I agree 100%, which is why I asked the hypothetical question, if all other things were equal aside from supersonic and subsonic MV, say 1070 vs 1430.
I have to think and hope at some point someone like Hornady, Lapua or others might get into making some heavy high BC 22LR cartridges, but I would assume if that happens, they'll still be subsonic due to the projectile weight and case/chamber limitations. I will also assume that like centerfire, slower higher BC projectiles would be better at extended ranges vs lighter/faster.
Agreed. Why do you think that is? increased drag through the transonic zone? BC or bullet design?
Agree, the ES is certainly higher in non match ammo. What are you guys seeing for SDs?
I think the point he is trying to make in the video is that it can be harder for manufacturers to make consistent 22lr ammo as 1 kernal of powder difference in 22lr will have a larger overall effect on a 40g bullet vs an extra kernal in something like a 30 cal with a 200g bullet.
Thank you again for the time you have taken to share your knowledge and experience.
You're welcome.
To address the "hypothetical" issue raised first above, in lead bullets, the current shape and size of the .22LR bullet is virtually the same as it's been for about 100 years -- that is to say, lead round nose and 40 grains. To intuit here, it's probably the best available for lead bullets. There are variations on the shape, the Eley EPS design, for example, but they haven't proven to be statistically better in terms of performance.
There are recent developments in monolithic bullets made of copper, such as those made by Cutting Edge bullets. They are available in different shapes and sizes but are currently available for at home reloading only, using CCI-supplied preprimed casings. They may not be available in Canada. In any case, the cost of such reloaded ammo is high, at $70 USD for 200 bullets and pre-primed casings, not including loading equipment and small quanities of propellent . This pricing is similar to top-tier match ammo, but without any assurance of round-to-round consistency. Performance reports are sporadic and not yet persuasive.
Regarding the increased susceptiblity to wind drift with HV ammo, it's due to the increase in drag experienced by .22LR bullets as they go faster. I'm not a physics or math guy, but the information below may offer some level of explanation that may help. (It's similar to that posted previously in your own post #4.) The increased wind drift of .22LR HV bullets is apparently a characteristic of this caliber and happens with all usual .22LR bullet designs.
When it comes to SD (and the related ES) figures, the lower they are, the better.
With good match ammo, ES figures of 30 fps and better are very good, and SD figures in the single digits in the neighbourhood of 5 or 6 are very good. It's very unlikely that HV ammo has similar numbers, except for very few unusual lots such as Eagleye refers to in his post #15. As he observed, it took the stars to align and h3ll to freeze over to see a lot like that. No one should ever buy HV ammo with the expectation it will shoot especially well at distances much beyond 25 yards.
Finally, the point the guy in the video was making about small amounts of .22LR propellant making a noticable difference on POI is only partly right. It ignores other causes of POI variation, including elevation differences, outside of wind.
It's important to understand two things about .22LR muzzle velocity.
One is that MV is not determined
only by the amount of propellant in the casing.
MV is also influenced by the amount of primer material in the casing, and this is less consistent from round-to-round in HV ammo in general and especially in non-match ammo because the tolerances are more relaxed in the production of HV and non-match .22LR ammunition. Other factors that may influence MV include bullet diameter, bullet weight, and heel expansion. Bore condition changes can also influence MV or POI of .22LR ammo, specifically immediately after a prolonged pause in shooting or when using an unfouled bore.
The other is that MV is not the only factor determining vertical dispersion on target.
In other words, while MV may help explain why a shot went high or low, it's not necessarily the
only explanation. Variation in bullet weight, diameter, heel condition -- none of which are detectable visually -- can also influence where it strikes on the target. With HV ammo in general, and as noted in the video about Velocitor in particular, the bullets themselves are what he described as "not the most beautifully shaped bullets" (around 14:35 in the video).
To elaborate, many HV bullets are dinged or dented when they come from the factory, and those are only the
visible problems. The harder to detect, not visible, issues are equally, often more, important in causing the deviation in flight to which the video maker refers in connection to the Velocitor ammo. In other words, in conditions where wind is not an issue, two bullets with the same MV can strike at very different points on the target.
Problems with bullet shape and size consistency occur more often with non-match ammos than with match, and with less expensive so-called match ammos (such as SK varieties and Eley ammos such as Club and Sport) than with top tier match ammo.
