Who shoots factory ammo?

[Rick]

what about practicing with a rimfire? or something that shoots 7.62x51? or even an sks? trigger time in field positions plinking at gophers, or cans or whatever goes a long way.

I don't disagree with that at all. Shooting Mini-Palma or silhouette with a .22 will really jack your shooting ability up, not to mention teach you about reading wind and mirage. I do think, however, that you have to do at least some practicing/shooting with your hunting rifle - unless your hunting rifle is similar to your SKS or whatever. Almost all of my rifles are scoped, don't fit me at all like an SKS, and are bolt actions with very different triggers. So I'd feel I'd have to do at least a bit more shooting beyond blasting away with an SKS.

as long as people are ethical (know your limit and shoot within it) i don't care if they are using factory ammo or reloads.

I absolutely agree. In fact, I think I've said and repeated that a number of times myself. Not everyone comprehended that, unfortunately.

 

[IDPACONVERT]

Wow, people lose focus about the original topic, and get pretty self righteous.
But hey, that's just my .02

 

[FN]

I spend my money the way I want to and I shoot factory ammo.

 

[eltorro]

When I buy a new rifle and I don't have all the dies/brass/bulest, I go with factory.
I always keep some factory rounds with me.
There were many threads where ppl forgot thir ammo home, or plain ran out. I don't think that sharing reloads is wise.
At any moment one can discover that his favorite load is not quite doing the trick in that temperature/altitude/humidity , because one developed the load in the summer, near the Great lakes.
Factory ammo is a safety net for all this.
Having said that, I can;t wait to get something this year with my own loads......

 

[Rick]

Wow, people lose focus about the original topic, and get pretty self righteous.

You put in adequate practice and confirm your zero or you don't.

You think putting in adequate practice so you have a high level of certainty of making a lethal shot and having a rifle that hits where it points is ethical or you don't. The source of the ammunition for doing these things is irrelevant, but either way it does take more than a couple of rounds of ammunition.

It's all about values - pretty simple stuff really. Like every other topic in the world, we don't all have the same values. And so, we disagree on some things.

That will never change.

 

[catnthehatt]

Here's why I shoot factory ammo and I do not reload:

I am a hunter. In addition to hunting deer with a rifle, I hunt with a bow, plus some I hunt a bit of small game and waterfowl with a shotgun. I have a hunting dog that I trained myself. I also have a wife, young kids and I work full-time. By the way, I also have friends and a few other interests outside of guns and hunting. I think my situation is pretty typical. Here's the problem (sorry but I have to make generalizations):

The reloaders say that there is something wrong with me because I do not take the time to reload and practice with thousands of rounds year-round so that I can hit a tennis ball at 250 yards;

The deer hunters say that there is something wrong with me because I don't go out 3 times per week to scout and pattern the deer;

The archers say that there is something wrong with me because I do not fletch my own arrows and shoot 300 arrows per week year-round;

The shotgunners say there is something wrong with me because I do no shoot weekly rounds of sporting clays;

The hunting dog crowd says that there is something wrong with me (and my dog) because I don't trial my dog or belong to the local club.

In order find the time to meet everybody's expectations as noted above, I would have to be independently wealth to quit my job; I would have to leave my wife and kids; and I would have to give up all my other hobbies and interests.

Like most people, I dedicate as much time as a can to certain hobbies and I strive to get better at those hobbies over time. I also balance my hobbies and interests with the realities of life. I am not prepared to cater to the self-congratulatory "standards" of those people who are able to take individual activities, like reloading, to a higher degree. I might reload someday, but not for now.

I get a deer or two every year, as well as a lot of rabbits and some grouse, ducks & geese. On the rare occasion I do miss. I'm sure that I would be lousy at shooting bighorn sheep at 400 yards, so please don't invite on your sheep hunt yet.

I shoot factory ammo and this does not make me a worse person than anybody else.

Ninepointer

I'm in the same boat, except I make my own arrows, load my own ammo, and do most of my own repairs on rods, rifles , and bows.
I also handload for a great manyy hunters who want custom ammo tailored to their rifles, but don't have the time.
I enjoy doing it, otherwise I wouldn't.
However, I have to turn away people ssometimes because I get swampedd doing everything I do for fun!
When I was tying flies and jigs I found that I was tying more than fishing, some guys like that , I didn't, so quit.
I try to stay away from the political stuff concerning other deciplines in our Fish and Game Association as much as I can because I shoot almost everything, as well as BP.
Nothing wrong with factory if that is what you want to shoot.
Or store bought arrows, or a cheap fly rod, or store bought flies.....:beerchug:
Cat

 

[slicknick]

I suppose it all depends on your own set of circumstances. I'm not allowed to have firearms, ammunition or components thereof on campus. So what I do is grab a couple boxes of factory on my why back home or when heading out to a buddies place. Reloading is not only another thing for room-mates to #### with but a definte eviction notice.

