Is today's premium ammo as good as the average guys HL's?

[coop2564]

I know many of you are meticulous with your loads and go to great lengths to make it perfect, but many guys do not. Considering runout, neck tension, many using cheap or inconsistent scales, etc.
Do you think the premium ammo today is as good or maybe better than the average reloaded can make, if he is using standard expander button dies, lower end scales, not annealing, etc.?

 

[BoomFlop]

I shoot factory. However, I don't think factory ammo will be as accurate as a reasonable reload, as the reload is for that rifle. Factory ammo the rifle likes, maybe. Consistently, without getting luck....I say no.

 

[Frog4aday]

BoomFlop is right. I think if a person could fire 20 different types of factory ammo in their gun they would likely find at least one (if not several) that group really well. And to handload a round that would meet or beat that particular factory round would take some time and experimenting to achieve. In the end, I do believe a handloaded round that was tailored specifically to 'your' gun would be more accurate than any factory load, but it could take some work to get there.

Long way of saying that a person that is restricted to just 'off the shelf' ammo isn't necessarily in a bad place. They just need to test several different options to find "the one" that their rifle really likes. But reloaders are in the same boat. Gotta try different bullets, powders, primers, and seating depths to find what that particular rifle really likes.

 

[Wedgy]

I had a Savage 10 .243 that loved particular Winchester round so much that I never worked up a load for it. I never hesitated to shoot anything out to ~700 yards then suddenly it was all over the place. I checked everything( scope, rings, action screws, carbon ring, etc.) and thought the barrel was shot out. Turned out to be two boxes of the ammo were "bad" in some way, the brass was much darker colored like it was left outside or something. Velocity numbers were in the park but the accuracy wasn't even close. You just never know what you're going to get.
edit; I saw on a TV show that Nosler Custom(or one of their premium ammos) was actually hand loaded, the host was touring the factory and was very surprised to see it loaded by hand.

 

[coop2564]

I shoot factory. However, I don't think factory ammo will be as accurate as a reasonable reload, as the reload is for that rifle. Factory ammo the rifle likes, maybe. Consistently, without getting luck....I say no.

What made me think about this at range Saturday talking with some guys that were new to reloading. They were shooting some loads and kept getting fliers. I asked if they had worked up there loads done any ladder tests etc. they were no we aren't into all that, just load for fun and to save a few buck, if I get 1.5" group that's good enough for hunting. So I wonder how many that HL actually will tune a load? Most causal HL's may just stop at first decent group or just they want to Bragg on speed go to max regardless of group? Of coarse their fliers may of been their shooting too lol.

 

[YZ-80]

I think today's premium ammo is pretty good and meets the needs of plenty of shooters. That said, I still think it is inferior to what a reloader with average skills/equipment can produce. Let's take seating depth for example. If the "average" reloader in this hypothetical example can operate an OAL gage, we all know the benefits of this skill and he is likely to see significant accuracy gains over factory stuff. Conversely, if our hypothetical reloader is limited to published COL data, then not so much.

 

[jasonco]

That's a loaded question! I'v a 6mm Creedmoor that absolutely digests Hornady Match 108, but I have a 1000+ yard 110SMK reload that pounds the steel in high wind. I'm of the belief that it start with the barrel myself.

 

[Orange Dust]

I think today's premium ammo is pretty good and meets the needs of plenty of shooters. That said, I still think it is inferior to what a reloader with average skills/equipment can produce. Let's take seating depth for example. If the "average" reloader in this hypothetical example can operate an OAL gage, we all know the benefits of this skill and he is likely to see significant accuracy gains over factory stuff. Conversely, if our hypothetical reloader is limited to published COL data, then not so much.

Exactly, and remember, handloading and reloading aren't exactly the same thing, and motivations are different. I reload on a Dillon 650 to lower the cost per round for high volume shooting. I handload for pure accuracy, and that has become something between a hobby and a quest. Cost in this instance is of no consequence. I'm sure most folks interests are somewhere between these two extremes.

 

[jasonco]

Exactly, and remember, handloading and reloading aren't exactly the same thing, and motivations are different. I reload on a Dillon 650 to lower the cost per round for high volume shooting. I handload for pure accuracy, and that has become something between a hobby and a quest. Cost in this instance is of no consequence. I'm sure most folks interests are somewhere between these two extremes.

I spare no cost, when reloading or handloading, even when I do bulk 223/5.56, it's the price of admission.

 

[Mike AVM]

I have a tack driver 223 that loves the Hornady 68 BTHP. I bought some Hornady Frontier (not really premium) that shoots about 1.6 MOA. Handloading will almost certainly give you more accuracy.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

I bought several boxes of Nosler ammo in 30Nosler. The ammo was on sale and all I really wanted was the brass. 1/2 had 180 Accubond bullets and the other half had 210 ABLR bullets.
The ammo with the 180 Accubonds did not shoot well enough for me to use hunting. But .... by pulling the bullets and re-seating out another .050" the ammo shot into .5moa.
The 210 ABLR ammo would not shoot well at any seating depth so I reloaded the cases with a few different powders and found a reasonably accurate load.
No matter how well factory ammo is manufactured, it just can't be ideally suited for every gun. Fine tuning can make significant improvements in accuracy.

 

[Braunschweiger]

No need for me to say what others have already said here, but I agree that many, many factory loads can and will shoot well in QUALITY rifles. I have spent literally thousands and thousands of dollars on high end reloading equipment. I do feel that it makes a difference whether or not you are reloading for volume or for precision - I have setups for both. Where I find reloading most enjoyable is simply the fact of doing it. It's a great stress reliever.

 

[rogerstv]

Until you dump powder all over the place...ha ha !! I don't have that issue much with rifle and pistol loads. Every once in a great while I will bump one.

However, when I used to reload shotshells. I would inevitably dump powder without a hull in place. It was a progressive loader.

 

[aushunter1]

The problem with factory is you need to go through a process of elimination with brands/projectile types & that can be pretty costly to!
Much similar to a .22lr.

I think I shot 10 different boxes of ammo in 1 rifle I own before I found what it liked.

Been reloading for about 15 years now & I can usually taylor a load to around 1/2 moa within 40 rounds or less using my method.

One rifle I own has never had a factory round chambered in it, that was because at the time here in Aus premium factory ammo for 260rem was like $3 per round so much easier as I was already reloading to just get the components together & dies etc.