50 versus 100

[60723]

Shooting Benchrest midrange few years. Fairly new to .22. I believe a 6mm rifle that will shoot bugholes at 100 will also shoot well at 300 and 600. I hear so much about a .22 rim fire that shoots great at 50 may not be competitive at 100. I’ve also heard some bullets (Eley) were designed for 50 and not 100. This doesn’t seem logical to me. If there is any truth to these ‘myths’ please try to explain to me how this is possible.

 

[CJ6]

I use the same lot of Eley Match at 100 yds as I do at 50. It's an older batch 2010 machine # 2 lot 258 1058 speed. I have another batch (2010) machine #4, 1056 speed that shoots just as good.

 

[BowChamp]

My opinions...and they mean exactly doodly squat.

A lot of shooters can not read conditions, therefore make a lot of excuses.

The farther out you shoot with 22LR, the more bad things are magnified.

 

[Dannybcc]

I recently shot a centerfire shoot with my 22-250. Same thing happens with centerfire. At least for me. Sure didn't happen to everybody though.

 

[xswanted]

I dont buy into anything i read about 22 ammo and it’s performance.

Unless I’ve actual done it or experienced it I’m skeptical of what is out there.

Waaaaay too many variables with rimfire ammo.

Test the ammo you can afford from your rifle and let the target speak for itself.

 

[TRSR8]

Shooting Benchrest midrange few years. Fairly new to .22. I believe a 6mm rifle that will shoot bugholes at 100 will also shoot well at 300 and 600. I hear so much about a .22 rim fire that shoots great at 50 may not be competitive at 100. I’ve also heard some bullets (Eley) were designed for 50 and not 100. This doesn’t seem logical to me. If there is any truth to these ‘myths’ please try to explain to me how this is possible.

The majority of RFBR, world wide is shot 50 yds/ 50 mtrs.

 

[grauhanen]

Most .22LR BR and ISSF shooters shoot 50 yards/meters and, until the growth of PRS rimfire, they have the major focus of match ammo makers.

Even though physics/ballistics means results MOA-wise will progressively grow worse and worse as distance increases, that doesn't mean that the ammo can't do well further out.

Regardless of manufacturer, rimfire match ammo that shoots very well at 50 may shoot very well at 100. Rimfire ammo that shoots poorly at 50 will shoot poorly at 100.

Some match ammo lots, regardless of manufacturer, shoot better than others as distance increases. The only way to identify which ammos do well at 100 is to test. This applies to Eley EPS ammo with their unique bullet shape.

 

[xswanted]

I’ll add to this post after testing today.

I lot tested a few lots of Eley Tenex today as my current lot supply is getting low.

I was shooting at 200 yards and fired 4, 5 shot groups, the aggregate turned out to be 1.945” which is pretty solid. Conditions were exceptionally good.

One shot cost the agg from being even better as one group measured 3.015” but had 4 shots inside 1.5”. Most likely an inconsistency on my part.

The pictured group was the best and is very good for 200 yards.

I initially shot this ammo at 50 and 100.

This lot was not any better at either distance than a couple others but it showed more consistency at 200 and it repeated the agg one more time with more even groups across the 4 groups I fired.

Point being is had I decided at 50 or 100 yards I’d have sold myself short.

I also believe it shows that ammo “designed” for 50 yards/meters, like Tenex was originally was, will shoot very well, well past that.

I’ve shot Tenex to 400 yards and had impressive results with it. Other brands of “50 yard/meter target ammo” will do the same.

SD on this lot was 6.2 over 80 rounds chronographed and average muzzle velocity was 1096 which is quite a bit faster than the 1064 on the box. Which, I’ve also found, isn’t always accurate.

Make decisions based on your results and not others, I think this test for me today reminded me of that even more.

 

[MarkS]

Shooting Benchrest midrange few years. Fairly new to .22. I believe a 6mm rifle that will shoot bugholes at 100 will also shoot well at 300 and 600. I hear so much about a .22 rim fire that shoots great at 50 may not be competitive at 100. I’ve also heard some bullets (Eley) were designed for 50 and not 100. This doesn’t seem logical to me. If there is any truth to these ‘myths’ please try to explain to me how this is possible.

Most 22lr ammo in the past was made for 50yds. Today's shooting has pushed this out to 400yds+ The 50yds ammo will shoot to these distances with no problem. Due to PRS ammo makers are making long range ammo, that does better for long range shooting. Past 50yds weather conditions make all the difference. The ES of the ammo will show vertical in the group, at any range, further you go out, the more vertical you will see. Normally the more the ammo cost the better it will do?

 

[1Merlin]

Normally the higher the cost the better the ammo...but. Norma Extreme Long Range is right there with Remington Golden Bullets.

YMMV

 

[a1712]

Normally the higher the cost the better the ammo...but. Norma Extreme Long Range is right there with Remington Golden Bullets.

YMMV

So true. But, I purchased 2 cases of different lots of Norma Match, I wasn't expecting much at sub $5 a box. Low and behold, both shoot very well out of several rifles, giving mid single digit SD's. I was very surprised as Tac-22 and Extreme Long Range, shoot patterns. Brian.

 

[SteveOak]

I saw test results of a great number of 22 LR cartridges. I was surprised to see the there were more than a few that agg'd better at 100 than some that agg'd better at 50.

I will see if I can find it.

 

[xswanted]

I saw test results of a great number of 22 LR cartridges. I was surprised to see the there were more than a few that agg'd better at 100 than some that agg'd better at 50.

I will see if I can find it.

Group convergence.

Lytz talks about this with 22s, specifically subsonic ammo, to some extent.

It doesn’t happen with centerfire/supersonic ammo but the has documented it with rimfire.

Another good reason to test ammo past 50 yards.

 

[wkdickinson]

I saw test results of a great number of 22 LR cartridges. I was surprised to see the there were more than a few that agg'd better at 100 than some that agg'd better at 50.

I will see if I can find it.

Totally rifle dependent - the study mean nothing more than how those lots, shot in that rifle, that day!

 

[SteveOak]

Totally rifle dependent - the study mean nothing more than how those lots, shot in that rifle, that day!

Enjoy your shooting.

 

[grauhanen]

Group convergence -- or where group size in MOA is smaller at 100 than it is at 50 -- happens occasionally with .22LR rimfire. It's not common and it's not predictable. In other words, it happens by chance.

On the rare occasions it occurs it's caused by the same factors that explain group dispersion rate differences and may be more likely with some rifles/bores than others. Group dispersion rate differences are caused by center of gravity imperfections that may vary between lots, even between rounds in a lot.

 

[Emmett Dibble]

Reading conditions and ES/SD numbers... same as shooting 600 vs 1000 yards....