As well, it boils down to what a person's time is worth. With 9mm at $100 a case, by the time I sit my ass down and crank out a case worth I find it isn't worth it.

 

[cariboo_kid]

Good point on the option of getting large amounts of practice with a cheaper rifle to shoot, then you just need to learn the differences with your hunting rifle and load at different ranges, rather than do all your practice on basic position and other skills at $30/box or worse.

Then there is the other side to reloading, which I'm sure is part of the fun that will completely addict me when I have the opportunity to take it up.

The urge to consantly tinker and adjust the load to see what else the rifle may like, "maybe this powder will give me an extra 100 fps", or "what I've been reading about that bullet's performance on moose has me really interested in seeing how it groups in my rifle".

I've seen reloaders that work up one really good load and just shoot lots of it, and I've seen others that can't resist the fun of trying new things in it. So just because a particular shooter/reloader may shoot a huge number of rounds in a season, it doesn't mean it was all learning the specific trajectory of his final load.

I recall seeing one hunter (who really impresses me with his skills and ethics) not finish working up a load until the night before he left hunting - and I'm 100% confident that he made a good clean kill on his animal.

Reloading is just another addiction in our hobby, and I certainly am not going to generalize that "most reloaders are like this" or "don't do this". Generalizations tend to be very unproductive, and I try to avoid them.

Of course "Generalizations tend to be very unproductive" is a generalization itself! LOL

Have fun, reload or don't, but be as fair and humane to your game animal as possible.

 

[kombi1976]

I think that the amount of trouble you go to with ammo is heavily influenced by their basic motivations for shooting.
If all you want to do is knock fill a tag or 2 each year and knock over small game & waterfowl then chances are you bought a decent rifle in popular cal and use a .22 &/or shotgun.
In this situation premium ammo would be easy to obtain for your centrefire, rimfire ammo is only factory and factory shotgun ammo has become cheap.
If you spray a lot of rounds it's probably with a 10/22 or similar rimfire semiauto or perhaps a SKS for plinking fun using ex-mil.
But if your motivation for shooting isn't just hunting; in otherwords if you enjoy shooting for the sake of it, then there is probably the temptation to shoot very often.
That means you use more ammo, which costs more.
You'll probably also want to make all those shots you take more accurate, and people quickly find out that handloading allows you to do this, although this often comes 2nd for guys who reload to save money.
The other category is wildcats or obsolete/unpopular rounds.
Usually you end up shooting a wildcat because you're already hooked on shooting but sometimes, like myself, you pick up a cheap older rifle in what was once a popular wildcat when you're starting out and reload simply to feed it.
Alot of military rifle shooters using more obscure European rifles also need to reload.
Again, often they're led to using such rifles because they simply love shooting.
I don't deny that many factory shooters practise but the thing I see is people buying the very cheapest factory ammo to plink & sight in and then they buy premium ammo for their hunt, which is nuts because often the premium has vastly different ballistics.

 

[dorm]

In rifle I reload .223, .307, .308, .300 WM, and .45-70,
In pistol it's 9 X 18, 9 X 19, .38., .357, .40, .44, .45 and soon, .32

I buy .22LR, .25 auto and .410 and 12 ga. shot and slugs and milsurp 7.62 NATO, 7.62 X 39 and
7.62 X 54R when I strike a good deal. I've been tempted to set up to reload 7.62 X 39 for the SKS but reloadable brass is as scarce as an honest liberal.

Damn! Make no wonder I have no time to shoot!

 

[MHUNT]

I load for most like my 30-06, 308 and of course any hand gun stuff but... I got great accuracy loading for my 35 Whelen but can't beat the Federal factory 225 grn T/B load for hunting. My Winchester big bore in 356 likes the Winchester 250 grn factory load better than anything I have been able to load to date.Also I can sight my -06 for my favorite deer home load (165 grn hornady S/P) and then use it asa spare rifle on a moose hunt with Federal High Energy factory loads with the 180 grn N/P and not have to change scope settings. Not to mention that those high energy loads go 270 fps faster than regular factory -06 fodder or what I thought was a pretty hot home load. That means my -06 is doing 300 win mag velocity. When something works that well I don't feel a need to improve on it, even if I could.

 

[Dustin]

I don't have the time or space to get my reloading equipment set up again.

 

[cariboo_kid]

Well I've switched to shooting reloads in my coyote gun now, will try the others soon.