TargetTalk

What ammo is recommended for 50 yd NRA 3P smallbore competition?

The more competitive shooters will use the middle-top grades of Eley, Lapua, and RWS. Some may use US made standard velocity, but they won't win the big competitions; however, these grades may be OK for beginners in local leagues, looking to participate if not win.

Exactly which brand and grade depends on the shooter's ability, cost, availability, and for the more serious competitors performance from their individual barrel. Most shooters try to strike a balance between the greater consistency of a higher grade, and justifying the price based on their scores, and the margins for winning.

A number of shooters will batch test before buying; this means test firing a number of production batches to determine if any groups tighter, or to confirm their choice meets their standard. Test firing is usually done prone or from a rest, or vice.

We have done the batch trial and have found rounds that work exceptionally well for 50 ft indoor matches. We are prepping for a 50yd outdoor match and we are not getting the same results with the same ammo. Should we move to a higher velocity round for the 1070 fps rnds we are using now? Wind was really causing drift.

Angus,

It's not unknown to find good short range ammo isn't good further out: 50ft isn't especially demanding of ammo. Because the time of flight is so short, it won't show the dispersion caused by velocity variation, or the match with the barrel harmonics. 50m will show up poor ammunition, or a poor match with the barrel, far more readily. 100 yards is more demanding still; I once had some Match Semi-auto that shoot good scores at 25 yards, but strung vertically across the 7-ring at 100.

Our of interest what brand was used, and how wide was the group?

As for velocity, some folks do like the higher velocity stuff like RWS 100, or the old Federal UM1b. However it's generally held that slower 0.22 ammo is better in windy weather, unlike high velocity full-bore cartridges. I'd stick with quality match ammo, and not worry about the speed, if it shoots OK. For example Eley print an average MV on Edge, Match, and Tenex: this number can vary from 104x fps to 108x fps against a list MV of 1085 fps. Even then the actual MV from your barrel may differ, as the printed MV is an average taken from four test barrels.

IME a really wide lateral spread is often due to the shooter. If they mostly shoot indoors, their wind reading may be rusty. It wouldn't be a bad idea to test the rifle from a bench at 50yd to see where the problem is.

For 3p 50yd and if you want to try something on a budget try RWS Rifle Match, my testing at 50 with a Lilja barreled 2013 holds the X about 98% of the time, it's that 1 out of every 50 in a box I didn't call the shot. I'm using RWS R50 this season (and some older Tenex) You can also find some really good lots of Eley Match but it's hit and miss (pardon the pun). I have a lot that shoots as good as any Tenex, when you find a lot like that, buy a case. I personally haven't tried the new SK stuff but have heard good things, worth a test. Good shooting. KK