SK Standard Plus Change?

[Colorado S14]

All, did SK Standard Plus change over the past couple years? I had some old boxes that I recently got around to testing and it shot lights out in my gun(.4" groups at 50, .9" groups at 100). I was up at Mile High Shooting Accessories the other week and saw they had 500 rd. boxes of it for $50 so I snagged one. Well this box was way different with 2" groups at 50, it also only chrono'd at 950fps where as most other subsonic was 1025-1075fps this morning. So, question is did they change the formulation in the past few years or did I just get a crap lot?

 

[padom]

Lot to lot variations. I have 2 lots right now. One shoots one hole groups at 50yd the other is 1.5" groups...start testing lots and buy a lot of what shoots good...

 

[justin amateur]

SK Standard Plus is the low end of SK production.
Only thing lower is SK Magazine.
I like the SK Biathlon Sport.
Decent ES and good results on target.
Made on the same machines as the Lapua production.

 

[flatland1]

I got in three lots of SK Std+ for testing a couple of weeks ago, and had to wait until last Friday to get decent enough conditions to do any shooting at all with them. Shot 10rd strings of each lot at 50yds off a portable bench with a big & heavy V-top bag, using a fairly new CZ457 American, then followed that up by shooting 10rd strings of the same lots in the same order through my little light weight Vudoo V-22 Ranch. The CZ was pretty loosey-goosey with all four of the lots (I had a few bricks left of a lot I got from Grafs about 1-1/2yrs ago) I was shooting, but the little V-22 was putting most of the 10rds of each lot into one big ragged hole. After looking at those eight groups, I decided one of the three new lots was better than any of the others, and ordered a case of it. I've shot a couple of 10rd strings of this lot of Std+ through that V-22 Ranch that had no fliers outside the main group - the first time I've ever gotten those results with Std+. Before this, there were always one or two shots in every 5 or 10 shot string that would land well out of whatever group had formed. FedEx was scheduled to deliver that case today, but never showed - suppose they had the van clear full of stuff on a Monday, and so I'll have to hang around most of tomorrow to sign for the ammo when it does arrive. But anyway, I've seen an occasional lot of SK Std+ that's pretty darned good in the past, and I'd like to believe that this lot will turn out to be one of those exceptional lots. I know none of these are 'bragging' groups, but felt I needed to post the photo to give an idea of what I'm talking about. I bought a case of lot# 14313, the 2nd from the left in the photo. Hope it turns out to be good enough to at least practice with...

 

[billmeek]

Some targets yesterday for your consideration. These are all from my 10/22 build:

https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/threads/first-10-22-build.6928705/

Targets are at fifty yards, 10-round groups, winds 1.2-8.5 MPH when measured over a 30 second period. Starting at the top left moving right:

1. SK Standard Plus
2. SK Rifle Match
3. SK Flatnose Match
4. SK Pistol Match
5. SK Pistol Match Special
6. Lapua Center-X
7. Wolf Match Extra

I was pretty pleased with the SK Rifle Match. Of course this is only 10 rounds of each. Considerably more testing is required.

 

[Colorado S14]

Interesting, I guess I was assuming that my first couple boxes were the rule when it turns out they were the exception perhaps.

 

[ed99]

Interesting, I guess I was assuming that my first couple boxes were the rule when it turns out they were the exception perhaps.

I've found the same thing with SK+ and different lots from several yrs ago. Now that I started to chrono it over a LabRadar I have found wide variations in velocity. Some lots are 1050, 1070, some are down to 975 with poor accuracy. One of my screamer groups shot in my Vudoo was .55moa with SK+ at 100m

Ed

 

[flatland1]

I've been shooting at 210yds a lot recently, a lot of it over a chronograph. It's totally obvious how important good, low, consistent ES & SD numbers are in eliminating vertical stringing at that distance. After the first couple of rounds of a 10-shot string, I can usually predict the velocity readout of the chrono pretty accurately, based on the location of the impact on steel. I've got a few bricks of a certain lot of Lapua Polar Biathlon that produces pretty wide ES numbers - wide enough so that I can easily hear the slow shots versus fast ones by the report, especially when shooting suppressed. The effect on target is very predictable - louder reports hit highter, quieter hit lower. If there's several of both louder & quieter shots, you can bet the vertical of a 200+yd group is going to be 10" or more. This lot is an anomaly - don't think I've ever seen another lot of SK or Lapua that's this bad - which convinced me to never, ever buy more than a couple of boxes of ammo this expensive before testing.

 

[billmeek]

Ouch. That's not good news as I just bought half a brick for testing. Mind sharing the lot number? Mine's 35752/507191.

I had planned to test it during the cold to see if performed better than the other ammo I've been tessting. I should have known it'd warm up as soon as I got the order delivered.

Note to self: Order more Lapua Polar Biathlon mid-winter to make it warm up earlier. <grin>

 

[flatland1]

Bill,
I bought lot# 35751/606387 from Grafs about 9mo ago, and at the time, they had only partial cases of two lots in stock. Matter of fact, they had only six 50rd boxes of the other lot, and it wound up shooting quite a bit better than the one I bought five bricks of. IOW, I blew over $500 on the poor lot. Won't happen again, I assure you. And since it's a case of very large ES that's causing the problem with this lot of the Bi Polar, it's not going to shoot any better in another rifle.

I hate to say this, but it seems to me that since the Lapua Test Center doesn't offer testing SK along with the Lapua ammo, I don't see any point in sending a rifle out there. I did, and wound up buying a couple of cases of the best lot of Center-X Dan found in my V-22. I've had time to shoot with this ammo, testing it out of two V-22s here at home - my original V-22 with a Krieger that I fitted & chambered, and a newer rifle with a Bartlein Kukri. The new Center-X is pretty good at 100yds, but only marginally better than the good lot of SK Rifle Match that I bought last year. I'll certainly do more shooting with this new lot of Center-X as the weather warms up, but to this point in time, I'm not seeing what I'd hoped with it at 210yds - it's a bit more consistent than SK Rifle Match, but not $3/box better...

 

[billmeek]

I hate to say this, but it seems to me that since the Lapua Test Center doesn't offer testing SK along with the Lapua ammo...

I wasn't aware that the Lapua Test Center wouldn't test SK. From my limited testing, the SK Rifle Match has outperformed the Center-X in my 10/22. It may just be the lot I have of Center-X.

 

[flatland1]

Bill,
A couple of days ago, I had a new CZ457 Varmint MTR out shooting w/bipod & rear bag off a portable bench at 210yds over the chronograph. I'd already run 50rds through it with a new lot of Std+, LR Match, & Lapua Center-X at 50yds, then moved a steel IPSC target back to 210yds. Shot two 10-shot groups, first with SK LR Match, followed by 10 of Lapua Center-X (the same lot# that Dan Cliff & I decided was the one to go with after his testing of one of my V-22s out at Mesa). 1st photo is of the 50yd groups, 2nd photo is the IPSC at 210yds, with the upper group being SK LR Match (just over 3"), lower one Lapua Center-X (just over 2.5"). You can bet I'll be shooting more of that lot of CX through the MTR as time goes on - need to see how consistent it is with that ammo.

 

[billmeek]

The SK Standard Plus lot 14313 wasn't bad either at 50 yards. Would be interesting to see those at 210 too.

 

[flatland1]

Bill, I don't believe I've shot anything but 50yds with #14313 so far. But it's on my list of things to do to test it at 100, and if it looks OK there, to take it out to 200+yds. I'll let you know...