Question

[dickn52]

I just opened a brick of Center X 22LR ammo, and they were nuts. They grouped at about 4.5 inches in everything I shot them through. Is this common for these? At $14.00 a box I would expect much better results. Just curious.

 

[linekin]

Yes I would too. I assume you were shooting 100yds?

 

[VegasCharlie]

OP, what gun did you use to shoot these?

 

[1Merlin]

300 yards?

 

[grauhanen]

It may be that you have a very poor lot of Center X.

Although those results are not encouraging, there's no guarantee that every lot of any variety of .22LR match ammo will perform well. Performance will vary from lot-to-lot and there can be quite a difference between good lots and not-so-good lots.

I had the misfortune of having a lot of Center X that was among the poorest performing CX ever made available for sale. Shooting with two good rifles on calm mornings over several days, this particular lot of CX produced 20 ten shot groups that averaged just over 2" at 100 yards. When chronographed, the ammo had an ES of no better than 80 on the best box and as high as 100 on the worst. A few ten shot groups had ESs over 70 fps.

By comparison, my best lot of CX had extreme spreads in the low 30's and at 100 yards produced a ten shot group average of just under .930" over 89 groups.

 

[Hi-NV Shooter]

I just opened a brick of Center X 22LR ammo, and they were nuts. They grouped at about 4.5 inches in everything I shot them through. Is this common for these? At $14.00 a box I would expect much better results. Just curious.

This couldn't be at 50yds.I have never seen any Lapau shoot that bad at 50yds.

 

[dickn52]

This couldn't be at 50yds.I have never seen any Lapau shoot that bad at 50yds.

Yep, 50 yards. Shot with 2 Win 52D's, one Sig and One Tikka. Thought it was me until the second gun did the same thing.

 

[dutch14]

I would say that someone ot the loading machine passed their bad day on to you. What ammunition do you normally shoot and what size group at 50 yds are you normally getting? Also scope or Iron sights? How cold were you when you were shooting? Were you shooting position or off a bench and bags? Shooting off hand I don't expect a 5 shot group smaller than that.

 

[MrG52D]

Yep, 50 yards. Shot with 2 Win 52D's, one Sig and One Tikka. Thought it was me until the second gun did the same thing.

I had some Eley Tennex like that once. This was back when hey had the online analyzer. This lot showed the smallest group of any I had ever seen. I bought 5 bricks of it. No two shots were even close to each other. Not 4in, but non usable none the less.

 

[Walt Krafft]

When was the last time you cleaned your rifles? I bought an used Anschutz one time that wouldn't shoot for crap. I really scrubbed the bore peeling lots of built up lead from the bore. Now it is one of the most accurate 22s I have.

 

[dutch14]

Another question is where was the sun, there is no point to going to the range I shoot on before 12:00 because the sun will be in my eyes and cause glare on scopes and iron sights. The target is also in the shadows.

 

[1Merlin]

Never seen or heard of such poor results. If you were not a member with a good record of posting here I would call bullshit.....

 

[Hi-NV Shooter]

Yep, 50 yards. Shot with 2 Win 52D's, one Sig and One Tikka. Thought it was me until the second gun did the same thing.

Ok, my next question did you buy it from a private seller or from a reputable seller. also is this the latest production. or older production. the picture shows what the past and current box labeling looks like.
the only thing I can think of as to why it shoots that bad is the way it was stored.
1-1.5" groups is possible from a lot of ammo that rifle just doesn't like but 4.5" I guess there is always a first

Lee

 

[drover]

Yep, 50 yards. Shot with 2 Win 52D's, one Sig and One Tikka. Thought it was me until the second gun did the same thing.

Since you tried it in several rifles with the same results it is certainly indicative of a bad lot of ammo. I would suggest getting in touch with Lapua and see if they will replace the ammo, if it is as bad as you say they should be interested in knowing about it.

drover

 

[dickn52]

Since you tried it in several rifles with the same results it is certainly indicative of a bad lot of ammo. I would suggest getting in touch with Lapua and see if they will replace the ammo, if it is as bad as you say they should be interested in knowing about it.

drover

That makes the best sense out of an outstanding issue... BUT the ammo is now gone the way of a pistol and no longer available. I have used Lapua for many years, and this was a great surprise to me. Thanks everyone..

 

[Herzo]

It would be interesting to weigh the individual rounds from a box and group them by weight. If there is a substantial variance, see how any weight lot groups.

 

[Ggmac]

Bad lot or very bad storage .

 

[Drop Port]

I just opened a brick of Center X 22LR ammo, and they were nuts. They grouped at about 4.5 inches in everything I shot them through. Is this common for these? At $14.00 a box I would expect much better results. Just curious.

I would find someone who shoots Center X and let them shoot a few in their rifle. If results are the same, I'm sure Lapua would want to know the Lot# and likely want a sample. This happened to me with target bullets from a major manufacturer. A known rifle that shot sub 1/2 MOA (.3's") went to a MOA rifle. I tested the new lot off bullets and my first group with same seating was .3" so I assumed business as usual. It then started shooting 3/4 - 1 MOA. After checking every possible culprit, I borrowed 10 bullets from a friend who split the old lot # with me and they shot small again. After explaining in detail the troubleshooting steps to a Tech at the manufacturer he asked that I send a 70, bullet sample. Three weeks later he shipped me enough 338, 300 grain bullets to last me the life of the barrel and then some, and thanked me for bringing it to their attention.

 

[dgeesaman]

That is bizarrely bad. It’s my understanding that all Lapua match ammo is made on the same lines and they test it all on their factory guns. Then they sort the good to be CenterX, Better is Midas+, best is X-Act. Which means CenterX has to be at least good. And depending how your particular gun is, the CenterX may perform better than the ‘better’ grades because the factory testing is by no means the be-all-end-all of accuracy potential.

Did you have any other ammo with you that day, and if so how did it perform? (Not that I don’t believe you, but because that helps define this CenterX more)

Fwiw I have two bricks of Midas+ I just got this month in the new packaging and it’s shooting really well. I might even pack rat it away with my small stash of lot-tested CenterX. (I didn’t win Powerball but I did win there). So Lapua is putting out some very good stuff still.

 

[WyleWD]

I just opened a brick of Center X 22LR ammo, and they were nuts. They grouped at about 4.5 inches in everything I shot them through. Is this common for these? At $14.00 a box I would expect much better results. Just curious.

A fellow that I shoot with from time to time, has had several bricks like this. It's sad to watch it happen at a match. JME. WD