Eley edge ammo testing

OK I admit I’m no target shooter and in my youth could never quite see the attraction of what I would describe as the heavy breathers obsession with shooting tight groups. Now many years down the line I realise just how ridiculous those early thoughts were. But I was young and stupid back then and it was all about getting rounds down range quickly! Be you hunter, plinker or precision shooter; tiny groups is what it’s all about and the pleasure of being able to put your rounds where they need to go is a real buzz.

OBSESSION

However, for the pure 22 match shooters their pursuit of accuracy is little short of obsessional and I’ll tell you why! They are a skilled and dedicated section of the shooting sports, their rifles are capable and the differences between winning and placing are infinitesimal. So ammunition has to be as consistent and reliable as is possible. ELEY is at the top of the food chain in this area, and has a huge range of product dedicated to the various target disciplines as well as hunting and general shooting.

I wrongly assumed that ELEY edge was an alternative to their highly regarded tenex, which is not the case! It’s aimed more at the club shooters who want to shoot tenex and have the capability but can’t afford it. Edge is apparently seen by ELEY as an alternative to ammunition like club, sport and Geco etc.

WHY CHANGE?

So if your ammo is performing well why would you change it? One reason; a new design could prove better. Fine but how do you convince what is a performance-driven sector of the shooting sports? Simple; ELEY took it on the road with their Mobile Testing scheme and let people use it under controlled conditions. In conjunction with clubs and ranges they set up their impressive battery of equipment then invite target shooters to come along and do some serious batch testing. Obviously it’s a regional thing so ELEY will try and get the best facilities in an area as this sort of testing requires zero interference for optimum results. I attended an event in Suffolk hosted by Riflecraft Ltd, to see what it was all about.

The heart of the system is a special target frame located 50-metres down range. You shoot through a square aperture, which is lined with banks of sensors that pick up all the information required. It’s then fed back to computers that ‘crunch the numbers’ and print out the data - groups, individual groups size/ shape, extreme spread, standard deviation and a 40-shot consolidated score including decimalisation helps your choice. The system works out shot placement in relation to the group and generates a graph. This must be like music to the ears of the rimfire target crowd! Speaking to the ELEY crew they said that an indoor range is perfect and if they were out in the open again they’d get side screens rigged.

THE MUZZLE END

To get optimum results they have almost taken the shooter out of the equation too! The brief is you come along with your match rifle and it’s taken out of its stock and put it in a Gemmi stock then mounted in a machine rest. It’s pre-sighted and the shooter stops being the pilot and becomes a loading and firing machine.

But there’s more. As some of us know the same production run of ammunition (batch or LOT) – bullet weight/shape, powder charge etc can change infinitesimally between batches produced at different times. ELEY have this covered, shooters gets 100-rounds to shoot in 10-round strings from 10 different batches of the edge.

At the end of each 10-round string data is collated and after 100-rounds they are taken through a selection phase where a shortlist of batches that performed best are chosen. The shooter than tests these with a further 20-shots and is then presented with the results and fascinating stuff it is! Groups sizes certainly differ as does velocity and consistency etc batch to batch, and all this information comes down to a fine point of the best batch of edge for your particular rifle. Too much effort? I think not if your holy grail is everything inside the 10-ring!

DR RON

I met Doctor Ron Carter who as well as being an MD is also a talented rimfire target shooter and watched him go through the process. I was keen to know his views. He told me he had already tried some edge and liked it, but then again he seemed to be a big fan of tenex too. Interesting were his comments on wind as he was calling it in as he shot and even when very low it affected the groups noticeably. He did not like the fact that the range was open air as that had an effect on result to a degree.

So is it worth the effort, well from a target shooters perspective that’s a big YES? These guys will locate a brand of ammo that suits and buy a lot of it so that’s one less thing to worry about in practice and more importantly on the day. And they buy a lot of it as they practice a lot! Dr Ron also said that ELEY’s travelling road show was a good idea and I would have to agree.

GOOD DEAL

The deal is pretty good too, if you decide to buy a quantity of batch ‘whatever suits best’ then your shooting on the day is free, if not it’s a cover fee of around £20. You cannot buy it off ELEY at the time, but your order will be sent through to your nominated gun shop for you to come and pick up.

I too reckon it’s a clever concept and even as a non target shooter can see the practicality of such a scheme. I would love to be able to roll up with my Ruger M77/22 and CZ 452 rabbit bashers and Smith & Wesson Military & Police 15-22 to do something similar with ELEY’s sub-sonic xtra and their new range of force and contact rimfire ammo for both my hunting and paper punching needs. OK maybe not in the same ball park as pure target shooting machinery, but I know that being able to find the right ammo for the rifle and requirements would be great! I mooted this point with the ELEY guys and they seemed to see the possibilities behind it, so keep an ear to the ground as something might be happening.

But if you are a serious 22 rimfire target shooter and regardless if you’re happy with your current batch of ammo I’d say see what ELEY’s new edge has to offer and take advantage of their Mobile Testing as you will if nothing else get a definitive answer. Get in touch with them for details of future events