Factory ammunition powders?

[just country]

morning, I prefer the barnes line of bullets. one thing very
good about barnes call them on a specific bullet by weight. they
manufacture and they will give u the recommend powder,
charge weight and COL. I do shoot other
brands of bullets, established very good accuracy.
I would not hesitate using MRP powder. I use this powder
in my 300WM. very good accuracy. justme gbot tum

 

[26Reload]

MtGeezer said " I have been reloading for many years now and the more I read this forum, the less I really know.".......
Lol....that can be taken in two ways......
1...there is so much info on this site that we can't know it all....
Or
2...for every one thing we learn we will lose one or two we thought we knew....(Kelly Bundy theory)Married With Children).....

 

[Rudolph Ferdinand]

Makes sense for sure, but to take a pack of reloads just in case, if possible, lessens the problem with none found when you arrive.

I've been lucky on all my hunts flying from Alaska is a long way to go finding factory ammunition in all the locations.

 

[crkckr]

One of the biggest problems with flying your guns and ammo on an airline is that quite often the agents simply do not know their airlines' policies so they tend to make up their own (I know, I worked for the airlines and had to argue the rules on my own airline once!). If you must fly with weapons, call the airline and find out where on their websits they hide their firearms policies (sometimes you can find them by yourself but often they are buried under tons of junk!), read and understand what their rules are and print them out. Then call them and confirm those rules. If they give you anything different than what you read, call again later (you can also ask for a corporate number or supervisor but chances are good you'll be handed off to another agent who will pretend to know what they're talking about... but don't really. Also, the very first thing after you introduce yourself, ask for their name! They'll be less likely to lie to you!). Once you get confirmation on the policies, make sure to have them with you when you check in. There are usually no rules about where you keep your ammo (well, no carry-on but in the rifle case is usually ok) but they will often limit how many rounds you can carry. Another potential buggaboo is where/how they are going to off load the rifle case. Sometimes it will with regular baggage and sometimes in a "special" area. I don't know if they still slap the "unloaded firearm" stickers on the case but they used to. Once a buddy of mine flew into Tucson and they off loaded everyone's baggage curbside - on a street with public traffic on it and with no one watching it! Fortunately, his case with the bright orange firearms stickers all over it was still there! Anyone entering the airport could have reached out their door and grabbed it! Yikes!
Cheers,
crkckr

 

[MTGEEZER]

MtGeezer said " I have been reloading for many years now and the more I read this forum, the less I really know.".......
Lol....that can be taken in two ways......
1...there is so much info on this site that we can't know it all....
Or
2...for every one thing we learn we will lose one or two we thought we knew....(Kelly Bundy theory)Married With Children).....

 

[MTGEEZER]

MtGeezer said " I have been reloading for many years now and the more I read this forum, the less I really know.".......
Lol....that can be taken in two ways......
1...there is so much info on this site that we can't know it all....
Or
2...for every one thing we learn we will lose one or two we thought we knew....(Kelly Bundy theory)Married With Children).....

MtGeezer said " I have been reloading for many years now and the more I read this forum, the less I really know.".......
Lol....that can be taken in two ways......
1...there is so much info on this site that we can't know it all....
Or
2...for every one thing we learn we will lose one or two we thought we knew....(Kelly Bundy theory)Married With Children).....

 

[MTGEEZER]

Thanks, 26, that's just darn funny! In my case, we can replace the "Or" with And because #1 is true for sure and I can relate to Al Bundy: at least he knew he was probably going to come out on the short end of things! At the very least, I have learned from many of you on this site how to be more consistent in my reloading and finally getting it through my tiny little melon that chasing the highest velocity usually produces poor accuracy and that the critters we stock our freezers with won't know the difference between 2875FPS and 3000FPS. Right bullet-right place=pack job! One thing I'd like to see discussed is match bullets vs. hunting bullets. I see many on this site do in fact use match bullets for hunting and with great success. I'd like to hear more on this as I always thought each was specific in name and use.

 

[oldpilot]

Hey CO_Guy, I am totally with you on the "disclaimer" request! I even put some of each of the Superformance powders side by side and could see no difference even with a magnifying glass. Hodgdon and Hornady really need to add that disclaimer you mentioned before someone gets hurt or killed! We can't be the only ones who have tried that or may be thinking of doing it. It is, however, the only time I've tried some thing like that because unlike IMR, Reloader, and a host of other powders, there seems to be only one "Superformance" powder available to reloaders. Glad you didn't get hurt! (I, too, was shooting a Tikka.)

I have a BAR in 7mm Rem Mag and tried some Superformance 154gr SST Ammo after 30 rounds of light break in loads, and it was very accurate with .75 inch groups. I really was surprised and thought maybe I should try to duplicate it. I know that fact about factory ammo powders and so I dropped 2.5 grains off what the factory ammo held. I used an average fired case weight plus 5.6 grs for 215 primers and an average weight of two boxes of 154gr bullets and average weight of two boxes of loaded SuperFormance ammo to come up with an approximate loaded powder charge. Then I pulled two loaded cartridges and weighed the Charges. My calculated was .1 grain less than actual. Then I set my starting point 2.5 grains less and loaded 5 rounds with my SuperFormance Powder. I fired the first one and the primer was flattened but not cratered. I fired the remaining 4, and the results were a 1.6" group. That isn't too bad for an autoloader, but the velocity was down a bunch. I agree with the need for Hodgen and Hornady should really be required to have a disclaimer or better yet they be required to provide load data for reloading powder or better yet rename the factory and for sale lots.

 

[okie man]

An out of state hunt, the best would be, always use factory ammunition paying or not. The ammunition companies do all the testing and have all the data. We as reloaders can't come close to what these companies produce. They use the best of powders, we get like second if that. It like store-bought coffee, seconds. In my thirty years of reloading not even close to the factory stuff. Good luck.

There's literally more than a million hand loaders that will argue that statement. I personally haven't fired a factory rifle round since the nineties . They cannot sale a product superior product to what I produce with my equipment.

 

[rsnell]

I have no problem beating factory ammunition.

 

[.30-06]

shouldn't be hard to find a good load. IMR/H4831 or RL 25. My 300 Weatherby likes IMR 4831

 

[FEENIX]

I hope after 3 years that the OP (@Snowbird) has moved on.

 

[Snowbird]

I hope after 3 years that the OP (@Snowbird) has moved on.

I did give up on this rifle trying to duplicate factory loads and using solid copper in it. It shoots great with the unobtainable nosler ammo and looks great in the safe. I went back to my trusty tikkas and have been reloading without issue.

 

[338 dude]

I respectfully disagree.

Don't we do what we do to improve on factory ammo?