Load better ammunition that commercial?

greg11

greg11

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I've heard the saying that you can load better rounds yourself than you can buy, or at least, you can replicate very expensive ammo at a very low cost per round if you hand load.

What exactly makes a hand loaded round better or superior to a commercial round?

Right now in my loading career, I'd classify myself as someone who just pumps rounds out not really looking into the specifics of what makes a round "all it can be". But if I were looking to increase the quality of each round, or simply make a batch or primo ammunition for a hunt or accuracy shooting, what are the variables I should be looking at?

Right now all I reload is 00 Buckshot (which I don't buffer since these rounds are just for blowing #### up, for me. My HD/SHTF 00 Buck is store bought), slugs, and .45 ACP and .223 but I'll be looking into 9mm.
 
Commercial ammo is loaded with acceptable powder primers and projectiles. The ammo companies know how to make an accepatable round for the least amount of money. When making your own you can upgrade the compnents. It does make a difference.

With rifle rounds you can customize your overall length as well which will improve accuracy.

I find that all my guns shoot better groups with reloads over factory. I figure it has more to do with making ammo that is closer to sammi specs and has a higher inspection rate.

Just my 2 cents
 
Yeah, as I said, I'm just kind of banging out rounds right now. I'm sort of going for the general published specs and I'm not messing about with trying to seat the bullet closer to the lands ect. YET. I'll begin that process shortly.

I guess handgun shooting takes place at ranges close enough that things like that don't seem to matter much. My Norinco .45 shoots very, very well with my handloads. I'm the gun's limiting factor.

.223, I think it's me mostly. I'm messing around with blue dot loads ATM and loving it. Cheap to shoot, no kick and its easy on the powder at 10gr/rnd. Pretty damn accurate too.
 
I've always thought of it as a car. It comes from the factory tuned, using general specs. Spend a little time under the hood however and you can fine-tune that engine so that it gives better performance. Same-same for ammo; each firearms has its own personal tastes and reloading allows you to cater to each one.
 
You can tailor make rounds for each individual firearm. You've heard us talk about "load development". That's where you use varying amounts of different kinds of powder and different bullets until you find something that works really well with your particular gun. This is how we wind up shooting one hole groups, sometimes with fairly inexpensive guns. Firing a round in the chamber of your particular gun, then only sizing the neck can add to accuracy.....there are a pile of things that are different from using factory ammo.

Factory ammo is made to work with and fit in every single firearm ever made to take a particular cartridge. They are made to a standard, but every factory round will not do extremely well in every gun. It's like shoes. Even though the sizes you're trying on are all the same, not all shoes feel good on your foot.
 
Well - you can "tune" your handloads ammo to your rifle. Its a lot more than just OAL, read up on barrel harmonics... You can also load cartridges to unusual specs (ie 6.5 X 55 with 85 gr bullets for varmints, etc).
Frankly, I'm a bit surprised that an inquisitive young mind is asking these questions so late in the game...
 
cosmic said:
Frankly, I'm a bit surprised that an inquisitive young mind is asking these questions so late in the game...
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I'm not. One step at a time. Why bother learning the overwhelming intricacies when you can safely have fun just by following a general recipe?

When I started, I used a Lee Loader, pretty limited on powder choices since I had to use that dipper. However, it loaded very satisfactory rounds for hunting. As time went on and funds increased, I went to a press and dies. Still no real desire to tinker, all I needed were hunting rounds for my .303. After a while, that got boring so I began investigating how to make them more accurate. That has progressed until I am just short of the precision shooter's methods. I am not going to turn the necks of hunting cartridges, but I do all the other stuff to make them uniform and my groups have shrunk to Sub-MOA with most of my rifles.

Just let the guy get his feet wet and allow reloading to take him where he wants it to. Throw ballistics, trajectories, calculation of sectional Density and it's correlation with the Ballistic Coefficients while attempting to create the perfect bullet to get your swaging dies produces in may be a little daunting.

I'm just glad he's asking questions at all...shows some sense.
 
For pistol, the biggest advantage typically, is price, unless you want some hard/impossible to find round (i.e. 45 super :)), or you want to make some custom power level ammo, the 44 magnum can be loaded from powder puff all the way through elephant death.

With rifle, good standard factory ammo is good for about 1 inch at 100y, some is better, some is worse. If you want to start hitting .5" (or better) handloading is almost mandatory. As you've already done, reduced loads are also quite easy to make for rifle as well.
 
I don't reoad, but i have buddies that do so i buy off them. much easier and still cheaper. for my .40 reloads are half the price of factory AND I have tailored a load that is just over my power factor needed to shoot standard major in IPSC.

The other advantage, as already stated, is more inpsection and higher consistancy. every round you make is going to be much more consistant than those you can buy. commecial ammo is fine, and all my rifle ammo is still commercial, but for the cost of pistol ammo i buy my buddies reloads.
 
cosmic said:
Well - you can "tune" your handloads ammo to your rifle. Its a lot more than just OAL, read up on barrel harmonics... You can also load cartridges to unusual specs (ie 6.5 X 55 with 85 gr bullets for varmints, etc).
Frankly, I'm a bit surprised that an inquisitive young mind is asking these questions so late in the game...
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Whoa... Hey...

