Velocity and "accuracy" ... reloads vs Federal Gold Medal Match vs American Eagle.

[MCMXI]

On Sunday, a friend and I compared my reloads to Federal Gold Medal Match (Sierra 168gr BTHP) and American Eagle (150gr FMJ BT) factory ammunition.


Shooters: Two ... me and a friend.
Rifle: Remington 700 action, 25" Krieger barrel with 1:10 twist.
Optics: Premier Reticles Heritage 3-15x50mm (set on 15x) with no adjustments made during six groups.
Reloads: 178gr A-MAX bullets, 44.2gr of Reloder 15, CCI 200 primers and Lapua cases.
Factory ammunition: Federal Gold Medal Match 168gr lot # 21N297 and American Eagle 150gr lot # 21V447.
Chronograph: CED M2 approximately 15' from the muzzle.
Method: My friend shot three 5-shot groups first using the "round-robin" method. I shot the next three 5-shot groups also using the "round-robin" method.
Shooting range/position: All groups were shot prone at 100 yards with a bipod and rear bean bag for support.
Conditions: NICE!! It was sunny and windy with gusts around 10 to 12 mph coming from 2 o'clock. We tried to time our shots between gusts.
Results: The Federal ammunition was impressive although the SD wasn't very good. The American Eagle ammunition had good SD numbers but poor accuracy/precision. It would appear that I don't need to make any scope adjustments switching between the Federal ammunition and my reloads (at close ranges anyway). I REALLY like my reloads!

Friend's target:

My target:

Velocity data:

Added in Edit: Federal lists the MV of their 168gr BTHP match load at 2,650 fps and the MV of the 175gr BTHP match load at 2,600 fps.

 

[mickeydim468]

Nice bit of data you have collected.

Not bad shooting either! Bet that Gold match ammo costs quite a bit more than your reloads. Don't you just love that?

Mikey!

 

[taliv]

nice work!

 

[52grain]

It would be interesting to do a similar comparison between Federal Gold Medal Match and Black Hills Match.

 

[mshootnit]

It appears your rifle likes the others better than the American Eagle thats for sure!

 

[SSN Vet]

nice write up,

nice shooting

I'll be working up a 7mm-08 load for the 162 gr A-max after it warms up out there (maybe August at the rate we're going).... going to give RL-15 a try.

 

[MCMXI]

Thanks to all for the positive feedback.

Bet that Gold match ammo costs quite a bit more than your reloads. Don't you just love that?

Not exactly. A very sweet girl gave me five boxes of .308 on Saturday. Three boxes of the Federal and two boxes of the American Eagle. The price tag on the Federal shows $17.95, but from what I've been told it's running about twice that these days!

It would be interesting to do a similar comparison between Federal Gold Medal Match and Black Hills Match.

If you'd like to mail me a couple of boxes of the Black Hills Match I'll certainly do another comparison between my reloads, Federal Gold Medal Match and whatever you send my way. Seriously though, you're right, it'd be very interesting.

It appears your rifle likes the others better than the American Eagle thats for sure!

I'll be putting the remaining 30 American Eagle rounds through my M1A Scout and/or FAL since it's average at best. Not bad if it were hunting ammo perhaps.

I'll be working up a 7mm-08 load for the 162 gr A-max after it warms up out there (maybe August at the rate we're going).... going to give RL-15 a try.

I just started working up 7mm-08 loads for Hornady's 139gr SST InterLock using IMR 4895 ... I'll keep you posted.

 

[SHvar]

It appears that bullet weight has more of an effect at that distance (in this case) more than anything else. The lighter round appears to be more difficult to stabilize. Ill bet if the American eagle were heavier bullets they would be more stable and easier to group tighter.
Nice post.

 

[taliv]

what led you to that conclusion?

 

[Walkalong]

Surely we are not surprised that the A Max and the match grade Sierra 168 outshot the American Eagle cheap stuff.

Good shooting. AC

 

[Slamfire]

If your handloads ever equal the accuracy of Federal Gold Medal match, you have really done something.

You know, even cheap 150's are doing better than they used to. Just see the shot gun patterns I fired with these vintage 150 FMJ's:


1968 WRA Ball, with a 150 FMJ

IMI 147 FMJ BT

 

[Art Eatman]

The Federal folks do pretty good. When they first came out with the Sierra 85-grain HPBT in .243, I bought a box out of curiosity. It shoots right into 1/2 to 3/4 MOA, same as the handloads I'd been using for twenty years.

Same for their Premium High-Energy in '06. Around 3/4 MOA, same as my handloads with the Sierra 165-grain HPBT.

 

[MCMXI]

It appears that bullet weight has more of an effect at that distance (in this case) more than anything else. The lighter round appears to be more difficult to stabilize. Ill bet if the American eagle were heavier bullets they would be more stable and easier to group tighter.

Lapua Scenar 155gr bullets have proven to be VERY accurate from numerous .308 rifles so I very much doubt that bullet weight had anything to do with the average performance of the American Eagle ammunition. The velocities were consistent but there are many other variables at play. It just goes to show that consistent velocity numbers aren't the "be all and end all" of accuracy and precision.

If your handloads ever equal the accuracy of Federal Gold Medal match, you have really done something.

The 44.2gr load that I use is simply the bees knees out of my .308 and I'm doubtful that the Federal Match stuff would beat it on a consistent basis. The targets below show four groups shot with the same 44.2gr load on 02/06/10 and three groups shot with the same 44.2gr load on 12/06/09 (used cut and paste from six groups shot that day... #1 and #2). The Federal Gold Medal Match 168gr is still sub MOA factory ammunition in many, many rifles. This is truly impressive and somewhat of a mystery to me.

The friend that helped me out on Sunday had never shot that rifle, doesn't usually shoot prone and doesn't shoot on a regular basis.