Match Grade 22LR Question

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Glock4ever

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I am looking for some info on Matchgrade 22 LR. Until now, I was content to shoot T22, Federal Gold Medal Match, and some basic stuff. I am now looking to move into the good stuff. I bought a brick of Eley Practice for 42ish bucks last weekend but I would like to know where the Lapua and Eley high end stuff is for sale in either Edmonton or shipped in Canada. I got my Practice Eley at P&D but was wondering if they didn't have anything else for Eley in. I am going to shoot it in a rifle and not pistol. As well, I wouldn't mind some reviews on the various line ups from these two companies. I am looking to shoot about 2-3 boxes a visit to the range (I really like to take my time) and I am looking to get enough in one shot to last a year (maybe 3-4 bricks). Thanks for any info you can pass on.
 
There are several places in Canada that carry match grade .22lr ammunition

- Cibles Canada targets - ask for Jocelyn - Great service and overerall great business to deal with

- International Imports - Ask for Peter - Excellent prices. Although I have heard of some troubles with them I have ordered 10 or so times from them and never had a problem (actually, once I ordered a box of Lapua master and got the higher grade Midas instead, but only payed for the price of the master so that was allright :D)

- Hirch imports (sp??) Talk to Peter dobson. From what I hear Excellent service. They carry Lapua ammo (believe that is it) but lots of it. For Lapua these are probably the best in the business.

Now for a bit about the ammunition its self.

Eley, Lapua and RWS are probably the most common types of match grade brands, with the first two beein ghte most common. Each of these companies offer both lower end ($3-$4 per box of 50) as well as higher end grade ($14.00 or around there for a box of 50).

Is it worth paying the extra money to get the higher end grades? Well thats a question you will probably have to answer your self. For competion I would say definately, an ammuniton like Eley Tenex EPS (very high end grade from Eley) is going to outshoot a more bottom line ammuniton like Eley Practice.

The lower end grades from each include

Eley Practice
Lapua Super Club/Club
RWS club

The middle end grades from eahc inlude

Eley Match Extra
Lapua master
RWS?? (25??)

Higher ends inlude

Eley Tenex Ultimate EPS
Lapua Midas L and M (L has a larger bullet diameter than M)
RWS R50

Of course there are many other types besides the ones I just mentioned but these are some of the more common types.

Now compare ammo like Eley black box Match EPS (around $9 a box) to an ammunition like Eley Tenex which costs about $5 more a box. Is it worth the money over an ammo like Eley black box?? In my opinion no. Every box of Eley Match EPS (black box) has been every bit as accurate as the Eley Tenex which costs more. Likewise with the Lapua master ammunition comapred to the Lapua Midas ammunition which costs more. Some people buy the more expensive one because they THINK it will shoot better and that it slef will amke them shoot better - the mental aspect of shooting (which would be particularily important for 3p type shooting.

_________

Now a whole other aspect of selecting match ammuniton is lot numbers. Each lot number from these brands will shoot a bit different. I.e once I had a lot number of Lapua master that shot really bad yet another different one I had shot really bad.

Now when I am ordereing ammunition I get the ammo dealer to send me a bunch of different lot numbers so that I can test them and then I order a bunch of whatever lot number shoots the best.

Hope this Helps :)

Jordan
 
Thanks Jordan for the information it does help. I do have some more questions - would you say it is worthwhile to buy a brick or two of a different lot numbers? I ask because with shipping is it really worth getting 1 box or is it possible to order a bunch of different lots that add up to a brick and then later order more? As well, based on what you are saying it sounds like the best "value" would be to get:

Black Box Match EPS or
Lapua Master

I know that consistency will cost money (I reload and know how time consuming really good ammo will take to make) but is there a lot of difference between Master/Match level and Tenex/Midas? I mean in terms of actual bullet construction/assembly. To clarify - are the bullets loaded in the Master/Match ammo the exact same bullets in the Tenex/Midas ammo? I ask because I know that for centerfire better bullets cost money (most of the cost besides the case). Or is just an assembly difference?
 
Yes Black box EPS and Lapua Master would be excellent brands to try. They look identical to the next one up (i.e Black box Match EPScartridges look identical to the Eley Tenex Ultimate EPS - as does the Master to the Midas). I am half convinced they are the exact same - maybe they do some sort of accuracy test and a group that is soo small gets called Tenex, and the rest are called match EPS? I really am not entierely sure.

If you are going to order lot numbers I would reccomend getting at least 2 boxes of each. Often it is hard trying to get a sense of what lot number shoots the best, especially if you trying it in multiple guns.

Take a look at this thread for lot number information
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=144869

In Eley's latest batches of ammunition I have not found a huge difference in lot numbers that I have before - but in my last Lapua order I found 2 shot good and 1 lot number was terrible - go figure!

There is no way that I am aware of on the Lapua box that tells you anything about the cartridge - there is still a lot number that tells you when it was manufactured (i.e - L = 2006 and X = 2007) but no way to tell what velocity or what machine it is made on.

If you are ordering lot numbers from Eley you might want to try to get a lot number from each machine (there are 5 machines in all now I believe). I have had good luck with 1 but have heard that 3 and 5 are excellent as well. I tried 3 or 4 from 2 and got one lot number that was a bit better than the rest.

The only real downside of ordering particular lot numbers is that sometimes you will order a bunch and when you go back to order a bunch they will be all out of that lot number so if you are going this route try to make sure they have lots of that lot number in stock so that when you go to order they will still have it.

