Ruger 77/22 Accuracy Test With Six SK Loads

Does spending more money on .22 LR ammunition actually buy you more accuracy?

That was the question behind my recent ELEY ammunition test here at Dayattherange.

Using this same heavily modified Ruger 77/22, I tested ELEY ammunition from the more affordable Target load all the way up to ELEY Team. The results were interesting: in this particular rifle and with these ammunition lots, ELEY Team produced the smallest average groups.

But one ammunition manufacturer doesn’t tell the whole story.

So I went back to the bench.

This time, the Ruger 77/22 gets a completely different ammunition lineup:

• SK Standard Plus
• SK Biathlon Sport
• SK Pistol Match
• SK High Velocity Match
• SK Rifle Match
• SK Long Range Match

Once again, we’re taking the ammunition out of the box and putting it on paper.

The question is simple:

Will SK show the same relationship between price and accuracy that we saw with ELEY?

And, perhaps more importantly:

Which SK load does this Ruger 77/22 actually like best?

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The Rifle: A Heavily Modified Ruger 77/22

Before we get into the ammunition, let’s talk about the rifle.

This is not a factory Ruger 77/22.

This rifle has been heavily modified with accuracy testing in mind.

At the heart of the rifle is a Ruger 77/17 receiver, which brings one feature I particularly like to this build: a three-position safety.

The receiver is fitted with a 20-inch Shilen bull barrel.

Because the Shilen barrel is considerably larger in diameter than the original barrel profile, the barrel channel in the stock had to be modified. The rifle wears a Boyds thumbhole stock, and the barrel channel was carefully sanded to accommodate the Shilen bull barrel.

For optics, I’m using a Vortex 6.5-20x target scope.

The rifle also retains the familiar 10/22-style rotary magazine system.

The end result is a Ruger 77/22 that is considerably different from a standard factory rifle.

This is a dedicated accuracy-testing platform.

And that’s important because the goal of this test isn’t simply to see whether these loads function.

We’re looking for precision and consistency.

Why SK Ammunition?

SK Ammunition has a broad .22 LR lineup that makes it particularly interesting for this type of test.

SK positions Standard Plus as an all-around training cartridge for rifle and pistol shooters, while Rifle Match is designed as a competition cartridge for rifle shooting. SK also offers specialized loads such as Biathlon Sport, Pistol Match, High Velocity Match and Long Range Match.

That gives us an opportunity to test several very different ammunition concepts in exactly the same rifle.

And that’s what I like about this test.

We’re not simply comparing six boxes that happen to have different labels.

We’re looking at ammunition designed for different purposes.

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The SK Accuracy Test

For this test, I selected six SK .22 LR loads:

$ SK Standard Plus

$ SK Biathlon Sport

$ SK Pistol Match

$$ SK High Velocity Match

$$$ SK Rifle Match

$$$ SK Long Range Match

SK describes Standard Plus as its all-around training ammunition, while Biathlon Sport is specifically developed to maintain precision in cold and windy conditions. Pistol Match is designed around the requirements of competitive pistol shooting.

High Velocity Match takes a different approach, offering increased velocity for disciplines including PRS Rimfire and NRL22.

Rifle Match is aimed squarely at competition rifle shooting.

And Long Range Match is purpose-built for modern long-range rimfire applications, with SK specifically identifying applications at 100 yards and beyond.

That’s a pretty interesting lineup.

But SK’s intended use for each cartridge is only part of the story.

The Ruger 77/22 gets the final vote.

The Dayattherange Accuracy Test

One of the most important things about this test is that I’m not interested in finding one spectacular group and declaring a winner.

I’ve seen too many ammunition tests where one tiny group becomes the headline.

That’s not how I approach accuracy testing.

A single group can be an outlier.

So each ammunition type received four groups.

We’re looking at:

• Individual group size
• Average group size
• Consistency between groups
• Overall ranking

The average is particularly important.

If a load shoots one spectacular .250″ group but follows it with several significantly larger groups, that’s a different story from ammunition that repeatedly produces groups in the .300″–.400″ range.

Consistency matters.

SK Standard Plus

We started with SK Standard Plus.

The four groups measured:

• .454″
• .443″
• .649″
• .495″

That gives us an average of:

.510 inches

That’s a respectable result.

The largest group was .649″, while the smallest measured .443″.

More importantly, the rifle never completely fell apart with this load.

That gives us a useful baseline for the more specialized SK ammunition.

SK Standard Plus Average: .510″

SK Biathlon Sport

Next up was SK Biathlon Sport.

The four groups measured:

• .469″
• .557″
• .581″
• .604″

The average came out to:

.553 inches

This was a fairly consistent load, although it didn’t produce the tiny groups we were about to see from some of the other SK ammunition.

The spread between .469″ and .604″ is relatively tight compared with some of the other ammunition in the test.

