what .22lr rifle ammo do winning benchrest shooters use at 100 yards?

Ammo and rimfires are like like women.....pretty picky about their diet but get it right and you can succeed.

Here is a 100m target that managed to beat the pack last Sunday comp in crappy wet and windy conditions. Reading the flags was vital.

Rifle; 1974 Anschutz M54, Ammo; Eley Tenex 1062. The fly circle is 25mm (just under 1 inch).

My mate's Annie '64 hates Tenex but does ok with RWS R50 / Norma #1.............. go figgure.

* doghunter *
 

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rkittine said:
Thanks for the note and that is something I have been told. Guess it makes it frustrating to find what will shoot well without buying 10s of thousands of rounds in each lot, so when you find the best you have a supply, only to find out that most of them don't shoot.

Clint Swigert seems to have a good quantity of multiple lots of Lapua Midas+ (I think one step up from the Center-X, but one step down from the top of their line X-Act) and plenty of Eley Match, one step down (at least in price) from Tenex. Unfortunately he does not have any Tenex or X-Act.

My thought was, since he lists them by lot number, to buy a box of each brand in a number of different lots, where Clint currently has considerable inventory and then shoot right away, determine which shoots the best and then order a supply of the appropriate lot numbers.

How do shooters normally do this?

I buy wine Futures by Tasting Notes for certain vinyards for new vintages. Are their any listings of "Lot Notes" for ammo? Since guns differ too, that may not make a lot of sense.

Bob
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Trying a box by lot numbers is good advice IMO. As far back as the 1920's, competitive shooters suggested buying a box of each cartridge that a person could find and test their rifle with them. When they found a lot that their rifle liked, they were advised to buy as much of that lot as possible. It still applies today. Sadly, unlike wine, what shoots well in your rifle may - or may not - shoot well in mine. Were it that simple.......

Walker
 
1813benny said:
Doubs,
In reading your post, I noticed that I inadvertently missed adding "and vice versa for ammo shooting great at 100 yards may not perform at 50 yards". That was where the thought of "some might dispute" came from initially.

In short, what I was trying to say is that if you are selecting only a single lot to be used at multiple distances be sure to test it at all distances.

Sorry for any confusion.
Best Regards,
ken
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Ken, I think we're of one mind on that. Testing, IMO, is critical for best results. Each rifle is a law unto itself as I'm sure you know.

Best Regards,
Walker
 
doghunter said:
Ammo and rimfires are like like women.....pretty picky about their diet but get it right and you can succeed.

Here is a 100m target that managed to beat the pack last Sunday comp in crappy wet and windy conditions. Reading the flags was vital.

Rifle; 1974 Anschutz M54, Ammo; Eley Tenex 1062. The fly circle is 25mm (just under 1 inch).

My mate's Annie '64 hates Tenex but does ok with RWS R50 / Norma #1.............. go figgure.

* doghunter *
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A 25mm 10 ring at 100 meters? That's a tough target, wind or no wind. You shot a really nice target. I'd surely be proud of it.

Walker
 
Caution: before running out to buy many Lots of test ammo in hopes of finding that magic Lot so you can buying many, many more boxes of it while it's still available, make sure you read the post about "Cold Weather Shooting".

Been there, done that, and so have so many others.

Dave
 
Dave Shattuck said:
Caution: before running out to buy many Lots of test ammo in hopes of finding that magic Lot so you can buying many, many more boxes of it while it's still available, make sure you read the post about "Cold Weather Shooting". Been there, done that, and so have so many others. Dave
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Agreed that conditions change and different cartridges may be needed.

If you find a lot that shoots great in cold weather, why not buy as much of it as you can? It won't go bad if stored properly and cold weather will be return.

For warm/hot weather you can repeat the tests and buy a different lot.

Walker
 
Clint Swigert gave me the same advise when I bounced off of him what I planned on doing. So I am ordering a number of boxes of test ammo in different lots and trying each on days with different conditions. The weather around here is cooperating with one day in the 50s and the next in the 20s and then I can shoot 50 yards indoors with heat too.

Bob
 
100 yard pratice

Here at our club we shoot 100 yards matches once a month, these are my practice targets.
Swindlehurst with Broughton barrel by Penrod.
Rem 40X with Lilja barrel by Penrod.
We shoot the NBRSA HBR 1 target for score 5 shot each bull unlimted sighters.
Thanks for looking
Bones
 

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Thanks for posting Bones, hope to get my rifle and start testing some ammo soon. Will post what ever results I get.

Bob
 
Testing ammo

rkittine said:
Clint Swigert gave me the same advise when I bounced off of him what I planned on doing. So I am ordering a number of boxes of test ammo in different lots and trying each on days with different conditions. The weather around here is cooperating with one day in the 50s and the next in the 20s and then I can shoot 50 yards indoors with heat too.

Bob
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I have been buying ammo from Clint Swiggert for several years. He is one of the best suppliers that I know. At my club, most of the top shooters are using various lots of Eley Black. They routinely test several lots before choosing the best for a particular rifle all at 50y. When Clint shows up with new ammo there is a flurry of activity to test as many as time and budget will allow. My time and budget do not allow that luxury, so I just get a few random lots and hope for the best. Using that approach the Lapua seems to be more consistent. In the guns that shoot it well, they seem to shoot most lots well and some slightly better. I am usually averaging six, 5-shot groups for this. Have had good luck with Wolf MX too. I am currently shooting Wolf MX at 50y, thru 300y for long rang precision matches. It looks and shoots much like Lapua CenterX and I am told it is made by Lapua.

I have one rifle that likes Eley. The rest of them seem to prefer various offerings from Lapua. I do have one lot of Midas+ that has out performed all others with my Anschutz M54 super match. But the difference between it and the CenterX was very small and hard to justify for everyday use. To be fair, I also had another lot of Midas+ that was the worst of any ammo, I have tested. It was strange. So, test as many lots as you can. Some will be better.

Since you cannot reload for 22lr to alter the velocity in incremental amounts like we do with centerfire, the ability to do this by trying multiple lots of ammo to achieve the same result is all you can do with rimfire. That is where Eley does outshine them all by printing the median velocity on each lot. It is a relevant data point when choosing lots to test. You could also just chrono the tests and collect the data.

I have one rifle that shoots everything well but it always seems to shoot Lapua just a little better. I have never tried X-Act. I cannot find it here. I have never had much luck with Tennex either but have tried it on multiple occasions. It shot well but never better than a fresh lot of Eley black.

Irish
 
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rcmark said:
I have done a bit of searching with no luck.
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Really depends on the gun. Anschutz seem to like RWS R50. CZs like any Lapua ammo, specifically Wolf ME and SK rifle match. Gotta find what your gun likes and go from there.
 
Bob,

Thanks for posting the link to accurateshooter.com. I really enjoyed my last couple of hours reading all the info about the huge ammo test shown in the thread, and have saved the link for future reference.

Dave Shattuck
 
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Dave,

Sorry I haven’t responded sooner but I’ve been out for a few days. I found that sight about a year ago when I was looking for info on ammo and thought you might find it interesting. You must understand that the ammo test was done with one gun so the information is subjective.

Bob
 
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And what a gun it was! $10,000 is quite a hefty price tag to get one too.
 
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