Cheap but Good . . . is it possible?

[Troy G]

I have half of case of Super Club left that shoots pretty good (around 1.25-.5" at 100m) and then half of case of Lapua Master L that will shoot under 1" at 100m in perfect no wind conditions.

I have tried the only three lots my supplier has of SK Standard Plus and none of them are really acceptable even for practice. I ordered three test lots of SK Rifle Match to try to see if a step up in quality will make a difference. My SK Standard Plus as fairly big weight differences. The trend seems to be around 17 bullets that weigh around 51.8 plus or minus then around 17 bullets that weigh around 51.5 plus or minus then a few that weigh 52 plus and a few that weigh 51.4 and less.

The Sk Standard Plus had terrible vertical stringing and when I ran them through a Waltz die the vertical did shrink but not to the point where I made Eley Red or Black.

What was or is the Lapua equivalent of SK Rifle Match? Anyone have good results with it? What would be the Eley equivalent to SK Rifle Match? Maybe Club or Team?

I am looking for some decent (cheaper) practice ammo. Gun is an Annie 54 action threaded for a Benchmark 1/16 2 groove in a Pharr RTS with Marv's ring and base set-up.

[Jerry G]

Won't shooting 1.5" ammo for practice make you try harder for a good center hit? I am starting to think our quest for good, cheep ammo is a big waste of time. If you can shoot good scores with 'not so good' ammo in practice you should do well in a match shooting the better stuff you have saved.

[Troy G]

I can shoot terrible scores with low end ammo and high end ammo.

[edgehit]

CCI SV works ok for practice if the bolt closes easily. Mine rifle takes a bit of effort to close the bolt so I don't use it at all. Another cheapie that can shoot really well is Federal Champion. I have no trouble chambering it in my 1712. And it shoots sub moa in my 64 action rifle.

[Troy G]

I ended up getting some test lots of SK Rifle Match and then bought a case of the lot that shot the best.

[pistolero45]

I've done a great deal of ammo testing, and the only cheap ammo I would recommend is Federal Automatch 22. It won't shoot a Master class score, but a good shooter can be very competitive in AA class with Federal Automatch 22.

Next step up is what I'll call "intermediate priced" ammo. I've had good results with both SK Standard Plus and Winchester Subsonic in a variety of rifles.

But once you find something your gun likes, do yourself a favor and buy a large quantity of it. Buying several cases of ammo will provide peace of mind, and save money in the long run.