I got into reloading to save money. Period. That's what I "get" about reloading.

But now that I am working toward a more precision type setup and trying to shrink groups, I'm just trying to nail down exactly what the variables are and how they work.

What's wrong with asking guys who know a lot more than I do about this stuff?

I have been reading about ballistic coefficients and trajectories and I feel like I have a certain understanding of them. I don't quite get the idea of seating bullets with respect to lands yet, but I'm reading up about it.

What I'm having trouble with is how these factors interact with one another. #### dude did I say something to piss you off or something?
 
If you get real finnicky about your reloading, you will weigh each bullet, and cull out those that are not within your tolerances. Also, I think factory loads are loaded by volume. All of my reloads are weighed, which makes the tolerances much more critical. As mentioned earlier, LOA can be customized to your rifle. Also, a lot of guys trim their brass to a specific diameter. Most of us trim to a certain length, as opposed to factory brass. Cases are weighed to ensure consistency. The goal, in my opinion, is uniformity. You want all shells to be identical, and tuned to your gun, whereas factory ammo is more geared to work moderately well in all guns.
 
My fav rifle is my 257 wby accumark. The cost of factory 100gr tsx 257 wby is rather outrageous. I reload my own, the brass is excellent and lasts a long time, I load them to 3650fps and they shoot 1/2". I can't get that from factory ammo nor can I afford $4.50 a pop for factory ammo.

So reloading gets you ammo custome tuned to your rifle, you can use better components and safe money. Also if you have some odd ball calibers you ensure that you always have ammo for it.
 
greg11 said:
Whoa... Hey...

I got into reloading to save money. Period. That's what I "get" about reloading.
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You might find, like the rest of us, you don't actually "save" money by reloading. You simply get much more and better shooting for the same amount.


Most references to "cost savings" is on a per round basis, generally not overall. Either way, its a good hobby to have, you're shooting will be more motivated, and you will enjoy firearms/loading even when the weather is bad.
 
greg11 said:
What I'm having trouble with is how these factors interact with one another. s**t dude did I say something to piss you off or something?
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Not at all - last time I checked "young and inquisitive" are compliments. 98% of the people on this board dont understand the mechanics of "tuning" ammunition, they just use various load tests. So you're likely going to get a lot of varying, and perhaps spurious, information about theory.
If memory serves, you're off to F'ton for some post secondary education. If you're going to the third floor at Head hall, I suggest you take a vibrations course.It certainly helped me understand this reloading stuff!
 
In almost every way, a handloaded round is better than a commercial round because of choice.

You can choose how much effort to put into your reloading. If you want accuracy then it will take some time, or keep it fast and cheap for funzies. Most of the brass preparation steps are just designed to over come the sloppiness of mass produced cases. Uniforming primer pockets and neck length are key. I've had quite a few peices of new brass there the mouths weren't even cut square. If I had to pay myself $10 an hour to make my rounds, they would certainly not be cheaper than factory, inspite of a lower component cost.

You can choose from a much wider array of bullets. I load for a .300 WSM. the Winchester offerings are a 150 gr and 180 gr bullet. Match grade ammo doesn't really exist. Sierra alone makes over 25 different types of bullet that I can choose from depending on what I'm loading for. Short range, long range, hunting etc.

Of the over 140 types of powder commercially available, about 20 of them would be suitable for my cartridge, based on burn rate and temperature sensativity. I know some competition shooters who have loads tuned to the weather they intend to shoot in (which I think its fanatical).

Things like how much neck tension and seating depth, full length body sizing vs only neck sizing are for those that really want to nit pick, but with a firm grasp of the scientific method, manipulating each of these variables in turn, you can produce some truly consistent ammunition for your rifle, that might be terrible in another gun chambered for the same calibre.

Factory Ammo is general purpose fodder for the masses, which I have plenty of in the event of apocalypse.
 
greg11 said:
Whoa... Hey... I don't quite get the idea of seating bullets with respect to lands yet, but I'm reading up about it.
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Thousands will likely dissagree with me but I've found that seating bullets just off the lands is the most over rated bit of folklore ever.

Try seating a 30 caliber 180 grain bullet just off the lands of a .300 Weatherby Mk V.............:stirthepot2:
 
If you reload for one of the older cartridges (and have a strong rifle/handgun) you can change that cartridge from being rather anemic to being a very powerful item. I'm thinking .44-40, .38-55, .32-20 etc. Even the .30-30, 6.5x55, .303 British, 8MM Mauser etc. can have their ballistics/accuracy improved by handloading.
 
DOUGLAS D said:
Thousands will likely dissagree with me but I've found that seating bullets just off the lands is the most over rated bit of folklore ever.

Try seating a 30 caliber 180 grain bullet just off the lands of a .300 Weatherby Mk V.............:stirthepot2:
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I won't disagree with you!
Only I wouldn't call it folklore,since that refers to an old time, common practice, which doesn't suit the subject. I would call it more of a myth. One of the many theories about shooting, that won't stand the test of proper examination.
I know what you are saying about the Weatherby. The bullets had to jump something like a half inch, more or less, before they hit the rifling.
If anyone complained about the original Weatherby's not being accurate, I never heard of it.
 
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