Rem 40X: 13 diff. types ammo test. UPDATE

[D_TROS]

Today I went out to see what my 40X likes. Ver little wind (0-5mph from 11), prone with bipod and rear rest, all shot from 55 yards.

<span style="text-decoration: underline">7 Different ammo used:</span>

1) Winchester - Super X ($?? per box)

I thought this shot pretty consistant, but had occasional fliers. I shot this ammo in the 50yd tac match earlier this month, and overall as a cheaper ammo, was not bad. I wish I remember the price, but overall, for a super sonic, good groupings

2) Winchester - Wild Cat ($?? per box)

Of the cheaper stuff, this shot the best. I was impressed as teh shooting progressed. I felt it had no fliers and of rcheap stuff, the groupings were not fantastic, but no bad fliers.

3) Remington 22 Viper ($5.39 per box)

Didnt like. Didnt group, didnt do. What it did do i didnt realize is that there was very very littly vertical. Weird. MAybe further testing. But for a day with no wind, I call the horizontal grouping, fliers!!

4) Aguila - Eley Prime - Hypermax Hyper Velocity ($5.49 per box)

Funny smell, shot ok. Really tho, the smell made me sick every time. The start of the grouping abnormalities. 3 together, then 2. Then a decent 4 amd a bad 5th.weid.

5) CCI - Stinger ($7.89 per box)

Shot well. No great consistancies, no fliers. No fliers is more important to me. Thught shot better than anything so far.

6) Federal - Gold Match ($10.99 per box)

Shot the best overall. What can I say. Where I pulled the trigger, the hole appeared. I liked this shot. Prob was that the price tag compared to other ammo. Most consistant for sure, although not best group size ( may have been my fault.)

7) CCI - Segment Subsonic ($6.99 per box)

Best group, but also most erractic. This ammo surprised me. First group was great. Shot 1 to 5 was lights out. The second group had 2 fliers very close to each other. the last group had 2 fliers not close. So the ammo went from great (best group) to ugly.


<span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-weight: bold">Legend of groups:</span></span>

<span style="text-decoration: underline">Target #1</span>

<span style="text-decoration: underline">Target#2</span>

Will finish report later, have to go to dinner now.

So to response to a question, and i wish I did, ( I was very upset I forgot my cleaning equipment when I left home) <span style="text-decoration: underline">I did not clean between each ammo type</span>. I was planning on cleaning between each, but was unable. What I did do was this procedure for every ammo:
-Shoot 15 rnds either at steel or prarie dogs before shooting for group.
-redial scope and shoot back to back 5 round groups (or three)

-after one ammo type done, shoot next ammo type for min 15 rnds to "season" barrel. I realize best bet would have tbeen to clean, but I forgot cleaning stuff.

What I plan to do in future:
-take my favorite ammo types and repeat with cleaning between (CCI Segment, Win WildCat, and Eley Prime) and maybe Wolf Match and a couple others. prob is I dont have EASY acess to the other ammo. I am most excited bout the CCI seg ammo. We shall see.


<span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="text-decoration: underline">UPDATE: 03.13.2011</span></span>

Last Sunday I tried 6 more types of ammo. After some responses reccommending shooting subsonics so here goes. This time I was able to clean the barrel between ammo types. i also seasoned the barrel with 15 rnds prior to groups shooting at prarie dogs and dirt clods.

1) Wolf Match (4.90 a box): I felt this was good ammo. It shot rather well. I cant wait to try some match extra

2) RWS-Subsonic($6 a box): Rather erractic. Not bad ammo, just not great. Also, didnt like the smell of the spent round at all

3) SK-Subsonic ($6.50 a box): I really liked this ammo, bout the same as Wolf Match, (I heard that Wolf and SK made by same company, Lapua, and is same ammo, just different box) I shot 3 groups of this one. Best so far.

4) Federal Gold Medal-Target ($5 i think): shot decent, but not as tight as Wolf, but still not bad.

5) Eley-Club ($7.50 a box): I felt this has been the most accurate ammo so far im my rifle. I then shot this months 50yd tac match and shot a 185, beating my last score by 90 pts. I really want to try some upper shelf Eley, Black or Blue, but dont want to like it so much that I have to buy a bunch of it. I want to find the best shooting ammo that is under $8.00 a box.

