Impressed with Eley Sport

[Frapiscide]

I just got back from the range and am really glad I gave Eley Sport another chance. The first box of 50 I fired was about 60/40 super sonic and subsonic and I just didn't shoot it because that box was so inconsistent. Today, I took another box of 50 just to see if it was just one bad box. I'm glad I did, since I shot one of my best 5 round groups at 50 yards. It measures in at 0.345" center to center and got some other decent groupings. I'd say they're pretty good with a sporter profile barrel. Only thing that I don't really like about them is that they are a lot dirtier to shoot and don't smell as nice as CCIs do.

Is this about how Wolf MT performs?

Group in the center square is CCI Std.

 

[LARMIKE]

Re: Impressed with Eley Sport

I have the Black box Eley and OSP Eley (Rapid Fire Pistol) and I love it. Shoots very good at 50 and 100yds. That is all I shoot,Annie 2013 Iron sights. Not sure what rifle you are using, but you are right it is dirty as hell. I carry a cleaning kit with a pull thru boresnake. I use Wolf MT for practice as it has the same trajectory as the OSP I use for smallbore prone matches. Love it but wish it was not so stinky and dirty.

 

[Frapiscide]

Re: Impressed with Eley Sport

The 22 I have is a Savage Mk II F with a Boyds Tacticool stock and BSA tactical FFP scope. Makes for a good budget trainer.

 

[TonyAngel]

Re: Impressed with Eley Sport

Don't get all excited about one good group. The Eley Sport stuff is trash, compared to what you can get for about the same price. If you want cheap sub sonic ammo, stick with CCI Standard Velocity. Look for it in the paper boxes. It runs about $2.50 per box of 50.

That Eley stuff, as you found, varies a lot from lot to lot. The CCI stuff has been pretty consistent, being able to shoot at least MOA more than half the time.

The Wolf Match Target is pretty good for the price, being a step up from CCI SV, but you still have to watch the lots. Although most of the WMT shoots pretty good, the number of fliers that you'll get varies a quite a bit from lot to lot.

About a month ago, we were shooting one particular lot in a local match. I shot a 7300 out of 7500, having shot 100s on 73 targets and zeros on two targets because the rounds fell by about 1.5" at 50 yards.

The particular lot that we are shooting now isn't too bad. I shot these today. 75 shots taken in 30 minutes, one round on each target. For reference, the center circle is 1/2" in diameter measured from its out edge. These were shot at 50 yards in a benchrest format using a Remington 40X with a Weaver T36 scope.

As you can see, putting the bullet exactly where the cross hairs were wasn't happening with much consistency, although they didn't stray too far.

Although the results with this lot wasn't bad, my typical results with a good lot of Eley Black Box are much more consistent. Of course, Wolf goes for about $5 a box of 50 and the Eley goes for about $13 a box of 50, so the question is, how consistent do you need to be?

 

[Frapiscide]

Re: Impressed with Eley Sport

I still have 400 rounds of that Eley Sport stuff and ~270 rounds CCI SV and 300 rounds CCI Mini-Mag. It's just that it surprised me that the Eley Sport was shooting better than CCI SV's, though it could have been me, since people vary from day to day on shooting performance.

 

[TonyAngel]

Re: Impressed with Eley Sport

Nah, man. I'm not saying that the particular box of Eley that you got wouldn't out shoot the CCI SV. What I'm saying is that you probably lucked out getting into a good lot of the Eley. It varies from acceptable to downright horrible.

Believe me. The little match that we shoot on Saturdays is meant to attract new shooters to the sport, as well as keep the interest of veteran shooters. To do this, all shooters are required to shoot ammunition provided by the range for the match. We do this because not everyone can afford the best ammo, but some can and those that can would have a distinct advantage. Making everyone shoot the same ammo is sort of a way to level the playing field.

What we settled on as being the best compromise between performance and price is the Wolf Match Target, but we have tried, and continue to try every ammunition that we can get our hands on to see if it does as well as or better than Wolf MT.

In short, we've tried everything. What shot really bad, we revisited, to see if it was a lot thing. In terms of consistency, the Eley was pretty far at the bottom of the list and the CCI SV fell right under the Wolf. You also have to keep in mind that for our purposes, we were looking for ammo that would work well in a variety of rifles, so we did testing with a variety of rifles.

In the end, Wolf MT at $5 a box was the best bang for the buck. It was as close to being match ammunition as we could get without paying $10+ a box.

Still, all rifles are different, so you may have different findings.

 

[stranded]

Re: Impressed with Eley Sport

Tony, That is great concept. Having everone shoot same ammo. I may bounce that at my range. I know what you mean about lot to lot variation.

 

[steve123]

Re: Impressed with Eley Sport

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: TonyAngel</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Nah, man. I'm not saying that the particular box of Eley that you got wouldn't out shoot the CCI SV. What I'm saying is that you probably lucked out getting into a good lot of the Eley. It varies from acceptable to downright horrible.

