After finding I can't seem to get ammo consistent enough to achieve my goals for shooting at 50 yards, I recently began to shoot at 100 yards with my Anschutz 1913 BR 50. (At my club range, which I usually have to myself, the "50 yards" measures closer to 57.4 to the outside wall of the building, while the 100 is nearer to 98.7.)
I was uncertain about the results I would see. The most consistent shooting ammo I have is a lot of Center X that I last bought, a 2020 vintage. It's not good enough to shoot consistent sub-.25" five-shot groups at my club's 50 yard distance. At 100 yards I found that I could shoot three ten-shot groups that averaged under one inch. I was pleased with it's 100 yard performance.
Below is the best overall results with this lot of CX. All groups were very nearly the same size.
The largest group above measured 1.046" outside edge-to-outside edge.
At 50, my best lot of 2020-produced Midas + gives a number of .1's and 2's, but there were always spoilers in other groups. At 100 it was equally mercurial, giving some really nice groups but others that didn't shine, and often were larger than the usual groups I was getting with the CX referred to above. While it produced some three ten-shot groups that were consistent with one another, others showed more fully the very good and the typical characteristics of this particular lot of ammo.
This lot seems to have some very consistent rounds, with some of the groups showing relatively small groups with what at first glance appear to be errant shots or fliers but are really nothing more than rounds that are striking within the overall group size if all 50 rounds in a box were shot in a single group.
But sometimes a few groups seem to stand out, when ten consecutive rounds are very consistent indeed.
The ten-shot group targets below were shot on Aug. 11 this week in calm conditions. The distance was measured to approximately 98.7 yards.
The top right group on the target on the left above and the bottom left target on the target on the right are examples of ten consecutive rounds doing very well.
What takeaways from this? Ammo can seem to be very fickle. But a lot that can give only some very good results isn't sufficiently consistent to deliver regularly. A consistently shooting lot seems more desirable than one that delivers some impressive results from time to time.
When I bought the ammo that produced the results shown above, the dealer had new to his inventory some five lots of Center X and two of the Midas +. I suspect that these numbers are not atypical for dealers in a country with a very small market (to put it in perspective, California has a larger population than all of Canada). I tested in late October/early November last year when conditions were cold and less than ideal. With a small number of lots from which to choose from it's unlikely that there are very many "killer" lots that will shoot "lights out".
Even it it doesn't produce the smallest groups, I wish I had bought more of the lot of CX that delivers consistent result. But it is nice to see the very nice results that the M+ can produce -- even if they are only on occasion.
I was uncertain about the results I would see. The most consistent shooting ammo I have is a lot of Center X that I last bought, a 2020 vintage. It's not good enough to shoot consistent sub-.25" five-shot groups at my club's 50 yard distance. At 100 yards I found that I could shoot three ten-shot groups that averaged under one inch. I was pleased with it's 100 yard performance.
Below is the best overall results with this lot of CX. All groups were very nearly the same size.
The largest group above measured 1.046" outside edge-to-outside edge.
At 50, my best lot of 2020-produced Midas + gives a number of .1's and 2's, but there were always spoilers in other groups. At 100 it was equally mercurial, giving some really nice groups but others that didn't shine, and often were larger than the usual groups I was getting with the CX referred to above. While it produced some three ten-shot groups that were consistent with one another, others showed more fully the very good and the typical characteristics of this particular lot of ammo.
This lot seems to have some very consistent rounds, with some of the groups showing relatively small groups with what at first glance appear to be errant shots or fliers but are really nothing more than rounds that are striking within the overall group size if all 50 rounds in a box were shot in a single group.
But sometimes a few groups seem to stand out, when ten consecutive rounds are very consistent indeed.
The ten-shot group targets below were shot on Aug. 11 this week in calm conditions. The distance was measured to approximately 98.7 yards.
The top right group on the target on the left above and the bottom left target on the target on the right are examples of ten consecutive rounds doing very well.
What takeaways from this? Ammo can seem to be very fickle. But a lot that can give only some very good results isn't sufficiently consistent to deliver regularly. A consistently shooting lot seems more desirable than one that delivers some impressive results from time to time.
When I bought the ammo that produced the results shown above, the dealer had new to his inventory some five lots of Center X and two of the Midas +. I suspect that these numbers are not atypical for dealers in a country with a very small market (to put it in perspective, California has a larger population than all of Canada). I tested in late October/early November last year when conditions were cold and less than ideal. With a small number of lots from which to choose from it's unlikely that there are very many "killer" lots that will shoot "lights out".
Even it it doesn't produce the smallest groups, I wish I had bought more of the lot of CX that delivers consistent result. But it is nice to see the very nice results that the M+ can produce -- even if they are only on occasion.