Lapua Rimfire Test Centers

Jeff Higgins · 05-01-2021, 09:20 AM

I had a very interesting conversation with some of my fellow club members at the range yesterday. These guys hold a monthly rimfire benchrest match. I asked them how they were even finding enough ammo to continue to do this, much less quality match grade rimfire ammo. It turns out there is no shortage whatsoever in this little corner of the shooting sports, but you do have to know what to do...

Enter the Lapua Rimfire Test Centers. They have a program wherein you send them your match rifle (or stop by after having made an appointment) and they test various lots of match ammo in your rifle and determine which lot your particular rifle likes the best. You can then purchase ammo from that lot - minimum purchase is 10,000 rounds.

So that is how they continue to feed their match rifles and shoot these matches. What a great service Lapua is providing, outside of the obvious supply issues. Those of you who shoot (or have shot) rimfire matches know just how picky these rifles can be, and just how difficult it can be to lay in a supply (even in the best of times) once you have found what your rifle likes.

https://www.lapua.com/resources/test-shooting/

John Rogers · 05-01-2021, 09:46 AM

Well now that is pretty darn interesting. I think several of our Schuetzen rim fire shooters went to the facility in Arizona a while back and never talked about what the results were? The guys that are wining the matches down in the San Diego use 22LR ammo they get from Spain I think. We have some shooters that have been national champions in the past but like our black powder shooters all are getting old! It is harder to hold off hand once you get past 70.....
John

tabs · 05-01-2021, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Rogers

Well now that is pretty darn interesting. I think several of our Schuetzen rim fire shooters went to the facility in Arizona a while back and never talked about what the results were? The guys that are wining the matches down in the San Diego use 22LR ammo they get from Spain I think. We have some shooters that have been national champions in the past but like our black powder shooters all are getting old! It is harder to hold off hand once you get past 70.....
John

After 70 it is difficult to get it hard while holding it in your hand .

Bill Douglas · 05-01-2021, 09:08 PM

One of the guys around here (Big Jim) was using regular factory .22LR, don't know which brand, pulling them apart and remeasuring the powder and re-sizing the projectile to be uniform. He said it worked very well. The others said he was cheating. I don't think that's actually cheating.

I think I'd rather buy a box of each and do my own tests, and not have to buy the 10,000.

svandamme · svandamme's Garage

I don't think it's cheating, but it sounds like a lot of hard work to me ..

And I doubt it makes that much difference compared to just figuring out which match ammo lot works with your barrel..

And the main concern with 22LR consistency is how well they spun the primer chemical into the case..not something you can redo at home, at least not that simple

Jeff Higgins · 05-02-2021, 07:42 AM

Back when I shot rimfire in competition, the standard approach was to buy a box of every kind of match ammo on the shelf and figure out which one your particular rifle or pistol shot the best. Then is was back to the gun shop to buy every last box they had of that brand and lot number. We were often disappointed, since it was not uncommon that once we shot enough to decide, that lot was sold out.

10,000 rounds is not a lot of ammo for a serious competitor. When I was shooting the standard NRA "2700" game - 90 rounds each from rimfire, centerfire, and .45 ACP - I would shoot more than that of each of the three (I shot a .38 Special revolver for "centerfire", where most guys really only used two guns, doing double duty with their .45 autos in centerfire as well) in a year. When I was shooting NRA high power (match rifle class), I would easily burn through 10,000 rounds of .308 per year (and a couple of barrels). Even with my long range black powder cartridge rifles, I would shoot over 5,000 rounds per year when I was competing.

These guys shoot about ten times as much ammo in practice and tuning than they do in the matches. That's pretty typical for any serious competitor. I bet that 10,000 rounds barely gets them through a year.

svandamme · svandamme's Garage

How is NRA high power done btw? in UK you have to shoot matches with ammo provided, so everybody shoots the same stuff, no reloading ammo or anything..For lower matches you could use your own ammo, but big matches, like the Imperial, Lithuania GGG made nato spec ball..
pretty basic stuff.

I never really got in the "serious" matches, I typically only did service rifle shoots, and in those they can't work with ammo provided because all the variety in rifles.
At some point for ****s and giggles and entered a 300 meter TR match in Belgium with my AR15, just to make a point that we needed a national class for Semi auto 300 meters..
The serious competitors got a chuckle out of it, but I can assure you I wasn't last in the match

Jeff Higgins · 05-02-2021, 09:36 AM

I always provided my own ammo for the matches I entered, be they "club" matches, regional matches, or whatever. Some were NRA certified matches that counted towards your classification (marksman, sharpshooter, expert, master, high master), some were not. None required that we shoot ammo issued by the match organizers. This was for "target rifle" (I used a Remington 40XB). "Service rifle" may have been different, requiring the use of service ammunition. I'm not sure about that... kinda weird, but we didn't intermingle much, even though we shot on the same day on the same line.

NRA pistol was bring your own ammo, even for the .45 auto stages. No requirement to shoot service hardball, so we all shot 200 grain semi wadcutters. I had a Hensley and Gibbs mold that was supposed to be the schizz for this, but I gave it to a buddy when I quit competing.

id10t · 05-02-2021, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

One of the guys around here (Big Jim) was using regular factory .22LR, don't know which brand, pulling them apart and remeasuring the powder and re-sizing the projectile to be uniform. He said it worked very well. The others said he was cheating. I don't think that's actually cheating.

I think I'd rather buy a box of each and do my own tests, and not have to buy the 10,000.

This is for that "next stage". People sending their rifles in are either only gonna shoot Lapua/SK (sponsorship, personal decision) OR they've tested various flavors of the Lapua/SK, RWS/Norma and Ely offerings and decided that overall the Lapua/SK shoots better (I assume RWS/Norma and Ely also have similar testing facilities). They then send their rifle in for the lot testing to find the absolute best combination, and are guaranteed the chance to buy a decent supply of the best lot all at once.

Wonder if I can send my 10/22 in and get it lot tested for SK Magazine? If so, anyone in to split 20 bricks of good ammo? (500 round bulk cans, normal retail ~$50)