FYI, check your factory ammo

.300 Dakota said:

So hopefully many/most of you have tested your chosen factory ammo extensively and know exactly what you have. I personally never or very rarely shoot factory ammo, but did so yesterday for barrel break-in on a new rifle. Didn't want to waste my good components cleaning a barrel up, so I bought some ammo at an Academy Sports locally to do the break-in with. I set up my radar on the bench and started shooting. This was an eye-opening experience. These were Remington's Tipped Core-Lokts for the 243 Winchester. If I had bought these to hunt out to 500 yards or beyond, I would have been very angry. Check out the discrepancy between the reported velocity printed on the box and that measured by the raday. That's a LARGE discrepancy!!

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7PRC I the worst at this

.300 Dakota said:

Not having any .243 brass around and then receiving a 50-round box of Peterson for load work-up, buying factory ammo to perform break-in was a natural conclusion to save my new brass for real loads that I'll actually use. That said, I wanted to get some ammo as nearly suited to the 1:8 twist as I could get. Most of what they had was 90-grain. There was a 100-grain load, but was a very cheap offering with a flat base. I thought the pricier 95-grain Remington boattail would be a better fit, and likely more consistent, since as someone pointed out, "You get what you pay for..." I was hoping for a secondary endpoint of finding something I could rely on to replace my handloads in a pinch if I ran off and forgot them at home. Yes, I'd rather waste Remington's components and save mine as much as possible. If you're wondering why I only bought 1 50-round box of brass, it's because if the rifle in question doesn't "shoot," it will be promptly rebarreled to something else besides a .243. Probably a 6mm Creedmoor, .25 Creedmoor, or 7mm-08.

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If you had used the Peterson brass to break it in, you would have 50 fire-formed brass to your chamber.

I couldn't tell you how many people I've seen buy factory ammo, read the little chart on the box that shows drop to 300 yards with a 100 yard sight in, and they trust it implicitly. Shoot a couple to set zero and off they go. No chrono, no dope verification, just blind faith that "I'm good to at least 500 with this". Always always verify. Even with a chrono, I still verify at the range I want to shoot at. If I haven't verified to 450, then I won't make that shot in the woods.

marksman1941 said:

I couldn't tell you how many people I've seen buy factory ammo, read the little chart on the box that shows drop to 300 yards with a 100 yard sight in, and they trust it implicitly. Shoot a couple to set zero and off they go. No chrono, no dope verification, just blind faith that "I'm good to at least 500 with this". Always always verify. Even with a chrono, I still verify at the range I want to shoot at. If I haven't verified to 450, then I won't make that shot in the woods.

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I agree with your premise 100% ……well almost.

Shoot and verify to the maximum distance available to you……your maximum shooting distance is obviously the best method!

But if you verify to let's say 300, which coincidentally is my home range length, I think that for my self determined maximum range of 600…..I suspect that the difference will not be significant enough to miss the kill zone on a Pronghorn and larger size big game animal, using a behind the shoulder shot.

If we're talking about "threading the needle" shots…..all bets are off! memtb

Just shot some Flocci 40 grain .223 blue-box ammo the other day.

Box stated 3600fps
16.5" barrel averaged 2935 with a 10-shot SD of over 50.

They shot very well at 100 yards though.

I guess you'd call that "accurate, but inconsistent."

memtb said:

I agree with your premise 100% ……well almost.

Shoot and verify to the maximum distance available to you……your maximum shooting distance is obviously the best method!

But if you verify to let's say 300, which coincidentally is my home range length, I think that for my self determined maximum range of 600…..I suspect that the difference will not be significant enough to miss the kill zone on a Pronghorn and larger size big game animal, using a behind the shoulder shot.

If we're talking about "threading the needle" shots…..all bets are off! memtb

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To each their own. That's just my personal methodology.

Here's my reasoning; my .375 Jaguar shoots lights out to 330. We have steel at my local range at 330, 480, and 600. I can consistently ring a 6" steel plate at 330, which shouldn't be too difficult for any caliber. At 480, even though there's no reason I should see a difference, I can't maintain regular hits on an 8" plate. With my 6.5cm, 600 is a piece of cake down to 4" plates, so I know it's not form or ability. The .375 just seems to start wandering a bit somewhere between 330 and 480. So my self imposed limit for that particular rifle is 350. If I hadn't tested at those ranges, I would have assumed that being good at 100 and 300 would mathematically let me stretch to 500 maybe. But with that setup it doesn't work that far out.

I'm not a good enough shooter to understand what's happening there to cause the issue. So, with any load I make and intend to use for longer ranges, I want to test and verify that there's not something goofy afoot before I try it on a critter. It's not worth wounding something because I didn't do my due diligence to verify I was indeed good to that range, and instead got lazy and just relied on the math.

marksman1941 said:

To each their own. That's just my personal methodology.

Here's my reasoning; my .375 Jaguar shoots lights out to 330. We have steel at my local range at 330, 480, and 600. I can consistently ring a 6" steel plate at 330, which shouldn't be too difficult for any caliber. At 480, even though there's no reason I should see a difference, I can't maintain regular hits on an 8" plate. With my 6.5cm, 600 is a piece of cake down to 4" plates, so I know it's not form or ability. The .375 just seems to start wandering a bit somewhere between 330 and 480. So my self imposed limit for that particular rifle is 350. If I hadn't tested at those ranges, I would have assumed that being good at 100 and 300 would mathematically let me stretch to 500 maybe. But with that setup it doesn't work that far out.

