Hunting ammo: premium, low buck or hand loads

hifiwasabi

hifiwasabi

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I live in a giant bucket.
When you go out into our beautiful wilderness with the intent of taking one of the several wild beasts, what ammunition do you take with you to give you the confidence to cleanly and humanely take that animal? Do you prefer to spend $3-4 a shot with big name, premium bullets? Do you just head down to TSC or Canadian tire and pick up the cheapest lead you can find? Do you cook up your own special load that is tested and perfected over years of hunting trips?

I only ask because I have only had an opportunity to get out for turkey, so when I do get a chance to get north for a rifle hunt, what gives the most confidence for a clean kill?

Sean
 
I just use regular ammo, nothing expensive. The critter doesn't know the difference. Find the ammo that performs best in your gun.
 
That all depends on what your gun likes the best. A well placed shot matters way more than what type of bullet. I just picked up a x-bolt in .270 and am hitting the range starting with the cheap stuff. If the rifle likes it and groups well, there is no point in paying more for ammo. Buy a bunch of brands/values and hit the range. Once you find one that groups well, buy more of that and stick with it. Happy hunting!!
 
I use handloads, based around whatever bullet I believe will give me the terminal results I want with accuracy I can accept. Within reason, pure mechanical accuracy is a secondary consideration at "normal" hunting distances." Premium" bullets may or may not be a better choice since there are a wide range of very different bullets available. For instance both Ballistic-tips and TSXs are available in premium loaded ammo. Which is better depends on whether you are trying to kill a deer quickly or shoot through a moose lengthwise. Ordinary bullets in standard ammo please most ofthe people most of the time. Thats not completely by accident.


People often say to try all the ammo available and use what shoots the best. I tried that with a 30-06 awhile back for hellery. I didn't buy a box of everything but a fair selection from WSS quickly ran the bill over $700 and I went back to my handloads anyway. Sometimes I suspect that some of the advice givers are full of ####.
 
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Not really a hunter myself, but why wouldn't you spend the money on quality ammunition when you shoot so little?

I roll my own, but I shoot thousands of rounds a year. No matter what, a quality round will shoot better than Win White box or the like. The results are pretty staggering. Sure the animal doesn't care, but as mentioned, shot placement is very important. Cheap ammo is a massive variable in the equation.
 
I use middle of the road Winchester or Remington , but make sure you sight the rifle in when you are trying different brands and even different lots of the same brand. It all shoots a little different, changing the point of impact, and you have to find out what your gun prefers.
 
I roll my own, but I shoot thousands of rounds a year. No matter what, a quality round will shoot better than Win White box or the like.
Click to expand...

The rifle will tell you what it likes, and sometimes, it will shoot more accurately with a low priced load, than it will with a high priced premium load.
 
If you're not worried about bench rest type sub moa accuracy for hunting, any regular soft point that you can consistenly hit inside of a 4" circle at the ranges you will be hunting at will work just as well as anything.
 
Good to hear all tbe opinions so far. I have not yet sighted in either of my future deer rifles and since one is 7x57 and slightly challenging to get an array of different loads, while my other is the venerable .243. Hopefully the snow will stop flying before too long and I can get both zeroed.

Sean
 
After buying ammo for many years when I first started shooting I found that sometimes the premium ammo shot best sometimes not.

I chose to reload, I can make premium ammo for budget ammo price.When the best shooting ammo is $50.00 a box(and this isn't expensive compared to some)it was an easy choice.

Do you want the extra accuracy you can potentially get from hand loads? Will this promote confidence in your shooting? OR Will over the counter ammo work for you?

Hunting accuracy and taking game cleanly can be done by both.

If you want the satisfaction of using your own hand loads and potential accuracy increases as well as tailored loads for specific game, go for reloading if practical for you.If you just want to get game and don't shoot much, store bought economy will work also, just find what works for your rifle.

Personally I like using my own that I have worked hard to make accurate and that gives me extra confidence in my equipment and abilities.
 
I have been hunting for a long time now ( I am getting old) and have used many different types of ammo on lots of different game. Through experiance and reading up on bullet performance I now only use barns triple shock or nosler partitions on medium or big game. THE DIFFERENCE is big enough to matter to me. I always try to get good shot placement BUT that is not always what happens

Look at the post in the link here done by bcsteve

NOTICE the BARNS and PPartitions

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/foru...ge-CGN-264-Bullet-Test-Result**-(lots-of-pics
 
Kelly Timoffee said:
After buying ammo for many years when I first started shooting I found that sometimes the premium ammo shot best sometimes not.

I chose to reload, I can make premium ammo for budget ammo price.When the best shooting ammo is $50.00 a box(and this isn't expensive compared to some)it was an easy choice.

Do you want the extra accuracy you can potentially get from hand loads? Will this promote confidence in your shooting? OR Will over the counter ammo work for you?

Hunting accuracy and taking game cleanly can be done by both.

If you want the satisfaction of using your own hand loads and potential accuracy increases as well as tailored loads for specific game, go for reloading if practical for you.If you just want to get game and don't shoot much, store bought economy will work also, just find what works for your rifle.

Personally I like using my own that I have worked hard to make accurate and that gives me extra confidence in my equipment and abilities.
Click to expand...

Nicely said I agree it works for me..
 
pinkmoon said:
I have been hunting for a long time now ( I am getting old) and have used many different types of ammo on lots of different game. Through experiance and reading up on bullet performance I now only use barns triple shock or nosler partitions on medium or big game. THE DIFFERENCE is big enough to matter to me. I always try to get good shot placement BUT that is not always what happens

Look at the post in the link here done by bcsteve

NOTICE the BARNS and PPartitions

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/foru...ge-CGN-264-Bullet-Test-Result**-(lots-of-pics
Click to expand...


When things go well, the cheap ammo is fine. I use premium bullets that I reload. It is when the animal takes the step just as you pull the trigger or something does not go right that the premium bullet comes in handy. The amount you are spending to go hunting and then cheating out on ammunition always seemed silly to me.

I also shoot the same combination all the time. I do not shoot cheap stuff then switch to the expensive stuff to go hunting. If they have different points of impact at ranges between the two, which one do you thnk you are going to remember in the heat of the moment? More then likely the one you practice with all of the time, and not the one you pull out for hunting.
 
I wont lie, 80% of the time I go for the cheapest, but in cheap comes Cup and Core, so I go heavier than lighter to make up for Bond premium.... Kills em mate.

I reload for the more 'unique' rounds

cheers
wl
 
Depends on the rifle and to an extent the cartridge I'm shooting. I have just begun to hand load. I haven't started loading for my .30-06 yet because I have a supply of Winchester 180 grain power points that will last me for at least the next summer and hunting season, I love the performance it has given both on game and accuracy wise.
I am getting ready to load for my .38-55 but it may get a healthy diet of cast bullets we'll see how it shoots, cast lead bullets are far from premium but this cartridge doesn't demand premium performance.
My .250 Savage project will be handloaded, ttsx's first and we'll have to wait for rifle completion and load development to see what it dictates.
If I had any other big game small bore high velocity cartridges such as .25-06, 7mm rem mag or similar 3000 fps + MV cartridges or using smaller cartridges above their traditional role (.223 or .22-250 for whitetails, .270 130 grain for moose) my preference is either TSX or Nosler partitions. In the past this was premium factory now handloaded.
 
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