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SK vs LAPUA Small-bore ammunition

By Asmir Arifovic 7 years ago 24225 Views 4 comments

There are some things that I get asked a lot, there are a few repeating questions when it comes to ammo but one in particular always comes back.

Usually the conversation begins something like...


"How does Lapua ammo compare to SK?" or "I heard that Lapua and Sk...this and that."


Here are some things you need to know of the bat:

  • --> Both Lapua and SK made are made in Schönebeck Germany
  • --> Both are brands for smallbore ammunition from the Nammo Group of companies
  • --> Both share the same markings on the bottom of the casing, a little cross hair

However most people would like to know where the two brands fit. Since they are both owned by the same company it would not make sense to have have competing lines and thus SK and Lapua have virtually zero overlap.


SK smallbore ammunition

SK has always been made in Schönebeck, where current factory is.
Lapua is Finnish brand and smallbore ammunition under Lapua name has been made in Lapua in Finland until mid 2000s when it the production was moved to Schönebeck.

SK smallbore ammunition is positioned in the highly competitive mid range or entry level competition ammunition, competing with mid range Eley and RWS. There are other players in this space like Federal, Aguila and CCI, but they are generally just a notch below in quality and in price compared to SK ammunition.

Lapua is positioned as high top shelf brand having it compete with the top lines of Eley and RWS Ammunition.
SK has been produced as an OEM product sold under different brand names.


Each of these two brands produce great products for the shooting market, each with benefits for specific purposes.

If you want to see for yourself how these products compare in you gun you might want to try our popular ammo samplers!!!

And if you have more questions, you know how to reach us!

Chris Mella 7 years ago at 9:16 AM
And as always with small bore ammunition some rifles/pistols will shoot different brands better regardless of the price. For me it was important to see for myself and the variety packs helped with that. Don't stick with just one brand/level just because of its name or reputation or price. Try everything.
Jim Harrison 5 years ago at 7:51 PM
Agree 100%. My BR50 S&L preferred, believe it or not, SK Std +.
Ken Coutts 6 years ago at 5:33 PM
I tried the SK sample pack in my 10/22 started with the standard plus with no adjustments to the scope and wound up with one big hole covering 25% of the bullseye then came the snow I can’t wait to try the other 4 I’m impressed!
Ron V 6 months ago at 4:33 PM
Old thread but still worth a moment. Here is what I learned from SK vs Lapua in my Tikka over the last 6 months. Each rifle prefers a certain ammunition, some rifles shoot everything well, but not a single rifle will shoot just only one brand well.

I have used the high end sampler pack, various mid and high end Lapua, Eley and SK and MY rifle shoots Lapua Midas+ really well consistently in warmer temperatures (10° and above). But it shoots better with SK Biathlon Sport in colder temperatures. Both munitions are tuned with a barrel tuner and produce sub MOA at 100 yards consistently. Neither Xact nor CenterX performed like that across the tuners spectrum in any temperature in MY rifle.

The Biathlon sport is a mid range munition that performs really well in certain conditions in MY Tikka, which shows that the production control of this product is top notch and I would say comparable to Midas+. Speeds were consistent for both brands in their respective lot numbers and never varied more than a couple of fps with a warm barrel in their respective temperature ranges where I use them. I believe you can’t go wrong with either brand starting out in this discipline as both will give great competitive results, albeit at a very different price point.

Rim fire F-class is a steep learning curve but figuring out the munitions/ rifle relationship is even more challenging. There is always more to learn,