Posted: 6/11/2011 11:08:57 AM EDT
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Today we went to Bisley with the intention of getting zeroed for the CSR matches in a couple of weeks.
With that out of the way after an enjoyable and satisfying session on Siberia and Century in the morning, we headed off to the NSRA shop to acquire some of their finest SK ammo wares. Then we departed for Melville and set up a target at 25yds. The players My rifle, BAR 22 with Douglas XX 14" barrel and .22 semi auto match chamber Geissele SSA trigger Aimpoint Comp ML3 w/4MOA dot The aiming marks were regular NRA patches. These are .775" dia ( or just a shade under 20mm) 
Ammo was a selection of the following: SK Magazine SK Standard Plus SK Pistol Match SK Rifle match Geco Minimag CCI Velocitor Federal Bulk Winchester Sub hollowpoints Eley Sub hollowpoints Bear in mind that the 4 MOA dot is just smaller than the black aiming dot First up, Geco 
Raggedy group, of which only 7 shots fired, as the 8th failed to reset the hammer Ammo binned Next 
This was by far the best group of the day Then 
We then fired some CCI Velocitors but after 4rds and the group opening up....the firing pin snapped!!! So that was that, didn't manage to test the other ammo, but achieved what I wanted. The Minimag didn't perform too badly either, but based on the conclusions drawn, I now have 2500rds Magazine and 1000rds Rifle match sat here with me The match will be kept for meaningful matches, the other stuff for whatever's happening. As for the firing pin, well it was one of BDM's improved ones, but I have plenty of spares as well as some titanium ones, and I'll be trying one of those next |
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That's handy, thanks. Mini-mag still looks pretty damn good value. How do you find the SK magazine for lube. Everyone I ask says it's quite waxy, but I've yet to see any? It is lubed, it feels like it has something similar to Vaseline on it, but thats not necessarily a bad thing as it will assist in cycling and help give a consistent coating on the bore. It may also be slightly cheaper than Minimag, depending on what you are paying locally. It also comes in handy 500rd cans 
To be fair, none of the SK ammo was bad, it was all very comparable, but comparing the price of the Magazine against the others, it'd be a financial choice more than anything The Rifle Match was markedly more accurate though, but I expected it to be. I wonder what Lapua X-Act like is at £250/1000!!! I'm very happy with my results, given that I was using a non magnified 4MOA dot and the fact that my right eye is f**ked!!! Nick did the same tests as me with his Spikes rifle, that given he had a 6x Schmidt fitted and a Spikes M1s barrel, wasn't quite as consistent as mine, although still not bad. One group of 10 with each ammo type is not empirical, but does give good real world results from which preliminary conclusions can be drawn Andy, the Geco may perform better next time, especially considering the fact that they were the first rds down a recently cleaned barrel, but as the trigger didn't reset after 7 shots is enough for me to discount these in future. That said, Nick did his testing in the same order as me, and I'd stopped due to the broken firing pin, he continued and refired the Geco with similar poor results. As for subs, well I'm not really interested in how they do as I don't use the rifle for bunny bashing, but was merely trying to use up the ammo and at the same time see how they performed. I could revisit the test with new firing pin, hi-power scope and more ammo, but I am happy with my findings...alll things considered |
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That's handy, thanks. Mini-mag still looks pretty damn good value. How do you find the SK magazine for lube. Everyone I ask says it's quite waxy, but I've yet to see any? This. I found SK to a bit "wet" in terms of lube. I'm still sticking with Mini-mag for now...... It works and at £60 per 1000 I have no complaints. I've also found stingers peform rather well...... |
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That's handy, thanks. Mini-mag still looks pretty damn good value. How do you find the SK magazine for lube. Everyone I ask says it's quite waxy, but I've yet to see any? This. I found SK to a bit "wet" in terms of lube. I'm still sticking with Mini-mag for now...... It works and at £60 per 1000 I have no complaints. I've also found stingers peform rather well...... Next time I may well try and bench it at 50yds with a high powered scope and see what happens then |
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'It is lubed, it feels like it has something similar to Vaseline on it, but thats not necessarily a bad thing as it will assist in cycling and help give a consistent coating on the bore.'
