Don't tell my range buddy, he's an Eley fanatic.

 

One must wonder, could this world of "availability" problems be the cause...... Just asking.

 

I see Elay for sale on most sites

 

I'm not sure what is going on with Eley. I bought a brick of Ten-X a few months back and was not satisfied with it; sold most of it to a friend. Two others I shoot with had been using Black Box Match and stopped due to poor performance. OTOH, I went through a brick of Midas+ recently and wasn't happy with it either. Too many fliers. I'm now shooting Center-X and it's been very good.

Our match yesterday had only five competitors. On the line were two high dollar Anschutz rifles and three Suhl 150 rifles; one custom build with tuner, one in a custom stock and with a tuner but otherwise factory and one completely factory. We shoot the IBS benchrest target and the results are below.

250-16X - Anschutz using SK Pistol Match Special
250-15X - Custom Suhl with tuner using Midas+
250-14X - Suhl with tuner using Center-X
249-12X - factory Suhl using Center-X (That was me and the dropped point was all me; not the rifle or cartridge)
245-8X - Anschutz using Center-X (He had one bad cartridge that cost him 4 points. Apparently a very low powder charge)

Surprisingly, we have found that SK Pistol Match Special shoots extremely well in almost everyone's rifles. We have a "cheap" ammo match each week and a lot of 250 scores are shot with it.

 

I'm not sure what is going on with Eley. I bought a brick of Ten-X a few months back and was not satisfied with it; sold most of it to a friend. Two others I shoot with had been using Black Box Match and stopped due to poor performance. OTOH, I went through a brick of Midas+ recently and wasn't happy with it either. Too many fliers. I'm now shooting Center-X and it's been very good.

YUP. tested 5 lots of recent manufacture. All grouped meh and had fliers in every rifle I tested... Odd.

 

I’m only in my first year of shooting BR, but I can attest that when you look in the garbage cans at different venues at all of the empty Ammo boxes 95% are Blue and White.

 

Not to be contrary, but might be where you shoot. Benchrest fun match (front bag only) yesterday in N.Ga. Top shooters were on Eley Match and Club.

 

With that type of fun shoots I can understand using Eley. But when using a one piece rest, with high end actions and barrels shooting ARA targets Lapua is heads above Eley in usage. Not sure why that bugs me but for all my life before shooting benchrest Eley dominated the shooting world including the Olympics. I wonder what has gone wrong.

 

I’m undoubtedly wrong, but among the serious non-benchrest shooters I compete with most of us used Eley Tenex or Match prior to Eley changing their swaging dies. After Eley introduced their EPS bullets, results were not as good and the search was on for better precision. For a while RWS R50 performed reasonably well, then Ruag seems to have dropped the line and the hunt commenced again. Tenex Pistol, Center-X, SK Rifle Match, Midas + seem to share the user base about equally now, but on calm days the shooters who weight sort their ammo win more consistently than those who rely on the manufacturer to have produced a matched lot. Statistical analysis will only get you so far it seems.

 

I have actually moved to eley over lapua not that there's anything wrong with lapua for ara I find eley to be more consistent with less flyers I've had to many times lapua and sk has costed me 2500 targets because of a weird flyer.

 

I have two lots of Center-X, shot thru a CZ457 Varmint bull barrel one lot number is noticeably better then the other, neither is as good as SK STD+ with the CZ457, at least for me.

Best groups I've got have been with a TCR22 with a Feddersen 16.5" barrel and Eley Match, that's a lot that I only have one box left of

I've bought 2 lots of Eley Match thru the classifieds here, I'm now wondering if they were passed on because they were lemons.

 

I have two lots of Center-X, shot thru a CZ457 Varmint bull barrel one lot number is noticeably better then the other, neither is as good as SK STD+ with the CZ457, at least for me.

Best groups I've got have been with a TCR22 with a Feddersen 16.5" barrel and Eley Match, that's a lot that I only have one box left of

I've bought 2 lots of Eley Match thru the classifieds here, I'm now wondering if they were passed on because they were lemons.

My 457 Varmint shoots SK+ better than the CX I have too.

