My CZ 457 is quickly becoming my favorite rifle and .22 WMR my favorite caliber.

Maybe that’s because both are new to me, but more likely it’s due to the accuracy of the rifle and how capable the .22 WMR is as an all-purpose rimfire round.

So the next step was getting the rifle dialed in.

The CZ 457 is well known for preferring certain brands and loads of ammunition, so I wanted to see what mine liked best.

For this test, I used:

• CCI Maxi-Mag 40 gr JHP
• Remington 40 gr JHP
• Federal 50 gr JHP

I didn't include 30 gr ammo since I want to use the rifle primarily for small game hunting but still be capable of handling beavers or coyotes.

All testing was done at 50 yards using a lead sled and paper targets.

I shot three separate 5-shot groups with each load.

I’m a left-handed shooter using a right-handed shooting bench, so I had to angle it slightly to make it work.

Even so, the lead sled setup was extremely solid. It almost feels like cheating compared to shooting freehand or with a makeshift front rest.

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CCI Maxi-Mag 40 gr JHP

I started with the CCI Maxi-Mag 40 grain JHP loads since this is what I originally used to sight in the rifle.

As expected, the rifle shot these very well.

The groups stayed within 3/4" and consistently centered around the bullseye. The bar was set pretty high for the rest of the testing.

One thing I did notice again was occasional feeding issues with the 4th and 5th rounds in the magazine.

I’m convinced the issue is related to the magazine rather than the ammunition itself, but it’s still something worth mentioning.

Aside from that, the CCI rounds performed extremely well and would easily handle small game hunting or general target shooting.

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Remington 40 gr JHP

Next up were the Remington 40 grain JHP rounds.

The results surprised me.

The rifle grouped these extremely well, producing several tight cloverleaf groups right around the 1/2" mark at 50 yards.

The Remington rounds narrowly outperformed the CCI ammo, but the groups were slightly tighter and more consistent.

They also fed perfectly throughout with no issues whatsoever.

This became the new benchmark for my rifle.

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Federal 50 gr JHP

Last up were the Federal 50 grain JHP loads.

I expected these rounds to hit slightly lower due to the heavier bullet weight, which they did.

What I didn’t expect was how inconsistent they were compared to the other two.

Some shots landed only slightly lower while others dropped much farther, leading to groups around the 1.5" range.

There were no feeding issues during testing, but accuracy was noticeably worse than both the CCI and Remington rounds.

At least in my rifle, these were the clear weakest performers of the three brands tested.

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Final Thoughts

I’m not sure whether the Federal rounds are less accurate or if my CZ 457 just doesn’t like them. Either way, they weren’t even close to the other two brands during this test.

The CCI Maxi-Mag rounds performed very well and I’d happily use them anytime, especially since they’re easy to find.

That said, my rifle clearly preferred the Remington 40 gr JHP rounds.

The combination of excellent accuracy and flawless feeding gave them the edge.

The only downside is that they are a bit tougher to track down compared to the CCI. After seeing the results though, I stopped by the local gun store and ordered 10 boxes to keep on hand.

For now, Remington will become my primary .22 WMR hunting and range round, although it’s nice knowing I can confidently fall back on CCI ammo without needing to make scope adjustments.