Shooting Reloads in Matches

alfsauve said:

Interesting responses. Interesting assumptions.

It is a piece of mind thing. I don't go to the line double guessing myself. I know if there's an ammo failure then I didn't cause it. If it's my reloads, I own it, I worry about it. Also, nobody comes over later giving me advice about more crimp or less crimp, longer COAL or shorter, bad headstamp or good, or telling me I should use a different powder. It's one less thing to worry about.

Thank you, Rabid Wombat.

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I had never thought about the peace of mind thing but that is very true. It’s a good feeling knowing I couldn’t have already messed something up before starting shooting.

I’d never have more peace of mind from using a factory load than something pressed by my hand under my own QC and QA methods. But then again, optimizing industrial production programs is my career, so I have pretty good evidence I can implement appropriate process QC/QA.

I’d also feel a lot better ignoring advice from others about which powder or load development method could improve my well-developed loads than I would feel taking the rolling eyes and incredulous criticism for using factory ammo. But expectations vary by respective shooting sport; to each their own.

One thing I was told early on was to shoot my practice matches as if they were real and to shoot matches like I do in practice.
In this case, I shot reloads in practice. I never saw any reason to change this practice.

I've had one case seperation in the chamber that zeroed the stage

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Was in one of those stepped 9mm cases?
They are bad new, I had one separate mid range load, I those those turkeys in the recycle can

I did enjoy my friend's adventure with reloading 223. Even at short ranges, all his rounds hit the targets sideways!

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Special close range pre-impact tumbling .223 bullets, bigger hole sideways

I shoot my reloads in matches and feel fine using them, if I do my part reloading them, they do there part in the match.
I load my 9mm to run right about 128-130 PF. If I was shooting major matches I would up the PF a bit but still use my reloads.

All I have ever shot in matches has been ammo that I loaded myself. I stopped counting at 50K rounds of .45 ACP. Probably close to 100k at this point.
Rarely have had a malfunction due an ammo problem....in fact, I do not recall ever having an alibi with my old Gold Cup and reloads.

alfsauve said:

Interesting responses. Interesting assumptions.

It is a piece of mind thing. I don't go to the line double guessing myself. I know if there's an ammo failure then I didn't cause it. If it's my reloads, I own it, I worry about it. Also, nobody comes over later giving me advice about more crimp or less crimp, longer COAL or shorter, bad headstamp or good, or telling me I should use a different powder. It's one less thing to worry about.

Thank you, Rabid Wombat.

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Just my opinion, but confidence is more important in competition than slight variation differences between factory or handloads for the competition you do.

Factory loads give you confidence in spades, it seems. Don’t trade that confidence for anything.

I shoot nothing but reloads. I'm pretty picky about what goes into the competition bin. I'd say there are probably one or two per hundred that go into the 'practice' bin.

I shoot around 1200 rounds in a normal month in some kind of a match, overwhelmingly Steel Challenge. I've had no issue other than one squib in the past year. All the 'practice' rounds have gone bang.

9mm.

I buy fully processed brass. Well, when I can find it.

NVcharlie said:

I Have to roll all my own. 9 major makes ammo company lawyers cringe. I use new brass for level 2 and up matches. For practice and local matches I use range brass. Its sized and decapped, pin timbled then roll sized. After a trip through the hundo guage its been inspected atleast 3 times. I've had one case seperation in the chamber that zeroed the stage.

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Is 9mm Major popular in the US now ?

Jasonmackuk said:

Is 9mm Major popular in the US now ?

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Yes in USPSA Open division.

If you're shooting open division, yes

Many competitors use modified revolvers that need correctly seated Federal primers for consistent ignition. That is the combination I used.
Factory loads in a event can be a handicap if they are much more powerful then needed.
With the current shortage of components and the cost of replacements i'm not surprised a few less then optimum reloads were used.
Curious how the scores looked after the match was over.

earplug said:

Many competitors use modified revolvers that need correctly seated Federal primers for consistent ignition.

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Anecdote Alert
In the 1970s a group of us were shooting PPC with tuned Pythons, Federal primer dependent.
One of the guys worked at a dealer and when he ran short of reloads, he grabbed a box of factory loads at employee discount, they shot fine.
So the next time the Speer/CCI rep came by he asked him: "How come it is that your Speer factory loads are reliable in my tuned revolver but your reload primers aren't?" The rep stuttered and stammered
"Uh, we don't make our own cases, we order them with Speer headstamp from Federal and they come in primed."

All I ever shot in competition was reloads. Unlike some others I tended to load and shoot my worst brass for lost brass matches. I never had an ammo or gun related failure while doing so. YMMV

Reloads all the way for me I use the same brass for practice as I use in the match. It gets shot several times before a match and it still has a little life left but it don’t bother me to leaving it lay, but I have more confidence in it after using it.

Like George P with clay games, when I was shooting competitive skeet, I'd shoot factory ammunition in tournaments. In part it was to avoid having my ammunition checked, and in part it was to generate hulls to reload for practice.

For IHMSA Silhouette and Service Rifle, I only shot reloads. I never shot beyond local level matches and I do not remember if the organizations had ammunition checking provisions in the rules.

First match I ever shot, IDPA, I had to drop out of after not being able to finish the first two stages due to the bullets jumping the crimp and tying up my revolver.

After that, it's been %100 hand loads. For hunting too. Nothing but success since then. Never had a dead primer, or squib. Couple rounds were too spicy, but had that sorted out during load development, not while the timer was going.

"I did enjoy my friend's adventure with reloading 223. Even at short ranges, all his rounds hit the targets sideways! A laugh was had by all. I did think he eventually figured it out."
I had a 6.5 Carcano that did that. I figured it out.... Sold it.

I've shot my handloads in every form of competition that I have ever competed in and the best that I can tell, so have most of the other shooters. My handloads are more accurate than any factory ammo that I have ever shot, except for one.

Anything beyond 500 yards I shoot my reloads. I haven’t found any ammo off the shelf that shots as well. Also haven’t found anything remotely worth it from a price point either.

Never heard of unlimited. Is that new?

I trust my reloads just as much as factory ammo. Use good equipment and components and most important pay attention.

Hoser said:

Thats what old timers like me called Open. And limited was Tactical.

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I don't think the divisions were ever called that in IPSC/USPSA