Better ammo, better results!

[cam1936]

I have a CZ 452 varmint that I have done a fair amount of ammo testing with. It's not too ammo picky and it will do under 1" 10 round groups with most bulk packs consistantly.

Yesterday I tried some fancier ammo. These are all the groups I shot that day, no cherry picking. Range was 50 yards:

It really likes SK Rifle Match, but I'm surprised that it didn't like SK Standard + very much, as most say it shoots well in the CZ.

I don't know if that flyer in the Lapua center-x was me or the ammo.

Any other brands I should try? Should I be happy with sub .5" 10 round groups at 50 yards? Rifle is stock, excpet for the addition of a yodave trigger kit.

Oh and a picture of the rifle in question:

 

[little_airwolf]

I did that same thing with my savage. I found that switching ammo made the first few shots travel more than the rest. I'm sure if you clraned the gun w/ switching ammo. The groups might be even better.
Also when the gun heated up, it shot abit tighter groups. Just an fyi.
Try dynapoint, stingers and american eagle 40g.

 

[Brutus]

I've had very similar results in my Martini Model 13.
SK Standard shot alright, but Rifle Match shot alot better @100 yards.
The so-so results with Lapua Centre X is not unusual from what I gather off of other internet sources.
That's why my last brick purchase was SK Rifle Match. CCI Green Tag was also just okay shooting in a few different rimfire platforms.
Nothing to get excited about IMO.

 

[redneckchris]

I use federal gold metal and rws target rifle
With good results

 

[AlexF]

I've tried 9 different types of target ammo in my rifles and the only correlation that I found is very disturbing:

• The more expensive the target ammo, the better it shoots

I've done the test in 3 different rifles and get similar results.

The only challenge is finding what is "good enough" for serious target shooting.
My "optimal ammo" is 0.14$ per round CCI Green Tag for now but I'm always testing new type of ammo.
I'm willing to pay around 0.20$ to 0.25$ per round if I can get significantly better accuracy than Green Tag.

Alex

 

[Nupes]

SK Standard + is the same as the american sold wolf MT and is really popular in the CZ's. The difference between the standard+ and the Rifle Match is likely some culling/sorting at the factory. The difference you see on paper is just varience in lot #'s IMHO. I have seen the standard+ and RM from SK outshoot each other back and forth in my CZ's all the time so I stopped ponying up the extra $'s for the RM and prefer to buy more of a proven lot # when I find it in the Standard+.

Lately, the best shooting ammo in my 455 THV has been RWS Target. Absolutely steller accuracy in comparison to the SK brand. I may have lucked out on the lot# with this also but I went back and bought the last 4 remaining bricks from my supplier. The 452-455 line on the cZ's do not have match chambers; they will not engrave on the driving band on the expensive ammos designed to be used with match chambers. The RWS Target's driving band extends out a touch farther incomparison to the Eley/SK/Federal 711b brands and does show a very light touch of engraving. I believe this is why it shoots so well (in my CZ's FWIW).

Fed 711b has been my go-to ammo for practice. It can shoot surprisingly well for ammo that costs less than $50/brick.

 

[diemaco]

I've tried 9 different types of target ammo in my rifles and the only correlation that I found is very disturbing:

• The more expensive the target ammo, the better it shoots

I've done the test in 3 different rifles and get similar results.

The only challenge is finding what is "good enough" for serious target shooting.
My "optimal ammo" is 0.14$ per round CCI Green Tag for now but I'm always testing new type of ammo.
I'm willing to pay around 0.20$ to 0.25$ per round if I can get significantly better accuracy than Green Tag.
Alex

What kind of accuracy were you getting with green tag?

I had really good results with Norma Training ammo (MOA @ 100 yards off a bipod, no rear bag, 15km/h wind) but at $11/box I can't justify shooting it very often.

Still waiting to try the RWS target that I bought but its good to see that others have been getting good results.

 

[AlexF]

What kind of accuracy were you getting with green tag?

I had really good results with Norma Training ammo (MOA @ 100 yards off a bipod, no rear bag, 15km/h wind) but at $11/box I can't justify shooting it very often.

Still waiting to try the RWS target that I bought but its good to see that others have been getting good results.

I had tested different ammo at 50m and 100m outdoor in the last weekends and shot at 50m indoor yesterday and tried multiple 10 shot groups with:

• CCI Hollow point Subsonic
• CCI Standard
• CCI Select
• CCI Green Tag
• RWS Target Rifle
• RWS Match Pistol
• Remington (made by Eley) Target Club
• Remington (made by Eley) Match.

I was impressed with CCI Select (11$ per 100), CCI Green Tag (14$ per 100), RWS Target Rifle (7$ per 50) and RWS Match Pistol (8$ per 50$).

At 50m indoor CCI Green Tag produced 1/2" 10 shot groups.
At 100m outdoor CCI Green Tag produced 1" - 1 1/2" 10 shot groups.
CCI Standard typically produces 50% to 75% larger groups at 1/2 the cost.

I would be willing to pay 0.25$ per round for 1/2"-3/4" 10 shot groups at 100m but think that it's simply impossible to do with a less than non-match rifle.

Alex

 

[Brutus]

SK Standard + is the same as the american sold wolf MT and is really popular in the CZ's. The difference between the standard+ and the Rifle Match is likely some culling/sorting at the factory. The difference you see on paper is just varience in lot #'s IMHO. I have seen the standard+ and RM from SK outshoot each other back and forth in my CZ's all the time so I stopped ponying up the extra $'s for the RM and prefer to buy more of a proven lot # when I find it in the Standard+.

Lately, the best shooting ammo in my 455 THV has been RWS Target. Absolutely steller accuracy in comparison to the SK brand. I may have lucked out on the lot# with this also but I went back and bought the last 4 remaining bricks from my supplier. The 452-455 line on the cZ's do not have match chambers; they will not engrave on the driving band on the expensive ammos designed to be used with match chambers. The RWS Target's driving band extends out a touch farther incomparison to the Eley/SK/Federal 711b brands and does show a very light touch of engraving. I believe this is why it shoots so well (in my CZ's FWIW).

Fed 711b has been my go-to ammo for practice. It can shoot surprisingly well for ammo that costs less than $50/brick.

That makes sense to me now.
My first experimental shoot with the RM was with the Martini rifle at 100 & 200 yards with pretty darn good results. Then based on those results, I bought some more from a different lot #. At 50 yards with the Hammerli Free Pistol I could not really tell much difference in accuracy with SK+ or the RM.
And, maybe I was just having a bad day with the pistol?

 

[_Shorty]

Every rifle's different. My CZ may like something entirely different from yours. Only way to find out is to shoot it in the rifle in question. Not to mention different lot numbers of the same ammo can shoot wildly different groups, too. Though you will usually find a brand/model that usually shoots fairly well from lot to lot in a given rifle, and then do lot testing to find the best of the bunch before you buy a pickup truck full of the stuff.