Hi all,
Some of you might remember that I built a .22 trainer based on the .22 Mag caliber. The .22 Mag is not known for accuracy, still I had good reason to go with it which I will not get into here.
I tested pretty much every load sold for the .22 Mag and by far the most accurate loads were based on the 30 gr. Hornady VMAX, both from Hornady and CCI, with CCI having a slight edge. Both are rated at 2200 FPS. That changed. I got a couple bricks from CCI during the pandemic that were way off accuracy wise - or was it me? One from Hornady during that time was not much better either.
Well, I just got a new post pandemic brick from Hornady and so I decided to test velocities. I went to the range yesterday and slapped the chrono on the rifle. I then shot the 3 different LOT #s, 2 from Hornady and 1 from CCI - 15-rounds each. The result was the High Speed Roller Coaster rides below
.:
The samples are too small to draw major conclusions but some things became apparent. Both Pandemic era Lot #s had velocities pushing the 2350 fps range! Those are the Blue line (Hornady) and the Orange (CCI). The new post pandemic brick from Hornady (Grey line) came close but did not exceed 3000 FPS, and did so only once.
I didn't have a lot of time but I did sneak in a 5-shot group with the new Hornady lot. Again, a 5-shot doesn't predict shit, but I did learn something. The low shot in the group is probably not me!!. The average velocity is more in keeping with the box # @ 2200 fps.
I can speculate and it's just that, speculation, but it is possible that the two pandemic era lots having speeds close to and exceeding 2300 fps might be causing the 30 gr bullets to start destabilizing because of my rifle's 15:1 inch twist.
Here's the group:
Some of you might remember that I built a .22 trainer based on the .22 Mag caliber. The .22 Mag is not known for accuracy, still I had good reason to go with it which I will not get into here.
I tested pretty much every load sold for the .22 Mag and by far the most accurate loads were based on the 30 gr. Hornady VMAX, both from Hornady and CCI, with CCI having a slight edge. Both are rated at 2200 FPS. That changed. I got a couple bricks from CCI during the pandemic that were way off accuracy wise - or was it me? One from Hornady during that time was not much better either.
Well, I just got a new post pandemic brick from Hornady and so I decided to test velocities. I went to the range yesterday and slapped the chrono on the rifle. I then shot the 3 different LOT #s, 2 from Hornady and 1 from CCI - 15-rounds each. The result was the High Speed Roller Coaster rides below
.:
The samples are too small to draw major conclusions but some things became apparent. Both Pandemic era Lot #s had velocities pushing the 2350 fps range! Those are the Blue line (Hornady) and the Orange (CCI). The new post pandemic brick from Hornady (Grey line) came close but did not exceed 3000 FPS, and did so only once.
I didn't have a lot of time but I did sneak in a 5-shot group with the new Hornady lot. Again, a 5-shot doesn't predict shit, but I did learn something. The low shot in the group is probably not me!!
. The average velocity is more in keeping with the box # @ 2200 fps.I can speculate and it's just that, speculation, but it is possible that the two pandemic era lots having speeds close to and exceeding 2300 fps might be causing the 30 gr bullets to start destabilizing because of my rifle's 15:1 inch twist.
Here's the group:
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