Calvin45
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One of my more miserable handloading moments was within a few months of getting my press. Accidentally knocked over a freshly opened pound of rl-22. Humbling, enraging, absolutely defeating the stress relief idea
Is today's premium ammo as good as the average guys HL's?
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I've read where a significant amount of pro competition guys use factory ammo. I suspect they have some pretty nice rifles that shoot most decent ammo very well. For an off the shelf rig, usually there's a lot to be gained from loading your own. Not always but more often than not.
I really depends on the the application. There are good factory loads that can be used for hunting, "depending on range/game", and, certainly various types of competition. For a +600 yard shot at game....I couldn't imagine using a factory load, but that's me.
What if that factory load used a bonded bullet of correct weight for the game you're hunting,and shot 1/2" moa?
Semperfi
FIGJAM
Well-Known Member
There is some awesome factory ammo out there - not all of it is created equal, but the hornady match and precision hunter, federal premium, and prime ammo have all shot sub moa in my rifles with some that have consistent groups at or below 1/2 moa. Advancements in technology and the manufacturing process has allowed these Ammo manufacturers to created some accurate stuff. Due to my job I don't have a ton of time to reload, I love how I can grab a box of hornady match or prime ammo for $25 and head to the range and ring steel out to a 1000 yards shooting some good groups.
Seems like a day's worth of replies have disappeared across the site. I think it must have crashed so they reloaded a 'saved' version and...lots of replies are now lost to the 'vapor'. Schizen happens
It would be fine for mid-range work. For the longer ranges, my primary reason for sticking with handloads is the tight control for low and consistent ES, a major skepticism I have with factory ammo.
I have found some of the factory custom loads to be equal to handloads, and have used them for long range hunting, especially in custom rifles. 1/2 moa is 1/2 moa regardless.
SemperFi
I agree with your last sentence as long as the 1/2 MOA precision and accuracy is confirmed at the target distance. A 1/2MOA group at 200 yards with an ES of 40FPS may be ineffective at long range. This has been one of issues I have encountered with even premium factory ammo.
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Wedgy
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As I posted previously when I got a bad box of ammo, lot to lot changes in bullets, brass, powder etc. can/will affect its performance.
I think long throat custom guns almost demand Handloads, but a lot of factory or spec custom guns can shoot factory rounds really well. The rifle has a lot to do with it. My HMR shoots nearly everything well. But I have had some mountain rifle light weight thin barrel rifles that were really picky and needed luck on factory or a very fine tune HL.
Wedgy
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Yes but we measure, weigh, sort, chrono, etc. to mitigate these things.
