Factory vs handloads in hunting rifles?

MD

MD

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So my buddies and me went to the range yesterday.

I make handloads with a little Lee Classic loader for my 270 and 7x57 rifles using a scale instead of scoops.

My 270 loads are okay, two inches at 100M and minute of moose at 200 metres, but the 7x57 loads with 139 grain bullets are not consistent.

What was a surprise though was what I got out of a box of Winchester Silver box 300 Winchester magnum cartridges.

I only had a handful of handloaded 300 Win. Mag. cartridges left that a friend and I loaded up on his press a while back and he's quit loading so I though I'd try a box of commercial loads.


Both loads shot basically the same at 100 M, 1.5 to 2-inch groups, perfectly sighted in at two inches high too, but the surprise was at 200 metres.

The handloads were spread out in a four inch group, but I got two of the Winchester commercial loads right dead centre in the bull nearly touching. Yes, there was a flyer 3 1/2 inches from the other two , but all in all, it was a surprising and satisfying session, though I continue to be frustrated with that 7x57.

Maybe I'll have to try 175 grain bullets again. They are supposed to work well in those little HVA 4100 lightweight rifles.
 
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Gatehouse said:
Modern factory ammo can be very good. A box a year hunter had never had it so good.
Click to expand...

Yup, great selection of bullets, very consistent and accurate loads. If your rifles likes a certain brand, handloading often offers no advantage other than price.
 
Hand loading in the long run( tools not included) is cheaper.
Just chucking a load together, shooting it and saying it offers no advantage is no good, sometimes you get lucky with a load and sometimes it can take months of development to find a load.
If your happy with 2" groups then factory rounds are probably the way to go.
My personal load development stops when the gun consistently meets my goal at the distances I feel comfatable shooting said gun, generally 5 shots under an inch at 100 and verified moa or less out to 500 yards.
Please note most of the time I'm the limiting factor in these goals and I find myself second guessing loads so shooting the same load more than once needs to be done!
 
I bought a 257 Roberts around Christmas time and it came with four boxes of factory shells .
I finally got out last weekend to try out this gun.. It will shoot deadly with factory loads .. Due to the snow and all I was shooting 80 yards instead of a 100 .. But it was shooting groups of three that were touching or very close .
Shells are 35 plus tax .. I was thinking of reloading .. But it seems to like the Remington factory loads for sure .. all one of them 117 grain round nose LOL
 
The 7X57 might have a long throat for round nose 175 gr bullets; if so the 139s would shoot better if seated out longer than the cannelure. Although I'm not sure if Husqvarna continued the practice with their commercial lines, some experimenting with the seating depth might prove rewarding.
 
"The 7X57 might have a long throat for round nose 175 gr bullets; if so the 139s would shoot better if seated out longer than the cannelure. Although I'm not sure if Husqvarna continued the practice with their commercial lines, some experimenting with the seating depth might prove rewarding. "

Thanks Boomer. I've done that. These are seated out quite a bit. I might try some even longer though.
 
Well to start its load development

I'm on the the forth and final powder for one rifle
reloader 19 then 4831 sc then imr 4350 then reloder 22
and up and down for powder from 44 grains to 50
and once you find the load for the rifle then it's seating the bullet for even better accuracy
your mag your throught

and is the gun in the first place worth loading for
or should it be left for factory
2 inch plus groups is most likley a rifle issue over ammo
 
The first thing that springs to mind with the 7 x 57 is the over all length. The Husky may be throated for long 175 grain pills, some experimentation in length will certainly improve things. 7 Mauser is pitifully weak in factory loads, the only alternative is to experiment, and reload. A load i am working on is the 162 gr Amax.

The other thing to consider is if this was a arrow or indian thing. Shooting at least 3 different rifles can lead to lots of human error. The flyer may indeed be the indian. If you are not accustomed to shooting large quantities of full power centerfire try recoil reducing strategies like a sissy bag or lead sled. Further, one wants to allow at least...at least 1 min between shots. More rapid fire shooting can lead to flinch, and vertical strings as the barrel heats. Trying to work with more than 1 or 2 center fires also can put one in a hurry as the pressures of tasks and family makes us speed up. Quality shooting over quantity.

