How much did your handloads improve your grouping?

[jeepmor]

Personally, I've shot 3/4" at 100 yards with both my handloads and factory fodder. This is with my .223 HB Ruger. The only rifle I handload for at this time. I'm gathering the goods for the hunting rifles now for the season is just around the corner. However, I've gotten 3/4" or less groups out of my wife's 270 and my 300WSM hunting rifles with Federal softpoints and Fusion ammo respectively. Isn't Fusion Federal also? Regardless, neither was considered premium ammo.

That said, I can still tell most the time that my ammo is more accurate than I am.

Any of you purchase a sled just so you can remove yourself from the equation and truly know what the ammo groups like? I guess I am going to have to find a longer rifle range to get things out there a bit more distance wise to really see the difference. 100 yards is not enough considering all of these rifles are good to about 250+ yards.

 

[Gbro]

I did some years back with .270win.

My reloads gave me 2" groups @200yd's
I thought the same thing and picked up a box of federal premiums. 6" groups @ 200yds.
The rifle, M-77R, it was a hard rifle to find a load for. The test pleased me at the time.
I have seen impressive groups with factory ammo at the range, some guns like it, and some don't.

 

[layusn1]

I think your handloads will always be better than factory because they are custom tailored to that specific firearm...not every firearm in the world cambered in that same caliber. I know, for example that my 9mm load doesn't work as well in my wife's Sig so now I will develop a load for her. The only reason I bought factory ammo for my 243 Win was to see what kind of accuracy I need to get out of my handloads. Unfortunately I bought Federal 100gr soft points and I loaded Speer 75gr HPs so I imagine there is going to be a bit of difference in point of impact so I will have to re-sight in the scope. I would love a nice rifle rest to be able to lock the rifles down for load development/testing though...they are just really pricey for me now. To answer the question though, for example, I went from 1" plus groups with factory 55gr Win FMJ to slightly less than dime sized..just barely but it sounds good, with Speer 52gr HPBT Match bullets in my AR15.

 

[LexDiamonds]

Also, just to play devils advocate... even if your reloads are not more accurate per se, calculate your cost per 20 vs. a box of federal fusion....

then experiment with crimp, powder type, etc and watch those groups shink while your grin grows bigger.

 

[Geno]

It was very typical for me to cut the group in half. But more important, I picked up massive performance increases. I burned 95 grain bullets down a 6MM Remington (.244 Rem) at 50 FPS faster than the .240 Wea. Mag. performed. I did this with no primer blow-back or any other sign of pressure, and cases had long life.

 

[wcwhitey]

I know you intended this to be about rifles but this is about my SBH .44 Mag. I hunt in Upstate New York, in mountainous brush country. Except for once or twice most of my shots have been 50 yards or less. For years I carried a Marlin 336 with a 2.5 scope, it would shoot 4-5" groups on a good day. I could never get it down from that, but I considered it adequate for a 100 yard gun. I also carried with me my SBH 7 1/2" just because. I started playing with different loads for the .44 and I came up with one using 200 Gr XTP's that would shoot sub 3" groups off the bench with open sights. I have not brought the rifle into the woods since, this was over 10 years ago, makes tracking and walking a whole lot easier as well. That 200 XTP hits hard and has done the job on anything I have hit with it. I also have several friends who have been supplied with a few boxes of the loading who now swear by it. Bill

 

[Walkalong]

Factory fodder is a lot better these days than when many of us started reloading years ago, but you can still improve upon it simply because you can taylor a load to your specific rifle.

How much? It varies. Sometimes a bit better, (say 10% to 20% better) sometimes a lot better. (say 40% to 50% better). Occasionally you will see better results than that.

Sometimes with the best factory stuff in a really good gun with a great barrel that happens to like that load it is difficult to improve on it at all.

 

[Marlin 45 carbine]

a noticeable amount in my MIni-30, bit I was using PMC and Wolf FMJ. I loaded some 150 gr. Sieera, my M-30 is happy now.

 

[GunTech]

My handloads will get my group size down to around 0.220 - best groups under 0.100. I don't reload for cost, I do it for accuracy only.

