.22LR Ammo

[Dave 101]

I went to Roding armoury last Sat to buy .22 ammo , For my BSA MkII I bought Eley Team 1,000 worked out at £12.50 p 100 , Geco was no longer available , I have used this for a couple of years now but I batch weigh it for best results . So I bought the SK Lapua Bulk at £7.50 p 100 , tried it in my Anschutz 54 and got good results , this was benchresting , then I tried it in my CZ 452 Varmint front rest only and was amazed at getting tightish one hole 5 shot groups consistently , so I think I will stick with this for a while now , it certainly produced good groups at 25 m .
When I can afford it RWS Target is a good ammo for the Foreign rifles but stick with Eley for the BSA , in all cases you willneed to match your ammo to the rifle for best results .

Dave

[hitchphil]

From my small bore target experience - At 25yds & to ~40m the quality of the ammo is fairly insensitive to group especially in a good gun with a good average score shooter. Eley Sport will be a tad less reliable than Match. But can you find the rogue shot vs those you influence off the bull? even then it may be 1 on 1000 that shoots low due to low powder or slower primer ignition?

I found Lapua Centre X & Midas cycle & shoot better in my supermatch than 10x as they have a thin lube 10x has loads of grease on it by comparison. I cant see any difference in score & group between 10x & Match but CentX is measurably better than Tenx - smaller in x & Y axis. Lapua Centre x ~£120/k - cheaper than Match.

Arguably using what's thought to be the best ammo gives you a psychological advantage that is as much as a physical / dynamic one?

Have been advised by 3 clubs Geco has more misfires than any other ammo? but never used it my self. Blazer works fine in semis for fun blatting.

I did an experiment ~10 years ago i bolted the rifle down & did test groups with different ammo - the best was lapua finalist (superseded by CenreX) but i could get match to be as good by refining them = removing those too light or heavy (to 3dec points) weight & head space - thin or low head space ones. I could get Finalist to be better using the same method but it took bleeding hours to do! Then Lapua went of the boil for a few years (no problem i had 5k off :lol:) now it seems as good as before.

Recommendation -use a good M45, 1813 or 19 series Anschutz target gun - they will beat almost everything else other than custom built target guns, bolt it down using the rail to a long block - I put that in a vice on a slab of wood then then put lead blocks on the slab. shoot 10 shot groups thru it indoors at 25 yds but better at 50m - after warming it up clean it then do more with different ammo & shoot sacrificial rnds to clear the barrel of 'debris' between different batches. (U have to run up n down moving & noting whats what on the paper a lot!) also try changing the torque of the bolts holding the action in the stock & that will have more effect that the grade of ammo!

Have fun.

[huntervixen]

I really can't stress this enough, now I used to have a pretty good avarage...98... , (before Illness stopped me grubbing about on the floor some years back) so I have some experience in prone .22lr competition shooting.

Before even thinking about ammo, get the basics right, a descent Anshultz 54 or equivalent...then...postion, position, position, its all about scoring the bull and then shifting 9 times without needing to re-adjust your sights!

This comes with much practice, and it takes time to adjust the sling, rifle, sights (and your brain) to the optimum point.

Getting this right is way more important than what ammo you use, like I said get consistent upper 90s scores then think about ammo.

[dromia]

Long long ago when fairies dwelt in the land and there were gnomes at the bottom of gardens I was a young lad learning the gentle art of prone small bore shooting. I was taught many things there and the old adages have held true for me over the decades one of which was "buy the most expensive rifle you can afford and the most expensive ammunition there is."

The principle behind this is that when shooting there are three variables, the shooter the rifle and the ammunition. The biggest variable is the shooter and the learning curve is steep and then repetitive. To be able to reduce the variables to that of the shooter so that improvement can be focused then the rifle and ammunition need to up to snuff. Cheap ammunition leads to cheap practice.

One of the best shooting brands for all my rifles used to be Eley Rifle with the yellow label. it grouped consistently from my Internationals to my Enfield No2 but every 50-100 rounds there would be squib that would drop low on the target. All I use now in my 22s is Eley match, RWS 50 and CCI minimags for anything semi auto.

Confidence in your rifle and ammunition allows you to concentrate on your technique.

[huntervixen]

I broadly agree with you, but I still say until you can shoot consistently into the 90's, you won't even notice the very odd ammo based "flier" because of the human miss-aimed fliers!

[dromia]

The point being if your know your ammunition to be true then all the "fliers" are down to the shooter.

[huntervixen]

Still think it's the tail wagging the dog! :lol:

[Dave 101]

Once you have tested thoroughly several brands of ammo to find out which is best for your rifle , by test I mean to remove the variables of human error as far as possible , you will then be confident in this combination , then you will know any fliers will likeky be human error , but having that confidence in the first place improves your attitude towards your shooting ability .
Not a case of the tail wagging the dog at all , you could have the most accurate rifle in the world , feeding it the wrong ammo is only going to loose that accuracy , therefore no amount of practice will improve the situation .

Dave

[huntervixen]

Morning Dave,

Well, I guess we all draw on our own personal Shooting experience, I still say that if someone is shooting pre 90 scores, the ammo will play absolutely no part in improving things (I don't mean using any old crap mind you, just sticking to the same good quality Club ammo), clearly the basics have to be mastered first, it's like putting in for your driving test after one lesson.

Anyway thats my personal opinion, I respect yours, but just don't agree mate.