A hypothetical question

J

James Whitten

Member
If you were given a rim fire BR rifle to compete in a match with that you had never fired,and you didn't get to test ammo,but you had your choice of any current mfg.ammo,which ammo would you choose?In short,if you HAD to go completely off your best guess,which one would you put your money on?
James
 
I would ask Kent...and shoot what he said. It wouldn't matter much anyway, if you found yourself in such a spot as that.

Many folks do just that - every weekend. Only difference is that they know what rifle they're gonna shoot.
 
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Thanks guys.I have a "project" that I'm about to begin.I want to use a single ammo and plot the progress as the factors involved change.I am very aware of the fact that each rifle has its own favorite ammo but I want to use the most reliable ammo out there as the test subject.I figure you guys could tell me what that ammo is.
Thanks,James
 
Hold on now!!

Perhaps you would want to get a known lot of good ammo rather than just a statement. Shouldn't be very hard to do. How much ammo would you think you need for this project? AND....how good must it be?
 
Mr.Whitten,
The folks who are serious about rimfire BR test a lot of different lots of ammo before making their choice, that is if it's available. Then some have to make out with whatever is left, after it's been picked over. Now and then the testers will miss a killer lot, but it's rare that they do.
If I was building a rifle, I would not try to make it shoot just one lot/batch of ammo. That may be a mediocre batch. I usually test a new rifle with a known batch of "good" ammo. If it's not up to par I start looking at eh rifle/bedding, etc.

Wilbur, I still remember back in 2006 at the regionals I made a mistake and gave you the wrong box of ammo and you WON that target:) You came back from the bench and said "Man that's some good ammo, I shot 7 shots in a zero on the sighters!" You won that target with a 250-18X:) and shot the target in under 8 minutes.
I miss shooting with you man!
Was a lot of fun!
Kent
 
A brick of BR quality ammo should be enough to conduct the test I want to do.A known lot of this type ammo would be even better.
James
 
Kent Owens said:
Mr.Whitten,
The folks who are serious about rimfire BR test a lot of different lots of ammo before making their choice, that is if it's available. Then some have to make out with whatever is left, after it's been picked over. Now and then the testers will miss a killer lot, but it's rare that they do.
If I was building a rifle, I would not try to make it shoot just one lot/batch of ammo. That may be a mediocre batch. I usually test a new rifle with a known batch of "good" ammo. If it's not up to par I start looking at eh rifle/bedding, etc.

Wilbur, I still remember back in 2006 at the regionals I made a mistake and gave you the wrong box of ammo and you WON that target:) You came back from the bench and said "Man that's some good ammo, I shot 7 shots in a zero on the sighters!" You won that target with a 250-18X:) and shot the target in under 8 minutes.
I miss shooting with you man!
Was a lot of fun!
Kent
Click to expand...

I understand what your saying.I want to test variables other than the ammo to see what changes occur.So a good reliable ammo is what i'm after.
James
 
In this day and age I'd like to know where you're going to find the .22 ammo to do the testing with. Here in the PRK, it's easier/cheaper to shoot cf,as rf is nigh-on impossible to find by any maker in any quantity.
Jon
 
Well...

You gotta know I plan to go to a match every weekend...but then Friday comes and I just go to bed for the weekend. I don't have any plans for this weekend because it's going to be cold. Let it warm up and I'll have plenty of never plans.

James - sounds like you have a plan and that's good. Maybe somebody will jump in with a brick of good ammo to get the straight skinny on what you're doing. I've got some "once good" ammo but it's been hot and cold so many times it probably ain't worth missing a squirrel with it.
 
Wilbur said:
You gotta know I plan to go to a match every weekend...but then Friday comes and I just go to bed for the weekend. I don't have any plans for this weekend because it's going to be cold. Let it warm up and I'll have plenty of never plans.

James - sounds like you have a plan and that's good. Maybe somebody will jump in with a brick of good ammo to get the straight skinny on what you're doing. I've got some "once good" ammo but it's been hot and cold so many times it probably ain't worth missing a squirrel with it.
Click to expand...

