match ammo

[Climberman]

I'm looking for some match grade ammo for my 455. I know that once you find a load that your rifle likes, you want to buy lots of that lot #. My question is, is there any good way to start trying to find a match round that works well for you or is it just trial and error? I was going to order some ammo from midway and am trying to decide between Federal Premium Gold metal ultra match or Federal Premium Gold metal or Norma Match etc.

 

[BurnedOutGeek]

Bunsen The Green Heron

For me it's trial and error, those guys may have some better insight however to save you some $.

 

[JBoyette]

The other factor is how you judge accuracy. The rifle and ammo can be MOA at 50, 100 but larger quickly and more distance. But thats ok, just test the best spread for distance. Typically I would just plan on a long term investment of match 22lr and document the level of accuracy over the long term. And not seperate the testing of loads from training. Because if you do them on two different tracks you will never get to training. LOL

John

 

[11B CIB]

How much do you want to spend?

40-50 cents per round:
Eley Tenex
Federal Ultra Match
Lapua Midas
RWS R-50

30-35 cents per round:
Eley Match
Eley Edge

20-30 cents per round
Lapua Center X
RWS Rifle Match
SK Rifle Match

SK Standard Plus is about 12-15 cents per round....really good for the money. But the Eley Tenex for example will shoot insanely small groups from the right rifle.

 

[JBoyette]

How much do you want to spend?

40-50 cents per round:
Eley Tenex
Federal Ultra Match
Lapua Midas
RWS R-50

30-35 cents per round:
Eley Match
Eley Edge

20-30 cents per round
Lapua Center X
RWS Rifle Match
SK Rifle Match

SK Standard Plus is about 12-15 cents per round....really good for the money. But the Eley Tenex for example will shoot insanely small groups from the right rifle.

I would also judge that price list based on the targets.....

If you are shooting scoring rings, it matters more how tight the ammo shoots as compaired to a Precision Rimfire training course with me just banging steel.... A hit is a hit, but a 10 ring is not a 9 ring.......

 

[Climberman]

I would also judge that price list based on the targets.....

If you are shooting scoring rings, it matters more how tight the ammo shoots as compaired to a Precision Rimfire training course with me just banging steel.... A hit is a hit, but a 10 ring is not a 9 ring.......

So CCI std velocity ok?

 

[Bunsen]

I'm looking for some match grade ammo for my 455. I know that once you find a load that your rifle likes, you want to buy lots of that lot #. My question is, is there any good way to start trying to find a match round that works well for you or is it just trial and error? I was going to order some ammo from midway and am trying to decide between Federal Premium Gold metal ultra match or Federal Premium Gold metal or Norma Match etc.

As others have stated, the level of accuracy you are looking or "need" for will determine what brand of ammo you want to look at.

CCI Standard Velocity is actually not a bad choice for plinking steel out to 100yds, but I would not classify it as "match grade" rimfire ammo.

Eley, RWS, and Lapua all make excellent high end and mid range offerings that 11B CIB already posted.

My go to ammo and recommendation to everyone that is dipping their toes into match grade rimfire ammo for the first time is to try SK Standard Plus or Wolf. Both are made by Lapua in the same factory in Germany. They are very similar to one another and use several of the same components. I started with Wolf years ago but switched to SK Standard as I found the lot to lot variability between Wolf to be greater than I wanted.

I've shot 15 different lot #'s of SK Standard Plus over the past 6 years through my CZ 452 & 455, Win 52B & 52D, and Anz 64's. Certain rifles liked specific lot #'s better than others, but ALL rifles shot ALL the lot #'s of SK Standard Plus pretty good. My definition of "pretty good" is about 1.5 MOA at 50yds (0.75in) and under 2.25 MOA at 100yds.

In my experience SK STandard is analogous to Federal Gold Medal Match 168gr in the centerfire realm. Just about every .308Win rifle shoots that load "well". SK is the ammo I had available to purchase when I ran the Precision Rimfire match and the feedback I received from shooters that used that ammo was that it was very good. YMMV

 

[JBoyette]

So CCI std velocity ok?