I suspect the classifieds are full of inaccurate shooting lots of expensive ammo and inaccurate big name rifles.
Can't see people dumping tack drivers or great shooting lots of ammo.

 

I’m undoubtedly wrong, but among the serious non-benchrest shooters I compete with most of us used Eley Tenex or Match prior to Eley changing their swaging dies. After Eley introduced their EPS bullets, results were not as good and the search was on for better precision. For a while RWS R50 performed reasonably well, then Ruag seems to have dropped the line and the hunt commenced again. Tenex Pistol, Center-X, SK Rifle Match, Midas + seem to share the user base about equally now.

 

I think it's important to point out that just as every member here is a unique individual, so is every rifle. What I prefer for supper may not be what others like and so it is with our rifles. What my rifle likes may not shoot well in another rifle, even if it's the same make, model and only one serial number different. E. C. Crossman, in a 1927 book, said that when a shooter finds a cartridge that their rifle likes, they should procure as much of that lot number as they can find... even if they have to steal it. That's golden advice (not the stealing part) and as valid today as it was 95 years ago.

The same cartridge but a different lot may not shoot as well as the lot you have. Or, it may shoot better. Testing in YOUR rifle is the only way to find out. Videos of groups shot with Brand-X or Brand-X vs Brand-Z ONLY apply to the person and rifle and cartridge used in the video. That may give a reason to try that cartridge in your rifle but there are no guarantees. YOUR rifle is unique and so is each lot of a specific cartridge. What you get for paying the high price for certain ammo is that it was manufactured with greater care and consistency than cheaper ammo. That alone will not guarantee that it shoots to your satisfaction. It simply improves the odds that it will.

 

Rumor has it that the recent shipments of Eley are much improved. Not firsthand experience. Just what I've heard

 

There was a British member who had mentioned a while ago (maybe 6-9 months) I think a rumor that Eley had let the "boffins" (English speak for Engineers/experts) go and the replaced with Tattoed pond life.

Maybe if that's true Eley saw the error of it's ways, and hired/re-employed competent people.

If Eley had been bought by another company, maybe the more expensive people were let go. Who knows.

 

I found a lot # of Eley Match that shoots very good in my rifle. Seeing as I'm 3 cases deep now....I'll be shooting it for quite awhile.

I also had some Center X and X-act that shot very good...just couldn't get much of the same lot #'s.

 

Yep, and your good results attest to that. My rifles liked Center-X but that has dried up so it's SKRM until supplies are available again.

 

It surprised me that there is so much variation in cartridge quality with 22lr,
even from the supposedly best made cartridges from Eley, RWS, SK/Lapua and Fiocchi Italia.
One brick will produce the kind of results you expect from competition grade 22lr,
the next brick pops odd strays and hot/weak numbers on the chronograph.
It leaves me wondering if the method of testing done at the factory isn't effective
or if the shipping and handing conditions are affecting the ammo.
Too much heat/cold/moisture in the cargo containers, or old stock being dumped on this side of the pond.
I can't take all the blame for poor results, when the vertical spread correlates directly to the chrony numbers.

 

I think it is a combo of many factors one of which is pride in workmanship plus all you pointed out. We so heavily rely on computers, JIT deliveries, cargo shipping across oceans and "modern" manufacturing methods the art and passion to do better has been lost to profits and production.

I sent a letter to Federal, they are HUGE in the ammo world. There is no excuse for them not making, in the USA, a 22LR match ammo that is a world champion winner, the ones they have now are middle of the road, at best. Make the worlds best match ammo here, shorten supply lines, increase quality of the lead projectile alloy, dedicate a team of focused engineers and don't stop at third or 10th best. They would sell the stuff by the train load. I know there are billions of 22LR rounds shot each year but we competitors in the game eat a case of ammo like it is candy. Of course my letter was ignored, go figure.

 

My observations regarding ammo from the ARA Outdoor and Indoor Nationals were at least 90% non-Eley.

 

.......................

