wanting to shoot a few groups - looking for a ammo recommendation
- Thread starter double gun
- Start date
Many assumptions being made in this thread, the following quote is an example as I will explain:
The first rule of ammo testing a rifle without a tuner is, there are no rules. Do not assume one type/lot of premium ammo will show you how accurate your rifle is, there are times when Center-X, RWS R-50, Eley Tenex, etc, can perform quite poorly in a particular rifle. It does not mean the ammo is bad, nor does it necessarily mean the rifle is bad, so then, what the heck is going on? It's this thing called barrel harmonics, or vibrations, if you will, and they are absolutely critical to rimfire accuracy. The reality is that you face the prospect of possibly testing many, many, many kinds of ammo in order to find something suitable to your rifle if it is not equipped with a tuner, or you can get lucky and one of the first few things you try gives you accuracy you are happy with (happy with and "the best the rifle can do" may be two different things, however). Anything can happen, so make no assumptions.
For those worried that their rifle might only "like" something expensive, consider fitting it with a tuner instead. For the cost of a single brick of Eley Tenex (well, maybe a little more but certainly less than a lifetime of buying Tenex), you can fit a tuner and go back to using SK ammo (or the RWS/Eley equivalents for the price point) to appease your budget while shooting 0.2's/0.3's with a high degree of consistency if your rifle is capable (most Anschütz rifles, good examples of CZ's, Savages, etc) and you've set the tuner properly. You don't strictly need the most expensive ammo to shoot 0.2's/0.3's at 50 yards, but the system has to be in tune and the ammunition at least decent!
There was a comment "faster is rarely better with .22s", I will assume the poster was thinking that "higher velocity" ammunition is only such things as Winchester value packs, Thunderbolts, Golden Bullets, Federal Blue Box, etc, and indeed such ammo is rarely associated with a high degree of accuracy. However, there is quality HV ammo being made, with RWS R-100 being an example that is more expensive than R-50, RWS Rifle Match "S", SK High Velocity, etc, and since this is quality, European made ammo, it can be quite accurate despite it's high velocity designation. Some rifles will prefer a hotter load, but it'll have to be the quality Euro stuff, not the cheap North American bulk.
How far down this rabbit hole do ya wanna go...
^Exactly what I was thinking.
However, re: the tuner idea...I'm under the impression (based on the thread starter) that misses the spirit of the OPs question. I could be wrong...but if the OP is asking about the kind of rifle that would really shine with a tuner and Eley Tenex...then he/she would probably wouldn't have phrased the initial question that way.
^Exactly what I was thinking.
My first paragraph was meant to detail what a shooter is up against when testing ammo in a rifle that does not have a tuner, since we have people saying "Oh just buy this ammo, it's the best you'll ever try". These assumptions just cannot be made, theoretically one could test all the ammo available in Canada and still not find "the best" one for their rifle. Surely, though, along the way something "pretty good" would be found, but all one can do is just test everything and compile data. My little spiel about tuners was to point out how a shooter might avoid most of these ammo testing frustrations, any rifle that can be fitted with one will most certainly benefit, they're not just for custom built bench rest guns. Sporter rifles may actually benefit the most from a tuner, since the thin, tapered barrels are often more "picky" than straight heavy barrels, and tuning greatly levels them out.
End of the day, though, as grauhanen points out some rifles simply cannot be fitted with tuners, or a shooter doesn't want to use one for whatever reason, so the hunt for the "best ammo" goes on.
I agree i have 5 .22's inc pistols, I find what shoots well in on does not do well in another. So my ammo supply with .22 LR is a huge pile of what works good in most then a few boxes of the fancy stuff.
Sorry gentlemen, I should have mentioned a few more details. The rifle is a bolt action, and it shoots plenty good for my use but I was just curious how good it would shoot with quality ammo. I don’t plan to always shoot high end ammo, it’s just a fun experiment.
I will look for what I can find of the already suggested ammo. Thanks
I will look for what I can find of the already suggested ammo. Thanks
