There is a little bit of a somber mood at the range today.

Not because the Ruger shot poorly. Quite the opposite.

After three ammunition tests, 16 different ammunition results and 64 measured groups, this Ruger 77/17 converted to .22 LR has given us a tremendous amount of accuracy data. But all good things eventually come to an end, and this is the final trip to the range before this very interesting rifle goes back to its rightful owner, DG.

I’ve had a lot of fun with this rifle. More importantly, I think we’ve reached the point where we don’t need to keep asking it the same question.

What ammunition does this Ruger 77/22 like? Does spending more guarantee better accuracy? Does “Match” or “Long Range” printed on the box guarantee tiny groups? How much can ammunition choice change the performance of the exact same rifle?

I think we’ve answered most of those questions. And where we haven’t, we’ve generated enough real world data for the RangeFans to look at the results and reach their own conclusions.

So for the Grand Finale, Norma gets the last shot.

The Final Four: Norma .22 LR

For our last test I brought four very different Norma loads:

Norma TAC-22
Norma TAC-22 Subsonic
Norma Match-22
Norma Extreme LR-22

That gives us an interesting mix of general-purpose, subsonic, match and long-range ammunition.

And Norma had a pretty difficult benchmark waiting for it.

From our previous testing, ELEY Team had averaged .372″, while SK High Velocity Match averaged .378″.

Could one of the Norma loads knock either of them off the top of the leaderboard?

Norma Match-22 Takes the Win

The winner among the Norma ammunition was Match-22 with a .505-inch average.

Its four groups measured .676″, .442″, .523″ and .377″. That .377″ final group was also the smallest Norma group of the day.

TAC-22 actually put together a very consistent performance. Its four groups ranged from .505″ to .628″, producing a .562″ average.

Subsonic finished at .605″, while Extreme LR-22 surprisingly came in last among the Norma ammunition with a .713″ average.

That last result is another example of why I like actually testing ammunition instead of making assumptions based on what’s written on the box.

Now Let’s Combine Everything

This is the graphic I think tells the story of the entire Ruger series.

🏆 RUGER 77/22 — 16-LOAD ACCURACY LEADERBOARD

Average of Four Groups — Smaller is Better

Rank	Ammunition	Brand	Average
🥇 1	ELEY Team	ELEY	.372″
🥈 2	SK High Velocity Match	SK	.378″
🥉 3	SK Long Range Match	SK	.407″
4	SK Rifle Match	SK	.465″
5	ELEY Biathlon	ELEY	.474″
6	ELEY Match	ELEY	.488″
7	Norma Match-22	Norma	.505″
8	SK Standard Plus	SK	.510″
9	SK Biathlon Sport	SK	.553″
10	SK Pistol Match	SK	.561″
11	Norma TAC-22	Norma	.562″
12	ELEY Club	ELEY	.563″
13	ELEY Match + Flyer*	ELEY	.589″
14	Norma Subsonic	Norma	.605″
15	ELEY Target	ELEY	.695″
16	Norma Extreme LR-22	Norma	.713″

*ELEY Match + Flyer is included because we previously tracked the alternate result with the flyer counted. It isn’t a separate ammunition load, so technically this series tested 15 distinct loads, with 16 recorded leaderboard results.

One Rifle, Three Brands, Some Big Differences

Looking at all the data together is where this experiment gets interesting.

The best average of the entire series belonged to ELEY Team at .372″.

SK came incredibly close.

SK High Velocity Match averaged .378″.

That’s just .0065″ separating the calculated averages before rounding. For practical purposes, those two loads were running neck-and-neck in this test.

Then SK Long Range Match turned in another excellent .407″ average.

That gives us an overall podium of:

#1 ELEY Team — .372″
#2 SK High Velocity Match — .378″
#3 SK Long Range Match — .407″

Norma Match-22 finished seventh on the combined leaderboard at .505″.

But averages don’t tell the entire story.

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The Smallest Groups Tell Another Story

The smallest single group of the entire series came from ELEY Match at .253″.

SK High Velocity Match wasn’t far behind with an outstanding .275″ group.

ELEY Team’s smallest was .302″, while SK Rifle Match produced a .338″.

Norma Match-22’s best was .377″.

That highlights something we’ve seen repeatedly in rimfire testing: shooting one spectacular group and consistently producing small groups aren’t necessarily the same thing.

ELEY Match demonstrated that perfectly. It fired the smallest group of the entire experiment at .253″, but its four-group average was .488″.

ELEY Team never produced a group as small as .253″, but all four of its groups stayed between .302″ and .444″.

And that’s how Team ultimately won.

Consistency May Be the Real Winner

One of my favorite results actually comes from SK Long Range Match.

Its groups were:

.415″ — .401″ — .453″ — .357″

That’s only a .096″ spread from its smallest to largest group.

ELEY Team was similarly consistent:

.394″ — .347″ — .444″ — .302″

A spread of only .142″.

Compare that with ELEY Match, which went from an incredible .253″ all the way to .809″.

Which would you rather have?

The ammunition capable of occasionally producing the smallest possible group?

Or ammunition that repeatedly gives you nearly the same result?

That’s a question every shooter has to answer based on what they’re trying to accomplish.

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The Norma Surprise

I expected Norma Extreme LR-22 to be one of the more interesting loads in this final test.

It was interesting just not for the reason I expected.

Its .713″ average was the largest of the Norma test and the largest average on our combined leaderboard.

Meanwhile, the much more general-purpose TAC-22 averaged .562″.

That’s about 21% smaller than the Extreme LR average in this particular rifle and test.

And that’s precisely why these tests are worth doing.

The label on the box can’t tell you what your rifle is going to prefer.

64 Groups Later — What Have We Learned?

We’ve fired enough ammunition through this rifle that I’m comfortable calling the experiment complete.

Across the 16 recorded results, the averages ranged from approximately .372″ to .713″.

That’s nearly a 2X difference in average group size from the same rifle simply depending upon the ammunition/result being considered.

The smallest individual group was .253″.

The largest individual group was .990″.

Same rifle.

Same shooter/testing environment and methodology.

Different ammunition.

That’s the part of this series I hope RangeFans take away.

Rimfire ammunition testing matters.

A rifle that appears to be a half-inch or three-quarter-inch shooter with one ammunition might be capable of something considerably better with another.

And buying the box with the fanciest name doesn’t necessarily solve the problem.

You have to shoot it.

Farewell, Ruger

And now comes the part I don’t particularly like.

The rifle has to go home.

When this Ruger 77/17 converted to .22 LR first showed up, I knew it would make for some interesting testing. I don’t think I realized just how much data we’d eventually collect from it.

It has given us tiny groups, flyers, surprises, a few head-scratchers and plenty of opportunities to argue about ammunition in the comments which is exactly what a good rimfire rifle should do.

But it belongs to DG, and DG has probably been wondering if I planned on conveniently forgetting that fact.

No such luck.

DG, your rifle is coming home.

Probably.

Eventually.

Okay…it’s coming back.

Final Series Champion: ELEY Team — .372″

But maybe the real winner was the experiment itself.

We didn’t shoot one good group and declare something “the most accurate.” We put multiple brands and loads through the same rifle, measured the groups and allowed the results to build the story.

At this point, I think we’ve answered the questions we set out to answer.

And for anything we haven’t answered, there’s enough data here for the RangeFans to draw their own conclusions.

That’s exactly how I like it.

One rifle. Three brands. Dozens of groups. No guessing.

Until the next rifle shows up…

I’ll see you at the range.

Watch the Full Norma Ammo Test