6) Remington Target ($3.30 a box): not bueno

Today I went out and shot some groups at 100 yards The wind and mirage were wicked. Wind was from none to 15 mph gusts and switching directions (L <-> R). Over all, was a good day testing. I tested my favorite 6 ammo types so far. A couple types of ammo were almost gone, so I either was not able to season barrel and/or only shoot 4 shot groups.

1) Eley Club: Shot really well. Prob the beast of all. Might have to try some upper shelf ammo soon. Least amount of vertical of all ammo types but I ran out before I could do more groups.

2) Wolf Match: Nice and consistant, but could be better. Fought the wind a bit. Great for the price.

3) CCI Subsonic: Not bueno

4) Fed GM Target: the wind switched directions on my first group, even saw it in the mirage, just ignored it (dumb)and it shows in the group. Overall not bad either. Lots of vertical seemed like.

5) Fed GM Match: I had wrong dope on (not subsonic) and only had 10 rnds to start with so unalbe to season barrel. First groups was a rough 4 rounder, but the second 5 round group (top one) was really good. But this ammo is $11 a box.

6) SK-Subsonic: 1st and second groups were a little crazy, but my third group, it started to tighten up. Liked it.

My Rifle and dog (Chesapeak Bay Retriever)

Please feel free to leave comments, thoughts.
This is where I been buying ammo, but there is another wesite I cant find right now that has the 500 ct boxes beat by 5 bucks, so once I make my decision, that is where I will buy.
http://www.championshooters.com/index-ssl.html

I ordered some Wolf ME, SK Rifle Match, Eley Target, and SK Standard Plus to try out. I read that the SK Rifle match and Wolf ME is the exact same ammo, and if so, the SK is cheaper so I thought I would try that.

Regards,
DT

 

[Phylodog]

Re: Remington 40 XRBR - 7 diff. types ammo test.

Definitely get your hands on some Wolf Match Target. Mine loves the stuff and shoots it far away better than anything else I've tried including Eley.

 

[Erik.300ultra]

Re: Remington 40 XRBR - 7 diff. types ammo test.

I have found my 40x hates Federal 711B with a passion and Ultra Match is a HUGE waste of money. Wolf Match Extra, Lapua Center-X and Eley Team (blue box) are about the same. Lapua Midas+ has given me the best group so far, but it damn well better for the $$$$.

 

[Dylan in AZ]

Re: Remington 40 XRBR - 7 diff. types ammo test.

Mine groups about twice as small after the first 20 rounds with many less flyers. Definatly try cleaning between brand swaps and shoot more groups with each type of ammo because any groups could have been enlarged by shooters error and this would lead to a misrepresentation of the ammo and rifle combo's capabilities. Shoot plenty of groups and average the size of them all and then look at the largest group vs. the smalles group for each ammo and decide what it likes best based off of these figures and you will have better more properly representative results.

-Dylan

 

[TOP PREDATOR]

Re: Remington 40 XRBR - 7 diff. types ammo test.

i have had the same results with the "red box" federal gold medal, very good ammo through a savage MKII. the federal performed just as well as the CCI green tag and cost less too.

you'll also notice that when you start running standard / match / subsonic velocity ammo, the groups will shrink.

the Wolf stuff is seemingly the benchmark ammo anymore as it seems to work well in most rifles. through my experiments, the extra shoots well out of a clean or dirty barrel, and the match target works well out of a dirtier barrel both at 50 and 100.

i would definately clean between ammos, at least a dry patch until there is no residue, to at least start each different ammo on a neutral starting point. some ammos actually like a clean barrel compared to a dirty one. shoot 5 with directly after the dry swabbing, then 5 more for a total of ten rounds.

what you may also find remember is that because an ammo has a larger group at 50, it may stay stable and consistant enough to be the better group at 100 than those that had really good groups at 50.

this happened to me with remington subsonics, .3" groups at 50 (at 3.00 a box, even better groups than wolf at 9.00 a box) but the subsonics did 4.5" at 100.

referring back to the remington gold medal, at 50 yards it was surpassed by 5 other ammos in groups size (Wolf extra, Wolf MT, rem subsonic, aguila match rifle, and the remington / eley target) but at 100 was only surpassed by 2 (wolf extra and MT).

so this shows that testing the consistantly / accuraccy of an ammo should be done over different distances, both "clean" and dirty barrel to give the best idea of what the ammos potential is.

