Testing at Lapua - the report!

demonloop

http://www.tenring.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=48

As most of you know, a few of us went to batch test at Lapua over the end of the week. One word - amazing.

The facility is excellent, the testing procedure is thorough and the staff are great.

The not-too-great part was the 25 hour drive/float to get there. Its a very long trip.

1130 miles and two boat trips.

We spend two days testing 12 barrels and had some excellent results.

First point to note is that Lapua do EVERY test. Every single shot fired by one very, very experienced man. Andreas has been doing this testing for years and it shows. Boy does it show. Nothing slips past this guy. When he's testing a barrel that's already proven, such as Floydsters, he demands excellence. I saw him bin a sub 15mm batch halfway through the test - he wasn't happy with the way the shots were forming.

As he proved throughout the two days he was right, he found better stuff.

If he's testing a barrel thats not been testing before he will try every batch of ammo to get it right. We tested 55 batched of ammo, Midas and Centre-X and then he added Rifle Match for those who just wanted training ammo at a price.

He will let you test everything in the place. Pistol, biathlon, anything in fact.

That means you can split the ammo you buy, perhaps 1k of the expensive stuff for comps, and more for training.

Thats some serious saving.

Anyhow, we found that generally speaking, all the ammo was great. The Midas all performed well and the Centre-X also was performing really well. In a good barrel, there were no bad groups. Just some better than others.

The true test of going batch-testing in my opinion comes down to two things.

1) How consistent is the test itself?
2) How does the results translate to shooting from the shoulder?

Point one was covered by us re-testing ammo Floydster got in April (?) - exact same result. Groups of identical size. So the first important point is proved.

Point two - again using Floydster as the guinea pig, the ammo he got i April has been shooting really well from the shoulder. We won't know for a few months if the new bacthes are the same, but anyone who knows Floydsters recent performances will know the test reults seem to translate to his scores!

Back to the testing - the stubborness of Andreas to get you good ammo, mixed with the confidence he has in the ammo means that if the barrel isn't shooting well he wants to know why.

Unfortunately for me, my barrel was the first to really struggle. Struggle's the wrong word actually. Mine was ****e.

Since I bought the action (second hand) I've done hardly any shooting, but any comps I shot, I'd be scoring 575-583 but with flyers. I'd put that down to lack of training.

Every batch Andreas tried he got flyers. Not just a little off the group but in the 8 or 7 ring, in random directions.

Whilst Sam & Floydster cried with laughter and started to email Bleiker to add an action to the last order, I spoke to Andreas. He said right away, the barrel must have a problem. So he got a bullet head and pushed it down the rifling with a rod and sure enough 3/4 of it was bulged.

So Lapua's name still in tact Andreas ended my test

The upside is that I would have continued to shoot average scores with flyers unless I'd taken it to Lapua. Silver cloud and all that.

The downside is there's a new Lilja barrel to be paid for. It's shiney though, so thats another plus!

In conclusion, if you ever get the chance to test at Lapua - GO!

Its well worth the trip to see the procedure and you will learn so much.

I'd recommend flying though

It wasn't me!

Nice one dl. I reckon I'll have a few thousand rounds through my new 1913 in time for the next trip and ye may save some space in the jeep for it then. Hopefully the XAct doesn't shoot too well for me!

demonloop

It wasn't me! wrote: »

Nice one dl. I reckon I'll have a few thousand rounds through my new 1913 in time for the next trip and ye may save some space in the jeep for it then. Hopefully the XAct doesn't shoot too well for me!

Extra relief drivers always welcomed

As soon as I get re-barrelled I'll be going back, I plan to clamp the rifle and fire 5000 rounds over a weekend!

It wasn't me!

demonloop wrote: »

Extra relief drivers always welcomed

As soon as I get re-barrelled I'll be going back, I plan to clamp the rifle and fire 5000 rounds over a weekend!

Pretty crazy to find out that way how badly damaged your barrel is. A nice Lilja or Shilen or the like will sort you right out though, and shoot great. I expect I'll probably shoot about 4,000 through mine before I send it for testing. That should be enough. Hopefully your next trip shows you've a decent barrel after all. How did Floydster get on over there? Anything special for CG and after?

FLOYDSTER

It wasn't me! wrote: »

How did Floydster get on over there? Anything special for CG and after?

Deffo could have taken some midas+ but not really any better than the midas+ I have!!;), if I had of found something better it would have been really special!:eek:

I picked up some Rifle match (cheap ammo or value for money perhaps) that was shooting an average of 17mm groups and perfect for me for training!!

Hopefully a trip is being planned for about Feb 11!, great timimg for the start of next years season!:D

A big thanks to Sam and Ryan for the trip!;)

It wasn't me!

FLOYDSTER wrote: »

Deffo could have taken some midas+ but not really any better than the midas+ I have!!;), if I had of found something better it would have been really special!:eek:

I picked up some Rifle match (cheap ammo or value for money perhaps) that was shooting an average of 17mm groups and perfect for me for training!!

Hopefully a trip is being planned for about Feb 11!, great timimg for the start of next years season!:D

A big thanks to Sam and Ryan for the trip!;)

Excellent timing. Should be right before the time we'd expect to see any qualifying shoots for the Munich World Cup, so perfect time to get some new spanking ammo!

demonloop

It wasn't me! wrote: »

Anything special for CG and after?

The other 3 Commonwealth barrels we tested got really good stuff. As good as Floydsters, and one batch even better perhaps. One less thing for the guys going to the games to worry about, the ammo is spot on.