ELEY force vs ELEY contact: Which Should I Buy?

The clearest rule is this: ELEY force is typically selected over ELEY contact when the firearm needs more power to cycle the action. If a semi-automatic rifle or pistol is short-stroking, failing to lock back or leaving the odd case in the action, force is the answer. If it cycles happily on subsonic ammunition, contact gives you a quieter, softer, faster-shooting round.

Beyond cycling, buy ELEY force if you want power: a supersonic round with greater energy on impact and the pronounced kickback expected from a recreational power round. Buy ELEY contact if you want quiet and control: a subsonic round engineered for semi-automatic platforms, with a softer report, reduced recoil and faster target re-acquisition. contact is extremely popular in dynamic shooting such as steel plate and practical shooting, and it is suitable for pistol or rifle; Kurt Grimes, a Grand Master in the United States, has won multiple world championships shooting it.

They are deliberately built as a pair. Both appear on ELEY’s semi-automatic rifle list and on ELEY’s semi-automatic pistol list. Both are round-nose, both weigh 2.7 g / 42 gr, both are lubricated with paraffin wax, and both carry the same published accuracy standard of 7.00 mm Radial Standard Deviation (RSD). The only meaningful difference is which side of the sound barrier they were designed to sit on. Everything you notice at the range follows from that one decision.

Head to Head

What Makes force Different

ELEY force is defined by its propellant rather than its bullet. It uses a purpose-designed propellant with a distributed pressure curve, engineered to spread pressure through the bullet’s travel down the barrel rather than spike it, accelerating the projectile to supersonic velocity. The published result is greater energy on impact and the pronounced kickback expected from a recreational power round.

At 344-381 m/s (1130-1250 ft/s), force shares the fastest velocity band in the ELEY .22LR range with ELEY high velocity hollow. Combined with the heavier 42 gr bullet, that is where the knock-down character comes from. It is also why force is typically selected over contact when the firearm needs more power to cycle the action. A blowback or self-loading action has only the energy the cartridge gives it, and force gives it the most of any round-nose cartridge ELEY makes.

Because it is supersonic, the bullet produces a sonic crack in flight. No moderator can remove that; a moderator works on the muzzle report. If you shoot moderated and choose force, you are getting a fraction of the quiet a moderator can give you.

What Makes contact Different

ELEY contact is defined by restraint. It is a purpose-engineered subsonic cartridge for semi-automatic platforms, loaded to 317-332 m/s (1040-1090 ft/s) so the bullet stays below the speed of sound, which removes the sonic crack entirely and leaves only the muzzle report for a moderator to work on.

The design payoff is a chain of practical benefits. Lower recoil gives quicker sight-picture recovery. Quicker recovery gives faster target re-acquisition. Faster re-acquisition gives a smoother rhythm through a string. Combined with the softer report, contact lets you shoot more, faster, with less disruption between shots. It also introduces new or younger shooters to a firearm without recoil and noise getting in the way.

That is precisely why contact has become extremely popular in dynamic shooting. Steel plate and practical shooting are decided by transitions between targets and shot in volume, in pistol as well as rifle, and contact suits both. Kurt Grimes, a Grand Master in the United States, has won multiple world championships shooting it.

What They Share

Everything except velocity, and that is the point of the pairing.

Round-nose profile. Both cartridges appear on ELEY’s semi-automatic rifle list and on ELEY’s semi-automatic pistol list, so both feed cleanly from a magazine and up a feed ramp.

Paraffin wax lubricant. Lubricant on a .22LR cartridge exists to ease repeated chambering. The idea that it sends the bullet down the barrel is a common misconception. Paraffin is thinner and harder than beeswax-tallow, with a higher melting point and a drier feel, less prone to picking up debris, and it does not clog semi-automatic mechanisms. That is why both rounds carry it.

7.00 mm RSD. RSD measures the distance from each shot hole to the group’s centre point, the mean point of impact. Unlike extreme spread, which considers only the two furthest shots, RSD evaluates every shot fired. ELEY establishes the figure by testing 200 rounds from every batch across four different firearm brands, so the published 7.00 mm is a ceiling every batch has already proved it can meet.

The same manufacturing controls and the same universal specification. Propellant measured electronically for each individual cartridge; priming in an advanced air-conditioned facility giving a 75 per cent improvement in the spread of primer weights compared with other manufacturers; case mouths trimmed flat with exacting crimping standards; high-tech heel inspection; Six Sigma methodology and high-speed electronic visual inspection. All of it goes into a 25.4 mm / 1 inch cartridge with a ballistic coefficient of 0.112 and drag model RA4.

How to Decide

Work through these questions in order and the answer usually falls out in one step:

1. Does your firearm need more power to cycle the action? If yes, buy force. This is the decision rule ELEY leads with, and it settles the question before anything else does.
2. Do you shoot moderated? If the action cycles fine, buy contact. A subsonic round is the only way to get the full benefit of a moderator.
3. Is your range, club or permission noise-sensitive? contact.
4. Are you shooting steel plate, practical or any other dynamic discipline? contact, for the faster sight recovery and smoother rhythm.
5. Are you shooting spinners or knock-down targets for maximum reaction? force, for the energy on impact.
6. Do you want the rifle to feel punchy and lively? force, for the pronounced kickback.

Neither is a quarry cartridge. Both are round-nose, and for rabbit, squirrel and vermin control ELEY makes two dedicated hollow-points: ELEY subsonic hollow at 2.46 g / 38 gr and 305-317 m/s (1000-1040 ft/s), and ELEY high velocity hollow at the same weight and 344-381 m/s (1130-1250 ft/s).

ELEY ammunition is supplied in 50-round boxes, 500-round bricks and 5,000-round outer cases. Stockists are listed at eley.co.uk/retailers.

The Bottom Line

Same bullet, same weight, same lubricant, same published accuracy standard, opposite velocity philosophies. Choose force when the firearm needs more power to cycle the action. It is the supersonic power round, built on a purpose-designed propellant with a distributed pressure curve, delivering greater energy on impact and maximum knock-down power with precision. ELEY contact is the subsonic control round: engineered for semi-automatic platforms in pistol and rifle, with a softer report, reduced recoil, faster target re-acquisition and a smoother rhythm, and a following in dynamic shooting that includes multiple world championships won by US Grand Master Kurt Grimes.

Pick by the shooting you actually do: moderated, quiet or dynamic means contact; loud, punchy and reactive means force, as does an action that needs feeding. Then narrow it further by lot: book batch testing through your own barrel at eley.co.uk/vip. The firearm, the ammunition and the shooter are the Triangle of Success, and the best ammunition is always the production lot that performs best in your rifle.