Only if y'er interested in the results of the factory lot grading.
Rifles will produce better results from better quality cartridges.
Has nothing to do with the labeling, only cartridge quality.
No rifle can fix a cartridge with factory caused issues.
Get a box with few or minor issues, the rifle "likes" it.
Get a box where the components and assembly are below average,
that label isn't going to repair those problems no matter what brand name you stick on it.

Rifle Match is supposed to be SK's best.
Biathlon Sport is decent too.
I've had good luck with Pistol Match.
Semi-Auto, Standard+, Long Range, High Velocity were okay.
Magazine was a greasy can of plinking ammo.

Your results will depend on y'er luck with the assembly line lottery.
Every purchase is a roll of the dice.

 

I say no. Only because I have tried both in my MTR, and it likes SK Standard Plus better.

 

Both my 457's shoot SK Standard Plus well, I don't think the extra $ is going to show that big of a difference if any!

 

Excluding results of CenterX. I tried 13 or 14 lots of SK Standard and 4 lots of Rifle Match (along with many other ammo types and brands) in several different factory barrel 457s and more testing with various aftermarket barrels. I did not continue to test any rifle that did not Shoot better than a .5 with the first few loads tested. SK Standard top 3 then a Rifle Match then more Standard. Next Rifle Match was 7th place. Have no idea of this will hold up as valid in any other guns.
With the SK Standard and the SK Rifle Match I shot 5 shots groups with no cleaning between strings. 1ea 5 shot group per lot with the best 5 (lots) groups tested further. Only one barrel had >hundred rounds through it when I did my tests with the rest being new or next to it.

I'm not buying anymore Rifle Match.
I'll save my best CenterX for Anschutz rifles.
IMO SK Standard is The Standard.

 

I recently picked up a few bricks of standard+, and was surprised at how it shoots in my Varmint MTR. I had only shot SK rifle match, pistol match and pistol match S. It has not been quite as consistent, but was surprisingly good. My last outing, I shot 20 5 round groups at 50 yards, and all groups were under 1/2”, and about 1/3 of the groups were under 1/4”. I am very pleased with it for practice, but will stick with rifle match or pistol match for any matches.

 

Like I said, do you trust the factory lot grading?

Rifles can't read.
The labels don't guarantee results.
Well made cartridges produce predictable trajectories.
Cartridges with problems due to slop at the factory are going to stray.


Note the price differences from high to low.
Standard+ is not SK's best, according to the factory batch testing.
Only Magazine has a lower price per 50 cartridges.

SK | Champion's Choice

 

I using rifle match for my benchrest matches and prs matches and standard plus for practice. Standard plus seems to throw a flier every now and then while rifle match seems more consistent. I won't necessarily say more accurate, just more consistent.
I haven't tried pistol match but it is supposedly a step above standard plus according to sk.

 

I have had surprisingly good results shooting Standard + in my 457 Chassis. It shoots as accurately as Center X but throws fliers more than I’d like therefore it’s for practice shooting and not dependable enough for matches. IME it shoots more accurately than all other SK ammo in both my 457 and Tikka. Biathlon is a close second in the SK line up.

 

I bought one brick of SK RM after having some good results with Std+. It may just be my lack of shooting skill and the fact I've only shot one box of RM so far, but I couldn't tell much difference at all between the two the one time I shot them both side by side from my Varmint. If anything, it seems like Std+ was slightly better. It also could be that my rifle just doesn't like that the particular lot of RM as much as it likes the lot of Std+ that I've used.

 

From my Kidd/Ruger...SK Standard Plus on the right, Rifle Match on the left

Not a huge difference but I feel the RM has a small edge, whether it's worth it to you is a personal choice.

 

From my Kidd/Ruger...SK Standard Plus on the right, Rifle Match on the left

Not a huge difference but I fill the RM has a small edge, whether it's worth it to you is a personal choice.

Man! That KIDD is dangerous - so is the triggerman
Agree with the assessment btw…. but it took me 3 minutes of steady squinting to come to that conclusion

 

every single lot is different. doesnt matter what box they are in. and not only is every lot different, some will shoot well on one day, and poor the next in a given barrel. and on a given day where its not shooting in one barrel, it may shoot in another. you cant compare them, even remotely. you just have to try it.i had more good lots of sk magazine than center x. today, my sk magazine was shooting way better than sk pistol match. so that lot of pistol match did not like the atmosphere today. if it were only so easy as to be able to purchase based on the box they are in.

 

End of day SK is good ammo for its price, it’s the luck of the draw or the luck of the lot.

With my 58 Brno M5, SK-RM shoots best, almost as good (sometimes better, lot dependant) as SK-FN Target and then SK Std+.

I’ve got a couple of lots of Std+ which shot as good as RM but overall RM has fewer flyers IMHO.

 

SK Rifle Match performs well in the CZs that I have, thus it has become the "default" for any serious target work with those rifles. I have done some limited work with Magazine and Std Plus but admit not in great detail and I tend to use those two for practice work. I have ( occasionally ) experienced slightly better groups with Pistol Match & Pistol Match Plus in selected barrels, however, my supply of those is limited and it's rarely available at a price I am willing to pay. The last time I bought any SK product - I had the very fortunate choice of Std Plus or Rifle Match for the same price of $54/brick so I opted for the Rifle Match and "yes" I bought 10 bricks.

