Poper
Member
A fellow silhouette competitor and friend has convinced me to try 50 yard Small Bore benchrest competition in the commercial rifle class. I thought my Sako Finfire II was just the ticket but the limitation on Commercial Class is a MSRP of less than $1000. When I bought my Sako P04 in 2014 I paid $964.00 for it and it was a few bucks below MSRP at the time. Rather than press the point, I felt it better to use the Tikka T1X I bought last year. Besides, it shoots dang near as good as the little Finfire II. Not as pretty, but a fine shooter.
Yesterday I took the little T1X out to the range to run some ammo tests. I had 10 different ammunitions of various manufacturers and grades. Temperatures were in the 100-105 range and winds were very light (unusually so) and very variable in direction. The wind came from every direction except from straight away towards the firing line.
I first shot a 5-round group of each at 50 yards and then shot a 10-round group of each, also at 50 yards. I feel that a 5-round group will give an indication of the possible performance of the ammo and a 10-round group will give confirmation or may reveal a better overall group. In the silhouette game, the 10-round performance of a particular ammunition at 100 meters is most important. My 100 meter Rams ammo for the Finfire II is RWS R-100. For the animals out to the Turkeys (78 meters) it is Eley Target.
Interestingly, in this test, in the 5-round group bulls, Eley Target. Eley Team, Eley Club and RWS-100 appear to be nip and tuck go-to choices. Then when the 10-round groups are compared, Lapua X-Act and SK Rifle Match appear neck and neck. At $240 per brick for the Lapua X-Act compared to $78 per brick for the SK Rifle Match, the choice for practice ammo is easy to make!
The attached targets may be a little difficult to read my notations as I was writing on the standing target frame. Also, all of the ammo is shot into the same target bull location for both 5-round and 10-round targets. The sole exception is the SK Rifle Match. As I shot the Sellier & Bellot High Velocity 10-round group before the SK Rifle Match one and the SD&B group encroached upon likely landing space for the SK-RM bull, I shot the 10-round SK-RM into the center "sighting" bull instead.
Abbreviations: RM = Rifle Match; HV = High Velocity; LR-M = Long Range Match; S&B = Sellier & Bellot
Yesterday I took the little T1X out to the range to run some ammo tests. I had 10 different ammunitions of various manufacturers and grades. Temperatures were in the 100-105 range and winds were very light (unusually so) and very variable in direction. The wind came from every direction except from straight away towards the firing line.
I first shot a 5-round group of each at 50 yards and then shot a 10-round group of each, also at 50 yards. I feel that a 5-round group will give an indication of the possible performance of the ammo and a 10-round group will give confirmation or may reveal a better overall group. In the silhouette game, the 10-round performance of a particular ammunition at 100 meters is most important. My 100 meter Rams ammo for the Finfire II is RWS R-100. For the animals out to the Turkeys (78 meters) it is Eley Target.
Interestingly, in this test, in the 5-round group bulls, Eley Target. Eley Team, Eley Club and RWS-100 appear to be nip and tuck go-to choices. Then when the 10-round groups are compared, Lapua X-Act and SK Rifle Match appear neck and neck. At $240 per brick for the Lapua X-Act compared to $78 per brick for the SK Rifle Match, the choice for practice ammo is easy to make!
The attached targets may be a little difficult to read my notations as I was writing on the standing target frame. Also, all of the ammo is shot into the same target bull location for both 5-round and 10-round targets. The sole exception is the SK Rifle Match. As I shot the Sellier & Bellot High Velocity 10-round group before the SK Rifle Match one and the SD&B group encroached upon likely landing space for the SK-RM bull, I shot the 10-round SK-RM into the center "sighting" bull instead.
Abbreviations: RM = Rifle Match; HV = High Velocity; LR-M = Long Range Match; S&B = Sellier & Bellot
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