Factory ammo

[marksman1941]

I usually play with my reloads and hunt with factory ammo, if there's an offering that rifle likes. I learned a lot of reloading for accuracy by trial and error, so for a good while, factory was often better accuracy than my reloads and I trusted it more.

At this point I'm confident I can make accurate loads, but I still have a box or two of each factory offering on the shelf for each rifle as a backup. Whenever those go on sale, I'll snag another box or two.

It is a toss up though sometimes. I got very enamored with federal trophy bonds in my .308 and 30-06, as the bullets worked perfect and loaded ammo was surprisingly inexpensive. Then it became unobtainium and wildly expensive when it was in stock, so I hoarded some bullets and had to re create the factory loads I liked so much. My .300 win is the same way with Norma Oryx ammo. It's just not there anymore.

So, that's a very long winded way to say - factory works just fine, but stock up on the ammo you choose as much as you can so you don't get burned when it's discontinued. Otherwise, keep your loading gear so you can replicate loads when you need to.

 

[Brad Quarnberg]

I've had good luck shooting Federal Terminal Ascent bullets out of several different 300 WSMs.
I've also had good success shooting Hornady Superformance from my 308 and 6.5 Creedmore, and Hornady Precision Hunter from my new 7 PRC.
I do reload but honestly, I've begun to take a serious look at the amount of time I'm spending on reloading vs the accuracy I'm getting out of some factory ammo.
I've found in some of my guns, mostly the ones I'm not shooting with a suppressor, I'm better off putting a tuner brake on the end of my threaded barrel and shooting factory ammo and tuning for that ammo.
For the few guns I shoot suppressed, I'll likely continue to load at least until I either run out of components, or the cost of ammo makes reloading worth the time and money.

 

[marksman1941]

I think a caveat to give a point in reloading a favor is for big bruisers or weird cartridges that factory isn't feasible. For 30-06, just buy factory. For .338 or 9.3, you can really get ahead with loading even with the investment. My .338 RUM is between $4-$8 per shot for factory, IF you can find it. My hunting reloads, shooting us869 powder and 250gr grand slams (or .300gr SMK, weirdly the same price) come out to $1.50-$1.68 per shot depending on how many reloads I can get out of a case. At that rate, saving $2.50-$6.50 per shot, the loading investment really does pay itself off with any volume of shooting.

 

[TexasPhotog]

Who shoots factory ammo for hunting? Let me be more specific, 500 yards or less? I was looking around my garage tonight and realized all the money I had tied up in reloading equipment, components, etc. I dont shoot PRS or F-class and have no intentions of it and have a self imposed limit of 500 yards on animals.

Just seemed like a lot of unneeded extra steps.

Am I wrong?

If you're happy using factory, then great. But reloading has some real advantages. I find I can reload straighter ammo than what is sold in the stores and I can control the COAL. Concentricity definitly helps accuracy and sometimes seating a bullet longer or shorter improves accuracy quite a bit too. Also you can use bullets that are hard to find - or completely unavailable - in factory ammo in the cartridge you want to use. For example, a guy with a fast twist 243 can load 105's and longer with handloads, or 162's in a 7-08 and those do improve wind holds.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Think about this:

Some of us reload to shoot, while others (myself included), shoot to reload.

Reloading is an enjoyable hobby all by itself, especially if you have obsessive compulsive disorders.

 

[69precision]

Depends on your needs vs available time and money. Personally for me, given a challenging day job and family responsibilities, factory is the best option for me. I shoot a few hundred rounds a year of centerfire rifle and my time is worth a lot. A huge factor though is accuracy needs. Similar to the OP, I'm comfortable and happy with hunting to 500 yards, 600 under ideal conditions. I can ring steel out to 1100 with the 308 or 6.5 creed with Hornaday match or federal gmm and both are capable of half moa when I'm up to the task. That's plenty good for me. So for me personally at this time, reloading doesn't bring much to the table. For others it's by far the best option given their accuracy or financial situation for how much they shoot or how accurate they need to be for formal competition.

 

[bomberodevil]

I began reloading in the early 1980's, mainly for economics and for the lack of quality factory ammo components. The better bullets weren't always available in factory ammo. Nowadays, you can buy high quality bullets, loaded to pretty close tolerances, in factory boxes.

