As one of the less-common .22LR brands, you may be curious how ammo from Armscor stacks up. We’re hitting the range in this Armscor .22LR review to test the round’s reliability and accuracy. Keep reading to see how Armscor .22LR ammo stacks up!

Armscor .22LR Review: Quick Facts

• Armscor manufactures its .22LR ammo in the Philippines
• Four .22LR variants are available: a 36gr. High Velocity HP, 36gr. High Velocity CPHP, 36gr. High Velocity HP for Bolt Action Only, and 40gr. SP
• In our range testing, the 36gr. High Velocity HP had about a 25% malfunction rate, primarily of light primer strikes out of three different .22LR guns
• We experienced no malfunctions with the 40gr. SP
• In our velocity testing, the 36gr. HP averaged 1009fps out of a pistol and 1128fps out of a rifle
• The 40gr. SP averaged 943fps out of a pistol and 1020fps out of a rifle

Armscor 22 LR Ammunition - 50 Rounds of 36 Grain HP

$8.00

Armscor .22LR Review: Specifications

Armscor is a gun and ammo manufacturer with manufacturing plants in the United States and in the Philippines where it produces its .22LR ammo. The company also owns Rock Island Armory, a popular 1911 brand. 

The company produces four different .22LR rounds:

• Armscor .22LR 36gr. Hollow Point (High Velocity)
• Armscor .22LR 40gr. Solid Point (Standard Velocity)
• Armscor .22LR 36gr. Copper Plated Hollow Point
• (High Velocity)
• Armscor .22LR 36gr. Hollow Point Bolt Action Only (High Velocity)

For this review, we are looking at the 36gr. HP and the 40gr. SP rounds.

Armscor .22LR Review: Range Performance

I took the two Armscor .22LR rounds to the range to see how they each perform in different guns.

Reliability

Reliability is typically the first thing shooters want to know about a round. There’s nothing more frustrating than dealing with multiple malfunctions, especially when you’ve spent your hard earned money on a round. That’s why I wanted to shoot plenty of each round out of different guns to get an idea of how they would run.

The Armscor 36r. HP performed very poorly out of a number of different guns. I shot the round through the TaurusTX 22, Ruger Mark IV 22/45 Lite, and Smith & Wesson M&P15-22. I fired about 75 rounds and roughly 20 of those were light primer strikes. A light primer strike is when the firing pin or striker hits the primer of a cartridge, but the round fails to ignite. This, of course, made shooting the 36gr. round extremely frustrating. 

In many cases with .22LR ammo, some guns are just picky with the ammo that runs well in them. However, the three guns I used regularly run a variety of .22LR ammo with no regular issues.

On the other hand, the Armscor 40gr. SP round performed flawlessly. I had no malfunctions at all out of any of the guns used. This was pretty surprising after the disappointing performance from the 36gr. HP.

Accuracy

Both Armscor .22LR rounds proved to be accurate when shooting freehand. With a rifle, I was easily able to hit 12″ steel plates at roughly 75 yards. With a pistol, I had no trouble hitting small steel at 5 to 10 yards.

If you’re looking for extreme accuracy, it would be worth picking up a couple boxes to see how they perform in your gun. That’s because different guns can have varying accuracy with the same ammo.

Velocity

Next, I wanted to compare the velocities of the two rounds, each out of a pistol and rifle.

To chronograph, I shot 5 rounds each using a TaurusTX 22 pistol with a 4.6” barrel and a Smith & Wesson M&P15-22 rifle with a 16.5” barrel.

Armscor advertises the 36gr. HP round as having a muzzle velocity of 1247fps. Out of the guns I used, it travelled a little slower, at an average of 1009fps out of a pistol and 1128fps out of a rifle.

The 40gr. SP was also a little slower than the advertised 1125fps. Out of a pistol it travelled an average of 943fps and 1020fps out of a rifle.

These results are not surprising – most rounds I’ve tested end up chronographing slower than advertised. Armscor advertises the 36gr. HP round as being a high velocity .22LR round. However, unless you’re using a longer barrel than us, you might not get those high velocities.

Armscor .22LR Review: Final Thoughts

If you were to be choosing which Armscor .22LR round to pick up, I would opt for the 40gr. SP. While both rounds were relatively accurate, the 36gr. HP round was simply to finicky and unreliable for me. You can easily find cheaper and more reliable .22LR ammo on the market, such as the Federal Champion .22LR 36gr. CPHP and Winchester USA 36gr. CPHP.

Sometimes .22LR firearms can be picky, so whichever round you choose, it’s worth picking up a couple boxes first to see how it runs in your gun!

Winchester 22 LR Ammunition - 333 Rounds of 36 Grain CPHP

$22.99

CCI Mini-Mag 22 LR Ammunition - 100 Rounds of 36 Grain CPHP

$12.00