After my mis adventure with the Winchester 33 grain bulk ammo from Wal Mart I was again on the quest for a good ammo for my overly tight throated S&W Model 17 six incher. As I think I mentioned, the CCI Mini Mags have been the only ammo that doesn't lead up my gun as the bullets are forced through the narrow throat and out into the forcing cone of the barrel. They shoot well but are pricey, at best... at least for the volume of pistol shooting I like to do.

I was restocking my CCI supply at the local Trading Post a week or so back and let the owner talk me into some bulk packed Federal "Champion" ammo. Five hundred and twenty-five rounds for $16.50 was a deal so I took a box; never really intending to shoot them from the Smith but figuring to keep them around for yuks.

I was finishing up with the CCI a couple of days later and slipped a cylinder full of the Feds into play. Wow! They shot better than the CCI and with zero leading. I slid a bullet nose first into the front of the cylinder/chambers and found them to be a perfect fit. Many .22 rounds had the lube shaved completely off in a similar test. I was tickled to death and made it back to the Post for three more packs of the same Lot just to have.

Today I went out under gray skies and in a biting wind and spent a few hours alternately shooting the paint off of a 3" diameter armour-plate swinger from 20 yards and warming my blue digits. I shot about 200 rounds from the Smith with no cleaning, easy loading and easy extraction; not to mention great accuracy.

It all just goes to reaffirm that a person needs to try everything when looking for the right ammo for their twenty-two.~AMMOe

A guy at my club sez to try the Fed Bulk 325 pack. He said his pistol team had been shooting it for an entire season.

Is that the stuff labeled as pistol ammo?? I haven't seen it in a while.~AMMOe

Thanks for thre info, I have a 17-2 that has really tight chambers too. I'll have to try the "Champion" stuff.

This is the stuff;

http://www.natchezss.com/Ammo.cfm?contentI...TO%20BLK%20325R

He said he buys it at Wal-Mart.

Tigger: Glad to help! That makes three 17-2's I've heard of that balked at "Standard" ammo. Does your 17 eject hard when you use the wrong ammo? My forcing cone was a bit off center so I recut that thinking it would help (and it did) but I was still getting what equated to pressure signs with a lot of ammo. That's when I crudely measured the throat by trying to pass a bullet nose into the end of the chambers and realized that they were very tight; Hence the hard extraction and leading with many rounds. My favorite Aguila round wouldn't even begin to enter the throat without shaving off the lube down to the bare lead. I am really glad that I stumbled onto the Champion. I hope it works out for you as well.~AMMOe

Red: Yup! That's the stuff I was looking at. Our Wal Mart used to carry it but it's gone now.~A

At times I get sticky extraction.