Eley lot testing results

Eley was at the Olympic Training Center yesterday doing lot testing on customer rifles. I took my Remington 40X to them and had them run the test with Eley Edge. The offered Tenex, but I knew I couldn't afford a case of that stuff.

Like everyone else, I'd heard that individual guns are particular about ammo, even down to the lot level. Up until yesterday, I'd not had a chance to see the results in person.

Not everyone is going to want to wade through all the data, so here's the bottom line. The worst lots of Eley Edge laid down groups of just under an inch, 0.994". The best lot was MUCH better coming in at 0.6".

Testing was accomplished by shooting 1 group of 10 shots each. We tested 11 lots of ammo. At the end of that, we picked the 6 most promising lots and fired two more 10 round groups. All shooting was in the test jig at 50m.

This page and the next show composite groups consisting of all 30 shots tested of each lot that we liked. The group size is in the upper right corner of the target image. It's in mm, edge to edge.
http://i64.tinypic.com/15cg5kp.jpg

http://i63.tinypic.com/2ch2829.jpg

The next two pages show the results of each individual group of 10. The lots with only one group are the ones we weeded out initially.

http://i65.tinypic.com/jzem9w.jpg

http://i68.tinypic.com/2i71d1y.jpg

So, the worst group (only 10 rounds) was 30.8mm outside to outside. The best group (30 shots) was 20.8mm. Quite a difference.

I ended up picking the circled lot, #336. If you go look at the individual groups, you can see that the first 28 shots were more like 17mm. The two that fell out of group on the last set were the last two shots fired. I'm not sure that means anything, but I wish we'd quit 2 shots sooner!

Oh, here's a pic of the test fixture. I can't get it to display correctly.

http://i65.tinypic.com/2ezpj6r.jpg

Pretty damn cool.

If you're unarmed, you are a victim

Damn nice setup and cool data. Crazy how much difference there is between lots.

We do this with 10 meter pellets as well, on a pistol we saw group size range from 5.9mm to 9.5mm, the pellet is 4.5mm. The right batch can make a big difference, in pistol with standard scoring (rifle typically does decimal) it moves a 9 to a 10 with the same hold, could be 1-2 percent in score with will make or break you.

How much do they charge for the test ammo and/or time? How often do they do this?

I have seen eley do it as major events such as Rocky Mountain rifle and junior olympics. I have never seen a cost associated.

Cost for the test is $30 for Edge, $45 for Tenex. You must buy at least 2,500 rounds. Edge was $12.00 a box. Tenex was $21 a box, I think.

They come to COS once a year.