V-22S .22LR Ammunition - The Importance of the “Ammo Chase” in the Age of Covid
[Disclaimer: this post is for shooters who are relatively new to the various precision 22LR disciplines, especially Rimfire Benchrest (RFBR). If you’re an experienced RFBR shooter most of what I’ve got to say you already know.]
Precision Equipment Requires Quality Ammunition - As a new owner of V-22S based rifle, whether you’ve bought a complete “target” build from Vudoo Gun Works in St. George or a “match” rifle built from components assembled by your favorite gunsmith, you’ll face the challenge of finding ammo that works with your rifle. Off-the-shelf ammo may impress you until you find that “killer ammo” that shifts your paradigm and opens your eyes to what’s possible. Lot testing to find the best ammo is absolutely necessary to get peak performance from your new V-22S.
Don’t underestimate this challenge - other than your skills this is, arguably, your most critical task!
When I bought my first Vudoo, a V-22 repeater, I was shooting CCI-Standard Velocity and SK Standard Plus. I quickly realized that the “go to” ammo for the V-22 was Lapua Center X. Then I began competing against unlimited rifles in local RFBR matches. Soon after that I bought my first custom rifle and all the necessary ancillary equipment. It took several “club” RFBR matches and a lot of sound advice from my mentors before I fully recognized the need to buy the very best ammo available and pair that ammo (by lot number) to my rifle.
Ammo Shortage - Ammunition shortages are nothing new but the shortage we’re currently experiencing may set the high-water mark for RFBR, F-Class and even casual shooters. An ammo shortage doesn’t mean you’ve got to compromise your expectation for locating and buying the very best ammo for your new V-22S. You may just have to work a little harder, broaden your search and be ready to pounce on an opportunity when it appears. Veteran shooters have learned to maintain sizable inventories of quality ammo but new-to-RFBR shooters may be caught short on ammo to feed their new V-22S rifle.
Vudoo Gun Works (VGW) Has Done Their Job - VGW has delivered on their promise to produce a quality action that will be competitive at the highest level. From concept to first shipment the V-22S development took less than two years. Vudoo’s Head Skunk led the effort but he had support from the company and plenty of outsider’s who provided insights and suggestions. Now that the dust has begun to settle and the first generation V-22S actions have been delivered it becomes the shooter’s job to wring the absolute best performance from their new rifle.
The Highest Quality RFBR Ammo is Manufactured in Europe - V-22S customers make a financial commitment with typical cost-to-build a complete rifle of $3K or more and that’s without a scope. To get the most accuracy and precision from your purchase you’ve got to shoot the very best ammo. I’m convinced there’s only two 22LR ammo manufacturers who should be considered: Eley, produced in Birmingham, England and Lapua, produced in Schönebeck, Germany. Eley and Lapua ammo will cost more than other brands but results in head-to-head competition will be worth the expense.
Eley produces two brands that are popular with RFBR shooters: Tenex (aka Red Box ~ $17.50/box) and Match (aka Black Box ~ $14/box). There’s a lot of trade secrets used to guard the proprietary aspects of both Eley and Lapua production but most shooters believe that Tenex is the top-of-the-line for Eley and Match is manufactured on the same machines by the same technicians … the only difference being the results of accuracy testing done using Anschutz rifles at a nearby Eley test facility. The best ammo goes in a red box and the rest goes into a black box.
In contrast to Eley, Lapua produces three brands of 22LR ammo suitable for RFBR: X-Act (~$23.50/box) is, by far the most expensive followed by Midas + (~ $15/box) and Center X (~ $11/box). The materials used in manufacture of Eley and Lapua are different as are specifications like rim thickness that may effect the head space between the bolt face and the chamber. There’s also a difference in the lubrication used by Eley compared to Lapua. Eley uses a bees wax based lubricant where Lapua uses more of an oil based lube.
In early 2017 a Lapua Sales Manager, verified that “every run of ammo, either Lapua or S-K, is accuracy tested in a series of five 10-shot groups.” Standard Deviation and Extreme Spread are measured in several different rifles and are required to fall within a strict set of parameters. If the ammo passes that testing at a certain level of accuracy it becomes X-Act, or is downgraded to Midas+ or Center-X, depending on where the measurements fall.
The Sales Manager concluded, “The bottom line is, you simply can't rate match grade rimfire ammo from best to worst strictly by the showing it makes in the test rifles. It's a start, but you ultimately HAVE to test the lot in your particular rifle to know.”
It’s noteworthy that during the recent 2021 ARA Indoor Nationals at least 90% of the ammo shot was Lapua and the majority of that ammo was Midas +.
