Old Eley Tenex vs. new Eley Tenex

[Joe58]

I've noticed that the new Tenex has the flat point on it. Waaaayyyy back when I could still see and was younger, we shot quite a bit of Tenex on our team and it really was good stuff. Spendy, but it was free for us. :)

I've not shot any of the new Tenex since nowadays I think I could shoot CCI Stingers and not notice too much difference, lol, but I'm curious for opinions from those that have shot both styles.

Is it as good, or better, than the old style Tenex? It might be fun just to buy a couple boxes and shoot it off a rest to see. But I'm guessing I know the outcome.

[beye]

The new EPS (flat point) Eley has been out for at least 10 years now. Current Tenex is as good as ever (always depends on the lot # and rifle matchup). It has less wind drift at 100 than the old round nose -- enough to be noticeable. If you shot for the U.S. International Team, you would have had priority on lots compared to the average civilian shooter and that still applies today. We civilians get what is left over after ALL international teams have had their chance at it. So what you buy a box at a time at the retail level may not approach the Tenex ammo that our Olympic shooters are using. That makes comparisons difficult.

[Tim S]

EPS was launched in 2001. Eley made a few other changes at the same time; from memory, there were mostly bullet seating.

[GOVTMODEL]

We civilians get what is left over after ALL international teams have had their chance at it. So what you buy a box at a time at the retail level may not approach the Tenex ammo that our Olympic shooters are using. That makes comparisons difficult.

Not exactly correct. When Bert Brookes was Chief Range Officer at the Eley Customer Range, he once told me that ~30% of all TENEX sales were through the Customer Range, which was open to anybody. Teams like USA Shooting will send an armorer with all the team rifles, spend a few days lot-testing TENEX, and matching lots to specific barrels. Individual customers, including knuckleheads like me, could also make a reservation and lot test TENEX in their barrel. If you were a UK resident there was a fee, if you traveled from outside the UK it was free. I spent two days testing seventeen lots of TENEX in three Hammerli pistols; lots of fun, I learned a lot, and wound up with a case of ammo matched to each pistol.

It's not that the big teams get the best TENEX, it is that they lot-test and match specific batches of TENEX to specific barrels. Now there is a Customer Range in Texas, so you don't have to travel to England to lot test ammo!

[gwsb]

And to add to GM's post you can ship your rifle to Texas and they will test it for you and ship it back. Also the Lapua test facility in AZ will do the same thing and will test to 100 yd.

[Joe58]

And to add to GM's post you can ship your rifle to Texas and they will test it for you and ship it back. Also the Lapua test facility in AZ will do the same thing and will test to 100 yd.

I've never really shot very much Lapua. I may have to try some just for fun. I enjoy experimenting with different combinations.

[beye]

We civilians get what is left over after ALL international teams have had their chance at it. So what you buy a box at a time at the retail level may not approach the Tenex ammo that our Olympic shooters are using. That makes comparisons difficult.

Not exactly correct. When Bert Brookes was Chief Range Officer at the Eley Customer Range, he once told me that ~30% of all TENEX sales were through the Customer Range, which was open to anybody. Teams like USA Shooting will send an armorer with all the team rifles, spend a few days lot-testing TENEX, and matching lots to specific barrels. Individual customers, including knuckleheads like me, could also make a reservation and lot test TENEX in their barrel. If you were a UK resident there was a fee, if you traveled from outside the UK it was free. I spent two days testing seventeen lots of TENEX in three Hammerli pistols; lots of fun, I learned a lot, and wound up with a case of ammo matched to each pistol.

It's not that the big teams get the best TENEX, it is that they lot-test and match specific batches of TENEX to specific barrels. Now there is a Customer Range in Texas, so you don't have to travel to England to lot test ammo!

My sources are former U.S. Olympic rifle team shooters, one of which was once OIC of the AMU at Benning. Not a question of lot testing or not. That was common practice even for serious club level prone shooters at least as far back as the 70's, maybe longer. Shooters sent off for test lots from numerous suppliers here in the States.
It's that what we had to choose from had already been sorted through by the International shooting teams, with the Brits getting first shot. My post was not to disparage Eley for this practice, but to comment on why it would be difficult to compare ammo by the box off a retailer's shelf to famous matches won decades ago by top shooters using Eley. Indeed, I quite understand the need to see that the best ammo gets in the hands of the best shooters since they have a better chance of winning important matches and thereby advertising your product to the average competition shooter. Tony Boyer (famous short range BR shooter) uses Shilen barrels. Do you think that Shilen sells him just any barrel off the shelf? What do you think are your chances of getting a hummer barrel if you are an average Joe? Just the facts of life. Maybe Eley doesn't do this currently, but they did, and not too long ago. I had an opportunity to shoot about a brick of ammo from one of these shooters in a prone match. Shot 400-39X on the metric portion, which I have never approached before or since and I'm certainly not a top level shooter. This ammo also shot extremely well in 2 other match rifles. Really good stuff shoots in a lot of different rifles.