you’re usually much closer for the job and the shot comes at much closer ranges.
Therefore, you don’t necessarily need high or hyper-velocity rounds to make an ethical dispatch. You can potentially use standard velocity or even subsonic ammo (see below) for the job. You will still need hollow points, however, to maximize energy transfer, as well as to minimize the risks of overpenetration and ricochet.
For Plinking
If you have no ultimate end goal and all you’ll be doing is having fun at the range, then realistically you can buy any .22LR bulk ammo you want. There are a few notes, though.
Hollow point ammo is more expensive and doesn’t feed as reliably as jacketed and round nose bullets. Save hollow points for sporting pursuits and go with some more basic (and more affordable) for plinking.
In fact, let plinking be another discipline in which cost should be the main driver. Just get the cheapest stuff you can find and buy in bulk.
For Drilling and Training
For drilling and training, mostly the same notes apply as for plinking, the thing is you want consistency and the utmost reliability when drilling and training.
Therefore, you can spend a little more for premium .22LR bulk ammo to ensure it works as intended in your gun. Also, you can mix and match to get good deals for plinking but you might not want to do that for training purposes as it might compromise the consistency of performance.
So, while price should be a primary driver, you should aim to get a lot of one specific type of .22LR ammo.
For Competition
Lastly, for competition, you’ll want the highest-performance, most reliable and accurate .22LR of all.
Copper-plated ammo will leave less fouling in your gun and since it has a harder shell, can potentially be more accurate, although there is some LRN ammo out there that’s very good.
Standard to high-velocity ammo is probably all you’ll need. One more thing is to consider wadcutters, that is, flat-nose bullets, as these can make scoring easier.
What About Subsonic .22LR Bulk Ammo?
There is one class of .22LR ammo, known as subsonic ammo, that we should consider here, too.
There are some subsonic rounds that can be very affordable, which makes them attractive for a bulk purchase. For some applications, like trapline dispatch or training new shooters, they can be very valuable.
However, it should be noted that some subsonic .22LR rounds don’t generate the appropriate chamber pressures or velocities necessary to cycle autoloading actions.
For a revolver, a single-shot platform, or a repeater, this is no big deal, but if you shoot a semi-auto you might want to pass on the subsonic rounds because they may not perform well in your gun.
Shop .22LR Bulk Ammo Here
Here for .22LR bulk ammo? Check out our bulk ammo collection and stock up on the best deal given the requirements for your intended shooting discipline.
Make sure you bookmark our bulk ammo page, too, as we offer specials on other popular calibers and cartridges, including but not limited to .223, 5.56, 9mm, and 12 gauge, and we’re always running new deals so you never know what you might find.