Sort by rim thickness or weight? Which gives “you” best results. I’m new in the rimfire game so I’ve been tinkering with both ways and testing about every manufacturer I can. Curious as to what others have found
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Sort by rim thickness or weight? Which gives “you” best results. I’m new in the rimfire game so I’ve been tinkering with both ways and testing about every manufacturer I can. Curious as to what others have found
But, I have found ammo at roughly $6/box to be pretty darned good. i.e. Eley Target at $6.49/box, $599.00/case. I had to ask myself, for my needs, shooting steel to 300 yards from a rest, did I want more ammo or better accuracy by going to Center-X. Will an occasional flyer cost me money, food, reputation? Of course not. I opted for more ammo.If sorting inexpensive ammo results in a little better accuracy for some of that inexpensive ammo, what's been achieved?
Consider a scenario in which by means of sorting you can get 50% of $3/box ammo that shoots like $6/box ammo. At that point you've got 25 rounds of "better" ammo and 25 of poor stuff.
To get 50 rounds of better shooting inexpensive ammo, you buy two boxes of $3 ammo. Now you have $6 worth -- 50 rounds -- of better shooting ammo. Except fot the 50 rounds left over from sorting that still shoots poorly, you're no further ahead, unless it's important to have a good supply of inaccurate ammo.
And the rub is that $6/box ammo is not usually found to be especially accurate anyway.
Save yourself the time. If you want better accuracy, buy better ammo.
Give them to kidsI just don't have enough time! 90 bucks for a brick of decent ammo is better than spending $30 & 2 hours to end up with a 2/3 brick of consistent bulk ammo. And then what are ya gonna do with the rest that didn't meet spec?
I use CBTO and runout- only way to measure them.Sort by rim thickness or weight? Which gives “you” best results.
Full disclosure of current situation.....my mother in law is here for an extended stay so I have ample garage time to tinker
Well, there is that...![]()
At what distance did you test? I follow your box at 200 etc. We think the same in that regards I also calculate the SD of groups as I'm interested in odds of hitting for points so 1 flier in a cute group isnt a big deal. 5 fliers well...If it makes you happy, give it a try.
I did, 3 different times.
Rim thickness, cartridge weight, overall length.
500 cartridges each time. I'm a glutton for punishment.
The targets and chronograph numbers showed no correlation
with any of those 3 variables. What did show improvement
was sorting by visible defects. Eliminate dented, dinged,
poor seating, badly crimped cartridges, and groups got better.
Or....you can just buy better rimfire ammo.
How does brass dimensions, cartridge weight or length affect
the primer amount, powder amount, crimp tension,
primer/powder chemistry, bullet symmetry, seating angle,
heel shape or brass hardness? They don't.![]()
I have disassembled enough to know what your saying is true.At that time I was shooting 50 yards only.
Still attempting to figure out why my results didn't match targets shown here and elsewhere.
Rimfire has a steep learning curve when figuring out precision shooting.
Cartridge defects and mv spread have turned out to be my biggest headaches.
Asymmetric bullets and component differences cause trajectory differences,
no matter how great the rifle or shooter, especially at extended range.
I tried weight sorting, it didn't help.
Found out why when I disassembled a box of SK Rifle Match.
You don't know where the weight differences come from.
Brasss, powder, primer, bullet, lubricant all differ...try it y'er self.
So when you weigh a cartridge, you don't know the weight percentage of each component varies.
No two cartridges are identical, neither are the components.
At $150 or more for a brick of top tier ammo these days is legal insanity. I love the accuracy that I got from my rifle, but I would rather not coin up that kind of cash for the shooting I do. To have a couple boxes on hand is nice. Would love a few bricks of Norma M22, but not at the prices I see lately.Whats your time worth compared to buying premium ammo?
Say you make $25/hr x2hrs sorting = $50/hr
How much better ammo could you afford with that extra money? And what could/would the result be?
Great results but can't see how this data can be used without knowing what hardware and cleaning procedures were used.I have disassembled enough to know what your saying is true.
My initial tests were done with cheap fed target ammo sorting within a 0.001 or 1.0 gr i didn't see a difference. But the anomalies being eliminated helped ES in velocity. At that time I was only testing at 50 and of course no accuracy difference. As I have learned more I now realize unless your doing 50yd bench 50 testing means very little more then getting a good Zero.