Believe me. The little match that we shoot on Saturdays is meant to attract new shooters to the sport, as well as keep the interest of veteran shooters. To do this, all shooters are required to shoot ammunition provided by the range for the match. We do this because not everyone can afford the best ammo, but some can and those that can would have a distinct advantage. Making everyone shoot the same ammo is sort of a way to level the playing field.

What we settled on as being the best compromise between performance and price is the Wolf Match Target, but we have tried, and continue to try every ammunition that we can get our hands on to see if it does as well as or better than Wolf MT.

In short, we've tried everything. What shot really bad, we revisited, to see if it was a lot thing. In terms of consistency, the Eley was pretty far at the bottom of the list and the CCI SV fell right under the Wolf. You also have to keep in mind that for our purposes, we were looking for ammo that would work well in a variety of rifles, so we did testing with a variety of rifles.

In the end, Wolf MT at $5 a box was the best bang for the buck. It was as close to being match ammunition as we could get without paying $10+ a box.

Still, all rifles are different, so you may have different findings. </div></div>

Tony,

Where did Wolf "match extra" fall in the accuracy price comparison?

 

[TOP PREDATOR]

Re: Impressed with Eley Sport

the extra is usually is 3-5 bucks more depending on where you get it.


TONY, i too like the idea of having 1 ammo provided at the range for a match. of course that'll drive up the entry price a bit, and probably some will have to rezero, but a neat idea none the less.

 

[longguntoter]

Re: Impressed with Eley Sport

I have always got great performace from the Eley ammo. Your groups are very good and it does not surprise me.

 

[TonyAngel]

Re: Impressed with Eley Sport

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Tony,

Where did Wolf "match extra" fall in the accuracy price comparison?</div></div>

From what we saw, ME wasn't worth the extra money. There was no increased accuracy as a whole and only marginally better consistency.

I think I'm going to have a little trouble articulating what I'm trying to say, so let me put it this way.

When we test ammunition, we do shoot a few groups, but we don't make decisions based on groups. We are testing the ammunition to be used in a match setting (with many transitions), so when we test, we use the target sheets (the ARA target sheets shown above) that we use in the matches to test ammunition.

As most of you know, practice isn't anything like the real thing. There's no pressure and I usually do my best shooting when I don't have 14 other shooters on the line. In a practice setting, I know that with Wolf ammunition, I can shoot at least 2350 out of a possible 2500 on a target sheet, with scores of 2400 and up not out of the ordinary. I've shot plenty of perfect scores of 2500 in practice. This is just what I usually do. With match extra, I saw no improvement in overall scores.

The way we came to this conclusion was by shooting 4 consecutive cards and comparing those to what we usually shoot with Wolf. The method, as unscientific as it is, was this. We put up the four cards, we have three shooters, me and two of my buds. One was shooting a 54 Anschutz and me and my other bud were shooting 40Xs. We shoot in succession, with each of us shooting at the same target square, so that we can see where each of us hit.

We're looking for consistency among the three rifles. Since we're testing for overall performance, we don't just use one rifle to determine the usability of any particular ammo. Besides, doing it this way is a blast and it also shows the inconsistency that we can expect. If two put the round through the same hole (or close to it) and the third called a "WTF" we'll chalk that up as a flier.

What you end up with is 300 rounds through three different rifles, which in my head gives a pretty good idea of what the ammunition is doing.

 

[steve123]

Re: Impressed with Eley Sport

Very well articulated Tony.

I was planning on trying WME but I won't bother then.

Lapua has that new indoor test range in Scottsdale now so I was thinking of making a trip and trying different types/lot #'s of some of their 22 ammo.

How did the Lapua shoot for you guys?

 

[TonyAngel]

Re: Impressed with Eley Sport

Personally, I've never tried Lapua. Unless I've missed something, Lapua's least expensive ammunition still goes for $10+ a box. Again, unless I'm mistaken, doesn't Lapua make Wolf? If so, I suppose that Wolf is Lapua's "cheap" ammo.

When going for the "good" stuff, Eley has never left me wanting, so I haven't looked else where.

 

[steve123]

Re: Impressed with Eley Sport

Interesting, I really never thought much about who made Wolf 22 ammo. It would seem that Lapua does???

No wonder it shoots so good.

Thanks for the info!

 

[lachoneus]

Re: Impressed with Eley Sport

I must have gotten lucky. I bought a case of Eley Sport years ago when finding any .22 LR ammunition was dicey. I have since been shooting it in my Savage Mark II BTV and it has consistently shot around .45 inch groups at 50 yards. Wolf Match Target does better for me, often shooting around .27 inch groups at 50 yards, but the Eley Sport is more economical. I was just thinking about buying another case of Eley Sport. After reading this thread, I'm hoping I get lucky again.

 

[JoeMartin]

Re: Impressed with Eley Sport

I've had good results from Eley Sport in my Savage MKII FVT, but I've also had not so good performance from it as well. It's good practice ammo.