Thanks Wilbur!,I thought more guys would jump in here with their 'go to" ammo.Im willing to buy whatever I need.Just looking for advice to shorten the learning curve.
Thanks All,
James
 
It's not likely that somebody would offer their "best" but if you had a good enough plan they might offer their second best - which might be the best ever for your rifle. Heck fire! trying to find some GOOD ammo without buying several cases is a problem ain't it!
 
Ammo

James Whitten said:
If you were given a rim fire BR rifle to compete in a match with that you had never fired,and you didn't get to test ammo,but you had your choice of any current mfg.ammo,which ammo would you choose?In short,if you HAD to go completely off your best guess,which one would you put your money on?
James
Click to expand...

James, what part of the country are you in? My local ammo distributor comes to some of the club matches in the region and brings his trailer full of 10X, Eley Black, Lapua and sometimes SK ammo. He usually has 8-15 lots of each and will sell you one box from each lot you choose to test and then more of the lot you like the best. In one afternoon you can find a lot your gun likes. If you partner with another shooter, you can split the test boxes as 25 shots is usually enough to tell you if it is a killer or not.

Over the winter, I tested a bunch of ammo with a factory stock Rem mod 540XR:

RWS R50 - Consistent, no bad flyers but the groups were larger than some of the other best shooters.
10X - 2nd best for my rifle, very consistent - shot in the mid 2's
Lapua Center X - Shot 2nd best group at 50yds. 5sh into 0.165", but was only 4th best overall.
Lapua Midas + - Worst of all the match grade ammo, I have tested, shot in the 4's
Eley Edge - about the same as the RWS. Consistently shot in the 3's
Eley Black - First lot #4 machine shot in the low 3's, 2nd lot shot my best group at 0.128", and recorded six five shot groups fired in sequence that averaged 0.245" for all five. 2nd lot came from #5 machine.
Wolf Match Extra - First lot performed the best. Averaged 0.222", amazingly consistent but I got a 2nd lot and it was in the 3's at best. The first lot was older ammo from 2012. I cannot get any more of it.
SK Std Plus - Shot in the 4's. I sorted this lot into boxes all the same weight to the nearest 1/10th grain, and it shot in the low 2's.
Wolf Match - Shot 3rd best overall.

While the Wolf performed really well, it was inconsistent from lot to lot and the newer lots in no way reached the performance of that first magic lot. All the Lapua/Wolf/SK ammo performed poorly in sub-freezing temps where the Eley continued to do well in the cold, so I am using Eley Black at the moment despite it only being 5th best in the tests. The difference between 1st and 5th was very small. It is wonderfully consistent, and while not the smallest groups, it is predictable and good enough, seems less affected by both cold and wind. And I can get it in quantity. I want to try some more Center-X when the temps warm up as well as some more 10X. PM me and I can put you in contact with my ammo supplier.

Irish
 
Ammo

I did test a number of other non-match grade ammo lots such as Hansen Std Vel, CCI HV HP, Federal Lightning, Russ Jr., Remington Yellow Jacket, Remington Golden Bullet, and Win T-22 Match. Of those the Federal/Hansen/CCI all shot reasonably well with the Federal being best of the bunch. None of these were able to consistently print 5 shot groups smaller than 1/2" at 50yds from a bench. Most of these were old random boxes that I had or acquired and some were so old that they were not worth the trouble. The Hansen was over 10yrs old and was an exception. It had been properly stored for most of its life and still shot OK. I often used it to lube and warm up the bbl.

I would like to try Lapua X-Act, but cannot find it for sale anywhere. Have heard good reports. Just one last comment. I am not a master class shooter but I do compete with some guys who are. They routinely shoot some amazing scores on IR50/50 and ARA tgts. All of them use Eley Black. Now part of that may be because it is available, but it does say more to me than all the rest of the BS. I did see one of them shooting Lapua Center-X at one match and asked him about it. He said it was all he had that weekend and that Lapua is just good enough to lose with. He also normally shoots Eley. He won with Eley was mid pack with Lapua. Same gun, same range, same shooter, different day.

Irish
 
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