Eley .22 Rimfire Ammunition

ELEY Tenex is not the only top-grade rimfire target cartridge this English company makes that will chew out 50 metre groups you can cover with the base of a .30-calibre bullet. Their Match, a cheaper alternative, is capable of delivering 10-shot groups at 100 metres that shred the one-inch X-ring. Match is recommended for the shooter who wants the best possible ammunition without having to pay the premium price demanded for the ultimate Tenex.

American target ammo ammunition was never able to equal Eley-class scores, and even the Europeans admit that Eley is the best. By 1978, Eley’s 150th birthday, Eley's 10-year old Tenex already held 18 individual and team world

Tenex, Edge and Match are loaded to the same ballistics, enabling the change from a practice to a match round without major sight changes. In the area of special purpose .22 Long Rifle loads, Eley offers "Force" a high-velocity round developed for leading shooters of the Biathlon discipline. The velocity of both Force and Contact ensures operation of semi-automatic mechanisms.

"Sport" was developed by Eley as a standard-velocity small game round,for where noise disturbance is a factor, while is Eley’s "Subsonic Hollow-Point ," is for small game out to 50 metres. Particularly quiet it’s just what’s needed to pick off rabbits without alerting the rest of the warren or a flock of pest birds. Many hunters will want to take advantage of Eley's gold-medal winning accuracy. Sport shooters can use Eley Force, a high-velocity load combining tackholing accuracy with more striking energy and kills whistled-in foxes very emphatically.

With the exception of Force, Eley has optimised the velocity of their loads so that the bullets travel at subsonic velocities, because as the a projectile goes through the sound barrier, shock waves build up on the nose causing

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1 Super-accurate match-grade rifles like the Anschutz can

use accurate ammo to its best advantage. The author shot many ragged one hole groups with Eley Tenex in the Anschutz.

2 Eley Tenex has been the benchmark for Olympic

smallbore marksman for decades.

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Eley’s top--line “Tenex” ammunition’s reputation is unequalled in international smallbore competition. Thanks to Nioa, more Aussie shooters will now be able to experience its outstanding performance.

TEST REPORT BY NICK HARVEY

1records and had racked up 18 Olympic gold medals and that success has continued unabated. Tenex claimed the 600x600 world record perfect score in the demanding 60-shot 50-metre prone match.Eley, the oldest continuous manufacturer of both rimfire and centrefire ammunition in the western hemisphere, also offers a full line of other types and grades of .22 rimfire cartridges. There's Club, and Edge both favoured rounds for up-and-coming shooters. Economically priced, Club is surprisingly accurate, especially over 50 metres. Edge is standard velocity and recommended for general club shooting and practice. 2

flight instability, reducing accuracy. All types mentioned above have solid 40gn bullets with MV of 1070fps, exceptions being Subsonic with 1033fps and Force with 1200fps. In my experience, the standard velocity .22 LR is also a worthy hunting load, particularly the Subsonic hollow point. The size of a 5-shot group in my Brno Model 2 and Lithgow LA 101 sporters averaged .60" for five shots at 50 yards. This accuracy makes it easy to pick off small game out to 100 yards using some Arkansas elevation.

Many field shooters have realised that careful, precise bullet placement is more important than the additional 100-150fps of high-velocity

loads. Seeing how my rifles perform with it, subsonic hollow point cartridges deserve special mention. I now prefer them for small game hunting.

Until recently, Aussie shooters found it difficult to find a gun store that stocked Eley. It was imported in small quantities and distributed mainly to .22 rimfire target clubs. Things have changed since Nioa, one of the leading distributors of firearms and ammo has become the sole Australian agent for Eley rimfire rifle and pistol ammunition and shotshells.

Eley says that the reason for the outstanding performance of its Tenex ammo lies primarily in the absolutely exacting

requirement for uniformity of components and assembly for each individual round. In particular Eley singles out its revolutionary "Eleyprime" (EPS) system of dispensing the priming compounds in the base of the rimfire case. Instead of spinning the priming compound into the rim, it is deposited as a tiny pile in the base of the case. Two punches flatten the 35 milligrams of pyrotechnic powder, and spread it evenly around the inside of the rim. Then two drops (12 microlitres) of water are added to seal and activate the primer, which after drying becomes lead styphnate. Each case is weighed to ensure that priming charges lie within a one-milligram tolerance. EPS-primed cases contain about twice as much priming compound as spin-primed brass which contributes measurably to the thrust. Most importantly, this greatly increases consistency of ignition and a resulting reduction of velocity variation from round to round.

After priming, the cases are loaded with propellant in a room with controlled temperature and humidity. Charges are precisely measured by loading machines that are retooled and recalibrated every six months, and powder-column height is checked to .01mm.

