Dougan wrote:
But It'll be interesting to see how it compares to RWS's more expensive stuff, in a target rifle....
I bought some RWS Target Rifle (not the expensive stuff) after I'd used the Geko, but to be honest, I think I would have been better off with Eley Club. I have had mixed results with Eley in the past though.
Should just grit my teeth, and get in Club, Match, Sport and Team to see once and for all what works in my rifles.
Dave 101 wrote:Simple answer
The one that suits your rifle best , regardless of price .
A lot of it depends on what your intended usage is , I use RWS Geco but I have been batch weighing it as the variation in weight is between 3.21 to 3.29 grams , so Iam trying to remove the high flyers and the low squibs and just shoot one weight batch at a time , I have tried the same with Eley match and RWS Target but the differences in rounds is negligiable so I dont worry with them . Its a case of trying different makes in each rifle and find which one performs the best .
Dave
It also depends on what distance you are shooting. In my experience over the years, (shooting up to regional standard when I used to do a lot), if all you are shooting is 25x indoors, the variation inherent with some cheaper ammunition is less of an issue than when you try shooting at 50 or 100x outdoors.
I currently shoot Eley Team indoors and the shots I lose have nothing to do with the ammo :lol:
WhizzyBill wrote:I currently shoot Eley Team indoors and the shots I lose have nothing to do with the ammo :lol:
Likewise - I shoot 'club' at 25 yards. If it isn't a 'pip' it's down to me. Come to think of it, on calm days at 50m it holds tiny x-ring groups (when I do my thing). Maybe I'm just very lucky that the cheap stuff suits my 35 year old rifle.
Having been there and done it, 2006 CWG's, I feel quite confident saying that batch testing different batches / makes of ammunition will give you the MOST LIKELY ammunition that will result in the best performance between ammunition / barrel / action.
In the early 2000's the standard of Eley's ammunition / quality assurance dipped and people started using Lapua, specifically Midas, this prompted Eley to get a grip and their standards significantly improved. There was also a period of time where Lapua also dipped and RWS came to its own.
If you do go batch testing to Eley you will test up to 25 or 30 batches of Eley Tenex. I can assure you from my experiences that you can have ranges of group size at 50M between 10mm - 30mm!!! I kid you not. However, you will only be allowed to test their most expensive 'best' ammunition unless there has been a labelling mistake (it has happened in the past where a cheaper grade sticker was put on a very good performing batch on ammo (it sold quite fast when word got out!)
From my limited knowledge (enough laughs!!!) there is a combination of aspects to take into consideration when looking at the perfect combination for smallbore:
Barrel (Make / length)
Action
Barrel wear
Lead
Throat
Head spacing
Ammunition casing
Ammunition powder
Ammunition igniter
Ammunition seating
Bullet head design
Metallurgical composition
Bedding tension
etc etc etc etc
When we think of batch testing we are assuming that the number we test will give us a proportional group size of the ammunition / rifle combination. When we take this into a deeper level of assumption, given that a batch of ammunition produced by a manufacturer could consist of up to 250,000 rounds, the potential 40 shot group we might test with might only be in fact 0.016% of the manufactured quantity (I might be a bit out with the quantity of ammunition a block of soft metal can produce). Question: What percentage of a manufactured batch needs to be tested to fully determine the grouping capability of the batch in a given rifle? Answer: 100% or All of it New Question: What quantity percentage of the batch needs to be fired to give a statistically accurate level of probability the that group size you fire will indeed reflect the potential extremes of the batch? Answer: I don't know - but can you afford to pay for that much ammunition??
What some people might not know, is that for Eley, they grade their top levels of ammunition (Tenex, Match, Team) by the sizes of groups that are obtained in several barrels that they test each batch they produce. Therefore, irrespective of the ammunition you buy, the results you obtain through your barrel are completely irrelevant of the grading of ammunition you have purchased.
Ultimately, regardless of the ammunition you buy, if it works, use it, if it doesn't bin it (not literally!). I have seen on different occasions shooters being given ammunition that a 'World Champion' has used. They have used the ammunition in competition and have shot like a blunderbuss. Also individuals have tested ammunition of different makes and grades and the end result was that the cheapest, nastiest ammunition provided the best groups, tighter than 'the best'.
My advice (go by results, not by your pocket, and remember... the good stuff looks soooo shiny :shock: )
