Thought was, what if a PC gun goes down at a big Lever Action Match and a SB is pressed into service as a backup. Is there an ammo choice to help not give up as many heavy PC Rams?

Ammo Tested / advertised bullet weight and velocity: Eley Force 42 @ 1250, SK High Velocity Match 40 @ 1263, Norma Extreme LR-22 43 @ 1165. Then just because some was in my ammo box; Geco Rifle 40 @ 1083, Geco Semi-Auto 40 @ 1148

Targets consisted of 10 half scale, heavy pistol cartridge targets in new smooth face condition. 5 of which were regulation weight and 5 extra heavy with no horn hole. They were set full footed on the rail with attention paid to finding spots with solid no wobble footing. Those spots were marked so they got reset in the same spot for each ammo. All targets were positioned to the original position after each 10 round test. I used my scoped Smallbore rifle with 24” barrel. It was 102deg, dead calm and bleached bone dry. Aiming point was center of Ram. At the conclusion of test each target had a 5 shot group in the center no larger than a silver dollar.

Eley: 1 heavy / 3 regulation = 4
SK: 2 Heavy / 3 Regulation = 5
Norma: 2 Heavy / 3 Regulation = 5
Geco Rifle: 0 Heavy / 2 Regulation = 2
Geco Semi-Auto: 3 Heavy / 4 Regulation = 7

Before the test my money was on the Norma (lots of money). The Geco Semi Auto has been a solid, not very expensive, performer in all our rifles.

If anyone has the time or interest it would be educational to see others results. I may get different results if I ran the test again but it was HOT and in a match you don’t get a redo to see if you can do better.

Of interest, I used each of the ammo options to clean up the rail after each test. Every ammo cleaned the remainder of the animals off the rail after they had been hit once during the test. I did another test where I shot 5 animals in the face and 5 in the top of the back. That resulted in 100% knock over by every ammo in the test. I can’t consistently shoot an animal in the face or top of the back but if I could that would have a great result.

If needed I would use 22LR for the pistol caliber game. Not ideal but better than packing up and going home.
Then there is this....
Atglen Sportsmen's Club. During a Lever Action rimfire match the first shooter on the B pig bank turned 6 pigs. They slowly spun on the rail and didn't even think about falling. When that relay was over the pigs were inspected. It was found that pistol caliber pigs were accidentally set on that bank. The shooter was given all six pigs of course.
Now if this was a 22LR pressed into service in a pistol caliber match that would have been six misses. So depending on the animals, the rails and how they are set, it is not just the rams that can refuse to fall.

If the situation should arise to substitute a 22 for PC ,probably what ever worked in your 22 gun would suffice.
I will add a quote “Better to have shot and not got,Than to have not shot and Not got”