This quality control is what makes Eley Tenex so accurate. It includes inspecting each bullet! At the bullet finishing station, the operator views a series of circles that are actually bullet heels. Every bullet is magnified to ensure no

irregularities. Whether you shoot in a local comp’ or for Olympic gold, you can't afford a single stray shot. Also, Eley Tenex bullets are shaped to excel at subsonic velocities with the centre of pressure far forward of the centre of gravity. They're designed specifically for a 1:16-1/2 inch rifling twist. The bullets’ truncated noses feature feature a distinctive nub, formed in an oxygen-free environment. Oxides are less dense than lead and traces can lead to flight instability, so strict quality control is what enables Eley cartridges to shoot to exactly the same impact point time after time, but there's more! Seated bullets have depth checked using a light beam and bullets are knurled & crimped in a single operation.

Sporting bullets are lubed with a paraffin-based coat; match ammo wears a beeswax-tallow lube which is softer and allows easier chambering and cleaning after long strings.

Tenex cases are formed in a 23-stage process from spools of strip brass obtained from brass mills in France and Germany. Slow? Eley makes a million .22 RF cartridges each day. Each batch of ammo is tested to track variations from lot to lot by shooting twenty

60 | SPORTING SHOOTER _ JULY 2016

TEST REPORT

ACCURACY PERFORMANCE OF ELEY RIMFIRE AMMUNITION

JGA STANDARD MATCH RIFLE WITH MATCH 54 ACTION & 590MM SS BARREL

Eley Load Bullet (gns)Accuracy

Smallest Largest Average

Tenex 40gn Solid 0.235 0.341 0.306

Sport 40gn Solid 0.345 0.460 0.446

Contact 40gn Solid 0.359 0.458 0.414

Club 40gn Solid 0.374 0.425 0.405

Match 40gn Solid 0.247 0.407 0.361

Edge 40gn Solid 0.389 0.414 0.382

Subsonic 40gn HP 0.293 0.440 0.370

Force 40gn Solid 0.249 0.471 0.385

Green Tag 40gn Solid 0.369 0.544 0.471

Lapua Master 40gn Solid 0.291 0.472 0.361

Gold Medal 40gn Solid 0.360 0.414 0.386Group size figures were taken as the result of five 10-shot groups fired at 50 yards.

3

4

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3 Eight different Eley loads were tested in the Anschutz DE

Standard Match rifle at 50 yards.

4 Eley Tenex deserves its hard won reputation for being the

world’s most accurate .22 Long Rifle target load.

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TEST REPORT

10-shot groups. Tenex that doesn't group exceptionally or fall within a range of 1040 to 1080 fps gets downgraded to a less expensive label. Shooters buying Club get a real bargain - Tenex with a minor blemish.

I borrowed Ken Harding's Anshcutz Model 1907 target rifle with Leupold Competition Series 35x45mm scope with small dot reticle able to quarter a .22 bullet hole at 50 yards. I'm no experienced small bore target shooter and the light one ounce trigger took getting used to, causing the rifle to go off prematurely on occasion.

Competition shooters don't need me to tell them what Eley can do; they know. I was interested in what orce and Subsonic might offer ordinary sport shooters and hunters; see the results in the chart.

I fired eight different varieties of Eley ammo at the 50 metre range in 10 shot strings. I also included two

American target loads and one Finnish load for an informal comparison in the Anschutz. Those three represented what I have found to be some of the best-performing loads by three different manufacturers of .22 LR ammo. Federal's Gold Medal and CCI Green Tag and Lapua Master are precision loads for competition. In general, I found that Eley Field Grade loads grouped better than the Federal Gold Medal and CCI Green Tag, but that Lapua Master gave the Eley stuff a run for its money. Eley's averages were better overall confirming that in the target load categories, Eley has little opposition. With Tenex and Club, group after group at 50m had 10 shots tearing a ragged hole. In the Match and Edge loads, there wasn't much difference between the Lapua and Eley equivalents, but Eley did show an edge overall.

In conclusion: insofar as

general small game hunting is concerned, the Aussie rimfire rifleman can find a number of standard high-velocity loads that will serve his purpose as well as Eley Force, if he goes to the trouble of seeking out the particular cartridge that shoots best in his sporter. But if he needs the finest accuracy money can buy, there is simply nothing to equal Eley's Tenex and Club match-grade ammo.

Cost of course, is a limiting

factor, Eley's top-line loads are not inexpensive, and as a rule, Eley's Tenex will cost you about four or five times as much as the same number of inexpensive "ordinary" .22 Long Rifle cartridges. The expense is justified only if you are an intense competition shooter who owns a specialist match-grade target rifle. Guys who hunt and plink for pleasure or practice are just as well served with cheaper brands.

Three loads used for comparison purposes were Lapua Master, Match, CCI Green Tag and Federal Gold Medal.