What Is ELEY force Designed For and When Should I Choose It?

ELEY force is a recreational power round: high velocity and maximum knock-down power with precision. A purpose-designed propellant with a distributed pressure curve accelerates a 2.7 g / 42 gr round-nose bullet to a supersonic 344-381 m/s (1130-1250 ft/s), delivering greater energy on impact and the pronounced kickback expected from a power round.

Choose ELEY force when you want the punchiest round in the ELEY range for informal, recreational shooting: steel, reactive targets, plinking, and the sort of session where you want to feel and hear the result. It is the round for shooters who want the .22LR to hit hard, in a cartridge still held to a published accuracy standard of 7.00 mm Radial Standard Deviation (RSD).

There is a second, equally practical reason to choose it. force is suitable for both semi-automatic rifles and semi-automatic pistols, and force is typically selected over ELEY contact when the firearm needs more power to cycle the action. If a self-loader is short-stroking, failing to lock back or leaving the odd case in the action, force is the round to reach for.

ELEY force at a Glance

The Propellant Is the Product

Most .22LR cartridges are differentiated by their bullet. ELEY force is differentiated by what is behind it.

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

That propellant works alongside the manufacturing controls ELEY applies across the range: propellant measured electronically for each individual cartridge, priming in an advanced air-conditioned facility that gives a 75 per cent improvement in the spread of primer weights compared with other manufacturers, case mouths trimmed flat and exacting crimping standards for optimum round-to-round pull-out force. A power round built without those controls would be inconsistent. force is built with them, which is why force delivers knock-down power without giving up precision.

Why Round-Nose, and Why 42 Grains

ELEY force uses a round-nose profile at 2.7 g / 42 gr, the heaviest weight class in the ELEY .22LR line-up alongside ELEY contact and semi-auto benchrest outlaw. Round-nose is the profile every cartridge on ELEY’s semi-automatic rifle and pistol lists shares, because the smoother nose feeds reliably from a magazine and up a feed ramp, and the heavier bullet carries more mass to the target than the 40 gr and 38 gr options in the range.

The lubricant supports the same use case. ELEY force is lubricated with paraffin wax, thinner and harder than beeswax-tallow at any given temperature, with a drier feel and less tendency to pick up debris. Importantly for autoloaders, it does not clog semi-automatic mechanisms.

When to Choose ELEY force

Choose ELEY force when:

• You want the highest-energy, hardest-hitting recreational round in the ELEY range.
• You are shooting steel, reactive or knock-down targets where impact energy is the point.
• Your semi-automatic rifle or pistol needs more power to cycle the action. This is the classic reason to choose force over contact.
• Noise is not a constraint on your range or permission.
• You want a genuinely fun, punchy session rather than a quiet one.

Choose something else when:

• You shoot moderated or need a quiet session. force is supersonic, so the bullet produces a sonic crack that no moderator can remove. ELEY contact is the subsonic counterpart at the same 2.7 g / 42 gr weight and the same 7.00 mm RSD, running at 317-332 m/s (1040-1090 ft/s).
• You are shooting quarry and need an expanding bullet. force is round-nose. ELEY subsonic hollow and ELEY high velocity hollow are the hollow-point cartridges engineered for terminal performance on quarry.
• You are shooting for score on paper at 50 m. ELEY’s flat-nose target range is engineered for that job: tenex at 3.75 mm RSD, match at 4.74 mm and team at 5.50 mm.

force and contact: The Same Chassis, Opposite Philosophies

ELEY force and ELEY contact share a bullet profile, a bullet weight of 2.7 g / 42 gr, a paraffin wax lubricant and a published 7.00 mm RSD. They differ only in velocity, and therefore in character: force is supersonic at 344-381 m/s (1130-1250 ft/s) with pronounced kickback; contact is subsonic at 317-332 m/s (1040-1090 ft/s) with a softer report, reduced recoil and faster target re-acquisition. contact is extremely popular in dynamic shooting: steel plate and practical shooting, in pistol or rifle.

Both appear on ELEY’s semi-automatic rifle list and ELEY’s semi-automatic pistol list, so the decision between them is not about whether the round will feed. It is about how much energy the action needs and how much noise you want: force is typically selected over contact when the firearm needs more power to cycle the action.

That is a deliberate pairing, letting a shooter switch between a power session and a quiet, high-rhythm session without changing anything else about how the rifle is set up.

Getting the Best From It

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

Batch testing through your own barrel is open to anyone at eley.co.uk/vip. The free Lot Analyser at eleyxshot.com now carries all lots of ELEY tenex, tenex pistol, tenex biathlon, tenex rapid fire pistol, match, semi-auto .22LR benchrest precision, ultra and club, so if you also shoot one of those it is worth an account.

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

ELEY force is ELEY’s recreational power round: a 2.7 g / 42 gr round-nose bullet driven supersonic at 344-381 m/s (1130-1250 ft/s) by a purpose-designed propellant with a distributed pressure curve, delivering greater energy on impact, pronounced kickback and a published 7.00 mm RSD. It is suitable for semi-automatic rifles and semi-automatic pistols alike. Choose it for high-energy recreational shooting, reactive targets, and any self-loader that needs more power to cycle the action.

If you want the same cartridge character with a softer report and reduced recoil, ELEY contact is its subsonic twin. And whichever you buy, the best box is the production lot that performs best in your rifle.