Gear And Accessories
All About Eley .22 LR Trial Packs
Eley’s .22 LR Trial Packs Offer Shooters a Convenient Way to Test Premium Ammo
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✍️By ZRIntel Editorial Team📍Accokeek, MD
Shooting .22 Long Rifle in competition presents a unique challenge: unlike other games, handloading match-grade ammunition isnt an option. Shooters must buy their rimfire ammo and can only determine what works best by testing a variety in their rifles or pistols. Eley now makes testing easier by offering five-box variety in several convenient Trial Packs. Eley ammunition is manufactured in England, and given its geography and population, the UK has little room for long-range shooting, so competitions there have long focused on shooting the .22 Long Rifle out to 100 meters. After nearly a hundred years in the ammunition business, that is perhaps the reason Eley has so many options in match-grade .22 Long Rifle ammo, whereas here in the US, makers of competition ammo since about the 1980s have focused on centerfire cartridges with comparatively little attention given to manufacturing true Olympic-grade .22 Long Rifle ammunition. The majority of Eleys line of .22 Long Rifle offerings are intended for different levels of competition, some developed specifically for rifles or semi-automatic actions or pistols. Developing is one thing; when were trying to punch 60 holes in 60-inch circles at 50 feet during a match, consistency is king, and consistency in a batch or lot of ammunition must be determined by testing. Eley enjoys a long reputation for manufacturing top-tier .22 Long Rifle competition ammo because before shooters test Eley ammo in their firearms, Eley has already tested every lot before it goes into 50-round boxes. Testing Precision Accuracy is defined by Eleys proof range, where they shoot 50 shots from four different manufacturers firearms at 50 meters. Though simply measuring group size renders an accurate-enough indication of an ammunitions precision for the needs of most shooters, manufacturers and the military typically use more informative statistical Radial Standard Deviation (RSD), Circular Error Probability (CEP) or measurement of a groups mean radius to evaluate ammunition precision. RSD measures the distance (standard deviation) that shots land from the center of the group, rather than overall group size. As with any scientific analysis, the larger the sample size, the more confident the result, so Eley fires 200 rounds from each lot to determine its RSD. Trial Packs Eleys new Elite Competition Trial Pack offers variety en masse, being composed of five different 50-round boxes of some of Eleys best. Included are Tenex, Match, and Team, all loaded with Eleys patented flat nose bullet that place them at the top of Eleys precision ranking. Tenex Pistol differs in having a round nose bullet and a drier lubricant for reliable magazine feeding, as does Semi-Auto Benchrest Outlaw, both also included in the Trial Pack. The full recommended retail price of this ammo if purchased separately is $124.50; however, Killough Shooting Sports in Texas has the Elite Competition Trial Pack for just $80. Eley offers other Trial Packs, including Target and Club ($48), High Energy ($47), and Precision Semi-Auto ($42) Trial Packs. Velocity Choices For the most demanding competition shooter, Eleys latest is a Trial Pack of five boxes of Tenex, each box of 50 cartridges varying in bullet velocity from 1,040 f.p.s. to 1,085 f.p.s. Over the decades, Tenex may well have racked up more wins in the biggest international and Olympic .22 LR competitions than any other brand or line of ammunition. Because bullet velocity is affected by altitude and temperature (air density), varying the velocity in this already premier ammunition can fine-tune precision at different elevations and in different seasons when the goal is to outshoot others who are consistently hitting the .150-inch center of the NRA 50-foot target or the 1-inch X-ring of the NRA A-25 target at 100 yards. Target and Club For less demanding competitionor less demanding firearmsEley packs 50-round boxes of Target, Club, Semi-Auto Outlaw Benchrest, Ultra, and Bullseye Pistol X in its Target and Club Trial Pack. Eleys Ultra is actually a high-end inclusion, intended for shooting beyond 100 yards about on-par with Tenex precision. In addition to testing at a low RSD, Ultras 40-grain bullet is deliberately light-colored so that the long-range shooter can more readily see the bullet tracking toward the distant target. Eleys Trial Packs offer a valuable service for shooters looking to test various match-grade .22 LR ammunition without committing to full boxes of each. The precision and consistency that Eleys ammo is known for ensures shooters get accurate results across different firearms. As competition standards evolve, so do the tools to meet those demands. With these Trial Packs, shooters can fine-tune their ammunition choice based on conditions and firearm performance. This approach allows for better-informed decisions in a sport where every fraction of an inch matters.