Eley Tenex vs Lapua Center-X vs SK Long Range Match

The uncomfortable question first

Here is the thing nobody selling premium .22 ammo leads with: most rifles can't tell the difference.

A factory sporter with a heavy trigger, a cheap scope and a stock that touches the barrel will put Tenex and bulk ammo into groups that look roughly the same. The rifle and the shooter add more spread than the ammo takes away. That's not an insult to anyone's rifle. It's just arithmetic. When you stack up errors, the biggest one wins.

So before we put three of the best-known match loads side by side, answer this: does your rifle shoot good budget match ammo, like CCI Standard Velocity or SK Standard Plus, into small, round groups at 50 yards with no fliers? If yes, keep reading. If no, fix the rifle first. Premium ammo won't fix loose action screws.

Meet the three

Eley Tenex is the name on the box at the top of world smallbore. Eley calls it "the world's most consistently accurate .22LR cartridge" and says it is the cartridge of choice at Olympic, World Cup and World Championship level. The first generation of Tenex appeared in 1951, according to Eley's own history. Its look is part of its identity: a flat-nose 40-grain bullet. Eley says the flat nose pulls the centre of pressure forward to help stabilise the bullet in flight. Eley credits its consistency to Six Sigma controls, electronic inspection of every cartridge and lot testing.

Lapua Center-X is Lapua's versatile match round. Lapua's product page calls it accurate and widely used by rimfire enthusiasts, and lists it for target use. In Lapua's own line, Center-X sits alongside Midas+ and X-Act, which are its higher grades, and its Long Range and Super Long Range loads.

SK Long Range Match is the newest of the three in concept. SK launched it for 2019 and built it, in SK's words, for "today's long range rimfire shooting disciplines." SK and its U.S. distributor name PRC, tactical rimfire and long-range silhouette as targets, plus centerfire shooters who want a .22 that trains like their big rifle.

The maker specs side by side

All figures below come from each maker's own product page. They were measured in each maker's own test setup, so small differences between brands aren't a like-for-like test.

Don't compare the BC figures directly. Eley uses the RA4 drag model, which is built for rimfire bullets. Lapua quotes a G1 number calculated with its own software. They're different yardsticks.

What does stand out is the velocity. SK's Long Range Match is listed noticeably faster than the other two. That's deliberate. A bit more speed means a bit less drop and less time for wind to work at 100 yards and beyond. The trade-off is that a faster .22 LR is closer to the speed of sound, and how close depends on your barrel and the air temperature. Long-range rimfire shooters care about this, because a bullet that slows through the sound barrier on the way to the target can get unsettled.

How each one earns its place

Tenex: when consistency at the top is the whole game

Tenex makes most sense for shooters who already do everything else right: benchrest, prone smallbore, and serious position shooting. Eley's own pitch is about removing ammunition as a variable. It also gives each box a batch code showing grade, year, loader, batch and mean velocity across four barrels. That's useful because it lets you buy more of a lot your rifle likes.

Eley is unusually honest on its own page that standard-grade .22 LR is cheaper and fine for casual plinking or general practice. Take that at face value.

Center-X: the mid-grade most rifles can use

Center-X is a sensible place to land when budget match ammo is holding you back but top-grade ammo isn't justified. It's the kind of load many club shooters settle on for a season. Within Lapua's line you can step up later if your rifle tells you to.

SK Long Range Match: built for distance

If your sport is NRL22, PRS-style rimfire or silhouettes, SK LRM was designed with you in mind. The extra speed is the point. Test it against Center-X at your actual match distances, not at 50 yards, because that's where it's meant to separate.

What "match grade" actually buys you

It helps to know what you're paying for. Match ammunition isn't magic powder. It's mostly about consistency: the same bullet weight, the same priming, the same powder charge and the same rim dimensions, round after round.

Eley is open about how it chases that. Its Tenex page names Six Sigma process controls, electronic visual inspection of every cartridge and lot testing. It also publishes tight recommended figures for strike depth and headspace, which tells you how carefully the round is meant to sit in a match chamber.

Lapua and SK are less detailed on their product pages, but both give test-barrel lengths and specific velocities rather than broad ranges, and both are made at a plant that has been making ammunition since 1832.

Why does consistency matter more than raw speed? Because at 50 and 100 yards, small differences in muzzle velocity turn into differences in drop. A round that leaves the barrel a little slow lands a little low. Over a five-shot group, that spreads shots up and down. The best match ammo narrows that spread. The cheaper stuff lets it wander a bit more.

Testing whether your rifle can tell

This is the only part that will actually save you money.

1. Start with a known baseline. Shoot five or more five-shot groups of a budget match load at 50 yards from a solid rest. Note the average group size.
2. Shoot the premium loads the same way, same day, same conditions, with fouling shots between brands.
3. Compare averages, not best groups. Look at fliers too.
4. Repeat at 100 yards if you compete there. Wind will add noise, so shoot in calm conditions or use wind flags. Our guide to reading wind at rimfire distances explains why this matters so much.
5. Decide on the gap. If the premium load is clearly better at your distances, buy that lot in quantity. If the gap is small, the cheaper load is your answer.

Some benchrest shooters also sort rounds by rim thickness. It's a separate rabbit hole, covered in our rim thickness sorting guide.

Where to buy, and what to try first

When we checked Ammunition Depot's 22 LR category in October 2026, it didn't include Eley, Lapua or SK, so look to specialist match retailers for those. If you're still building your baseline, Ammunition Depot does carry practice and distance loads worth including in a test:

Browse more options in the 22 LR ammo category and check current price.

Decision

Editorial note: This is an independent editorial overview built from manufacturer specifications, retailer listings and published sources. We have not performed hands-on testing of the products discussed, and nothing here is a performance guarantee. Verify specifications, compatibility and the law where you live.

Affiliate disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links to Ammunition Depot. We may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial choices are not influenced by commissions. Check current price, stock and specifications directly with the retailer.