Which ELEY Ammunition Shoots Best in a CZ 457?
Every firearm is different, so ELEY’s guidance for a CZ 457 is a starting point plus a method: try different lots of ELEY club, ELEY sport and ELEY contact, and let the rifle tell you which it prefers. Those three cover the work most 457s do: club and sport for target shooting and practice, contact where a subsonic round with a softer report and reduced recoil suits the shooting. All three are round-nose cartridges.
The 457 is a bolt-action, and a bolt-action chambers each round by hand, so the rest of the range is open to you as well. For formal target and benchrest competition that means the patented flat-nose cartridges: ELEY tenex, ELEY match and ELEY team. For extended-distance shooting, including PRS and NRL22 style courses, ELEY ultra extreme long range is the round engineered for the job. For field and pest control, ELEY subsonic hollow and ELEY high velocity hollow are the hunting rounds.
What no one can tell you in advance is which cartridge, and which lot of it, your specific rifle shoots best. Every barrel has its own unique dimensions and harmonic characteristics, and each batch of ammunition performs differently. What performs flawlessly in one barrel may not deliver the same results in another, which is why batch testing exists, and why trying several lots matters more than settling on a product name.
Candidate Products by Use
| Product | Bullet | Weight | Velocity | Maximum RSD | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ELEY tenex | Flat nose | 2.59 g / 40 gr | 317-330 m/s (1040-1085 ft/s) | 3.75 mm | Serious target and benchrest competition |
| ELEY match | Flat nose | 2.59 g / 40 gr | 317-330 m/s (1040-1085 ft/s) | 4.74 mm | Competition and high-level club shooting |
| ELEY team | Flat nose | 2.59 g / 40 gr | 317-330 m/s (1040-1085 ft/s) | 5.50 mm | Stepping into premium target ammunition |
| ELEY club | Round nose | 2.59 g / 40 gr | 317-330 m/s (1040-1085 ft/s) | 5.50 mm | National and club target rifle |
| ELEY sport / target | Round nose | 2.59 g / 40 gr | 305-332 m/s (1000-1090 ft/s) | 7.00 mm | Entry-level target shooting and training |
| ELEY ultra extreme long range | Round nose | 2.59 g / 40 gr | 317-330 m/s (1040-1085 ft/s) | 4.00 mm | Extended-distance precision |
| ELEY contact | Round nose | 2.7 g / 42 gr | 317-332 m/s (1040-1090 ft/s) | 7.00 mm | Subsonic, softer report, reduced recoil |
| ELEY subsonic hollow | Hollow point | 2.46 g / 38 gr | 305-317 m/s (1000-1040 ft/s) | 43 mm group* | Quiet vermin control |
| ELEY high velocity hollow | Hollow point | 2.46 g / 38 gr | 344-381 m/s (1130-1250 ft/s) | 30 mm group* | Small game and pest species |
*Group size is used when statistical precision is not required.
Radial Standard Deviation (RSD) measures the distance from each shot hole to the group’s centre point, the mean point of impact. The lower the RSD, the closer the group and the more consistent the performance. Unlike extreme spread, which considers only the two furthest shots, RSD evaluates every shot fired. ELEY tests 200 rounds from every batch across four different firearm brands to calculate it.
Target Work: The Flat-Nose Range
ELEY tenex, match and team share the patented flat-nose profile developed in 2003. As the projectile cuts through the air, the design pulls the centre of pressure forwards, aerodynamically stabilising the bullet and increasing accuracy at the target. All three are lubricated with beeswax-tallow, a softer, thicker, stickier wax specified to minimise the effects of chambering in a manually operated action.
ELEY tenex is the world’s most consistently accurate .22LR cartridge. ELEY match is second in the world of flat-nose .22LR accuracy and performance, built on a cut mouth case. ELEY team is ELEY’s entry-level premium cartridge, using precision-engineered trimmed case technology, and provides the perfect starting point for competitive shooters stepping into the premium range.
Long Range and Field Use
ELEY ultra extreme long range is a round-nose cartridge engineered for extreme precision at long range, with a refined bullet profile, optimised visibility and a maximum RSD of 4.00 mm. That is the tightest published standard in the ELEY round-nose range.
For hunting, ELEY subsonic hollow is a hunting cartridge with target shooting accuracy and reduced velocity, offering a quieter muzzle report compared with other .22LR hunting rounds, and unequalled expansion characteristics giving short penetration with outstanding stopping power. ELEY high velocity hollow uses a low-antimony, soft-lead hollow-point projectile that accelerates to high velocity while delivering controlled expansion and deep penetration on small game and pest species.
Why Lots Matter More Than Product Names
ELEY manufactures its match-grade ammunition in small lot quantities, which gives greater control over the process and gives shooters a wider selection to suit the wide variety of firearms in use. That is the point ELEY keeps returning to: no two firearms perform the same, so the range exists to be sampled.
Applied to a CZ 457, that means buying club, sport and contact in more than one lot where you can (adding the flat-nose products if you are shooting competition), and comparing them properly:
- Shoot from a rest, on a calm day, so you are testing the ammunition rather than your position.
- Fire fouling shots after a clean, and after switching between products with different lubricants, before any group counts.
- Record the batch code from every box. The format
10 26-04 244over1045reads as loaded product, year 2026, loader 04, batch 244 for that loader, and 1045 mean velocity across four barrels during proofing. - Judge consistency across strings, not a single good group.
Finding the Answer for Your Barrel
The definitive answer for an individual rifle comes from testing. ELEY operates batch testing centres in the United Kingdom, Hungary, Germany, the United States and Canada. Shooters can evaluate up to 20 batches through their own barrel: ten shots from each batch, the best performers shortlisted, then a further 30 shots until a 40-shot group size and consolidated score is recorded for each. Batch testing is open to anyone and is booked at eley.co.uk/vip.
If you cannot travel, the free Lot Analyser at eleyxshot.com opens ELEY’s proof data behind a batch number. All lots of ELEY club are published there, along with tenex, tenex pistol, tenex biathlon, tenex rapid fire pistol, match, semi-auto .22LR benchrest precision and ultra, including the 200-shot proof group with X and Y coordinates for every shot, plus velocity, group size and radial dispersion across four barrel types.
The Bottom Line
Every firearm is different, so start where ELEY points you: try different lots of ELEY club, ELEY sport and ELEY contact in your CZ 457. If you are shooting formal competition, add ELEY tenex, match or team; for extended distance, ELEY ultra extreme long range; for the field, the hollow points. Then settle the question properly by testing lots through your own barrel at eley.co.uk/vip. The best ammunition is the production lot that performs best in your rifle. The firearm, the ammunition and the shooter are the Triangle of Success, and only testing joins the three together.