I continue to handload my hunting ammo because I think I can get better tolerances than the factory. Most of my loads are near or at single digit ES, and I enjoy the process and the sense of accomplishment.

 

[The Oregonian]

Reloading is expensive anymore. large magnum brass is 2.65 each, powder is 1.25 per shot, bullets about .80, primer about .13.
That doesn't include all of the tooling and gadgets that we accumulate over time.
Ask yourself if you are getting the performance that you want in factory ammo?
Velocity? Accuracy? repeatability? and AVAILABILITY? Is it worth it to you if you only shoot once a year? If you're shooting 200 rounds per rifle per year avg, then just going from lot to lot in ammo would be a PITA, in that case yes it's worth reloading.

How are you getting $1.25 per round in powder? At $50/lb using 80 gr of powder I get $.57 per round. For a 60gr load it would be about $.45/round.

The price of reloading shouldn't be looked at in a vacuum but in relation to factory ammo.

 

[marksman1941]

How are you getting $1.25 per round in powder? At $50/lb using 80 gr of powder I get $.57 per round. For a 60gr load it would be about $.45/round.

The price of reloading shouldn't be looked at in a vacuum but in relation to factory ammo.

Depends on when you bought powder and where. Local spots were running up to $80 a pound at one point and online (gunbroker) was often $100 a pound. At $100 a pound, shooting 100gr of powder, it's $1.42 in powder.

 

[Wildstreak]

A lot of good points made for both sides of this. Don't think for a second that am not worried about the government screwing around with ammo sales. I'm sure it's coming and it's quite worrisome. That being said, I got into reloading back in the mid/early 90's simply out of necessity. I certainly don't do it because I enjoy it, it's a task in a series of tasks that is required to achieve my desired end results. Factory components and QC were terrible thus factory ammo was just junk. I don't think that's the case these days. That being said, I've found myself going 100MPH down a never ending rabbit hole chasing the best possible groups and never being satisfied. It can always be better. All of it is my fault and all of it could be prevented. But it is what it is, when I step back and look at things and what my objectives are and how much I shoot, reloading just doesn't seem necessary.

At the end of the day I want to shoot and ethically kill an animal at under 500 yards. At this point in my life all the shooting I do with rifles capable of doing this is simply in prep for the hunt.

 

[memtb]

To add to my first post in an attempt to further explain my position on reloading/hand loading!

I guess that I've always been (probably since birth) exceedingly distrustful of people and government. I've pretty much been of a survivalist mindset most of my life…..and was starting my preparations even then. I'm actually very surprised that things have lasted this long without a major "reset"!

I bought my first centerfire rifle @ 14 after much research, choosing the .308 Winchester as my cartridge. It was a darn good little round accuracy wise and performance wise on anything I was likely to hunt…..at that time! It took nearly a year of saving my money to make that $112 purchase!

However, the primary driving force behind my decision was that it was the US military cartridge of the day……meaning military ammunition was readily available as well as components! By the time I was 15, I was reloading for it and slowly stocking up on components. By 19 or so, I was casting bullets for it……expecting jacketed bullets to become hard to get at some time. Married just before my 17th birthday….handloading offered great satisfaction in developing loads that were more accurate that factory ammo, but was much more cost efficient!

55 years later my values are the same…..though money is a bit more available! memtb

 

[3chester]

The only factory stuff used for years starting out was the M1 Garand 8 round clips, in the cloth bandoliers. Then, Ruger Super Blackhawk, the Lee 450 bullet sizer and started casting and reloading. Most anytime got a new rig, bought the dies, brass, bullets on same day. Never much on factory stuff, unless really like the brand RWS, Speer, Sako, and few others.

 

[bultinkle]

I think evaluating what your needs are every so often and what the simplest way to get that result is a good idea. If that's factory ammo I wouldn't be too worried. What I would do is focus on popular cartridges and when you pick the ammo you like I would buy a lot of it. And I would try to find one that has a lot of support (cough not federal premium with a fancy bullet, it will not be in stock when you "need" it)

223/6.5/308 are so nice became you can get accurate enough ammo for not much money and pile it deep.

 

[FEENIX]

but will start relating for it when they are all spent.

reloading that is.