But when we look at the final averages, Biathlon Sport would finish in the middle of the pack.

SK Biathlon Sport Average: .553″

SK Pistol Match

Now things get interesting.

We’re taking SK Pistol Match and shooting it through a precision-oriented rifle.

The four groups measured:

• .485″
• .799″
• .459″
• .499″

The average:

.560 inches

Three of the four groups were remarkably similar:

.485″

.459″

.499″

But the .799″ group had a significant effect on the overall average.

And this is exactly why I like shooting four groups.

If I had stopped after one of the smaller groups, we would have a completely different impression of this ammunition.

Instead, we’re looking at the complete picture.

SK Pistol Match Average: .560″

SK High Velocity Match

Now we get to the surprise of the test.

SK High Velocity Match.

Going into this test, I was very interested to see how this ammunition would perform.

And it absolutely delivered.

The four groups measured:

• .473″
• .275″
• .320″
• .445″

The average:

.378 inches

Read that again.

.378 inches.

That was the smallest average of the entire SK test.

And look at the individual groups.

We have a:

.275″

and a:

.320″

Those are excellent groups.

And the other two were .473″ and .445″.

That combination gives us both excellent individual groups and a very strong overall average.

SK High Velocity Match Average: .378″

SK Rifle Match

Now we move into SK Rifle Match.

This is where I expected the ammunition to get very interesting.

The four groups:

• .629″
• .338″
• .545″
• .347″

Average:

.465 inches

There are two excellent groups here:

.338″

and

.347″

But the .629″ and .545″ groups pushed the average higher.

That is another excellent demonstration of why Dayattherange doesn’t simply chase the smallest group.

Rifle Match produced some very good groups.

But in this particular Ruger 77/22, it couldn’t match the overall consistency and average of SK High Velocity Match.

SK Rifle Match Average: .465″

SK Long Range Match

Finally, we reached SK Long Range Match.

This is the ammunition specifically designed for the long-range rimfire shooter.

The four groups measured:

• .415″
• .401″
• .453″
• .357″

Average:

.406 inches

This is another very interesting result.

Look at the consistency:

.415″

.401″

.453″

.357″

There isn’t a single giant group in the bunch.

The largest group was only .453″.

The smallest was .357″.

That is a very tight range.

While Long Range Match didn’t beat High Velocity Match in average group size, it demonstrated excellent consistency in this rifle.

SK Long Range Match Average: .406″

The Final SK Ranking

Now let’s put everything together.

Rank	SK Ammunition	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Average
🥇 1	SK High Velocity Match	.473″	.275″	.320″	.445″	.378″
🥈 2	SK Long Range Match	.415″	.401″	.453″	.357″	.406″
🥉 3	SK Rifle Match	.629″	.338″	.545″	.347″	.465″
4	SK Standard Plus	.454″	.443″	.649″	.495″	.510″
5	SK Biathlon Sport	.469″	.557″	.581″	.604″	.553″
6	SK Pistol Match	.485″	.799″	.459″	.499″	.560″

And there it is.

The winner wasn’t the most expensive ammunition.

It wasn’t SK Rifle Match.

It wasn’t SK Long Range Match.

It was:

SK High Velocity Match — .378″ Average

What Does This Tell Us?

The biggest takeaway isn’t that SK High Velocity Match won.

The bigger lesson is that every rifle is different.

The Ruger 77/22 doesn’t know what the ammunition costs.

It doesn’t know what the name on the box says.

It doesn’t care whether the cartridge was marketed for training, competition, biathlon or long-range shooting.

The rifle simply responds to the ammunition.

And in this rifle, SK High Velocity Match produced the best overall average.

That’s valuable information.

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But Look at SK Long Range Match

I think Long Range Match deserves special attention.

It finished second with a:

.406″ average

But look at the four groups:

.415″

.401″

.453″

.357″

That’s excellent consistency.

There wasn’t a single outlier that dramatically changed the average.

That makes this ammunition particularly interesting for future testing at longer distances.

After all, SK developed Long Range Match specifically for longer-range rimfire applications.

The Dayattherange Takeaway

So what did we learn?

First, SK High Velocity Match was the winner in this Ruger 77/22, averaging .378 inches across four groups.

Second, SK Long Range Match was extremely consistent, averaging .406 inches.

Third, Rifle Match produced some excellent individual groups but couldn’t match the average of the top two loads.

And finally…

The most expensive ammunition didn’t automatically win.

That’s one of the reasons I enjoy doing these tests.

The box doesn’t get to decide.

The marketing doesn’t get to decide.

And I don’t get to decide.

The target decides.

Watch the Full SK Accuracy Test

Watch the complete video on the Dayattherange YouTube channel:

SK Standard Plus vs Biathlon Sport vs Pistol Match vs High Velocity Match vs Rifle Match vs Long Range Match — all tested in the same Ruger 77/22.