 

I do find it odd that eley has fallen out of favor. Back when I started competition with rimfire (3 position rifle and bullse pistol in the 1980’s ) all the top shooters used eley, and it dominated at the Olympic level as well. These days it seems lapua has stolen the crown. Some of this may be also I suspect that in the things I shoot now ( prs/ nrl22) lapua and SK have become “fashionable” for lack of a better term- it is what all the cool kids are shooting. Vudoo which is pretty dominant as a rifle at the top levels of theses types of competitions even says they cut the chamber and d3sign the magazine for optimal performance with lapua ammo. When I acquired a Kidd rifle i found eley wouldn’t even fully chamber, while SK and lapua have been flawless function wise.

 

Possibly the cold hard truth may be that Germany has made improvements to the 22 caliber manufacturing process and machinery updates that other countries have not. Just possible.

 

I've not been able to figure out where Lapua / SK is made. I think the company is based in Finland, with many sites in other countries. But I don't know where the Center-X or SK+ that is sold in the USA is actual manufactured.

 

Following the fall of the Berlin wall, Wolf Match was being imported from East Germany. I bought it in 500 round cans for $13 and in boxes for very little more. It shot unbelievably good and I won a lot of matches with it. One fellow I shoot with now bought many cases of it and still uses it in some of our less formal matches. He wins too. We're all anxious for him to run out. Wolf Match won a good reputation in the 1990's but in recent years, since production has gone to a different plant, the quality seems to have suffered. I haven't bought any in a long time.

 

For casual shoooters like me I go with Eley mainly for one reason . Availability! Lapua is never in stock anywhere for months now . So I experiment with lots of Eley until I find a lot that performs well .
I do occasionally shoot with a serious BR shooter and he shoots Lapua ,

 

Federal DID d this in the 90's.....called it UM-1, 900B etc. Was trying to make inroads on the Russian Olymp that it copied and did well with. Quite the equal of any Tenex. Gone....

I am sure that the economics were deemed prohibitive, as much as competitive shooters like to think that they shoot up LOTS of ammo it is a pitance compared to the high volume plinksters in the shooting world..

Winchester had some premium grade ammo called MK3/4, Remington had some equally fine ammo known as 6600 Match. Gone

Too expensive to make for too few shooters.

Randy
PS. This was shared with me by that other Bill that won so many championships.

 

If Remington was to make the quality they made way back when “ think collector ammo” that u.s. competitors were winning with “im assuming” before ww2 they would at least be making competitive ammo today.

I don’t remember the names of the people that completed at camp Perry and Olympics then I just remember seeing the adds from Remington while looking at old Remington catalogs.

if the ammo was that good then it would be premium today.

 

When I was in AMU many years ago Federal copied some Russian match ammo that they later marketed as ultra match. It allowed America to win in the Olympics. At that time Eley was great ammo but the best lots were saved for European teams, the Russians would not sell us anything. Later Federal found they had to almost hand load the ammo to maintain quality and that it just became too expensive to produce. When I contacted them this year they said they had no plans to start producing it again in the near future.

 

Didn’t RWS make that Ammo for Federal? I have some of the Federal “Ultramatch” (UM22).

 

Just a note, still have one brick of ultra match left last time I looked in the ammo cabinet. Think I will use it up before it degrades if it already hasn’t.

 

I don't understand the financial metrics here. We competitive shooters are a picky lot of guys and gals. We want ammo that shoots in our rifle and will buy cases of it when found. Even the not so good lots are soon scarfed up and shot. The costs of importing ammo to the USA when figuring shipping, handing, taxes and what not has to add a lot of money to each box. If the ammo was produced in the USA those costs would be gone. Even if the price was the same 15-20 bucks a box the profit margin has to be a huge potential for a US Company.

 

Shooting ARA & NRL22 I use and see almost all Lapua. Partly due to having a Lapua test center locally we can lot test and buy what works best.

 

Back in the 90s there were a few flavors of Eley that shot excellent.
Just started shooting rimfire in the last couple of years. The particular flavors of Eley that my guns really liked apparently are not made anymore, so I bought 51 boxes of a different flavor to try and with just visual inspection I probably culled out 10%.
I’ve switched to SK