Norinco 22 Magnum accuracy

Hi guys
I have a Norinco JW 23 ( ? ) that I bought new about 15 years ago.
Shoots ok with 40 grain projectiles, never grouped the lighter 30 (?) projectiles anywhere near as well
@cambo did a write up afew years ago that inspired me to polish the bolt, and generally do what I could to get it shooting better. Action is glass bedded. Barrel floated. I tried a pressure point on the barrel, made no difference.
Shoots about 1.5 to 1.7 MOA with the 40’s.
I know that the 22 mag isn’t an inherently accurate round, but what level of accuracy would you expect ?
Now as I have 2 22’s and a 223, the magnum hasn’t left the safe in a couple of years.
Am I chasing shadows ?
Is it worth chopping the barrel to 18” and running a suppressor ?

That sounds reasonable to me for an old Norinco - have you tried different brands of 40gr to see what it likes best?

A lot of people seem to find 22mags fussy about the faster 30gr ammo, either love it or hate it. My old Savage 93g didn't mind it, from memory most ammo types grouped around 1moa when I did my part but it was a few years ago now. Mostly used 40gr Fiocchi because it was the cheapest and shot as well as anything else I tried.

You might get an improvement (or at least less variation between different brands) with a shorter barrel, whether its worth the effort to find out probably depends how much you like the rifle.

I had one of those. Accuracy was never a strong point. Gave it away in the end. I did the sums for buying 22mag ammo vs reloading for 223, and 223 won.

I suspect the rifle is what it is, and ain't nothin' gonna change it.

@cambo ?

I had one used the remington 33 grain premier or something, shot really well with that (touching) or 40 gr winchester, slower and more open group but still seemed to hit what it was meant to. As others have said, once you compare price and performance to 223 the maths isnt in davor of the 22mag but it has its purpose in areas you need a bit more grunt but cant use 223. From memory the cci ammo went well too

try different ammo...mate had one the same as yours and it would do better than inch consistantly.... stirling was great magnum ammo with its big exposed lead hp.... plenty of different options out there now from hyper speed with plastic tips right up to heavy 50 grn stuff.

My 22mag is a wee gem. My boy is smacking roos over out to 250M+ and steel gongs out much further.
Found it loves the S&B ammo. CCI TNT not so much. Winny is very average accuracy.
Its been shortened a bit - 16" from memory and I always shoot it with a GW suppressor on it.
I had to spend hours on the action to clean it up though. They're rough as guts.

My little Ruger M96/22m loved the rem 33 btsp. the hornady 30gr was good on small game but while i did knock down some goats penetration was poor.

cci 40gr was like using a shotgun.
The heavier 45 and 50 gr loads where good on goats at moderate ranges.
I sold mine wen ammo costs for the remington topped $40.

i did hear a couple of regular shooter say that guys were getting good accuracy from the S&B for under $25 a box.

i discovered trail boss about this time and found 105 gr subsonic from a 243 really tumbles the length of a goat. so moved the 22wmr on. still sort of regret that sale. was a member here i thinks.

I had a zastava it grouped the best with highland but didn't feed it well the other one it liked was hornady ftx or something like that