Choosing a factory ammo...

[colonel00]

It has been a long time since I have been down this road. I will be looking to find a suitable factory round for my Tikka .300 WM as the spring unfolds. At this time I just don't shoot enough to warrant the start-up expense for reloading so I will be looking at finding a good factory match to my rifle. I'm just curious about the process that others go through in this situation when trying to choose factory ammo.

I think this could be an interesting thread so post up your processes that you run through. Here are some generic questions off the top of my head to get the discussion going.

Do you just go to the store and buy a box of everything available regardless of bullet type or weight?
Do you focus on a bullet and weight that you want to work and "make that work"?
Can you find enough consistency within a single box of ammo to truly say "this is the one"?

 

[mt100gr.]

I'm currently doing the same for my Tikka in 7mm mag. I have been studying bullets and factory loads for awhile now. I look a lot at what others have found to be good as well as seek ammo loaded with bullets that I have experience with.

Next winter I will undertake the downloading, until then, I'm making brass.

 

[VernAK]

IMO factory ammo today is usually plenty accurate for hunting purposes but each rifle will have some preferences. You don't mention what game is intended but usually today's premium bullets will suffice for a multitude of different sized game animals. You can usually downsize one weight with the monolithic bullets and retain penetration and while gaining velocity.

 

[mtswampfox]

reload myself ,but have heard the stories of finding the perfect ammo only to have it disappear off the shelves and never return. or get in a pinch needing more and none to be had.am blessed or maybe cursed by having 60+ years of reloading "stuff", but still looking for more..........

 

[rileybassman]

I have found that... Maybe I am just lucky with my rifles, but a decent rifle should be able to shoot decent ammo decently.
Sounds dumb, but modern rifles are generally very accurate weapons and 1.5 - 2" real world groups aren't that difficult with decent factory ammo... Again maybe I am just lucky.

To test a new rifle,
I have favorite ammo I usually start with in maybe 2 weights and then branch out from there.

For me, federal premium (accubonds generally) and I can typically get 1-1.5 Moa at 100 yards with my Winchester or savage rifles.

I have found that the Barnes ttsx gives a little more accuracy for both rifles, and fusion gives a little less for both,but there isn't a "huge" difference either way.

Hand loads...different story

If I can't get decent groups with 165 or 180 federal or Barnes ammo, I look at bedding, scope mounts, etc.... Tho my dad was shooting some 10 year old bulk ammo and was shooting 4" groups with cheap hsm bulk ammo, and switching to federal (blue box in this case so the cheaper stuff) shrank his groups in half.

 

[GKPrice]

"handloading" is not simply for cheaper ammo nor will it insure gnat sized groups from your rifle - consider handloading to be a new HOBBY because not only will you learn all about the nuances of your guns but you'll also find out that what you "thought you know" was not as significant as believed - it will also make a better shooter of you ..... I've often thought to myself, as I'm testing a 1/2 dozen new loads, "what am I doing this for ?", then I finish doing it ... simply put, for some of us it becomes a passion (or maybe an obsession

 

[Rizzy]

The Barnes Vortex loads do pretty good in my 243 and 270. They are pricey though.

 

[TheJuice]

Like mt100 said.
I'd also pick ammo based on a bullet you would want to use. If they don't shoot, you could pull the bullets later and hand load them.
In my T3 30-06 it took approx 100 rounds for the barrel to break in, or be 'seasoned'. I say this because I recently shot some Nosler Custom AccuBond rounds as foulers before testing a new load. This ammo never grouped great before, but I'll be danged if it doesn't shoot terrific now. Here's the 5-shot group I shot with these factory rounds this week. I'm confident I pulled the 5th shot. This is all I can expect out of my hand loads.
View attachment 22836

 

[colonel00]

Thanks fellas. Interesting comments. I guess I just figured there would be more people with some sort of "system" they use. As TheJuice mentions, 100 rounds in and his rifle is now shooting a round well that it didn't earlier. How many other rounds were thrown out due to this same circumstance?

