Well...................

Well...................

CYA friends:

Well............................

Today I got to look into the past...........the Eley ammo past...

________________________

I'm going to make this short and sweet........( probably ain't going to be too sweet)

Eley, for whatever reason(s), ain't producing ammo to the standards they did in 2008.....

It ain't even close....

_______________________________


Now, I'm headed back to the range......I'm in pistol heaven as I type this...

Your friend, Bill Calfee

________________________

PS:

I'm going to tell you something right now....

If Tony "TDX' Harper had a half case of this Eley from 2008, that I got to examine, and shoot, today, you could simply engrave his name on the PSL and ARA Nationals trophies, cause it would be impossible to beat him, with him shooting this Eley from 2008.

BC

Weighing ammo

Weighing ammo

CYA friends:

I've never been too much into weighing ammo, or sorting by any other method.......rim thickness, etc.

But it makes me wonder........

Why can't, don't, Eley produce ammo today, that weighs and working length gauges like the stuff they made years ago.....

Again, I'm not heavy into weighing and measuring ammo......

But, when you have ammo that weighs so uniform, and has such uniform working lengths, and also double kills it shooting, there's got to be a correlation in there someplace......

____________________________________________


CYA friends, competition today is double tough, so testing a bunch of ammo in trying to find the best ammo match for your barrel is expected.

But, should one have to test this many lots in that effort......without finding anything competitive?

It would be one thing if the shooter who tested all this Eley was trying to make a junk gun shoot.......this was not the case.....

This ammo was tested in one of the premier, Class A RFBR guns in the world.

__________________________________


One other point....if this shooter had been testing Eley, like this stuff from 2008 that I've been looking at, I guarantee a box of test lots like this would not exist ...bc
________________________________________

Bill,

The first trick I ever got into was checking rim thickness. I had one of those little tools that you insert the cartridge and slide the "micrometer" on top to see where it stops and that would tell you the rim thickness. I know you've seen them. There were also more sophisticated versions to measure with. Problem with that was you could turn the cartridge and get a different measurement. So, it seemed like a folly. Most people dropped it, but some may still practice the black art.

Next was weighing. I used an expensive (at that time) scientific scale that would not allow you to have any air blowing (such as air conditioner) or it would not read correctly. I think I measured to the tenth of a grain. Then tried to get enough within three grains or so that I could shoot a target with. Hey, it was so obvious it had to work. Find decent ammo then weigh it to find which has more or less powder. At least that was the idea. I stayed up late many nights weighing and sorting ammo. Then one day it just hit me, what about the components. So, I carefully disassembled a few cartridges and blew that theory out of the water. The brass weighed differently, the bullet weighed differently, the amount of wax weighed differently. So, I quit doing that. I will say the first match I ever won was won with weight sorted ammo. So there's that.

Then of course you have the "best kept secret in the game" which is a concentricity gauge. Maybe people do use them and refuse to divulge it. I don't know. I just shoot ammo that shoots well for me without trying any sorting techniques.

Sorting by working length may be the one thing that really works. I've never tried it but I know people who have and it seems to show some promise.

WS

And the gig to measure the working length?

Just to let you know I have all those tools collecting dust too...

I've checked alot of ammo. If your looking for ammo that will be close in weight and rim lapua will beat eley hands down but it hasn't proved out as being a factor in the way it shoots. Lapua will always be very close. Todd

Friends wsmallwood and Todd Earhart

Todd Earhart said:

I've checked alot of ammo. If your looking for ammo that will be close in weight and rim lapua will beat eley hands down but it hasn't proved out as being a factor in the way it shoots. Lapua will always be very close. Todd

Click to expand...

_________________

Friends wsmallwood and Todd Earhart:

wsmallwood quote:

"Sorting by working length may be the one thing that really works. I've never tried it but I know people who have and it seems to show some promise."

Todd Earhart's quote above in bold yellow:

______________________________


Like I've said, I've never been much for gauging ammo.....weighing, rim etc. etc.

Having said that:

Here's a lot of Eley from 2008 that weighs flawless, and the working length is the best of any Eley I've ever gauged.....and it shoots double killer.

So obviously, it doesn't hurt to have ammo weigh the same and with the same working length.

Conversely, I've weighed several other lots of Eley and checked their working length, which were not good, and this ammo did not shoot.

So obviously, inconsistent weight and inconsistent working length doesn't help accuracy.

________________________


Having stated the above, no, I'm probably not going to start weighing or gauging my ammo...

What I am going to do, is to try to get Eley to produce ammo like this double killer lot from 2008.

Given the choice between ammo that weighs perfect and working length gauges perfect, or, ammo that weighs all over the place and has inconsistent working lengths, I believe I'll take the better weighing and gauging ammo....

Your friend, Bill Calfee

_____________________________


PS: Something interesting happened last evening at the range....

A shooting friend of mine just purchased several bricks of red box, a 6 machine, I believe, simply because it was priced at $12.00 per box....

He figured for that price he could foul with it, if nothing else...

Anyway, when I arrived he'd just kicked out a 2400 PSL, and while I was standing there he fired all the sighters on the top of the target and the left side, which completed the box of this red 6 machine...

So a 2400 plus at least 10 other rounds on the sighters, which were all 100's and PSL X's with this $12.00 a box, red 6 machine...

_____________________

Here's why I'm relating this story:

Ammo has to fit your barrel, and of course, you must have a contraption that's capable of kicking out big numbers.......it's just that simple, or complicated, depending on how you wish to look at it....bc