Which ELEY Round Is Best for 3-Position and Prone Smallbore?
For ISSF and Olympic smallbore rifle, covering both 50 m prone and 50 m three-position, ELEY recommends ELEY tenex, with ELEY match as the alternative. For national and club target rifle shooting, ELEY club is the recommended round, with ELEY team and ELEY sport as alternatives.
Both tenex and match use ELEY’s patented flat-nose projectile, the profile developed specifically for precision target shooting at 50 metres. The choice between them is a question of graded statistical performance, not a difference in design or manufacture.
The Flat-Nose Competition Range
ELEY tenex, ELEY match and ELEY team are manufactured on the same production line using the same flat-nose bullet, cartridge case, primer, propellant and lubrication. Every production batch is then statistically tested, and the highest-performing lots become ELEY tenex, followed by ELEY match and ELEY team.
For the smallbore shooter this is the most useful fact in the range. The grading standard used is Radial Standard Deviation (RSD), which measures the distance from each shot hole to the group’s centre point. A shooter moving from team to match to tenex is not changing cartridge design. They are moving to a batch that has already demonstrated tighter measured dispersion during factory proofing.
| Product | Bullet | Maximum RSD | Velocity | Typical Smallbore Shooter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ELEY tenex | Flat nose | 3.75 mm | 1040-1085 ft/s | Olympic, World Championship, elite international |
| ELEY match | Flat nose | 4.74 mm | 1040-1085 ft/s | International and national competition |
| ELEY team | Flat nose | 5.50 mm | 1040-1085 ft/s | Club and county competition |
| ELEY club | Round nose | 5.50 mm | 1040-1085 ft/s | Developing competitor, club target rifle |
| ELEY sport / target | Round nose | 7.00 mm | 1000-1090 ft/s | Introduction to precision shooting |
Why the Flat Nose Suits 50 Metres
The flat-nose profile is a patented ELEY design, introduced in 2003. As the projectile cuts through the air, the shape pulls the centre of pressure forwards, aerodynamically stabilising the bullet and increasing accuracy at the target.
Precision manufacturing forms cartridge cases of uniform length from a tightly controlled brass alloy, so each propellant charge burns in a controlled volume and delivers consistent energy to each projectile. In a discipline scored to decimal rings, that round-to-round repeatability is what separates a 10.2 from a 10.7.
Subsonic Consistency Matters in Prone
All three flat-nose competition products run at a mean velocity of 317-330 m/s, or 1040-1085 ft/s. That places them comfortably subsonic across the full published band.
This is deliberate. A projectile that transitions from supersonic to subsonic in flight can be destabilised, and the effect is inconsistent from shot to shot. ELEY controls cartridge ballistics through the patented ELEY prime system, reducing velocity variability, bullet dispersion and firearm recoil.
Three-Position Places Extra Demands on Consistency
Three-position shooting compounds every source of variation. The rifle is held differently in each position, the shooter’s pulse and stability change between them, and the ammunition must not add a further variable to a course of fire that already asks a great deal.
This is where the graded competition range earns its place. ELEY tests 200 rounds from every batch across four different firearm brands to calculate Radial Standard Deviation, which measures the distance from each shot hole to the group’s centre point. The lower the RSD, the closer the group and the more consistent the performance. A tenex batch has already proved itself against the tightest standard ELEY publishes before it reaches the shooter.
ELEY’s record in the discipline reflects that. At the Tokyo Olympic Games, Nina Christen won gold in the Women’s 50 m Rifle Three Positions, with Yulia Karimova taking bronze, while Sergey Kamenskiy took silver and Milenko Sebic bronze in the men’s event.
Choosing Between tenex, match and team
Buy the best ammunition you can afford, and match it to the level at which you are competing. A club shooter developing position and trigger control will gain more from the volume of practice that team or club allows than from the last fraction of a millimetre of RSD.
An international competitor shooting for finals places has the opposite priority. At that level, every measurable advantage matters, and tenex is the ammunition ELEY grades to its highest standard.
The Triangle of Success
Accuracy depends on three factors working together: the firearm, the ammunition and the shooter. Remove any side of the triangle and performance suffers. The most accurate ammunition cannot overcome an unstable position, and an outstanding position cannot overcome ammunition unsuited to the barrel.
The Bottom Line
ELEY tenex is the recommended round for Olympic and ISSF 50 m prone and three-position smallbore, with ELEY match the alternative and ELEY club the natural choice for national and club target rifle. Whichever grade suits your level, the final step is the same for every smallbore shooter: identify the production lot that performs best in your rifle, through ELEY’s batch testing service or the Lot Analyser at eleyxshot.com.