Flyers.

jaycee

This may be one that the target shooters amongst us may be more in a position to answer..maybe not..?

From a random box of standard ammo , unchecked for differences in bullet weight ..etc.

What proportion of flyers would be considered about normal...?

1 in 5,10,20,30,40,50.. ...?

I have heard of serious shooters first sorting their ammo by weight , and then
with rimfires ..by the rim thickness (I.e..primer )

It might be argued that it only applies to target shooters, But I think that all shooters would prefer repeatable results ..hunting or target.

civdef

Define standard ammo -personally I expect more consistent results in general from more expensive ammo (putting the myrid of other variables aside for a minute).

jaycee

Ok .. for example only...Lapua Superclub (Subsonic .22)
as opposed to Lapua Midas or Master M ... Off the shelf

I'm not talking about a trip to the factory to batch test thousands of rounds here.

Sparks

For Lapua superclub at 25 yards, I'd expect them all to place inside a 1-1.5cm diameter circle. For 50m, I'd expect an edge-to-edge group no bigger than 25mm at worst, in still air. The best batch tested stuff, you'd be looking at about 12mm or so, edge-to-edge, to give you an idea of what kind of accuracy can be reached.

pauln

I tried some Lapua Subsonics in my .22 recently and it didn't like them at all, way to many flyers to be consistant so I'll be going back to the Eley's I think. Rifle is a CZ 452 Silhouette if you were wondering.

Sparks

*shudder*
Eley? Eeek....
You might try some R50 or R100 instead (RWS ammo).

rrpc

jaycee wrote:

I have heard of serious shooters first sorting their ammo by weight , and then with rimfires ..by the rim thickness (I.e..primer )

The rim measurement is actually for 'headspace' i.e the degree of 'tightness' you feel when you close the bolt.

Usually you get a 'flyer' if the headspace of a round is significantly different from it's brothers and sisters from the same box. There is nothing wrong per se with the round, just that it's point of impact will differ from the rest. What most people do when they measure headspace is group like rounds together.

With the cheaper rounds, there will be quite a few rounds that will differ significantly in this regard. This is because in most factories (definitely Eley anyway), as the tooling gets more worn, the ammo is downgraded to the next level i.e Tenex to Match etc.

You should also check the business end of your bolt, and make sure that it is clean and free of any particles of dirt or grit. Then look at your breech and clean that out as well. Especially if you find that your bolt is closing more stiffly than normal and you're using the same ammo.

I think the rule of thumb is tighter rounds go high, looser ones go low. Usually if I get a tight round I eject it without firing it. and replace with another.

I remember one year in Bisley, I was shooting Tenex, and in the last competition of the week with a promotion to class C to shoot for, I opened my last box of ammo for the last 20 shot card. The first couple were fine, but the next one was *very* tight, so I ejected it and put another in.. also too tight, so I ejected it. The chap beside me kept looking at me in consternation as instead of empties landing beside him, he was getting live rounds :eek:
In the heel of the hunt, I went through the entire box, and had to shoot about 10 tight ones as I'd no other choice. Needless to say, I stayed in class D

I've never used Eley since :mad:

rrpc

Just a quick addendum to that last post. Sometimes, and it's happened to me a few times (one of them being that memorable day in Bisley), if you close the bolt on a very tight round, it can go off - without you touching the trigger :eek:

Vitally important that your gun is pointing at the target when you close the bolt!

civdef

In the heel of the hunt, I went through the entire box, and had to shoot about 10 tight ones as I'd no other choice.

Would getting a go/no-go gauge made up not be a solution to this, then just check ammo used before competing?

rrpc

Civdef wrote:

Would getting a go/no-go gauge made up not be a solution to this, then just check ammo used before competing?

Absolutely. But as I said, it was my last box from that batch, last competition and I was reluctant to change ammo in mid-stream as it were. Anyway, they don't sell ammo on the firing point, so I was stuck with that box for better or worse once I'd got down to shoot.

I'd had a few flyers, from previous boxes, but not enough to warrant going through them all with a headspace gauge. In retrospect, I'd have been better off throwing them at the target