Not to jump on you. But the phrase minute of moose is going to enrage lots of reloaders. That is simply not acceptable, certainly not what i reload to acheive.
 
I've fiddled with everything from 150smk, 150amax, 180amax, 208amax, 210 Bergers. IMR 4831, h4831, h4831sc, rl22, h-1000, win primers, cci primers.
Brass is neck sized only, weighed and measured for volume, sorted into 1gr batches.

I've found some extremely great loads throughout the combinations and tuning.

Then I tried some leftover "secret" cheap factory stuff I picked up for people to plink with.

I was pretty much annoyed at the accuracy, annoyed that I've spent so much money and time chasing fractional results when I could pick something up off the shelf that exceeds all my intents and purposes. Not until 400yards does it break just breach 1moa,
at 800, around 2-2.5moa.

I've pretty much retired my handloads from anything short of 400y.
 
Never hurts to know which factory ammo your firearm likes. In days of component shortages or forgetting to bring handloads with it can come in handy. My 22-250 loves Hornady varmint express 55 gr, so guess which bullet I started with for load development!
 
I started reloading 30 years ago and at the time you were OBLIGED to reload to get any accuracy out of most rifles.................
nowaday the factory stuff is so good I do only reload for some very very difficult rifle that need something very different from the standard or the specialised custom target rifles
I own a very beautiful but capricious 243 and I nearly shot the barrel out to try to find the right load
then after a home move my reloading stuff was still in boxes and I quickly bought a box of Remington loaded with ballistic tips for $20 and I shot the best group ever
needless to say I bought 4 boxes and I don't reload for that rifle anymore
 
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Doesn't sound like it is worthwhile to spend the time and money doing load development for minute of moose. Seriously how many rounds are you shooting? Probably end up using a magnitude more ammo in load development than actual hunting, no saving there.


On a side note the FGMM and HDY match are accurate rounds in a precision rifle.
 
Well, I don't think I have shot 40 factory rounds in the past 25 years, so cannot speak for the accuracy of such in MY rifles.

However, I have not had many rifles that would not shoot 1 - 1¼ moa with a handloaded round in that period of time.
Some rifles have turned in spectacular results with handloaded ammo.

I recently bought a Vanguard on the EE here. I had some pretty accurate loads developed for another Vanguard in the same chambering,
so I just threw them in my shooters box and took them to the range. First two groups out of this rifle were .79" and .56" at 100M Somehow,
I seriously doubt any factory ammo is going to do better, and if I "tweak" the loads, I may even improve those results.

I have a Remington 700 SSDM that has averaged .78 moa over the past 25 groups fired out of it.
This includes several powders and bullets in 150, 165, 180 & 200 grains.

I appreciate that factory ammo has improved a lot since I started using centerfire rifles in 1958, but you would have a hard time
convincing me that it is not worth my while to reload, even for hunting.

Additionally, there are some rifles for which factory ammo is not available, and some for which commercial loadings are wimpy.
Reloading eliminates both issues.

Regards, Dave
 
I do not have tons of experience hand loading. 20rds have been made for my 25-06 savage 111 and ten were fired at 8" steel at 230 yards. 100gr and 117gr. All hit the target from prone. Next time out i will use paper and get a better idea how it is hitting.

Below is a photo of factory ammo, Win.Ballistic Silvertip 115gr. again 230yards (Done on a different day than the above mentioned) and at the time it was my second day with the rifle. Two shots and two nice holes. Depending on what you are looking for out of your rig, factory ammo may just suite you fine.

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sorry bout pic size. i will try to adjust
 
Unlike the others that have posted here I seem to have poor luck with factory ammo. For example I tried Fed blue box for a new 270 because I didn't have a die yet and the first box was great, but the second box, which may have been a different lot, was terrible. Shooting Fed Premium in 30-06 would give good groups but produced the odd flier which I didn't like, maybe 1 or 2 per box, but with handloads it is very consistent shot after shot. So, I don't have any confidence in just picking up another box of factory stuff because the last box was good, unless I was brush hunting where shots would be close.
 
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