Brownells 10/22 Takedown Rifle Project Update 1

After the first couple of range visits with the Brownells 10/22 Takedown rifle that I built on the BRN-22TR receiver, I ended up taking the time to get chronograph data for the gun.

In Range VLOG episode 67, I discovered that my 10/22 Takedown rifle with a Tactical Solutions 16.5″ X-Ring Takedown barrel was only getting around 965fps with SK Standard Plus. This is out the norm since this ammo should be making 1050fps at the muzzle. In comparison, SK Standard Plus in my standard 10/22 with an 18.5″ Volquartsen barrel gets around 1035fps and my CZ 455 with a 16.5″ OEM barrel gets around 1045fps.

I was a bit concerned with the slow barrel, so I decided to try some standard and high velocity ammunition. I did not have much in the realm of 22LR besides SK and Wolf Match ammunition. I was able to dig up some older 22LR ammunition from my cabinets circa early to mid 2000’s.

I stopped by Bass Pro Shops on my way home from my range facility after the range visit documented in Range VLOG #067, and picked up some Federal Premium HV Match and Remington 22 Golden Bullet (40gr). I ordered some newer production CCI Blazer, Federal Champion High Velocity, and CCI Mini-Mag ammunition from Target Sports USA.

But when I ended up going to the range again, the Target Sports USA order had not come in yet, so I tested out the following ammunition:

• CCI Blazer (older production)
• Federal Classic Standard Velocity, factory seconds (older production, discontinued)
• Remington High Velocity (older production)
• Federal Premium HV Match
• Remington 22 Golden Bullet 40gr

CCI Blazer is a very common 22LR rimfire ammunition option that still exists today. I shot a lot of this stuff out of my classic 10/22 in the early 2000’s as a low cost, relatively accurate ammo option.

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The older production CCI Blazer with a factory specification of 1235fps (assuming it is the same as new production) averaged 1154fps out of my 10/22 Takedown.

The older production Federal Classic Standard Velocity were labeled factory seconds. These were given to me by a member at my previous gun club from the 2000’s. This gentleman had case of these that he obtained for a very good deal and gave me a couple boxes to try out since he had decent luck with them in a couple of his rifles.

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The Federal Classic Standard Velocity appears to have been discontinued because I cannot find it on Federal’s website, nor find any information on it online. Assuming this was replaced by Federal Champion Standard Velocity, this load may have a factory specification of 1080fps. But it averaged 1023fps out of my 10/22 Takedown.

I do not know much about Federal Premium 22LR match ammunition other than their 711B SKU, since many rimfire shooters used 711B 15+ years ago, before Wolf Match Target and Match Extra became highly regarded (due to being made in Germany with higher quality than regular Wolf centerfire ammunition). But I decided to try Federal Premium HV Match when I saw it on the shelf in Bass Pro since I also remember seeing it on Target Sports USA (meaning that if this stuff is good, I have a convenient online source for it).

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With a factory specification of 1200fps, Federal Premium HV Match averaged 1127fps out of my 10/22 Takedown.

I had a box of older Remington High Velocity ammunition. This is no longer sold under this product name anymore, and based on the factory specification of 1255fps printed on the box, I believe this is similar to the current Remington 22 Golden Bullet that I acquired at Bass Pro Shops, which also has a 1255fps specification.

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The older Remington High Velocity ammo shot an average of 1183fps.

The Remington 22 Golden Bullet shot an average of 1149fps in my 10/22 Takedown.

Based on the 25 yard groups, it looks like this gun likes to shoot fast. I did not stretch out to 50 yards to see how the Remington ammunition holds up. But what I did get out of this is that my 10/22 Takedown rifle is definitely shooting slower by about 70fps off factory specification.

I am going to continue testing out more standard and high velocity ammunition in this rifle and will test accuracy beyond 25 yards. But I will also closely monitor how the barrel wears after the first 500 or 1000 rounds. If the muzzle velocities do not increase (for the same respective ammo), I will then specifically look into shooting higher velocity ammunition in this gun.