Practice Ammo: How to Choose? ( 223, 243, 308)

[RockAndSage]

I don’t expect ammo to shoot to the same POI from lot to lot, but I do expect it to shoot consistently within each lot. I’ve yet to have ammo that shoots acceptably in one lot fail in another lot, but that’s always a theoretical possibility.

This definitely happens - sometimes it won't be noticed, other times it can be pretty blatant. During covid and other ammo shortages it seems to emerge more, when companies have a harder time sourcing the exact same powder, literally substituting one for another, turning it into an entirely different load. That can show up in zero shifts and accuracy.

During normal times, it's an issue of different lots of powder, with slight variances in burn rate from the large blending of hundred or even thousands of smaller batches of powder to produce one "lot". This seems to be more of an issue for guys capable of far more precision at distance than I am, to the point of it largely not mattering to the average guy sub-300yds.

 

[H80Hunter]

I keep notes on where secondary/practice loads hit relative to my "hunting/primary" load. So if I have a 100 yard zero with my hunting load (including zeroing out the turrets), I'll shoot a 10 shot group with my practice ammo and then note "This hits 1.25" high and 3/4" left at 100 yards.". Then next time I'm practicing, I can just dial to that zero and start from there. Dialing beyond that can be more complicated beyond a couple hundred yards but can easily be done for practice with your new "home" turret location. With a capped turret scope it's super easy you can just make notes of where you need to locate the turret for each load.

Then I can go right back to my zero location on the turrets for the hunting load.

 

[nm.otter]

6.5 Creedmoor was easy -- multiple manufacturers of BTHP target rounds at $1.00 at the beginning of this year (currently more like $1.05-$1.10). Save brass. Reload.