Interest in 100 yard .22LR challenge?

For a different perspective on shooting at 100 yards, below are the results of a surprising box of SK Rifle Match ammo. It's surprising because this lot sometimes produces a few good groups, but often doesn't. This particular box had few "flyers", which is not usual for this variety of ammo. (For ten shot group results with this same lot of ammo, refer to SKRM 474 results in post #50 above).

Shot last month, this group has two "flyers" but still measures under 1.5" center-to-center. Without the "flyers" the group is a little over 1.1" ctc. But all shots count.



 
Some other results from my range day. When one has a sweet rifle, one tends to lament encountering extreme difficulty in obtaining an excellent lot of ammo. The Center-X I have is absolute trash, I shot a sighter group with my 455 and immediately abandoned it for BBM.











 
It was calm this morning so I went to the range. I'm not entering any submissions for the official 100 Yard .22LR Challenge, but here's a target from today.

And for anyone wondering about the information required for a complete challenge entry, see below.

The complete target with group sizes and three group average.

The groups were .665", .725", and .844". The three groups averaged .745". This is my best 100 yard target for this year, 2022.



A caliper picture of the largest group. I always figured since there were only three groups, I'd show all three. But only the largest is required for the Challenge.




The rifle is an Anschutz 1913 BR 50. The scope is a Sightron SIII 10-50. The ammo was Center X.



I shot two different lots of CX this morning. Over ten groups, one averaged .916" and the other 1.348".
 
Our club has been doing a monthly 22lr challenge, 5 shots at 10 targets at 50 yards then 10 shots at 4 targets at 100 yards. Each has a generous time limit, any front bag or rest no rear bag. Scored not measured for group size. It's a challenge when your used to front and rear bags. Lots of fun.
 
Tried again last night, but couldn't improve on my results. Beautiful calm evening. The gun and ammo (B14r and SK St plus) has potential to shoot far better than I am shooting it, but I keep screwing up with slight changes to my hold and shoulder pressure that result in vertical deviation. I can put 7 or 8 into 3/4" at 100 yards, but I always screw up and have 2 or 3 that go low and ruin the group. I find it really hard to keep a consistent pressure against my shoulder.

BbDDGMn.jpg
 
Shot two sets of targets last night with the Anschutz 1710, Sightron SIII 36X and Remington Eley Match.
The first target measured 1.110, 1.384 (9 inside the 10-ring were 3/4") and 0.873. Ave: 1.1223. The errant shot on the second target touched the 9-ring.
The first shot on the second target set was a 7 at 12:00. Since I was interested in group rather than score my POA was on the 10-ring.
Groups measured 1.242, 1.116 and 0.981. Ave: 1.113.
That one shot that occasionally gets away can easily add to group size and take away from score.
Then some novice who was shooting while resting the barrel of his 30-06 on a padded rest was analysing what I was doing wrong . . . Yeah . . . Right . . . and chickens have teeth!
 
Grizzlypeg said:
Tried again last night, but couldn't improve on my results. Beautiful calm evening. The gun and ammo (B14r and SK St plus) has potential to shoot far better than I am shooting it, but I keep screwing up with slight changes to my hold and shoulder pressure that result in vertical deviation. I can put 7 or 8 into 3/4" at 100 yards, but I always screw up and have 2 or 3 that go low and ruin the group. I find it really hard to keep a consistent pressure against my shoulder.
Click to expand...

I offer this simply as information.

If you're getting seven or eight in a nice group with SK Standard Plus, that's about the best that can be expected with that ammo. SK + will often have a number of consecutive rounds that give consistent performance, but it's a characteristic of this modest grade of ammo to have fliers or errant shots that will spoil many ten shot groups.

It can be a challenge finding ammo that is consistently consistent. The best lot of SK Rifle Match I have can be good at times, producing overall ten-shot group averages of 1.25" at 100 yards. I shot these two targets below on calm days last fall, and they illustrate the nature of what is essentially an entry grade of match ammo. The chronograph data for each ten-shot group tells its own revealing story.



Unfortunately, moving up to "better" grades of ammo such as Center X or Midas + isn't a simple solution to ammo inconsistency. Many lots of CX and M+ also have errant rounds that spoil good groups, but not as frequently as with the vast majority of SK ammos.
 
One group I measured from last night's shoot, had 7 out of 10 in less than 1/2" at 100 yards. But damn those 3 errant shots. I'm convinced at least some of it is me, not holding my tongue in the right position, or thinking impure thoughts.
 
