Target .22 LR ammo

Southern

Well-Known Member
In keeping with the threads on Target .22 LR and long range .22 shooting, I am curious what ammunition you use in the UK for your most accurate rifles, and for hunting.

All .22 LR is scarce as hen's teeth in the USA, and expensive.
I decided to try a box of RWS 40-gr match ammo, and bought it yesterday....$9.00 for 50 !!!. That used to buy 500 CCI, Remington, or Winchester a few years ago.
They had RWS Subsonic, too. Maybe I should try some of those, too, $6.99 a box.
 
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All I use are Winchester subsonics. £6.34 a box of 50, or about £55 for a brick. That's about on a par with your RWS I think?

I was in Georgia a couple of years ago, and just loved Cabelas and Gander Mountain! You guys have it right when it comes to shopping for hunting & fishing gear!
 
In keeping with the threads on Target .22 LR and long range .22 shooting, I am curious what ammunition you use in the UK for your most accurate rifles, and for hunting.
As a target shooter, I use Eley Match. The only difference between that and Eley Tenex that I can see is the colour of the box and the price, though Match isn't exactly cheap either... I can do sub 1" groups at 100 yards (wind permitting).
 
In keeping with the threads on Target .22 LR and long range .22 shooting, I am curious what ammunition you use in the UK for your most accurate rifles, and for hunting.

All .22 LR is scarce as hen's teeth in the USA, and expensive.
I decided to try a box of RWS 40-gr match ammo, and bought it yesterday....$9.00 for 50 !!!. That used to buy 500 CCI, Remington, or Winchester a few years ago.

This will give you an indication of typical .22 target ammo prices. http://www.nsrashop.co.uk/collections/ammunition?page=1
With careful buying most of us that belong to clubs can knock a fair bit off those prices.

Members of our club use a mixture of SK which is made by Lapua (mainly gallery rifle).
The small bore precision boys use mainly RWS50 or Eley club/match. A couple of the more serious prone guys with pretentions will buy Eley Tennex.
 
Geco solids are worth a try, very accurate in my old Anschutz.
RWS HP subs for Rabbits very accurate too.
 
for target shooting I use batch tested tenex, then use a tuner to decrease the group size, never buy tenex off the shelf total waste of money, R50 performs very good off the shelf, same as Midas, there are very few people can see the difference at the top end of the 22 ammo suppliers products, even after batch testing, like most people find out it is what shoots best in their rifle, the rifle I use is a 20 series Anschutz, with a lilja barrel and a beesting tuner, consistently shoots sub 10mm groups @ 50M, as for the sporting side I find eley subs works ok and they come at a good price, which is the main reason

steve
 
+1 on RWS - be it the Semi Auto, R50 or the Target Rifle - great consistency, no duds with the only slight downside being that they're a little more on the waxy side out of the box
 
I find Lapua CentreX very good in my Anschutz (£6.50 a box). I tested it with rifle in a bench vice and it's very consistent. Of course it depends what level you want to compete at.
 
I have not competed in .22 rifle in decades. I was just curious as to what you were finding as quality ammunition.

I some of you also hunt with the higher end ammunition. So do I. Three of my hunting .22s are capable of sub-MOA with top ammunition they like. For normal hunting, just offhand 50 and 75 yard shots, this is not necessary, but for 100 yards and beyond, the better ammunition is necessary for me.

But some rifles shoot cheaper ammunition very well. My S&W M&P 15-22 has a tight chamber and throat, so it shoots the smaller diameter CCI Mini Mags very well, better than the larger Winchester and Remington bulk .22.
 
American Eagle is fine with me. My Anschutz Match 54 likes them, they are clean, fast enough, and at the moment work well for me in the summer competition in my division.
 
My S&W M&P 15-22 has a tight chamber and throat, so it shoots the smaller diameter CCI Mini Mags very well, better than the larger Winchester and Remington bulk .22.