Oh, VernAK, the first trip for this rifle will probably be up there to AK in May for a spring bear hunt. We'll be hunting over bait with bows as the primary choice and guns as backups in case a choice cinnamon comes by. Overall, this rifle will probably see everything from deer to caribou to elk to black bear but I would also want some thump for grizzlies too.

 

[Warren1726]

With factory ammo off a sandbag, I get 2" groups with Rem corelokt, Fusions, powermax. 1.5" groups with ttsx and -1" groups with Accubond. That's a Browning A-bolt .270 win.

 

[luke moffat]

I grew up thinking green and yellow core lokts were the only option for ammo as we lived 3 hours from the nearest place that sold ammo and my dad said ammo was ammo. Well he must had been right as my brother and I tipped over a pile of moose, caribou, and even a couple grizz (one is top ten in B&C) with our 308s and 30-06 using the green and yellow boxes with no issues.

That said ammo is such a small portion of the cost of any hunting trip these days so I do shell out the extra coin for premium bullets. Generally I look for good bonded bullets like Accubonds or Sciroccos. They seem to work well for everything I have used (just like core lokts ). I have yet to have a rifle that won't shoot any factory ammo I have tried less than 2" at 100 yards, which is MUCH more than adequate for me and the ranges I hunt shoot from.


Just go with what you rifle likes best and don't get too caught up in chasing that sub MOA accuracy. I think people would be better served shooting with 1.5 MOA ammo from field positions than spending a bunch of time and money trying to get their rifle to shoot MOA from a bench when the best they can do from the field posiitons is 3-4 MOA anyways.

 

[TheJuice]

I did not have a good system when I started, as this was my first rifle. I did what you mentioned in your first post, and just grabbed one box of everything they had on the shelf for 30-06. Including Winchester Super-X, Winchester Power Max Bonded, Remington Core Loc, just whatever I could find. I will mention that I did tend to shy away from the more expensive rounds at the time. The problem I ran into personally, was that the best group, ended up being a bullet that I was not all that excited about, after reading several reviews about it.
Now that I am reloading, I don't have that concern. But looking back, I think I would have been more selective with the bullet choices that have been proven on the game you want to hunt. I would imagine for you being AccuBond, TTSX, Nosler Partition, etc. Bullets that have proven expansion while retaining weight and deep penetration.

Disclaimer: I'm no expert by any means. To date, I have only personally killed whitetail does with my rifle here in Iowa's late doe season.

As far as throwing out earlier rounds, that is a tough one. Because that particular bullet may group a lot better at a different seating depth or velocity.
The 165 AB's now grouping where they didn't before? I don't have a good answer.
I can tell you that I may have had copper fouling to blame for the earlier inaccuracy. Before I went out and shot that group, I had thoroughly cleaned my barrel of ALL copper residue. I had, not knowingly, allowed it to build up pretty bad.

 

[2rocky]

I think Federal Premium has the best assortment of options. As a "One-Gun" hunter, I have had plenty of success with a 180 grain Nosler Partition in my .300 WM.

I may have to handload for copper some day, but so far I'm happy.

 

[TEmbry]

I chose Barnes VorTX ammo for my T3 .30-06... Somewhat pricey, but even at full retail it's only <$2/round. I am not a range guy. As Luke pointed out, this is a hunting rifle... Once set, 75% of my rounds will realistically be fired at animals.

They had a heck of a deal before new years as well, offering buy 2 boxes get 1 free with no limit. I bought 4 to end up with 6 boxes for <$160. Very affordable in the grand scheme of things.

 

[rileybassman]

I chose Barnes VorTX ammo for my T3 .30-06... Somewhat pricey, but even at full retail it's only <$2/round. I am not a range guy. As Luke pointed out, this is a hunting rifle... Once set, 75% of my rounds will realistically be fired at animals.

They had a heck of a deal before new years as well, offering buy 2 boxes get 1 free with no limit. I bought 4 to end up with 6 boxes for <$160. Very affordable in the grand scheme of things.

Glad I wasn't the only one doing that just got my free box last week!