Aguila rifle match and pistol match, any experience?

[uscra112]

Something everybody needs to understand is that "Eley primed" is not a magic guarantee of quality ammo. Eley owns and licenses a patent for a process. The execution of the process is up to the licensee. They can do it well or they can do it sloppily. And it's only one out of many, many process parameters that have to be controlled (or not) when making .22 ammo. Even if they do the priming right, if other factors aren't equally well controlled, "Eley primed" is just a marketing gimmick.

@Chill - I don't recall that Aguila even had match ammo circa 1998, so no, it probably wasn't. Last 5 years or so I've been too crippled-up with a bad back to shoot my good rifles seriously, so I'm not able to judge by testing current offerings, even off the bench.

But both Skeettx and Maven said they got better performance by weight-sorting whatever it was that they were using. I take it that they are referring to whatever Aguila calls "match" ammo today. I'm a superannuated process control gaging guy (worked 15 years for Zeiss IMT). So I'm extrapolating from first principles here. If one very obvious characteristic (overall weight) isn't being closely controlled, how can any of the rest can be trusted?

Try weight-sorting some Eley Tenex sometime. You can't. It all weighs exactly the same on any scale or balance we shooters can afford. THAT is good process control!

About six or seven years ago I wrapped myself up for months, weighing and measuring and testing and modifying .22 ammo. Mostly bulk stuff, because the objective was to find out what could be done to improve the accuracy of an abysmal 10/22 Ruger without breaking the bank. A sidebar revelation that came out of it was that "match" ammo from the mfgrs. I evaluated wasn't much different from their bulk ammo except for the label on the box. (Leaving aside Thunderbolt, which was so horrible that it didn't deserve to even be called bulk ammo. Anything looked like match ammo compared to that stuff!)

The only real match ammo that mfgrs. other than Eley have offered in recent decades was the Federal UM-1 stuff with the dimple in the base. I picked up several boxes of it at an estate auction in the late '90s, and not knowing that it was no longer being made, shot up all but half of one box just practicing. Made me look like Harry Pope on his best days, but when it came time to do my study, I didn't have a sample size big enough to get meaningful weight data. From that tiny sample, it should have been on par with Eley Match at least.

Point being that, unless we can afford Eley prices, we don't know what really good match ammo is, because we aren't getting it from anybody else. Unless things have improved a lot since 2014.

See yer 3 cents and raise ya a nickel!

BTW - What became of Champion? My old bookmark gets me "can't find that server", and I can't find them with a general search. I used to visit their store pretty often when traveling back and forth from Michigan to my Ohio retirement BOL. Nice folks. Gone now, I guess.

[Chill Wills]

I think that is some creative writing for someone that hasn't shot any of the current product.
I have. I stand on what I wrote.
I am sorry about the status of your back. Truly. That can't be any fun.

I'll see your nickle.

Next person's turn. I'm done.

[uscra112]

Engineering, not creative writing. Sorry if I was boring. It's a professional deformity.

[35isit]

While not trying to make one hole groups. I shoot handgun metallic silhouette. I find the Aguila Eley primed .22 ammo pretty much on par with Eley. I buy the Rifle Match when I can find it. I The last I found was about $45.00 a brick. It will hit the shootoff targets at 100 yards when I do my part. In my game consistency is everything.

USCRA, I understand Champion in Ohio closed.

[tazman]

I got to the range this morning with the new ammunition and my CZ rifles. The temperature was changing rapidly and since both the rifle and the ammo was starting out cold, I had some impact point changes over the course of the three hours I was there.
I took four kinds of ammo with me. Norma Match, Federal Target, Aguila Rifle Match, and Aguila Pistol match.
I had some wind later in the morning and had to wait on a few shots for things to calm down a bit. For the most part, I am satisfied with how the day went.
I was actually doing a pretty good job of getting steady today. The forend of the rifle was resting on a board with a towel folded under it for a cushion and a bag under the buttstock. I don't currently have a good bench rest setup.

The Norma Match is still consistently great. The Aguila Rifle match was nearly indistinguishable from the Norma. The Aguila Pistol match didn't perform well for me. The Federal Target did a good job but was not as good as the two match loads. The best part was the three good lots of ammo shot to the same point of impact.
I haven't had that happen before. This makes it so I can sight in and leave the sights alone when using the less expensive ammo for practice.
These targets were all 5 shot groups fired at 50 yards. The white circle in the center of each dot measures slightly over 1/2 inch. Significantly smaller than a dime.
The Black rings measure 2 1/8 inches across.
I am really happy with these targets.

