Eley Tenex .22 LR 40gr EPS

Eley Tenex is the ammunition Olympic and world-cup smallbore shooters point their rifles at when nothing but the smallest possible group will do. The 40gr flat-nose EPS (Engraved Precision System) bullet runs roughly 1,085 fps, and Tenex earns its reputation through obsessive lot-to-lot quality control rather than any single headline spec. It is, by reputation and competition results, the reference against which other match .22 LR is measured.

That precision comes at the top of the price ladder. Tenex costs more than Lapua Center-X and most other match loads, and like all match rimfire it is intensely rifle- and lot-specific. Shooters who run Tenex seriously lot-test through their rifle, then buy as much of the winning lot as they can afford, because the next lot may not group identically.

Tenex is overkill for plinking and unnecessary for most field shooting, where Center-X or even CCI Standard Velocity will satisfy. Reach for it when you are shooting ISSF, rimfire benchrest, or any discipline where a few thousandths of an inch decides the match.