I was at the range today, had a mix of ammo and my two .22lr rifles, one a CZ452 Varmint and the other a vintage Winchester 490. My dad had his chronograph with him and I thought it would be interesting to compare velocities for the same ammo, fired from my two rifles.
The 490 has a 22" barrel, the CZ has a 20.6". The two brands I was interested in testing specifically were Remington/Eley Target 40 grain solids and CCI MiniMag 36gr HPs. This was the first time I was firing these particular loads and expected pretty good results group-wise (wasn't disappointed), but I wanted to see in particular how the velocities compared from the two different action types. I'd always wondered if semis would yield lower velocities than a tight bolt action. I don't think I can draw absolutely firm conclusions without a larger sample of both rifles and ammo, but the results were certainly interesting.
Another caveat is that in the case of the MMs, my dad only fired 4 in each rifle as opposed to 5 of the Eleys. This was due largely to his unfamiliarity with my rifles and in each case with the MMs he experienced a FTL for one round. FYI, my dad was doing the shooting because he shoots left, it was his chronograph we were using, and I wouldn't have been able to shoot from the side of the bench he was set up at.
Without further ado, here are the results of my limited testing. Note that with the MMs in particular, the velocities averaged about 100fps higher from the CZ bolt action, even though the barrel is shorter. Probably due to a tighter bore primarily, but I've always wondered if some velocity is not lost to the blow back action of the semis. You can draw your own conclusions.
https://1drv.ms/i/s!AoabrCdwhtsXrEPal-ZHwzYOE0A9
Note how consistent the Eleys were in the CZ in particular. Interesting however, that anecdotally I think the MMs shoot a bit tighter groups in my CZ than do the Eleys.
Cheers.
The 490 has a 22" barrel, the CZ has a 20.6". The two brands I was interested in testing specifically were Remington/Eley Target 40 grain solids and CCI MiniMag 36gr HPs. This was the first time I was firing these particular loads and expected pretty good results group-wise (wasn't disappointed), but I wanted to see in particular how the velocities compared from the two different action types. I'd always wondered if semis would yield lower velocities than a tight bolt action. I don't think I can draw absolutely firm conclusions without a larger sample of both rifles and ammo, but the results were certainly interesting.
Another caveat is that in the case of the MMs, my dad only fired 4 in each rifle as opposed to 5 of the Eleys. This was due largely to his unfamiliarity with my rifles and in each case with the MMs he experienced a FTL for one round. FYI, my dad was doing the shooting because he shoots left, it was his chronograph we were using, and I wouldn't have been able to shoot from the side of the bench he was set up at.
Without further ado, here are the results of my limited testing. Note that with the MMs in particular, the velocities averaged about 100fps higher from the CZ bolt action, even though the barrel is shorter. Probably due to a tighter bore primarily, but I've always wondered if some velocity is not lost to the blow back action of the semis. You can draw your own conclusions.
https://1drv.ms/i/s!AoabrCdwhtsXrEPal-ZHwzYOE0A9
Note how consistent the Eleys were in the CZ in particular. Interesting however, that anecdotally I think the MMs shoot a bit tighter groups in my CZ than do the Eleys.
Cheers.