When SK ammo shoots very well, such as giving a one-hole group, it's more the product of a random act of accuracy than reliable, predictable, and expected consistency.

There was a time when I shot a lot of SK Standard Plus, partly because I could more easily afford to buy it, and partly because I thought it showed a tremendous promise that I was unable to realize.

Below are some five-shot groups at 57 yards with SK + that made me think it was a good ammo and I was holding it back.



The other groups that were produced on the same target are reflective of both the ammo inconsistency and my less polished shooting with a sporter Anschutz.



The bottom line here, literally, is that consistent results are never possible with ammo that can be expected to be inconsistent itself.
 
SK Stnd +

Hey Grizzly

I certainly can empathize , the endurance to shoot
10 rounds at 100 makes this what it is a Challenge.

Putting 5 rounds down range is definitely easier
and leads to smaller groups.

My 5 rounds average 0.81 vs 10 rounds 1.51.

I start all of my rifles on SK Standard Plus , they
(Annies , Coopers & CZ 457's ) shoot well on this
case lot for a base line.

... skwerl
 

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Grizzlypeg said:
Anyone familar with Tesro? Any idea how much it costs to ship a couple of bricks of 22LR?
Click to expand...

Like any ammo dealer, the costs will depend on weight and distance to be shipped. They all ship by the one or two couriers who still accept ammo shipments.

The Tesro website will indicate a shipping price if you go through the motions of completing an order. (Of course you're not obliged to actually buy.)

Shipping costs are proportionately more expensive for smaller quantities. To illustrate, the last time I bought a full case (ten bricks of 500 rounds each), the shipping cost was only about double the price of shipping two or three bricks.
 
Thanks all. I ordered 2 bricks of SK Standard plus and 2 bricks of SK Match. Shipping was $38.00. Cheaper than cabellas wants for SK Standard plus $14.99 a box, and they have none in stock.
 
Grizzlypeg said:
Thanks all. I ordered 2 bricks of SK Standard plus and 2 bricks of SK Match. Shipping was $38.00. Cheaper than cabellas wants for SK Standard plus $14.99 a box, and they have none in stock.
Click to expand...

If serious about wanting to obtain the best results possible, might want to invest in some higher grade ammo than those. What sucks is that it is still luck of the draw, despite the price tag. However, the best you can expect from what you bought is "average" or "typical", whereas with higher grades it's unusual to receive a lot that performs worse than "average", but it is only at this price point that it becomes possible to acquire "good" "great" and "excellent" lots.
 
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

I concur.
Establishing a rapport with a supplier who will supply test boxes of different lots that can be supplied later as cases can prove to be the better route.
That rapport might be established at Hirsch, Nordic or Target Shooting Products or maybe Korth.
Sample packs from Tesro may be an indicator but you will not find case lots or any volume from the lots in those test packs.
Testing for one rifle, perhaps five to ten different lots might supply the answer. Ten boxes equals one Brick and shipping might run $30.
Having been part of brokered orders where different shooters are willing to take parts of an order has worked for me in the past.
When ordering case lots, the saving on the PST generally more than pays the shipping.
 
It's been quite calm in the mornings over the last few days. I couldn't go to the range yesterday, but today I was able to. Unlike my last trip, some of the results of which are shown above in post #64, this time instead of ammo purchased this year, I used some Midas + ammo left over from last season. I had three boxes of it, now only one. I took a different rifle also.

The results were very satisfying. The first target had four ten-shot groups that averaged 0.670". Overall that ammo produced ten ten-shot groups that averaged 0.785". That's not bad.




A couple of groups are over 1" center-to-center. These groups clearly had rounds that strayed. I believe it's the ammo that's responsible for the "flyers" because there was as consistent an absence of wind as I've seen.

Target 2 can be fairly described as having one errant shot on the bottom right bull. Target 3 seems to have had a couple more. This means that out of 100 rounds, somewhere from three to five rounds can be described as less consistent than the others. That's a 95 to 97% success rate.

Compare those results with the SK Rifle Match targets from today. The ten ten-shot group average of 1.081" was the best I've achieved with this lot.



The SK RM ten-shot groups are significantly larger and it's not really possible to identify rounds that can be easily identified as errant shots, except perhaps in two groups. They generally have greater dispersion. It may not be possible to achieve significantly greater consistency with most SK ammos.
 
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