From Lapua SK to ELEY

Longstud

Longstud

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Uber Super GunNutz
Rating - 100%
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Location
Ontario
Well always been more of a fan of Lapua and SK ammo until the last year and a half. Very sporadic availability mixed with very poor results out of mutiple varieties from Exact,Midas Plus, Center X and all SK variants. I did have a great case of SK Long Range Match but after $8000 conservatively and very poor results and availability, I gave up and started shooting Eley and have had great results as well as with RWS. The sleeper for me has been Eley semi auto benchrest. Even in my better bolt guns as well as my custom semis. Eley match and Biathlon have also seemed to be very accurate. Before I get jumped and start hearing its all about lot numbers, I realize this. Im 60 and have been shooting since im 5 so I dont know everything but Im fairly versed and just relaying what Ive seen and I can get what I want seemingly on a regular basis, Maybe just lucky on the availability but the results on paper have been way better than Lapua or most SK other than the lot of LRMatch. Gave the last brick of that to my buddy with a Vudoo that loved it. Anyways When I first bought a brick of the Eley SA Benchrest I put a target on my range at 54 yards and shot 5 groups of five after shooting on clip of ten out of my custom semi. I fired five groups with a new tuner from Harley at Insite Arms with his Heathen Brake. First five were 0.405" second group was 0.400" third group was 0.358" fourth group was 0.298" and the final group was 0.195". This was done adjusting the tuner after each five shot group. I shoot CRPS and ORPS as well as X22, so when I hit the 0.195" it didnt change. I only shoot paper occasionally but recently had a rifle shooting friend(Centerfire) try the rimfire cuz hed heard what was being done and had too see for himself. Well after hitting steel out too 305yards he cleaned the KYL rack and shot the 1/4" with a full clip of ten without a miss. Guess what hes buying now haha. Just an FYI
 
Interesting. After trying so many different ammos I thought my poor groups on paper were due to something with my rifle. But perhaps it's always been the ammo.
 
Heres a 10 shot group from 12 years ago fired at 50 meters with Eley match. I had bought 2 cases of this lot # and am now down to my last brick. The rifle is an older Anschutz 54 Match with a Lilja barrel chambered for Eley match and a Harrel tuner.
2oXwrJH.jpg
 
Heres another target shot at 50 yards with Center X playing around with tuner settings with a custom built 2500X with a 3 groove Benchmark barrel and Harrel tuner.
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Very nice groups and great shooting. It’s very satisfying when everything aligns. I just recently found the Eley to be much more accurate in my rifles on average. Was really disappointed in the high end Lapua. Exact was the biggest disappointment. At $40 a box and a couple different lots I was glad I just didn’t buy a case and only bricks. The results with my semi and the Eley really put a grin on my face!!
 
It's interesting to hear that Lapua X-Act performance has been disappointing. In general, among top level competitive shooters X-Act has earned a reputation as very good, consistent ammo. It's Lapua's top grade of standard .22LR match ammo (followed by Midas + and then Center X).

Having said that, the one lot of Lapua X-Act I have is very inconsistent on target. Over the chronograph with two different rifles, two boxes showed extreme spreads over 50 fps, another at 70 fps. SD figures are in the double digits. The smallest ES for a box of this lot was 33 fps with an SD of 8 fps. This is Lapua X-Act lot 28554/605042.



I don't know what experience other shooters in Canada have had with X-Act. Generally, good lots shoot well across many rifles, while poor ones don't. Unfortunately, there have been a few posters reporting disappointing results. Of course, any grade of ammo can have poorly performing lots. While there is a very limited and inconclusive set of anecdotal evidence, it makes me wonder if Canada is getting more than a fair share of poor lots of X-Act (or even Midas +).

It would be interesting to learn what other shooters in Canada can report about the performance of different lots of X-Act.
 
Great Post and thanks for sharing. With SK ammo being difficult to get I have also being trying the various Eley types. For my CZ512 which absolutely love SK standard plus I have been getting great results with Eley SA Benchrest and Contact. I was unable to get any real consistency with Eley Team.. I still have to try them through my Tikka T1x.
 
