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I know we have a few .22 Rimfire shooters on the forum, are any of you doing anything to accurise your rounds. Sorting/batching, or reloading your own etc.

You can got to Eley & test various batches there vs your gun & will find some seem to suit more than others with tighter resulting groups. For other ammo the only way to do that is buy 100 rnds each of different batches & try them under similar controlled conditions - 50m, gun bolted down (not barrel!) preferably indoors & same conditions, light clean between batches & fire a few fouling shots before measuring.

To accurize the actual ammo you can optimise it by measuring overall weight & eliminate the light / heavy tails of the normal distribution then measure head space & do the same with the thin/thick. I did that on a batch of Eley match & it removed about 10-12% or the rounds, the remaining shot rather well, but not as well as unsorted Lapua CentreX that just seems to 'work well' in my gun. You could do the same with length but I never bothered. The 10% removed became barrel warmers or fouling shots, so not wasted.

The other thing is try a barrel tuner to dampen the standing wave in the barrel to a full wavelength(s) with a node at the muzzle - that may or may not be allowed by competition rules........ best for any competition gun is keep the trigger clean & the insides of the bolt so they operate properly every time.

I've tried all sorts to try and eliminate the odd unexplained flyers. - It really p****s me off when you have a string of perfect 10x coming along then there's a 9 that you just know wasn't self induced.

I tried all the usual tricks - weighing, rim thickness, concentricity, stripping all lube off/relubing etc. and although it does cull out a few lemons it doesn't catch them all. I've found that the best way for me is to start with the best ammo, then find one that suite your rifle - The problem is, you buy something like Tenex and find it performs particularly well in your rifle - you go back a couple of months later and buy another stock and it's like totally different ammunition. Fine if you can take your rifle to Eley and try a dozen different lots of Tenex and buy enough of that lot to last a year or so, but it wold be nice if Tenex was Tenex all the same spec.

1066 wrote:I've tried all sorts to try and eliminate the odd unexplained flyers. - It really p****s me off when you have a string of perfect 10x coming along then there's a 9 that you just know wasn't self induced.

I tried all the usual tricks - weighing, rim thickness, concentricity, stripping all lube off/relubing etc. and although it does cull out a few lemons it doesn't catch them all. I've found that the best way for me is to start with the best ammo, then find one that suite your rifle - The problem is, you buy something like Tenex and find it performs particularly well in your rifle - you go back a couple of months later and buy another stock and it's like totally different ammunition. Fine if you can take your rifle to Eley and try a dozen different lots of Tenex and buy enough of that lot to last a year or so, but it wold be nice if Tenex was Tenex all the same spec.

I guess the problem then would be if your rifle doesn't like that "spec" then you'd never compete against someone whose rifle really likes that spec.

The thing that works for me the best is to just use one batch number days/weeks before the comp starts, say by shooting 200 rounds (this seems to bed the barrel in for that particular round ) and use the same batch number for the actual comp.I have noticed that just changing eley tenex batch numbers in the actual comp is a disaster.(made on different machine I believe..)

TattooedGun wrote:

1066 wrote:I've tried all sorts to try and eliminate the odd unexplained flyers. - It really p****s me off when you have a string of perfect 10x coming along then there's a 9 that you just know wasn't self induced.

I tried all the usual tricks - weighing, rim thickness, concentricity, stripping all lube off/relubing etc. and although it does cull out a few lemons it doesn't catch them all. I've found that the best way for me is to start with the best ammo, then find one that suite your rifle - The problem is, you buy something like Tenex and find it performs particularly well in your rifle - you go back a couple of months later and buy another stock and it's like totally different ammunition. Fine if you can take your rifle to Eley and try a dozen different lots of Tenex and buy enough of that lot to last a year or so, but it wold be nice if Tenex was Tenex all the same spec.

I guess the problem then would be if your rifle doesn't like that "spec" then you'd never compete against someone whose rifle really likes that spec.

Not to mention it would really limit them manufacturing capacity as they could only use 1 set of bullet moulds, 1 set of case dies, 1 primer mould, 1 propellant measuring system, 1 bullet seating die.... etc.

I'm a fairly decent shot, with a number of firearm types. I should be given the amount of practice I've had! But I still reckon I'd never be able to discern the difference between one batch of premium ammunition and another...

Sim G wrote:I'm a fairly decent shot, with a number of firearm types. I should be given the amount of practice I've had! But I still reckon I'd never be able to discern the difference between one batch of premium ammunition and another...

I think it depends on what game you're playing Sim. If we stick to thinking about .22lr, standing up unsupported precision at 25 yards I wouldn't tell the difference - A pistol the same, couldn't tell, if it worked reliably I couldn't tell the difference between reasonable or premium.

With prone rifle 25/50/100yds and certainly with benchrest there's certainly a difference. - If the ammunition/rifle you're using isn't capable of keeping them all in the 10 ring, you won't win.

Eley Tenex when shot through their test barrels - the groups of different lots may vary from under 1/2" to over 3/4" at 50 yards. You will never win a match if the best your ammunition can do is score a 95 on a good day.

That's probably why I decided a long time ago to not shoot .22 rifle competitively. I have two no sorry three .22 rifles a Mauser 45 training rifle and 2 semi auto Club guns that never get used. If they were not on the Club certificate I would get rid of them.

Ovenpaa wrote:I know we have a few .22 Rimfire shooters on the forum, are any of you doing anything to accurise your rounds. Sorting/batching, or reloading your own etc.

Have you covered off barrel tuners?
Something I had a discussion about on UKV over Christmas and the consensus was they seemed to be a good idea.
I’m yet to try