Need some opinions re factory ammo

[Ian M]

Appreciate any opinions regarding factory premium ammo. I will list some questions, perhaps you guys could give some opinions by just responding to the number:
1. What are the advantages? Does it shoot better, velocities more consistent faster?
2. When is it better than standard grade ammo?
3. Is it necessary for deer hunting?
4. Is bullet selection the only advantage of premium ammo?
5. Is nickle plated cases, premium bullet selection and fancy boxing worth the extra money.

Am not interested in comparing it to handloads, that is another topic. Just factory vs factory. Hope that some of you guys have some opinions and that not everybody strictly shoots handloads...

Appreciate any info you could provide, need stuff right now.

Ian, I'll offer up and opinion I had prior to reloading..

I used to try various types of factory ammo... I found that I prefered the mathc grade ammo Federal and Remington ( Black Hills wasn't a company then ) My first reason was accuracy. THe second was consistiency. I never hunted dangerous game so I knew that what ever bullet was used was sufficient for the game I was after. ( Deer mostly )
I did however use A LOT of Federal Premium Factory ammo because they were again, 1. Accurate, 2. consistent. They at the time were using the ballistic tips which performed very well on deer.

Yes they "premium" was a little more pricy and they were packaged real pretty like but the issues for me were in a word "performance" oriented.

so...

1= YES
2= see above
3= no if you're 100 yards or less
4= no
5= N/A if you refer to my reasoning above. If that stuff amde a difference in performance then yes..

[Pete Lincoln]

I can highly recomend Hornady ammunition. all my rifles shoot best with one or other factory loading from Hornady. thats probably why i ain't started hand loading yet. Ive been through about 6000 rounds of Hornady 180 grain BTSP light magnum in 30-06, always consistent always accurate, sub 1/4 moa from a heym barreled remmy 700, ain't lost a game animal since i started using hornady.. give it a try.. Pete

[Ian M]

Pete,
I have also had some excellent accuracy with Hornady, particularly the LE ammo called TAPS.
Had one batch that was interesting, when shot in a certain rifle the cartridge cases would NOT eject. They would extract from the chamber and break free and just lie in the action. Problem was a slight chamfer in the rim cutout - this was .308 Win. and it was 100%, the damn cases would not clear the action. Sent some back to Horaday for their info, but the problem was only significant in one rifle. Tried them in other actions and worked OK.
If I had to select most accurate factory hunting ammo - toss up for my rifles between Black Hills Gold and Win. Supreme.

[speedbump]

Ian,

1. Consistency, accuracy, bullet selection in that order.

2. When ALL the above are required. Standard factory ammo is fine for almost all hunting situations inside 100-200 yards. Once you get past 200, things change. A 1.5MOA rifle with standard ammo & iffy bullets doesn't breed alot of confidence from 300 out.....

3. No, inside 200 yards.

4. No, accuracy & consistency also.

5. Nickel cases? OK, but not mandatory.

Premium bullets? IF they provide more consistency & are proven performers without sacrificing accuracy.

Fancy boxes? Not required.

I like Remington & Hornady TAP but not as much as Federal Match & Winchester Supreme. Federal Match is the industry standard which all others are compared to. The old Winchester Ranger was crap - when they went to the 'Supreme' line their quality control & accuracy were noticably better.

We did some testing last year with different Federal TRU ammo in 223 & 308 and it shot well, the Nosler BTs were tighter than the Sierra Gamekings.

*IMHO*


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