 

[cattle buyer]

Re: Remington 40 XRBR - 7 diff. types ammo test.

1+++ on Wolf MT, the only thing I have ever fired in my 52C that was better was the old Federal gold metal ultra match ( UM 1) from the 90's.

 

[D_TROS]

Re: Remington 40 XRBR - 7 diff. types ammo test.

Qestion: Horizontal stringing. On taget 1, shooting type 3 ammo (REM), all three groups I shot had lots of horizontal stringing. 2 of the groups had very little vertical stringing. but all 3 had some horizontal.

Is that all sooter induced? Or are they just fliers? There was very little wind that day.

Im not claiming to be the best shot, but I find it odd is all.
Any thoughts?

 

[Dylan in AZ]

Re: Remington 40 XRBR - 7 diff. types ammo test.

D_TROS, I had the same problem on my first trip out with the new rifle and the entire problem was fixed when I shook my rifle (for whatever odd reason I decided to try it) and heard some rattling. Upon giving the scope a quick wiggle, I found out the the thumb tightened screws on my rings had come loose.

The groups were crazy, like 0.125" verticle spread with 1.84" horizontal spread at 50yrds with Aguila ammo

A quick tightening of the rings made the problem go away immediatly.

Hope this helps,
-Dylan

 

[D_TROS]

Re: Remington 40 XRBR - 7 diff. types ammo test.

Bump for update.

 

[Dylan in AZ]

Re: Remington 40 XRBR - 7 diff. types ammo test.

I love your rifle

The Wolf and Eley targets seemed to really clean up the rest of them though, I would suggest getting a couple more boxes if you can and going more in depth with each of these in addition to the next batch you have planned.

Good job,
-Dylan

 

[RicosRevenge]

Re: Remington 40 XRBR - 7 diff. types ammo test.

Got another one for you to try... the first time I had seen it in FOREVER. Federal Gold Medal Ultra Match. It ain't cheap, but it don't shoot like it either...

 

[D_TROS]

Re: Remington 40 XRBR - 7 diff. types ammo test.

Couldnt help it, want to see what good ammo will do.

Also with this order (Wolf ME, SK Rifle Match, Eley Target, and SK Standard Plus to try out) I ordered the following:

Eley: Match and Team
Lapua: CenterX

So those 7 more types of ammo, I should know exactly what my rifle likes...hopefully...ha.

This way if I have to win somebodys money, I can break out the good stuff, otherwise for plingin steel, just use something like Wolf MT or something.

This time I am also going to do more than 2 groups of 5. Maybe bump it to 4 groups each.

DAM IT, this is addicting...I mean I have always like to shoot 22's, just not to this scale...wonder if my 308 is going to get shot anymore!! ha...

Regards,
DT

 

[DRAGON64]

Re: Remington 40 XRBR - 7 diff. types ammo test.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: D_TROS</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Couldnt help it, want to see what good ammo will do.

Also with this order (Wolf ME, SK Rifle Match, Eley Target, and SK Standard Plus to try out) I ordered the following:

Eley: Match and Team
Lapua: CenterX

So those 7 more types of ammo, I should know exactly what my rifle likes...hopefully...ha.

This way if I have to win somebodys money, I can break out the good stuff, otherwise for plingin steel, just use something like Wolf MT or something.

This time I am also going to do more than 2 groups of 5. Maybe bump it to 4 groups each.

DAM IT, this is addicting...I mean I have always like to shoot 22's, just not to this scale...wonder if my 308 is going to get shot anymore!! ha...

Regards,
DT</div></div>

Well, keep up the good work, it is a benefit to us all...

 

[Nocalphoenix]

Re: Remington 40 XRBR - 7 diff. types ammo test.

