SK vs LAPUA Small-bore ammunition
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.
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| 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!
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,