Mind you, that's with weighed cases, weighed bullets and weighed powder charge. Neck turned and seated 0.001 off the lands.

I don't care to go to that much bother 98% of the time, but my 'routine handloads are 1/4 MOA, while FGMM will normally do about 3/4 MOA if I do my part.

 

[Eagle103]

I found this quote from the most recent Cabelas catalog regarding their Hornady Custom ammo interesting:

Hornady Custom Ammunition offers you more consistency and accuracy than standard ammo. This ammunition is manufactured to the tightest production tolerances in the industry with select components and the best Hornady bullets available. Hornady technicians say that nine times out of 10, it will out perform ammo produced by the average reloader.

Take that for what it's worth and consider the source. I myself am getting tired of Hornady's attitude toward reloaders. Not making their Leverevolution bulluts available for reloaders doesn't score any points with me either.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Not sure just how much my handloads have improved my grouping. Can't be sure that the practice didn't have something to do with it too. Even though many have spouted the virtures of reloading as being much cheaper then factory ammunition I have found that reloading is much more expensive then factory because I shoot much more then when I was purchasing factory ammunition. I'm sure that my handloaded ammunition is much more accurate then factory only because I can tailor my loads to the particular rifle. But I can't prove it as I do practice MUCH more now the earlier...

 

[caz223]

All ammo is a compromise.
However, reloaded ammo is a better compromise, since you know what gun you'll be firing it in, and you know what that gun likes, and what it's capable of.
Handloads, even if they're of the same accuracy, help you shoot better because you shoot MORE of them. It's a fact.

 

[layusn1]

The practice point works for me but I have only shot maybe 20 times and I have never shot more than 40rds per rifle per trip...do you think that is enough to significantly improve ones skill vs the load?

 

[peterotte]

...do you think that is enough to significantly improve ones skill vs the load?

Absolutely. But good hand loads work wonders too.

My mini-14 groups went from 3" to 1 1/4" with hand loads and even to 3/4" with round nose hollow point bullets. Seating depth is just one of the parameters you can control.

Peter

 

[caz223]

Even if you only shoot 20 rounds a day, but shoot EVERY DAY, you won't get rusty.
Now, I had a while where I had a job that let me shoot 100 rounds a day, every day for 3 months and I can tell you, I have never been so good.
The comfort level and confidence were very very reassuring.
I would have to shoot 100 rounds a day for 3 weeks just to shake the rust off, but I could get there again.

 

[wanderinwalker]

I definitely say my rifle handloads will group better MOST of the time versus factory loads. Case in point; my father has a bunch of Black Hills reman .223 match ammo (75gr Hornady HPBTs). From position, scores with this stuff are as good as stuff with my 77gr reloads, at 200 and 300 yards. But the Black Hills can't hang with my reloads at 600 yards. It could be the bullet, it could be the loads, but I know my reloads at better at the stretch.

Just recently I've taken to weight-sorting cases for my 600-yard match ammo. At Perry I had a best score at 600 of a 183-8x. Nothing to brag about, but it showed me that when I was screwed down tight, the ammo (80gr Noslers over Varget and CCI-BR4s jumping .025", FWIW) was doing about 1-MOA from my rifle with ease. And when I wasn't screwed down tight, even perfect ammo couldn't save me! :banghead: Needless to say, I wouldn't bother shooting that range with factory .223 ammo.

And I've come to the conclusion in reloading that there are some things you can just count on to work, like buying Federal Gold Medal Match ammo can pretty much be expected to flock well. Things like Hornady XTP bullets in any caliber I've tried them, or Nosler and Sierra match bullets and Sierra GameKings. Or how some powders work really well in just about anything you try them in (Varget, 231 and 296 where applicable, IME). I have one .44 Magnum load that can be counted on to be very accurate, and a couple of rifle loads that I know I can just take to the range and get a good group.

 

[Hikingman]

Between tailoring a load for a particular gun and the very consistent loads from my press and scales, a noticeable difference in various calibers.

 

[jvik]

Back in the day - when my Remington 700 ADL in 243 Winchester was new and I wasn't growing cataracts on both eyes - I could get just over 1" groups with factory ammo, but reloading I could get that down to just under 34".