Regards,
Jordan
 
Jordan's info is right on the money, especially about trying diferent lots of ammo. We have a group of silhouette shoooters who are continually trying different ammo to get good performance. We had some excellent results with Lapua Super club in some lots. I had a case that would consistently group 3/4 inch at 100 meters in my Anschutz , sadly I'm on my last box now. Some of the other lots I tried would barely stay in 2 inches in my rifle but would shoot extremely well in someone elses. It is definitely worth your while to sample several lots and buy a large quantity of the best one. Peter at International imports will send you one or two boxes of several different lots and shipping will be around $20. They have a deal with Fedex and can ship a whole case for the same $20 when you decide which lot you want.
 
The only thing

I was wondering about this ammo thing Jordan is can you tell the difference between say Eley practice and the Tenex in say a stock CZ 452 Varmint? I don't think I can. For the price difference I am happy with Practice in it. I also find that the Lapua Standard Club in the 500 round tins shoots very well in comparison to the Midas.

Maybe if I had a totally custom BR gun I would see the difference but at this time with the configuration I have with the trigger tuned to about 10 oz I cannot see a difference. I plan on changing the stock out for a Stith BR stock with a 3" forend the start of the new year. That will take some of the error out of the equation and maybe I may be able to tell the difference.

I may also get a barrel and tuner for it at a later date. I don't know why I may spend the money on it but it is just fun to...................... ah do something different.
 
Howard

from Rob at Jo-Brooks. There is enough of us shooting that they have been bringing in Lapua and some Eley. They have been bringing in more Lapua standard club than anything. It seems to shoot quite well for the price of it.

My CZ it is a toss up between the Lapua Standard Club and the Eley Practice. I have over 4 bricks of the Eley Practice cause it shoots very well for a factory gun. If I do my part and the wind is down to nothing it can put 5 shots in a single hole. Quality control and consistency is probably the biggest thing between the lower end and the higher end stuff. That is probably why I get those unexplained fliers........................ Like I said I shot Tenex and could not see a difference warranting the price difference. That is just me though.
 
Jordan pretty well outlined the best process for finding what your super-accurate 22 rimfire likes best. If you are shooting an old Cooey 39 or a Shur-Shot, you will not notice any great gains by using top-quality ammo, but a Quality Target built 22 Rimfire (Anschutz, Rem 541, Certain BRNOs, Winchester/Browning 52's, Walther, etc, etc) will show a distinct preference for certain ammo. And when you find what it likes, you might really be surprised at what it can do! I have shot groups at 200 Meters on a quiet morning that measured under 2" (center-to-center of the widest holes.) Cheap ammo in the same rifle at the same time would not stay in 4" with generous vertical spread being apparent. Considering that a top notch shooter, using a very accurate Target 22, will group 10 shots at 100 into ½" or so with carefully chosen ammo, it's no surprise that there is a market for stuff like Eley Tenex Ultimate EPS @ $140.00 a brick. Regards, Eagleye
 
cycbb486 said:
I was wondering about this ammo thing Jordan is can you tell the difference between say Eley practice and the Tenex in say a stock CZ 452 Varmint? I don't think I can. For the price difference I am happy with Practice in it. I also find that the Lapua Standard Club in the 500 round tins shoots very well in comparison to the Midas.

Maybe if I had a totally custom BR gun I would see the difference but at this time with the configuration I have with the trigger tuned to about 10 oz I cannot see a difference. I plan on changing the stock out for a Stith BR stock with a 3" forend the start of the new year. That will take some of the error out of the equation and maybe I may be able to tell the difference.

I may also get a barrel and tuner for it at a later date. I don't know why I may spend the money on it but it is just fun to...................... ah do something different.
Click to expand...


Thats a good question. I don't know if you would be able to tell too much difference in ammunition such as practice or tenex in a gun like a CZ varmint. In my CZ (as well as yours by the sounds of it) Lapua super club shoots really well, better than midas. Eley Match EPS shoots better than practice in it though.

The CZ's do have a very tight bore, but a more sporter style chamber. I think to really notice the difference between say Eley Practice and Eley Tenex Ultimate EPS you need to be shooting a gun that has a true match chamber (the ones where you hand feed the round most of the way and then have to close the bolt to fully chamber the round where it is engaging in the rifling for .1" before it is fired).

Good idea on getting a Stith stock. Although some will dissagree with me, I find buying a stock for a gun (assuming it is relatively accurate to start with) is more benficial than getting a new barrel. Just a couple degrees in cant can make a HUGE difference.

If you do decide later on to rebarrel the CZ I might mention to you that the barrels are very hard to remove. Much harder to remove than most guns. I am sure a good gunsmith will be able to do it though. I believe a guy in New York (forget his name though) and put a new stock on it and had one heck of a good shooter. I think he used a lilja barrel.

Jordan
 
RWS 25 is .22 Short ammunition, meant for Olympic rapid-fire pistols mainly. Their mid-high version of their top-of-the-line R50 is called Special Match. Then going on down the line they have Rifle Match, then Target Rifle, and then Club 22 at the bottom. Their R100 is high-velocity stuff, which more or less bumps it out of the 'match' group, however consistent it may or may not be.

As for the difference between Eley Tenex Ultimate EPS and Match EPS, the Match stuff varied too much in one or more aspects to be deemed Tenex Ultimate, and thus got boxed up as Match instead. Still very consistent, but just didn't quite make the cut for a Tenex box. I think you'll probably have to have some very serious equipment and be very good with it to dig the very last little bits out of the Tenex, but they are more consistent, however small the margin may be. Their mid- to lower-grade stuff goes from the Club Xtra that you mentioned, down to the Target Rifle that I've been shooting lately, and then to Standard. I am not sure, but I think the stuff called Practice may be older lots that are still around of what they now call Standard.
 
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