Testing at the Lapua Center in Mesa Arizona

[45cal4life]

Excellent review!!!

 

[steve123]

That's pretty much what my experience there was like. Except at least you had a nice jig, they didn't have one for my 1827F.

One lot# of PB shot almost as well as one lot# of $Xact, so I chose the PB.

Did they ever get their chrono fixed? I would have liked to compare velocities but the proof on the paper, so to speak, was what I was most interested in.

Hard to believe I'm down to 900 rounds out of a 5000 case already, arggg!

 

[quickdraw]

They did not have a chronograph running when I was there.

They had the jig because Vudoo Gun Works totally supports their customers so they built one out of their own pocket and donated it to the Capstone so us Vudoo owners could get good data. Thanks again Mike.

 

[JG26_Irish]

Some have wondered why testing high grade rifles firmly clamped in a jig and fired down a sealed tube eliminating all shooter aiming error and wind variables is not resulting in one hole groups at 50y and tiny little groups at 100y? Some insight mixed with some theory and conjecture: The Lapua and Eley testing procedure is aimed at comparing ammo lots in one rifle and is not necessarily meant to result in the best shot to shot accuracy for that same rifle. It is a testing procedure. True the wind variable is eliminated. However, clamping the action into a vise where is cannot move with the recoil of the shot is very likely increasing the amount of harmonic vibrations in the bbl. It could explain some (maybe most) of the horizontal as well as some of the vertical dispersion. If tightly clamping the action before the shot was the best way to hit the 10x every time, I think some enterprising bench rest shooter would have found a way to do just that. Those cats are all about free recoil to reduce the forces imparted to the receiver and bbl as the projectile travels down the bbl. I was listening to a master class BR rimfire champion coaching a young shooter last week. One of the things he was suggesting was to try holding the rifle in a manner that allowed it to free recoil to see if it shot better, I think folks may often be disappointed with how their pea shooters group at the test range facility until they get home and shoot the ammo that they purchased.

The BR guys are doing almost the same thing as Lapua but instead of clamping the rifle down, they will select 5-10 lots of the ammo their gun is already proven to like and then they shoot 25 shots down range using the same methods, optic and rest they will compete with. This is generally done on wind free calm days or in an indoor range. Once they find the magic lot, they buy up what they can of it. They learn with practice what velocities associated with which lots are "Usually" best for each rifle and let that narrow their search each time they need more cannon fodder. My point is that you may be able to at least approximate the results of a factory ammo test as home if your time and budget will not allow you to make the trip to Phoenix.

Irish

 

[flatland1]

My problem has been to get samples sent out to me to test, then often having to wait for a couple of weeks or longer before the free time to shoot coincides with decent enough conditions to get reliable results. I recall finding a really good lot of Center-X a few years ago, but there'd been about a 3-week time lapse from when I received the samples & when I had time/conditions to shoot them. I've always figured that in that time lapse, other shooters also found this lot of Center-X to shoot well in their rifles, because when I called to order it in quantity, there was no more to be found. I have no idea how often Capstone receives shipments of Lapua .22RF ammo, but it's obvious that with the online chatter here & on other websites, it's possible that even with sending a bbl'd action out to Mesa, there's no assurance that what they find that shoots well in your rifle will still be available in quantity. Hope I'm misguided in thinking about it this way, because Daniel was scheduled to test my V-22 today, and I'm hoping to be able to find enough of whatever he recommends to last for at least a couple of years.

 

[D̷e̷v̷i̷l̷D̷o̷c̷A̷Z̷]

That's pretty much what my experience there was like. Except at least you had a nice jig, they didn't have one for my 1827F.

One lot# of PB shot almost as well as one lot# of $Xact, so I chose the PB.

Did they ever get their chrono fixed? I would have liked to compare velocities but the proof on the paper, so to speak, was what I was most interested in.

Hard to believe I'm down to 900 rounds out of a 5000 case already, arggg!

Not sure if it's the same pattern but they borrowed my 1416 to build a jig.

 

[quickdraw]

I had my chosen lot of ammo ordered within 20 minutes of completing test. I told him going in that I only wanted to test lots with 3 cases or more available. When he tests BA's that are shipped to him. He will send the results when the testing is done. I had 3 or 4 lots that would have worked for me. If you have similar results you should be able to order the same day that you make a decision.

 

[flatland1]

Yep, got a couple of cases of Center-X ordered, and am dealing with a couple of old highpower shooting friends who are also listed as dealers on the Capstone list. Looking forward to getting my V-22 bbl'd action back, and the new lot of CX. I guess there's no real hurry, given the weather forecast - we're in for another 4"-6" of blowing snow tonight, with highs in the lower single digits tomorrow.