 

As others have pointed out, ammo performance will vary by lot.

No rifle will "like" one variety of SK over another. They will shoot those lots that have more consistent ammo better than those lots that have less consistent ammo.

When SK makes a production run, SK Rifle Match and SK Standard Plus are produced at the same time. One is indistinguishable from the other. Only the grading process, whatever it is and however it's achieved, determines which parts of the run will be Rifle Match or Standard Plus, or something else.

The grading process is described below.



From Long Range .22LR: CZ-USA Model 457 AT-ONE - Guns and Ammo

 

Give BBM (RWS semi auto) a test. 50 rounds isn’t too expensive for a test

 

SK Standard Plus shoots very well for me. I have some SK Rifle Match but haven't had the chance to try it yet. If SK Rifle Match shoots just a little better for me....it's worth the price difference. I'll let you know as soon as I get to the range with it.
SK Standard Plus shoot very well in my CZ 457 VPT too.

Here is my CZ 452 American with SK Standard Plus in action at one of our local ARA Matches. The official score on this card is 2350.

 

Pretty decent BC.

Better than I've been doing.

What's the aggregate group size for 25 shots?

Eyeballing looks like 1.1 inch of vertical, 0.6 inch horizontal.

 

Yes Sir...that's about what I see as well. How would you suggest I test ammo for consistency?

Here is a 20 shot group fired with SK Standard Plus from my CZ 457 VPT at 50yds.
Outside to outside...7/8 vertical and 5/8 horizontal.

 

I have been testing ammo for the last 5-6 months with my 10/22 high end build and my cz varmint and I have come to realize that the difference between SK Standard Plus, SK Rifle Match, Wolf, Eley Auto Precision, Lapua Center X and to a lesser extent Eley Club, Eley Target and Tac 22 comes down to 100's of an inch. Literally 6-7 100 of an inch. When you throw in the error factor when measuring then who knows for sure? So unless you are competing then cost to accuracy needs to be taken into consideration. I think SK Standard Plus at $7-$8 a box is about the best when cost vs accuracy for non competitors is considered. Tac 22 is half that price and gets you plenty good groupings so there's that to consider.

 

I'll echo the guys saying Std + has flyers that RM does not. Not sure I'll buy any more Std +.

 

In my CZ 457 Varmint I can see a difference with the SK Rifke Match being more consistent with tighter groups than SK Standard Plus. Its undeniable for the ammo I have tested. Give me another lot# later and who knows?
I especially see the improvement in accuracy with the SKRM at 150 yards over SKSP with the ammo lot#s I am currently shooting. My results are worth the price difference if all things stay the same. Center X is slightly better for me than SKRM. One may suggest that it's the placebo effect because the ammo was more expensive, and maybe my confidence is higher so I shoot better. Who knows?

 

I use two methods, 50 shots at 100 yards aiming at a single point, chronograph out front
or the Grid, 50 shots at 50 yards at 50 different aimpoints with the objective being to punch center every shot.
The Grid, or the 50 at 100, will tell you just how good or bad y'er ammo is doing.
You may not like the answers, but neither method will hide problems.

 

Funny, I JUST did some testing with my Custom CZ this past week. I tried, SK Rifle Match, SK Std +, SK Biathlon, Wolf Match target ( Old/SK build), Wolf Match target (New/Eley build), Wolf Match Extra, CCI green tag and Center X . Center X seemed the best overall but the SK Match was second with SK Std+ a VERY close third. ( They were all pretty close.) All were giving me one hole 3 shot groups of one shape or another. I did not notice any fliers with any of these three flavors. ). Given there isn't but a $3/box difference between SK Match and STD+, its not so much about saving $ as it is being able to find and stock up on acceptable ammo .
BTW, one of the other interesting outcomes was that the Wolf Match Extra grouped well but a good 1.25" high and left as compared to the rest of the test batch. I've ruled it out accordingly.

 

@Tacoma
Your results mirror mine.
That is worth noting for the purpose of this thread.

 

I’ve bought multiple brick’s of SK STD + and all of it shoots great in all my rifles… The only prob I have with it… It’s Temperature sensitive… when it get cold 40 degrees and under it starts shootin like doo doo… So when temps drop I switch to something else like Eley SSHP or CCI SV (HP)

 

right, down here eley usually shoots better in the spring and fall, and in the summer heat and humidity usually sk/lapua is my go to. but yesterday was so dry, the eley match and team for the most part were shooting better than all my sk stuff other than a batch of magazine. it was an interesting anomaly.

 

i used to only buy two or three lots of more expensive stuff. but i found that on the off days, when i didnt have any ammo for that air (here in north tx we have anywhere between 30% to 95% relative humidity, and ive had fronts blow in that made stuff that was shooting good start shooting bad, and I had to switch ammo to get my precision back); so i found i really needed to have more lots in the range bag to try to make sure I had something that would work on a given day. because even lot tested stuff is susceptible to variances in conditions.....but i just didnt want to buy a bunch of lots of expensive stuff, so i started buying more lots of less expensive stuff. same $ i was spending, and it doesnt always work, but i now have far fewer days where i dont have a lot that wont shoot. although, a lot of my buddies at the range give me a hard time for the sheer amount of crap i drag in to shoot.