The best accuracy I've had with my 15-22 has been with the RWS Semi Auto - consistently sub 1" @ 60 yds, no FTF, no FTE, no stovepipes etc etc - however, for mag-dumping I use the CCI AR Tactical bulk copper wash which are slightly easier on the wallet! :eek:
 
My annie lives on a diet of Eley subs and is more accurate than its owner. Magtech subs also are very good. Eley test all their ammo in annie barrels so no wonder they shoot well. I have no problems head shooting rabbits at 100yds with my annie, off sticks or bipod. Last year I set my long range record of a grey squirrel at 140yds, missed it first shot, got it second.

D
 
Do you mind elaborating on what you mean by a tuner?
after having gone through the batch testing at Eley giving the best group for that barrel, I then fit a Beesting tuner, there are other makes, which is basically a carbon fibre tube (this is also used to extend the sight radius)there is also a ring which has a micrometer type thread on which as this is screwed in or out from the end of the barrel, this changes the group size, it can also increase the group size,
http://beesafeusa.com/beesting-tuner-bloop-tube/
if you click on the link this is the actual tuner, the actual rifle is also the upper one of the 2 rifles

steve
 
after having gone through the batch testing at Eley giving the best group for that barrel, I then fit a Beesting tuner, there are other makes, which is basically a carbon fibre tube (this is also used to extend the sight radius)there is also a ring which has a micrometer type thread on which as this is screwed in or out from the end of the barrel, this changes the group size, it can also increase the group size,
http://beesafeusa.com/beesting-tuner-bloop-tube/
if you click on the link this is the actual tuner, the actual rifle is also the upper one of the 2 rifles

steve

Thanks for that.

Funnily enough I found out on Thursday that my rifle likes Eley Edge in preference to Tenex. May try Match and some Lapua stuff. Once I settle on the ammo then a Bloop tube is a possibility.

Ta.
 
As a target shooter, I use Eley Match. The only difference between that and Eley Tenex that I can see is the colour of the box and the price, though Match isn't exactly cheap either... I can do sub 1" groups at 100 yards (wind permitting).

Regarding similarities between different "grades" of target ammo from the same manufacturer, I think I'm correct in saying that manufacturers will initially use the best, newest dies, etc to make their "top" grade target ammo, e.g. Eley Tenex. Then once the dies, etc are a bit older/worn they carry on using them to produce the lower grades, e.g. Eley Match, and so it goes on down the line.
 
Regarding similarities between different "grades" of target ammo from the same manufacturer, I think I'm correct in saying that manufacturers will initially use the best, newest dies, etc to make their "top" grade target ammo, e.g. Eley Tenex. Then once the dies, etc are a bit older/worn they carry on using them to produce the lower grades, e.g. Eley Match, and so it goes on down the line.

Nope, not correct it is about post manufacture QC.
 
Nope, not correct it is about post manufacture QC.

Interesting, have you got personal experience of ammo manufacture and can you explain more please?

Do they do post manufacture QC on the individual components AND on the fully assembled round? If so how do they decide what goes into a Tenex box as opposed to a lower grade? Or is it just QC on the fully assembled round? And how do the batch numbers work with the quality/grading based on post manufacture QC?

Sorry for so many questions, but once I started thinking about it the practicalities became intriguing!

Thanks,

Humpers
 
hi
I can only talk on the eley production , they do QC on all their products all the way through to test firing, the claim is some 600 checks, I have not seen all of these, some of their production can lead to poorer quality, this is their choice, if the product does not meet a criteria then the whole batch will be destroyed, so worn dies can still produce tenex, just as new ones can produce scrap, of what I know of RWS and Lapua they do similar types of QC just test firing changes slightly, just think of the variation in quality of lead, then the brass case and dimensions alone, Eley mix their own powder for rimfire, even more variation,
Batch numbers are just that a batch off the line are given the next number in sequence from the last one when it has been through the process of firing which finally gives it a brand eg match usually with the year in the number, the speed is also on the box of the top end of Eley and RWS not sure of Lapua, at the end of the day speed is not needed by the shooter, only does it group well, temp humidity and air pressure also play the part in groups on the day

steve
 
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