Tested 4 kinds of match ammo for BPCR at 200 yards

[Fogman01]

My wife, Phoebe, has a Stevens Model 45 that we replaced the Swiss butt plate with one that is BPCR legal. It has a Winchester B scope on it. Very nice, especially for a 100 year old rifle. She sits and shoots off cross sticks. I have a Miroku Winchester 1885 with a tang sight. I was shooting prone off the cross sticks.
We had learned that the nice groups we got with Norma Match at 100 yards became not so nice at 200 yds. Today we got some calmer winds and tested four different .22 match ammo through both our rifles. After each string I thoroughly cleaned the bore so each string was from the same barrel condition. We each shot ten shot groups at 200 yards with Eley Tenex (red box), SK Long Range Match, Lapua Midas, and Eley Match (black box).
Phoebe shot 9 of ten shots inside a half minute vertically with the Eley Tenex. She shot all ten inside a minute vertically with 6 shots inside half a minute with the SK LR. The Eley Match was not as good as either of the first two. The Lapua Midas was noticeably much worse than the other three.
I found that the Tenex and SK LR were almost the same with good groups in my rifle. The Eley match gave me about 12" of vertical which was way more than the other two. The Midas was like buckshot all over the paper. We both were having a little bit of trouble keeping our horizontal where we wanted it even with only slight cross winds.
So the Norma will do for chickens and pigs - the SK (cheaper than Tenex by half) seems to be fine at 200 yards so it should hit turkeys at 150. Phoebe's sub MOA vertical with the 10X was impressive but the SK LR was almost as good. With my rifle the two are about the same so no need to spend twice as much for a marginally better group. We'll try it again. Repeatable results before buying a lot of bulk ammo.

[Kurt]

A .22 is like sun and rain some rifles are more particular with ammo than others. My CPA just about shoots anything well while my Miroku is a little more picky.The target with the Norma box was shot at 200 yards. IOt was a little breezy but I did not change the sights for wind. I was more interested what the vertical would be. The orange spot is 1.5".
Also I tested 14 different brands of .22 ammo. The Rem ESP at $21. a box shot well in the CPA but it opened up in the Win Miroku low wall.

       

[Don McDowell]

Seems like finding a consistent round in a single 22 can be a real challenge. Trying to find an ammo that 2 or 3 22's can all agree on is about like trying to cure a headache by pounding your head against a brick wall. LOL
Right now it's looking like Carol's and my lowalls will both do well with the Remington/Eley target, and are showing decent results with Eley target.
Put anything Lapua or Sk in Carol's rifle and about the only safe place is right behind the gun, and sometimes I wonder about that.

[Fogman01]

We've given up testing at 100 yards because that same ammo at 200 yards can be ugly.
Kurt, your SK Match result is surprising because my wife shot a real good vertical with it at 200 yards and yours shows more vertical than some of the others. How many of these have you tested at 200 Yards?

When I would spot for my wife during practice on the ram it was always breezy and I would correct her onto the ram. We had tested the Norma and got great results at 100 yards and she likes to hear the steel ring so we practiced on the ram for 200 yards and with wind cause that's like match conditions. She was getting frustrated at making so many corrections when she was holding steady and sometimes the winds didn't justify the correction that was apparently needed. Finally after reading about ammo that didn't work too well past 100 yards, we shot paper on a calm day at 200 yards. Yup - that's the real reason she was missing the ram half the time... half the shots on the paper would have never hit the ram. Buckshot group. This test was the first opportunity we have had to do any meaningful tests with different ammo at 200 yards - our range just opened back up and we actually had a pretty good day weather wise. We'll do more tests and see what works. Oh, interesting to me was the sight setting for Norma at 200 yards was the same for the all the other ammo except the Midas for both our rifles. The Midas shot about 3 minutes lower.

[Don McDowell]

Testing at 200 is sure the way to go, and after testing on a calm day and narrowing down the top rounds, shoot a windy day on paper or a ram swinger and see which one holds up the best.
My CPA shoots Norma Match as good or better than most other ammo at the ramline, so I don't see much sense/cents in buying other ammo for it.
Keep in mind to that beginning shooters have a lot the same problems we do when shooting target rifle at 1000, a bit of a wiggle up/down right/left makes a bunch of difference in where the bullet lands. I have Carol hold on the rams pecker, and hopefully get her sighter shots at mid body, then a wind switch or pickup I tell her hold left or right. Keeps the confusion of changing the sights on the mounts down. I do the same on the turkeys have her hold center leg with the horizontal on the belly, the just have her hold left side /right side as winds dictate. Seldom have her make windage corrections unless the simple hold off won't keep on the target.

[Fogman01]

That technique has resulted in Phoebe shooting better vertical. I have her hold on the ram's belly line and she can see that real well. The bullet strikes a little high to get it to impact the center of the ram. Then she can do what you said and move the cross hairs just a little left or right for wind. The SK LR costs not much more than the Norma and so far will be worth it. We'll shoot Norma control groups when testing from now on just to be sure every test is equal. All but the Midas were quite a bit better than the last Norma 200 yard group.

[Don McDowell]

Have you tried any of the Aquila rifle match in her rifle? My original heavy round barrel stevens really grooved on that. Sk rifle match was it's second favorite.

[Don McDowell]

Sk rifle match works well in our Miroku. Once had a can of the SK magazine, it comes 500 rounds in a tin can greasy as all get out, but when we were having one of our community gatherings here, I put it out for the folks to use. One of them got to shooting the Miroku quite a bit and ended up cleaning the rams with it twice.. Some times a fella gets a surprise with this stuff.

[Kurt]

FM01

The SK is all over the place @200 vertical was as much as 11" I finished using it for gophers in my 39 Marlin.
The Rem ESP, Fed Target, Augila Target and both of the Norma Tec and Match did well @200 shot with the CPA.
When Midway USA had their black Friday sale I got two cases of the Norma and it shoots well in the CPA, 52 Win and the low wall Miroku in that order.

[Fogman01]

I'll try to pick up some Aguila and test it.