Alphecca

I've used Eley. I always buy one box of as many brands of .22 as I can when I get a new .22.

.22's have a tendency to shoot one brand and load better than others. I have a Romanian M69 that sprays the Eley almost at random and groups the el-cheapo bulk packed Remington Thunder bolt quite nicely. I have had good results from the Eley in my 38 year old Ruger 10-22, however. It's a crap shoot with .22's.

I also have a scruffy Charter Arms AR-7 that chokes on Eley and shoots well with some Russian garbage labelled "Junior" that I bought 10,000 rounds of for $75.00 a few years back. It's steel cased and some of the bullets are in crooked, but that little AR-7 just rams 'em into the chamber and squirts 'em into the bull. None of my other .22 rifles or pistols will shoot for beans with the stuff. The 10-22 rips a chunk out of the rim and I have to extract cases with a cleaning rod.

You'll just have to try as many brands and loads as you can to find out what your rifle likes.

Jeff,
I've used Eley and frankly didn't find it worth it's cost. My standby is CCI Standard Velocity and is the ammo with which I shoot Bullseye. The only people I know that shoot Eley exclusively are the ones shooting Pardini's.

Mike

Actually, I've always liked the CCI Blazer I've used, even better than Remington.

I have a Baikal rifle that shoots the best with Remington sub-sonic, otherwise everything else digests the CCI.

I've shot a lot of Eley, it was our standard target load (in subsonic) at the Academy. From my Pardini, it shot like a dream.

I haven't shot it since I got out of there, though.

Jeff, I had some old Eley that shot fantastic through an old Marlin of mine. I have read that in their attempts to go green the folks at Remington (who own Eley) GB, have changed the components of the bullet and they apparently are not as good as they used to be. I also read that gun fouling is now more difficult to remove (if that makes sense with greener bullets?) I Like the CCI mini mags. Cheap and accurate.

Jeff:

The best .22 round to fire in any given firearm, pistol or rifle, is the one which works best in it! Unfortunately, this works out to being different ammo for your different .22's. I've done a lot of experimenting with a Marlin Model 39A lever-action, Ruger 10/22's (we have a couple of them) and Ruger's 22/45.

The Remington/Eley seems overpriced to begin with, and (at least with my firearms) does not shoot noticeably better than much less expensive fodder. So we end up stocking up on sale-priced .22 when we can find it, with the one caveat being that it has to be a jacketed (or at least copper-plated) hollow-point.

The local chain of farm-supply stores in this area ("Mills Fleet/Farm") sells the 250-round box of the Remington for around $11.00 when on sale. We usually just pick up 10 boxes or so at a time. Shoots better than I can in all of our firearms, and so is good enough.

The one .22 I'll never buy again is the cheapo Remington "Thunderbolt", despite it's slightly lower price. I've had a huge problem with the lead being so soft that it's leaded the barrel to the point where the bullets were keyholing...I had to use a cleaning rod to punch a cylinder of lead out of the barrel after only 75 rounds of the stuff.

I shoot .22 long range silhouette and pretty much use Eley for matches due to the uniformity in each lot. Each lot is very uniform and you can expect the same results from one round to another.

If I use the $10.00 a brick ammo, I have to weigh it out and segregate cartridges by weight to get uniformity out to 200 yards

If it's the Eley variant I tried have something to wipe your hands on - the cartridges are lubed (or something).

Shot well in my SIG/Hammerli Trailside but no better than the Winchester Super X it seems to like the best. Of course, the thing shoots Super X so well I'd need a quality rest to see any difference.

We tried Thunderbolt and neither my Trailside or the ever-indulgent wife's Walther P-22 liked it. I salvaged the 'good' rounds by taking the barrel of her P-22 and finding all the rounds that would chamber. The rest we used in less picky .22's - her little wheelgun and our rifles. The rifles just don't seem to care.

I used Eley a long time ago when shooting 50' target, but that was the target variety. It was better if you and the rifle was up to it. But never shot the regular stuff. I usually used CCI and that worked well in everything, rarely had an problem with it that I could not say was more me than the ammo

My CZ 452 Lux groups Eley Match 3/8" at 50 yds (5 shots). It groups CCI Blazers 4/8" but with more fliers out to 6/8".

A round of Eley Match costs $0.20, Blazers cost $0.03.

Blazers are my "vin ordinaire" ammo.

I use Wolf Match target. Seems to shoot well out of every rifle from Titan-barrelled 10-22 to my Anchutz MS rifle. It shoots bullseye pistol out of a Ruger Mk 1 Target well enough. The Wolf Match Extra just seems like more money for the same thing.

I have been having very good results with Aguila Golden Eagle Target. This is in a Kimber 82 match rifle and a Compass Lake AR 15 with a .22 upper. This ammo will also almost keep ten shots on a pie plate with a Anchutz 54 that will put 50 rounds of Wolf target stuff in one very small hole.

Just like most of the other writers say, keep trying stuff until you find what works. One more thing, the Kimber also likes CCI Blazer but not quite as much as the Aguila.

The Armory in Virginia Beach, Virginia is a good place for getting some. Had to change the wording in the above line because of the sp*m filter.

Here is the link for the ammo.
http://www.the-armory.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/aguila.html

Jeff,
Been reading your blog for some time now and it is one of the first ones I check every day. Thanks for all your effort.

I have used Ely ammo in various rimfire rifles for a number of years (like 30). Years ago I ordered what I thought was a box of 50 Eley Tenex rounds and got instead a brick. One of those fortunate mistakes that sometimes happens. At the time the brick was only about $45. I have tested it and used it in an old Kimber 22 (one from the original Kimber company when they were in Oregon) and found it to be very accurate. In that rifle it will shoot groups right at one MOA if the wind is not too bad. I also tried it in an old bull barrel Winchester 52C target rifle. An old smallbore shooter of my acquaintance loaned me his Lyman Super Targetspot scope and with that scope and rifle at 50 yards it would put Eley Tenex mostly in one hole. Averaged about .75 MOA for me.

Fancy ammo won't make an average rifle shoot like a target rifle but if the gun has the capability I believe the Eley ammo is worth the price if you want top accuracy. I use it in my Kimber to squirrel hunt and only shot 8 or 10 shots a year. But I like to stalk the squirrels and take only head shots so the extra accuracy is useful to me. For plinking tin cans and most of my shooting I simply use the cheap bulk stuff.

I haven't tried the latest stuff that has the Remington name on it but was looking at some of it the other evening at our local sporting goods store. I've still got some of the old Eley but am curious if the new imported stuff is as good. I didn't see any labeled Tenex. That used to be the top of the line in their ammo.

Hope you write about your results when you get around to testing.

an article in Shooting-Times gives some details about Eley mfg process...

http://www.ShootingTimes.com/ammunition/eley_101405/index.html

The first post is the best advice: buy a box of every brand the local shop offers. Wait for a mild, windless day and start shooting. I usually put 5 rounds down the range, use a bore light to check for leading, and run a cleaning rag through. Then 10 rounds from a rest for grouping. When you find what works best in that particular gun, write it down! You know then what to use when it counts. The left-over stuff gets used for plinking. [My 1954 Mossberg target rifle shoots anything and everything. Each of my other three .22s has its own preference. And don't get me started on our .22 pistols!] OldeForce

I like the Eley Tenex a lot. I bought six different brands (as the first post recommended) when I got a new Anschutz. Of the set, the Eley shot the tightest patterns off the bench. There was another, less expensive, .22 LR round that was nearly as good but I just can't remember the brand right now.

When shooting for score, I and the boys definitely go for Eley.