Keeping in mind cleaning between ammo changes area pain for a few groups I do it a bit different. I run a 25shot group from different ammo types at 75 yards and repeated it at 100yards. I think this gave a far better idea of how consistent an ammo is than trying to analyize a bunch of 5 shot groups over a few range session. It was rather shocking that the ammo that had produced the smallest groups in the past were the least consistent. I would rather have a combo that puts 90% of the shots in a 2" group than one that puts 75% of the shots in a 1" with the rest being wild fliers.

I do the same thing with position shooting or changing other gear. When I got a new sling I ran 25 shot groups at 75 yards using a couple of differnt adjustments to find which hookups were most consistent for field use. Also as a disclaimer I dont shoot matches or two much paper, just ring steel and stack up squirrels. The bulk winchester power points are my choice based on consistency and splat factor.

 

[D_TROS]

Re: Remington 40 XRBR - 7 diff. types ammo test.

Hmm I agree with wanting to shoot enough ammo to figure out which has the least amount of fliers, but my method to my madness is to shoot some preliminary groups to save time because if it cant shoot decent 5 round groups, then it sure wont be able to shoot decent 25 round groups.

After I find 4 or 5 ammo types that shoot decent, I plan to shoot around 5-5rnd groups, as a 25 shot group obscures my POA.
(I know I can adjust scope so it dont, but with my targets, its easier/more efficient to just shoot multiple 5-round groups.

thanks for the imput tho. I also found the Winchester to shoot decent, but it has been no match for Wolf or Eley or SK.

also, for splat factor, I use a 22-250, not a 22...esp the subsonics.

Regards,
DT

 

[NUTT]

Re: Remington 40 XRBR - 7 diff. types ammo test.

I'm trying to sort through the Federal rimfire offerings, are you willing to check some box codes?

711B ~ $4 / 50 rd box - I think you call this "Federal GM Target"

922A ~ $11 / 50 rd box - I think you call this "Federal GM Match"

UM22A ~ $18 / 50 rd box - Not represented

Does this about sum it up?

 

[D_TROS]

Re: Remington 40 XRBR - 7 diff. types ammo test.

Yes,

-the 711B is the GM Target
-the 922a is the GM Match
-and I am not sure about the UM22A, but I have heard of the ultra match, I think it is just UM22, but again not sure.

Weather has been slightly erradic, so I hope to get results of my next lot of ammo soon.

Regards,
DT

 

[NUTT]

Re: Remington 40 XRBR - 7 diff. types ammo test.

Perfect. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[D_TROS]

Re: Remington 40 XRBR - 7 diff. types ammo test.

Just updating:

After testing SK Rifle amtch, Lapua Midas plus, and center x, I settled with Lapua center x. I almost cleaned the TAC 50yd target, but my cold bore was 1" low. Very happy with the results.

Bad thing is after that, I have not been able to get out and shoot again.

Regards,
DT

 

[KevinU]

Re: Remington 40 XRBR - 7 diff. types ammo test.

Thanks for the post. Received a PT&G bolt this week for my 40XB, head-space checked OK. Have a few boxes of Eley Target. Will post how it shoots. Looking forward to cheaper trigger time.

 

[jtb33]

Re: Remington 40 XRBR - 7 diff. types ammo test.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: KevinU</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Thanks for the post. <span style="color: #FF0000">Received a PT&G bolt this week for my 40XB</span>, head-space checked OK. Have a few boxes of Eley Target. Will post how it shoots. Looking forward to cheaper trigger time.

</div></div>

How did you manage that?! I called them a week or two ago asking about buying one and got a response of "they don't have any more until Summer 2012".

 

[KevinU]

Re: Remington 40 XRBR - 7 diff. types ammo test.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jtb33</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: KevinU</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Thanks for the post. <span style="color: #FF0000">Received a PT&G bolt this week for my 40XB</span>, head-space checked OK. Have a few boxes of Eley Target. Will post how it shoots. Looking forward to cheaper trigger time.

</div></div>

How did you manage that?! I called them a week or two ago asking about buying one and got a response of "they don't have any more until Summer 2012". </div></div>

Placed an order the 1st week of May.