I agree visual inspection will tell you if the ammo will shoot or not all else being equal. Eley really has to improve the Tenex and Match every lot I have the nose is scuffed on one side. Not that I can prove it makes a difference lol.
I test with SK pistol match and better ammo so everything measures very consistent anyway.
To further prove your point. Eley Force and Contact shoot the best in my rifle at 200.
I have three lot# of contact they all shoot the same.
Eley Force and Contact
BTO length ES 0.019" weight ES 1.1gr
Eley Action is second
BTO length ES 0.020" weight ES 1.0 gr.
All of these average 0.776-0.780 BTO length
The next here dont shoot. 150% larger group SD
Eley Match
BTO length ES 0.008" weight ES 0.3 gr.
Eley Tenex Biathlon
BTO length ES 0.004" weight ES 0.2 gr.
Lapua Center X
BTO length ES 0.003" weight ES 0.5 gr.
All of these average 0.760-0.763 BTO length.
There is so much to learn and so much stuff out there that people say this or that. I always wonder did you test or hear it in the hunt shack after a couple pints?
I didnt worry about Rim thickness because many have shown it dont matter anymore and the little I've tested agrees with that. I did measure a sample from each lot to see if there is a difference in consistency. Its all the same. Will I include it when I plot out POI at 200 with my serial numbered ammo absolutely be retarded not to. Oh and it was -14⁰c and 10-15 mpr wind the afternoon I was measuring anyway lol.
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Great results but can't see how this data can be used without knowing what hardware and cleaning procedures were used.
Are you shooting a production class $200 Mark II Savage , a $400 RPR or are you using a $2K + custom rig with a match grade 20 in barrel, 10 oz trigger in a Custom chassis with a NF 40X scope.
How many rounds do you shoot before cleaning the chamber? Maintaining a clean barrel is critical to accuracy, in as little as 200 rounds the accuracy can fall off with any accumulation of carbon at the chamber leade.
The sorting data is outstanding and useful but is only part of the system, the environmental conditions and the hardware used need to be known to get the entire picture of bullet on bullet accuracy. You must be an engineer to compile the data into excel. Keep up the good work.
I have stock cheap rifles and custom actions. This holds true for all.Great results but can't see how this data can be used without knowing what hardware and cleaning procedures were used.
Are you shooting a production class $200 Mark II Savage , a $400 RPR or are you using a $2K + custom rig with a match grade 20 in barrel, 10 oz trigger in a Custom chassis with a NF 40X scope.
How many rounds do you shoot before cleaning the chamber? Maintaining a clean barrel is critical to accuracy, in as little as 200 rounds the accuracy can fall off with any accumulation of carbon at the chamber leade.
The sorting data is outstanding and useful but is only part of the system, the environmental conditions and the hardware used need to be known to get the entire picture of bullet on bullet accuracy. You must be an engineer to compile the data into excel. Keep up the good work.
I have gotten the same results with CCI SV with a little sorting. Glad to see that others are having the same luck. I also found that if you get the used boxes of Center X and Eley Match out the range trash can and use them to hold your sorted CCI SV you will see that your 50 yds 3 rd groups are in the .20 to .30 inch range. After several hole on hole shots the guys shooting next to you will ask where did you get the bricks of Lapua & Eley and then takes picture of the lot numbers. I think it has something to do with an ACE and LRA MV3 green dot with the flaming red marking tape hanging off the target. I might be wrong but seeing the wind works for me. Send It on the green dot is the key to success and makes the NF shine.OK, I tried, and I call it HIT AND MISS. Went through 600 rounds sorting CCI SV. GOT 100 each of size xxx. Went out and took the KYL target for fun. Bergara B14-R Carbon in hand. Shot some old Winchester HP I had(went everywhere), shot CCI Green Tag that I have had for 15 years, or more. Crap, no more accurate than CCI SV. Shot Aguila Rifle Match, shoots like CCI SV, toss up.
The sorted CCI SV shot a 3/8" group at 50 yards, I got happy. Nothing even close after that, I gave up. I still have a second box of sorted CCI XXZ that I did not shoot from. Will go out again and report back on the XXZ, Eley Trainer, Fed GMM(bought years ago for $7.95), Norma Match 22, SK Standard, PM, and PMS.