I would say yes.

I want ot right a program for this course of fire but in the whole yeah its fine.

 

[The Green Heron]

You gotta tell me what you want to do. How far are you gonna shoot? Are you shooting a match? Which one? What are the accuracy requirements?

The CZ is a great rifle. All I have seen and owned, like Lapua, SK, and Wolf best. All those ammos come from the same factory. It's all made by Lapua.

Federal GMM UM and GMM 922 are not made by Federal at all, they are made by RWS and are made on the R-50 line. I have seen some phenomenal lots of 922. It is best in hot humid weather, the best scores with 922 and UM will come in June July, and August.

RWS is worth a test for sure.

Eley is good to 100 yds. It is garbage after that.

Testing 22 ammo is where one truly learns that moa is not linear. What I mean is this; 1" groups at 100 does not equate to 2" at 200. You do not know what it will do at 200 yds unless you ACTUALLY group it at 200...Period...End of story. My best 200 yd ammo has never been a great 50 yd ammo. And I have tested a LOT of ammo in 22 rifles.
Test your ammo at its maximum range at which you plan to use it, up to about 240yds past 240 yds I have found they all get sketchy in ANY gun. I have shot quite a bit at 300 but it isn't very predictable.

22rimfire performs best in hoT humid conditions. If you test your ammo at 60 degrees, it won't perform the same at 90, I promise you. If you are shooting below 50 degrees you need to test some polar biathlon.

If I didn't mention it, it doesn't go in my match rifles.

 

[BurnedOutGeek]

You gotta tell me what you want to do. How far are you gonna shoot? Are you shooting a match? Which one? What are the accuracy requirements?

The CZ is a great rifle. All I have seen and owned, like Lapua, SK, and Wolf best. All those ammos come from the same factory. It's all made by Lapua.

Federal GMM UM and GMM 922 are not made by Federal at all, they are made by RWS and are made on the R-50 line. I have seen some phenomenal lots of 922. It is best in hot humid weather, the best scores with 922 and UM will come in June July, and August.

RWS is worth a test for sure.

Eley is good to 100 yds. It is garbage after that.

Testing 22 ammo is where one truly learns that moa is not linear. What I mean is this; 1" groups at 100 does not equate to 2" at 200. You do not know what it will do at 200 yds unless you ACTUALLY group it at 200...Period...End of story. My best 200 yd ammo has never been a great 50 yd ammo. And I have tested a LOT of ammo in 22 rifles.
Test your ammo at its maximum range at which you plan to use it, up to about 240yds past 240 yds I have found they all get sketchy in ANY gun. I have shot quite a bit at 300 but it isn't very predictable.

22rimfire performs best in hoT humid conditions. If you test your ammo at 60 degrees, it won't perform the same at 90, I promise you. If you are shooting below 50 degrees you need to test some polar biathlon.

If I didn't mention it, it doesn't go in my match rifles.

So what you're saying is that this bulk federal bluk box ain't the same stuff then?

 

[The Green Heron]

So what you're saying is that this bulk federal blur box ain't the same stuff then?

You trying to kill me or what? I'm sitting here eating a corn dog and you post that....Nearly choked to death.

 

[BurnedOutGeek]

You trying to kill me or what? I'm sitting here eating a corn dog and you post that....Nearly choked to death.

who me?

 

[Hammer12b]

You trying to kill me or what? I'm sitting here eating a corn dog and you post that....Nearly choked to death.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahah! That's funny, I don't care who you are!

 

[Climberman]

The only Rimfire match I have ever shot is the one at Dprc when Bunsen was running it. It was fun. I mainly want to use my rifle as a training tool and learn so my definition of match grade is 1 to 2 MOA at 200 I guess. I am learning and am not a match grade shooter yet.