I'm not a good enough shooter to understand what's happening there to cause the issue. So, with any load I make and intend to use for longer ranges, I want to test and verify that there's not something goofy afoot before I try it on a critter. It's not worth wounding something because I didn't do my due diligence to verify I was indeed good to that range, and instead got lazy and just relied on the math.

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Wow…..that's interesting with your rifle!

I guess that I need to rethink my position! Your situation could be an anomaly, specific to your rifle……but, maybe not!

Thanks! memtb

memtb said:

Wow…..that's interesting with your rifle!

I guess that I need to rethink my position! Your situation could be an anomaly, specific to your rifle……but, maybe not!

Thanks! memtb

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It's a weird situation right? It's a 270gr .375 BTSP with a .478 G1 launching at 2300fps. It breaks 1800fps at the 330 mark, but by 600 it's still going 1440. So it's not like I'm dropping into transonic territory or anything.

It could be my scope isn't up to par for a longer shot (it's a Trijicon accupower 3-9) or some other variable. But the end result is the same, in that I don't want to shoot at an animal at a distance beyond what I've personally tested with that specific setup.

marksman1941 said:

It's a weird situation right? It's a 270gr .375 BTSP with a .478 G1 launching at 2300fps. It breaks 1800fps at the 330 mark, but by 600 it's still going 1440. So it's not like I'm dropping into transonic territory or anything.

It could be my scope isn't up to par for a longer shot (it's a Trijicon accupower 3-9) or some other variable. But the end result is the same, in that I don't want to shoot at an animal at a distance beyond what I've personally tested with that specific setup.

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I certainly understand you concerns…..and admire your convictions!

I'm sending my 270 grain LRX's downrange starting @ 3000 mv, but really have tested them at long range. memtb

marksman1941 said:

I couldn't tell you how many people I've seen buy factory ammo, read the little chart on the box that shows drop to 300 yards with a 100 yard sight in, and they trust it implicitly. Shoot a couple to set zero and off they go. No chrono, no dope verification, just blind faith that "I'm good to at least 500 with this". Always always verify. Even with a chrono, I still verify at the range I want to shoot at. If I haven't verified to 450, then I won't make that shot in the woods.

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Like everything in life, never trust but verify

GSRetrievers said:

If you had used the Peterson brass to break it in, you would have 50 fire-formed brass to your chamber.

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And I'd be out that many bullets, charges of powder, and the all-important primers. And my BIGGEST issue is I'd have had to have taken those several hours of careful workup and repeated the process in what would likely not have duplicated my original data, since the volume would have increased significantly, so I'd have had to have done it a THIRD time.

I get 1 day off every 2 to 3 weeks, and in that day, I have to get haircuts, oil changes (I drive like 1000 miles a week), Dr appointments, vet appointments, honey-dos, etc. I have 1 day to go back to the range before hunting season opens (and then I have 1 day to hunt this month), so whatever I do has to be complete and final on that day. I drive between 45 minutes and 90 minutes to a range, depending on which is available at the time. My choice may seem irrational to some, but unfortunately, it's the best I can do. And if I'd have done it the correct way, I wouldn't have gotten to post this lovely thread so folks could take time out of their busy day and tell me what an idiot I am. It's real important to me to know I'm an idiot. I need to know others see it, too.

If it matters at all, I'll tell you what you already know: YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!!

NOW... Let's get down to serious business, gentlemen... shall we??!

A response from Sandra today! OH MY!! Not ONLY is Remington interested in my concern, they have hit the emergency stop button on the production line! Jon in R&D (per Sandra) has authorized her to send me a return shipping label and UN Limited Quantities label (which I have a roll of already). THEY WANT IT BACK TO TEST THEMSELVES!! And not ONLY do they want it back, they are sending ME a "Certified" box of ammo to test under the same conditions (as near as possible) and give a report to Jon on my findings!!! They want to know if there is a problem in that Lot (August 2024, I'm told) AND they want me to see they have good ammo OR to see I have a bum radar!! So they have taken this with the UTMOST seriousness!! I eagerly agreed, and have printed my return label. I'll drop it by a UPS facility Monday morning! We're ON, gentlemen! Stay tuned and start your popcorn popping!!

.300 Dakota said:

NOW... Let's get down to serious business, gentlemen... shall we??!

A response from Sandra today! OH MY!! Not ONLY is Remington interested in my concern, they have hit the emergency stop button on the production line! Jon in R&D (per Sandra) has authorized her to send me a return shipping label and UN Limited Quantities label (which I have a roll of already). THEY WANT IT BACK TO TEST THEMSELVES!! And not ONLY do they want it back, they are sending ME a "Certified" box of ammo to test under the same conditions (as near as possible) and give a report to Jon on my findings!!! They want to know if there is a problem in that Lot (August 2024, I'm told) AND they want me to see they have good ammo OR to see I have a bum radar!! So they have taken this with the UTMOST seriousness!! I eagerly agreed, and have printed my return label. I'll drop it by a UPS facility Monday morning! We're ON, gentlemen! Stay tuned and start your popcorn popping!!

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Wow! Keep us informed!

.300 Dakota said:

F-O-U-R H-U-N-D-R-E-D Ft/S!!!!! If my Toyota Camry got 10mpg dadgum right I blame Toyota!!

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Right!! Not like he's 25-50 ft/s off, but to his point. I bought my wife a 22 Highlander that's rated at 29 hwy mpgs best I've got is 28.6. I've yet to take it to the dealership & ask ***. However if it the Highlander was getting forerunner or old tundra mpg's that b!tch would be sitting in front of the service door when they opened Monday.