Accuracy/Precision is the ability of the shooter to optimize every element of his/her “system”, i.e., rifle (action, barrel, trigger, stock, scope), rifle rest (one-piece or two), wind flags, cleaning supplies, cleaning protocol and ammunition. Once the system is optimized it’s on the shooter to post the best match scores.
Veteran RFBR shooter’s will agree that our sport requires attention to a lot of details if you are intent on winning competitive matches.
There’s a lot of good information contained in both Eley and Lapua lot numbers. Muzzle velocity, the machine number that produced the ammo, the year the ammo was produced and the actual tracking number for each lot. Generally, there’s not more than six cases (a case is ten bricks, a brick is ten boxes of fifty rounds for a total of five thousand rounds) of ammo comprising a lot.
To better understand variations in both Eley and Lapua ammo I’ve attached an explanation of what each manufacturer’s lot numbers mean. Other than insider information, muzzle velocities, machine number and year produced are the only data you can use to make buying decisions.
Sourcing and Selecting the Right Ammo - For discriminating V-22S owners, buying 22 ammo from Walmart, Brownell’s, Mid-Way and other major shooting sports outlets just doesn’t cut it. They may have the manufacturer and brand you’re looking for but they won’t sell test lots and hold larger volumes for a bulk purchase.
I’m not going to tell you where to buy quality ammo but I will tell you, that in normal times, the smaller, boutique suppliers will sell test lots of a couple boxes of several lot numbers and hold larger volumes until you shoot and choose the lot you like.
So how do you select and buy quality ammunition for your V-22S build?
Lot Testing - First, you’ve got to convince yourself that paying between $11 and $24 for a box of 50 rounds is something your budget will tolerate. Once over this hurdle you can move on to the next challenge … extensive LOT TESTING. The more you test the better the odds of finding great ammo become.
So, how do you Lot Test?
There’s two basic ways to do lot testing … either you do it yourself or you go to the manufacturer’s test facility.
If you test in the manufacturer’s “tunnel” your barreled action will be strapped into an appliance for test firing groups of several different lots. As the rifle owner you have the responsibility to evaluate the data and determine how much of a particular lot you care to purchase.
Eley’s testing facilities are located at Killough Shooting Sports in Winters, Texas. Lapua’s test centers are in Mesa, Arizona and Marengo, Ohio.
If you decide to do lot testing yourself you are responsible for obtaining however many lots you think it’ll take, shoot representative samples and then make your buying decision.
A lot testing regime I’ve used is to buy two boxes of five different lot numbers of a particular manufacturer/brand. I’ll pick a relatively calm (wind) day and shoot at 50 yards. I shoot sighters and at least five five-round groups of each lot. I measure the center-to-center (CTC) spread and compare the average group size of each lot. Five round groups should measure CTC below 0.20” and hopefully, down to 0.15” if you’re going to win at regional or national matches. I clean my barrel between shooting each lot number. If at all possible, I’ll shoot this same protocol on two days. Things change and for unknown reasons you, your “system” and your ammo may not shoot as well one day as the another. Remember, you’re looking for consistency!
Buying Blind - During this ammo shortage a lot of shooters who would normally lot test are buying “blind” because normal buying methods are not available, i.e. the previous “buyers” market is clearly now a “sellers” market. Buying a case of Eley or Lapua means a $1,000 to $1,800 purchase which can be pretty risky if the ammo doesn’t shoot well in your rifle. If you’re part of the RFBR community you can generally recover your costs if the ammo doesn’t work in your gun ‘cause it’ll probably work in someone else’s. The manufacturers and brands we’re talking about are popular and are as good as currency, especially during an “ammo drought”.
Groups vs Lines - Shooting groups may be good for determining ammo lot consistency but shooting competitive RFBR means shooting twenty to twenty-five bulls, one at a time, moving from one bull to the next for five bulls and then moving down (or up) a row, shooting the second row and then the remaining rows in whatever order you chose. The point being that shooting groups is different from shooting “lines” or “rows” of bulls.
I believe that lot testing should include both group and line shooting. After all, the point of lot testing is to pick the very best ammo to use in competitive RFBR matches which all require shooting one round per bullseye.
Summary - This little primer is intended to introduce new V-22S owners and shooters new to RFBR to some of the intricacies of choosing ammo that will help you get the best performance from your rifle. Shooting any .22LR discipline well is challenging and can be rewarding when you overcome the hurdles and shoot better scores.
Good luck, enjoy shooting your V-22S and I hope this information will be helpful,
Norm Flynn, aka Ozark Shooter