I have been very happy shooting Eley Contact at $10.00 per box. I purchased 5 bricks of each of 3 different lot numbers. Accuracy has been very satisfactory out to 235 yards ( the length of our range ). I was "happy as a clam" with the groups until a good friend of mine ( his name kinda sounds like Lonesome Dove ) gave me a couple of boxes of Eley Benchrest Precision. With this stuff I have come to expect 10 shot groups at 50 to be .500 or less. ( Kidd HB 10/22 ). I am in a bit of a conundrum over my "Friendship" as I know my Buddy is smiling like a cat that he has pretty much more than doubled my ammo costs !!!!! Thanks.............I guess.

Regards,
dgb
 
Buy Eley TENEX while there is still some around.
It will seem like a real bargain when there is nothing else left . . . at $25.00 per box!
It is just money. Trudeau thinks it grows on trees and gives it away to dictatorships.
 
if i shoot eley it has to be team, match or tennex which are very pricey and don’t produce any better groups shooting my 457 MTR than SK rifle match. i sure hope one day we see sk again! i’m stocked up somewhat…. but.
 
Years ago Eley made high a high velocity ammo, 40 grn. solid points, I believe was about 1250 fps. Not sure if still available now. This stuff was inexpensive and accurate as hell. Shot better than Tenex in my BRNO 452 and my Anschutz match 54. Only thing was it would occasionally throw a flier. But other than the occasional flier it was just as accurate as any match ammo I ever used.
 
Hey Chris , same experience for me out West.

I start every one (rifles) on SK Std Plus , shoots adequately enough
step up to SK Rifle Match , not even as consistant .

No other Lapua available therefore Eley Team steps in to save the day.
...skwerl
 
The red SK rifle match and yellow standard plus can shoot well if you get a good lot but if you shoot when it gets colder it suks!! I shot my Eley yesterday at minus two with a couple of buddies. One didn’t have much experience with rimfire other than shooting pests. I let him shoot my semi on the KYL rack at fifty and he cleaned it with four hits on the quarter inch . We then shot from 75,100,130,150,208,255,275 and 305yards. He had no problem hitting any target and is now hooked on rimfire and is buying a FFP scope for his CZ 457 mtr. I have been doing some accuracy testing and the Eley seems way more temp stable. I shot freshly painted targets so I could see how big my groups were and at 208 they were slightly bigger than 2.5 inches. I shot two five shot groups off a bipod with a rear bag (sticky gamechanger) and one was just a small ragged hole that would be 0.250” or better and the other was a ragged hole easily under 0.400”. I will definitely be lot testing this ammo again and buying more cases if they are like this case. My apologies if I’ve ruined ammo spending for some!
 
Eley is not more temperature stable as evidenced by close to total domination in biathlon by Lapua. Lapua advised at Shot that VihtaVuori powder is no longer being supplied to Eley. We do not now how this will effect performance.

A suggestion is to speak with the Anschutz distributor for Canada and see what ammo has caused the most problems.

.22 shooters will continue to try different lots/brands and many such as Marcel Kolb who shot the top score of 599/600 in the postals will continue to use Centre X.

Getting product has been difficult but we are assured Lapua-SK will be here before spring, hopefully very soon.

Regards,

Peter
 
peterdobson said:
Eley is not more temperature stable as evidenced by close to total domination in biathlon by Lapua. Lapua advised at Shot that VihtaVuori powder is no longer being supplied to Eley. We do not now how this will effect performance.

A suggestion is to speak with the Anschutz distributor for Canada and see what ammo has caused the most problems.

.22 shooters will continue to try different lots/brands and many such as Marcel Kolb who shot the top score of 599/600 in the postals will continue to use Centre X.

Getting product has been difficult but we are assured Lapua-SK will be here before spring, hopefully very soon.

Regards,

Peter
Click to expand...
SK (by Lapua) is very much more temp sensitive that Eley Team/Match/Tennex. Once I had been disappointed by SK I transitioned to Eley rather than taking the risk of buying a bunch of Center-X that did not hold its velocity in colder temps. Until Eley fails me, I will continue to use it.
 
The various Biathlon ammunition I have tried is POLAR, Eley Match and Eley Tenex.

During colder weather, hand warmers in my ammo box is perhaps a better solution.
 
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