I find lubed ammo ok when the gun is clean, but it gets bunged up more quickly. Eley seems particularly bad, quite a heavy, waxy coating. Cold weather often seems to set the lube too, which can drag in the action.. |
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'It is lubed, it feels like it has something similar to Vaseline on it, but thats not necessarily a bad thing as it will assist in cycling and help give a consistent coating on the bore.' I find lubed ammo ok when the gun is clean, but it gets bunged up more quickly. Eley seems particularly bad, quite a heavy, waxy coating. Cold weather often seems to set the lube too, which can drag in the action.. Eley has a thick coating, I don't like it. This stuff is different as it seems to have more lubricity (is that even a real word?) Anyhow, it seems more slippery. The Rifle Match is lubed also, but that feels more like a synthetic oil. I can give you some to try next time I see you |
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That's handy, thanks. Mini-mag still looks pretty damn good value. How do you find the SK magazine for lube. Everyone I ask says it's quite waxy, but I've yet to see any? This. I found SK to a bit "wet" in terms of lube. I'm still sticking with Mini-mag for now...... It works and at £60 per 1000 I have no complaints. I've also found stingers peform rather well...... Next time I may well tryband bench it at 50yds with a high powered scope and see what happens then Would be interested in the results. Good thread Mark. really interesting to see the results of your tests and appreciate you taking the time to post. Thanks 
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That's handy, thanks. Mini-mag still looks pretty damn good value. How do you find the SK magazine for lube. Everyone I ask says it's quite waxy, but I've yet to see any? This. I found SK to a bit "wet" in terms of lube. I'm still sticking with Mini-mag for now...... It works and at £60 per 1000 I have no complaints. I've also found stingers peform rather well...... Next time I may well tryband bench it at 50yds with a high powered scope and see what happens then Would be interested in the results. Good thread Mark. really interesting to see the results of your tests and appreciate you taking the time to post. Thanks Yep. Funny how identical rifles differ re: ammo. Mine seems to like the Geco, am I right in thinking Daddy P's is ok with it & does Lynk have a Bar15 which shoots it as well? 
It's all these little nuances which make shooting what it is, great fun but bloody frustrating at times as well. Andy. |
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One thing we have found over the years in Roger shop, building .22, s is that there are few set rules on ammo.
one point i would make though....because of the very different coatings used on all bullets, we found a simple trick that gives a much more definative answer on ammo. If you are testing several different brands, and they are in 50 round boxes...take the first 25 out of each and fire them into the backstop.Then test the last 25 for group. Each different coating needs to foul the barrel enough to test the rest. |
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Adding my results...
My rifle has a Spikes upper (early model with a Model1 Sales - cheap - barrel) & BAR lower. all 10 round groups, except for the Velocitor where I had one FTF that mashed up the round. (I've never had much success with these anyway in any of my .22s) #1 - Federal Bulk HV (comes in boxes of 550 rounds @ $18!!) 
#2 - Geco (First batch fired.) 
#3 - Geco (Last batch fired - the first lot group was so poor, I tried again to see if it had improved...It hadn't.) 
#4 - Velocitor 
#5 - SK Rifle Match 
#6 - Winchester Subsonic (All cycled fine - but noticeably less powerful...) 
#7 - SK Pistol Match (Not noticeably different from Rifle Match.) 
#8 - SK Standard Plus 
#9 - SK Magazine (The one odd hole out of the group was a genuine flyer, rather than a pulled shot.) 
#10 - Eley Subs (Again, all cycled fine - but really weedy sounding, and the cases fall out of the gun rather than fly out!) 
#11 - Mini Mag (My standard fall back round - performs reasonably well.) 
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Were the barrels the same length? What are the differences between the barrels? Its strange how different guns like different ammo!! No, my barrel is 16", Marks is 14" Barrels are completely different - mine is a standard cro-moly steel basic cheap n' cheerful one, Marks is a match stainless one... Pretty much every .22 I've owned has liked a different ammo to the other .22's... |