TargetTalk

Hello all,
I know the rifle determines the ammo, but what is the X-Act all about? Is it really as good as they say? Why is it so expensive? Does anyone here use it(or tried it)?

It can be that good, yes, but to be honest, the first sentence kinda nailed it. Of friends of mine, testing in the factory in Germany, one consistently selects Xact as its preference, by a long way, across several batches, while others have had both Midas+ and CentreX that shot better than any of the batches of Xact they tried. It's expensive, like Tenex, because it's top line ammo. If your rifle shoots tighter with it than anything else, it's worth a look. If your rifle picks a batch of Midas+ or CentreX, shoot that. I didn't even test the Xact, couldn't stand the thought of getting a batch that shot 11mm groups and not being able to afford it. Got a batch of Midas+ in the end that shoots spectacularly well. I wouldn't buy any of them off the shelf again though and hope to do well with it. Complete waste of time.

We like to say it is X-Actly .50 cents a round! That is more than it costs me to load my own Lapua 6.5x47 high power rounds. I know a couple of Lapua Team members and they shoot Center-X and some Midas. But they are silhouette shooters not benchrest so accuracy of that level isn't really needed even if it is attainable.


Bo

I have heard some good things about Center - X for a mid priced product. Has anyone on the board used it?

I have been having good results with it, shoots a lot better in my rifle than Eley and is a lot cleaner ammo

mbradley wrote:I have heard some good things about Center - X for a mid priced product. Has anyone on the board used it?

Have shot a lot of it, both off the shelf in training and competition and testing with Lapua themselves. It can be really, really good. It can also be really, really poor. If you're buying blind, it's a lottery. I had a batch my club got in. Was shooting fairly decently with it. Managed a 589, which is solid for me, but when I tested with Lapua, it grouped 18.4mm for ten shots. Tight central group with radiating fliers. I tested a bunch of different batches of Centre-X that gave tighter and more regular groups, and some Midas+ that did better too. There was a lot of overlap between the better Centre-X groups and the weaker Midas+ groups. In the end I got a batch of Midas+ that shot 12.3mm and 13.7mm from the test rig. My scores have been shooting up since. It may not be feasible to test from a specially built rig, or get to the factories to do it, but if you're good enough to use even mid-priced ammo and benefit noticeably from it, you're good enough to want to test reasonably extensively, in my opinion, whether that's at a factory or from prone off sandbags with a scope or whatever your preference is. You certainly can't just buy more expensive ammo and hope to be competitive. I got batches of both Centre-X and Midas+ that would not hold the ten ring from my gun. They could shoot like a house on fire for you, but for me, they weren't worth dirt.

Adam from Lapua was at a match I attended this past weekend and he had the fancy group measuring device/target out for anyone to try different lots of ammo and buy some if they liked it. I heard several guys saying they were getting under 3/4" at 100 meters with Center-X in their rifles. He sold several cases lol.

I would definitely try the Center-X before the Midas or X-Act it may be all your rifle needs. I'd love to have cheaper ammo shoot good in my rifles and most does even CCI SV but I mainly use SK+ for matches.

They just opened the new Lapua center where you can go test all the ammo you want. I think they have 2 millions rounds on hand to sell.


Bo

I did some testing with Adam from Lapua's setup down at the Southern Nationals. I found one lot of Center-X that was consistently under an inch for five shots at 100 meters (our farthest silhouette target), and one lot of SK+ that was nearly that good (flyer was 3/4" out of one group, though). I bought a case of each, planning to use Center-X for matches and SK+ for practice. It was great to have that gear to test on just before dark when the wind was completely gone. I was surprised that I got groups that good off the less-than-stellar bench gear that I was using. I didn't really want to pay the airline to haul my own bench gear down there, though.