Aguila 22 - not the same!

First topic message reminder :

I am now forced to "eat humble pie"!

I have been a very vocal advocate of Aguila Super Extra Standard Velocity 22LR ammunition. I've shot tens of thousands and have had very few duds and almost no malfunctions in a variety of pistols, but particularly Pardini's. Inexpensive, accurate, reliable - what's not to like?

The box with the yellow flash on the left is the ammo that I have extolled. The new stock with the red/blue on the right I bought recently from a dealer in Tempe, AZ for about $3.00/box (for a case of 2,000). 

The new version is not the same. Feels much softer than before. Not enough "ooomph!". For me it is useless, numerous malfunctions in both a Pardini and a Rugger 22/45. Definitely not recommended!

Now gagging on the humble pie!

After reading this thread, I recently bought a case of the newer red and white box Standard Velocity just to try it using my Marvel with a 9# recoil spring/20lb mainspring.

Outdoor range, mid to upper 40's temp. Didn't lube the pistol before shooting and hadn't been oiled since the beginning of the last 900 match I shot. Shot 200 rds before finally having a failure to eject. Oiled the pistol and shot another 100 rds without a glitch. Every shot felt the same.

I'd blame the failure on a lack of lubrication rather than an ammo issue.

It was still X ring at 50 yds resting on the bench just like the previous Aguila SV and CCI SV. (My Marvel continually amazes me)

Up until this I had been shooting the mustard and blue and white box Standard Velocity.

Dunno, YMMV

I contacted Aguila last summer about the difference between the gold-blue-white version and the red-red-white versions, and they assured me it was just a packaging change.  

Since I last posted on this issue, the team I help coach has fired a brick or two worth of the red-red-white stuff, and no one has had any problems with it.  Most of the students are away for January break, but we should be having more people shooting .22's within a week or two.

I live near Boston, and I've never noticed any issues with cold ammo.  It probably never gets too cold on the way to matches.  Most of the time I'm shooting at a club that is only about 15 minutes away, and the ammo is in a foam lined (insulated) case.  I have a small SUV, so the ammo travels in the back, where the interior heat will keep it warmer than the trunk of a car.

GWhite - thank you for replying!  I appreciate it.

Tight groups,

Mark

I know this will come across as total heresy, but hear me out.  When I got my Pardini SP it was easy to order every variety of .22 ammo you could want.  I ordered a sample box with about 20 different flavors.  Off a sandbag at 50 yds (admittedly not a ransom test), CCI BLAZER ... yes, BLAZER outperformed or equal performed almost everything else.  It was better than CCI std, equal to the expensive stuff, cycled flawlessly and yes, while a teeny bit hot, a Blazer round going off is nothing any of us can't stand.  If you can get over your choking and eye rolling its worth actually trying it.  This was Blazer from before COVID, and it seems much has changed in our .22 world since, but it has not chewed up my Pardini and I don't see any ill effects from using it.  On the contrary.

Pardini SPs have very short barrels (maybe 3.5" of actual barrel length, not including the chamber?) So I'm not surprised something with a little extra oomph functions well for you. Eley Bullseye was specifically developed to be a little hotter to function better with the Pardini's shorter barrel.

I have no idea whether your results would play out in a different pistol. 

Dave

Cliff & Dave. And I thought we were mates. You are now collectively screwing up my entire 22 ammo strategy, you bums!

Sadly, before I left Oregon in October I ordered a big stash of the new packaging Aguila (I do still have a small amount of the old packaging, whew!). But did not, at the time, think to test some of it. Then, when I got to Phoenix at the end of October I went to the local ammo wholesaler and bought some Aguila new packaging, only to find that it was next to useless in my guns, sold it on immediately.

Now you are telling me that Pardini barrels are too short and Blazer should be my ammo of choice!

When I get back in May, we shall see!!!!!

Greetings,

I have had similar results with CCI Blazer.

However, there are two CCI Blazer offerings. One made by Federal and the second by CCI in Idaho.

The Idaho ammo shot the best. Good groups and no mis-fires.

The Federal ammo was soon discontinued. I suspect due to Customer complaints.

Back to reality....

It pays to buy ammo in 5,000 case lots. Test it to see if it groups. The same brand of different lots may be quite different in group size and failures to fire.

I have some old CCI Christmas promo ammo that groups as well as some lots of Eley TENEX I have.

Cheers,

Dave

Which Christmas ammo shot best?  I have some of each year but haven’t shot any of it.

To muddy the water further what about the Aguila competition target ammo?  This:

https://www.aguilaammo.com/products/22-target-competition-long-rifle-standard-velocity-solid-lead-point

https://www.targetsportsusa.com/aguila-target-competition-22-long-rifle-ammo-40-grain-lead-solid-point-1b220514-p-55005.aspx#reviews

As opposed to:

https://www.aguilaammo.com/products/22-super-extra-long-rifle-standard-velocity-lead-solid-point

I needed to order some more match ammo TARGET SPORTS. So I added a couple of boxes of the red stripe Aguilla Std. Vel. to compare with my yellow stripe, eley primed std vel.  

10 rounds each
  Yellow stripe    1007.3 fps avg, std. dev. 18.3 fps

  Red stripe       1048.3 fps avg., std. dev. 13.1 fps

All were shot FCW lower ,Marvel Unit 1 conversion