Good quality ammo?

[kombayotch]

Also do you realize that Lapua makes SK, and it is just the same stuff off the same machines (except for the real high end Lapua), and probably did not test well enough to get the Lapua name on the box.

The SK and Lapua brands are made in the same factory, but not on the same machines. X-Act, Midas+ and Center-X may be the same ammo (sorted), but they are definitely not the same production as the SK rounds. Although, they may share some of the same components, powders, raw materials and even the same load recipe, the tolerance is much higher in anything with Lapua on the box. If you want to prove that to yourself, just weight the ammo. SK Std. Plus has a much higher weight distribution (1.3 gr. typically) than Center-X (0.3 gr.) and far less deviation in rim thickness. That isn't manufacturing variations from the same production line or tolerance gained by sorting after the fact. Companies don't sort individual cartridges by weight or rim thickness when they sort. They sort entire lots by test firing a sample of it.

Further, the SK brands are being offered in higher quantities than the Lapua brands. Ammo that is a byproduct of sorting is available in lower quantities than the parent brands (Team vs. Tenex), not the other way around. You might get small amounts of the Lapua brands being downgraded to SK, but not every lot of SK could be downgraded Lapua. No manufacturing outfit would ever tolerate such poor yeilds and that amount of sorting would be cost prohibitive.

Pistol King and Pistol OSP have much lower velocities than the SK pistol offerings or the Lapua Rifle offerings and Polar Biathlon has a is a different bullet profile altogether. That rules out sorting with those.

Also consider that the SK line was being sold and manufactured in Germany when the Lapua stuff was still being manufactured in Finland.

 

[Ron AKA]

A couple of years ago when I tested this stuff, I weighed a box of 50 of each. Here are the results for standard deviation - best to worst:

MFG Load Name STD
Lapua Midas M 0.0294
Lapua Master M 0.0495
Lapua Midas L 0.0569
Lapua Master L 0.0603
Lapua Speed Ace 0.0807
Eley Target 0.1535
Eley Practice 0.1558
Lapua Super Club 0.2252
Lapua Hollow Point 0.2433

While the lowest weight Standard Deviation also shot the best, there were also some low SD loads that shot poorly.

Lapua back then put their name on Midas, Master, Super Club, Club, and some others. At the same time they also were selling under the SK and Wolf brand name to the US. But, if you looked on the end of the brass they all had the same imprint. My understanding is that when Lapua bought SK, they moved all rimfire production to the East German SK factory. Not sure if they used the same machines or not, but in 2008 or so they announced their X technology and claimed they had new machines. At the same time they dropped their Club and Super Club lines. Did the Master move to the X technology? The name would suggest so.

I guess my point is that it is the same factory, and I am not sure what it takes for a case to make it right through to be called an X-Act. Sorting is very expensive, but so is X-Act. The Midas M that I weighed before they started with the X talk was so consistent in weight, that I'm not sure how they could do it, without some sorting. A SD of 0.03 grains.

I'm just guessing, but perhaps there are rejects at the brass stage based on weight, then rejects based on brass plus primer, and so on. It would be really interesting to know what goes on in the factory. Here is a tour report that is quite dated. The testing sounds quite primitive, but perhaps it works...

http://www.potfire.com.au/entertain/euro98/sktour.htm

I guess I am a bit cynical about how rimfire is made, but if Lapua, SK, and Wolf are different, then what happens to the bottom of the line Lapua (Center-X), that does not make the grade? My suspicion is that it just goes out in a different box.

 

[kombayotch]

I guess I am a bit cynical about how rimfire is made, but if Lapua, SK, and Wolf are different, then what happens to the bottom of the line Lapua (Center-X), that does not make the grade? My suspicion is that it just goes out in a different box.

A can actually... ever hear of SK Magazine?

Its likely just a big can of fallout from all the lines.

 

[heiko]

I shot 10, five shot groups with both Rifle Match and Center X and there is a big difference in the two. I still have plenty of both (and Standard Plus for that matter) so I will continue to shoot them to see which one gives better performance but, given that Center X is about twice the cost of Rifle Match, it will be hard to justify the expense if the groups don't change.

 

[peterdobson]

Lapua products are new and made on an entirely different production line from SK and they share no technology. The Lapua .22 line is now also in Germany.

SK products are the same as they have been, both during the time when it had Lapua names and before, when it used the SK names.

Regards,

Peter

 

[Noel McC]

I always use Elley,its never let me down especially the match black box.

 

[JohnRigby]

I just ordered and received some SK Standard Plus from Hirsch Precision...great service!!!
Bob

I ordered a few bricks of SK/Lapua stuff from Prophet River in AB. They are now dealers for Hirch products. I'll see what shoots the best and order a few cases

 

[bogie]

I dont feed my herd of 22s anything but CCI Minimag solids now. I have an old peep sighted target Martini action that put 3 into almost the same hole at 25m and my CZ452 is zeroed at 100m. FYI the CCI site suggests a 100yd zero. No misfires or misfeeds in anything. May try some of the Lapua if I can find any in town but for a non competition shoot they are quite good.

 

[kombayotch]

FYI the CCI site suggests a 100yd zero. No misfires or misfeeds in anything. May try some of the Lapua if I can find any in town but for a non competition shoot they are quite good.

That zero is with a fixed scope, its around 60 yards with 40 gr. subsonic ammo. If your scope has turrets, you should zero it at the lowest point on the turrets. For subsonic match ammo, that's about 25-30 yards. You dial UP for anything further due to the bullet drop. You also dial UP for anything closer, due to the distance of your scope above the bore.

 

[rembolt]

I found Eley to be very accurate out of my 452s .

 

[bogie]

Well Kombayotch in my case the 452 is my hunter. However got 2 levers and a Martini action target rifle with really decent peeps to play with yet. May do some competition if I can convince the club to do some comp with old rifles and irons. Making up some silhouettes of my own to play with too so more of this in the future. The CZ is too easy for silhouettes with the Minimags in it. May play some with subsonics in the future but have a great many loads to work up first.