[tazman]

I went back to the store where I purchased the first few boxes of Aguila Rifle Match and bought two bricks. That was all they had on the shelf.
I will check back later and see if they restocked.

[BigAlofPa.]

Nice shooting. Going to be nice Sunday here. Im planning on shooting too. I want to bench shoot my winchester 60.

[Gunslinger1911]

I just bought a brick of Aguila pistol match "Eley primed". $50 Interested in seeing how it works.
About all the LGS had.
My Win 52 loves Center X, still have a couple bricks, but NOBODY has any !!!
I wonder what the difference is between pistol match and rifle match ?

[tazman]

I just bought a brick of Aguila pistol match "Eley primed". $50 Interested in seeing how it works.
About all the LGS had.
My Win 52 loves Center X, still have a couple bricks, but NOBODY has any !!!
I wonder what the difference is between pistol match and rifle match ?

Velocity mostly. The pistol match had a louder bang than the rifle match in the samples I bought. The pistol match may need to work the action of a semi auto pistol, hence the need for extra power.
It didn't group well in my rifles like the rifle match did.

[dangitgriff]

Anybody try the Paco Kelly Acu’Rzr?
R/Griff

https://www.accurateshooter.com/gear...r-bullet-tool/

“EDITOR’s NOTE: Do NOT use this tool with premium-grade rimfire target ammo. It won’t help. Use it with the cheaper bulk-pack ammo.”

[uscra112]

I've built a tool like the Waltz, which I think is more consistent than the Paco tool, but I'll grant you the Paco tool is a lot cheaper. Going back to my post #21, I treated hundreds of rounds of all grades with it, as well as weighing and measuring. Bottom line is that it definitely improves bulk ammo, but it only spoils match-grade ammo.

[onelight]

Taz that was good shooting with those CZ 22s .
Looks like you had a fun day

[tazman]

Thank you. It was certainly a fun day.
It is always more fun with an accurate rifle.

[jsizemore]

CZ has been doing some fantastic stuff.

I haven't tried any of the new Aguila but it just didn't hang with the other match ammo I used in the past. I've found bulk ammo in the past that just cozied up to a particular barrel and discipline I happened to be shooting at the time.

I had a friend that shot yellow box Winchester that was made in Australia. Great ammo. That plant shut down and a fella down under bought the old equipment from the plant and started making ammo again. I seem to remember the fella's name was Cooper. At a shoot in PA I had the chance to try some and it was great stuff. SK had just started and it was $115/case for MATCH. I stashed 5 cases of that and still have a brick or 2 that shoots great in everything. It's my base line to see if a barrel has lost it's edge.

[tazman]

I went to the indoor range today with my S&W 22a pistol(22lr) and the Aguila pistol match ammo I picked up a while back.
It functioned the S&W flawlessly and shot very good groups. The extra kick it had over the rifle match made it function very well.
That was the only 22lr ammunition I took with me so I didn't compare it to Federal Auto Match or other ammo I had at home.

I can't say it was exceptional since I didn't put an optic on the pistol. This pistol shoots well with anything it can feed and function with.

[35isit]

Found 32 boxes of Rifle match at a LGS. Just happened to be the same lot number of what I already had. Needless to say it came home with me.

[FergusonTO35]

I don't have any match grade firearms and I am as far away from being a match grade shooter as can be. That said, Aguilas work as well as anything else I have tried in all my guns: autoloading rifles and pistols, revolvers, lever and bolt action rifles. Aguila Interceptor 40 grain is the best I have ever tried if you must use a small .22 pistol for protection. It clocks a consistent 1002 fps through my Ruger LCP II across my chronograph, functions 100%, and has good accuracy.

[303Guy]

Just yesterday I found Aguila subs to be more accurate than CCI subs. I'm now looking for Aguila match or target or whatever but just standard subs will do for now. Apparently Aguila don't crimp there loads which makes for a straighter cartridge. I need to check that.

uscra, would you be of mind to share your accurizing tool details?

[uscra112]

Sure. P/M me with your direct emall addy. Files add up to more than I can attach to a post.