Ammo question

junior88

junior88

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Joined
Jul 22, 2010
Messages
594
Location
Surprise, AZ
I'm purchasing a new rifle. My question is how many different types of ammo (bullet weights and brands) will you shoot before deciding which one your rifle "likes" best? Also, how many do you try at one range session? One brand per visit or multiple brands? How long do you let the rifle cool down when making a switch to a different brand? I've always just made the best out of what i had with my other rifles. I'm going to be very particular with this one. Thanks
 
For me I try different factory loads until I am happy. That means something less than 1 MOA for my hunting rifles. I have tried about 10 different loads in my 7 mag and only needed a couple different loads in my 7 mm-08 to get to where I was happy. That was with non toxic ammo. With conventional ammo I only had to try 2-3 loads before I was happy. I purchased 2 types at a time and would shoot 3-4 shot groups to start with. I waited a few minutes between different loads or until my barrel was just barely warm not hot. I found out quickly that some would just not shoot well in my gun. If it shot well with 3 shot groups then I would go home and come back another day to try my best loads again.
I started with loads that I hoped my gun would shoot and then go from there. Sometimes a brand I wanted to shoot just didn't work out.
Since this is a new rifle you might want to do a little research on breaking in a new barrel. I tried to follow some recommended break in procedures on my last two rifles.
 
I don't mean to pick on one brand or bullet type but in the past I have found that once you find a good load and you think you are set things can change. I used to have really good results with some Remington Premium loads and then a year or two later they would change the loading recipe or something happened and my gun would no longer shoot it well. Used to drive me nuts. I have not had that problem lately with Barnes or Federal. If it shot well in the beginning it still shoots well today or at least so far it has. That is why you have to shoot a couple of rounds from the new boxes you buy next year before you go hunting with it. I normally buy 3-4 boxes of ammo at a time if it shoots well.
 
Thank you John. I was planning on buying 4 different types of ammo. Testing two types at a time. hopefully by the third visit to the range i'll have an answer. planning on reading up on breaking in the barrel too. Thanks again
 
Junior

Try some factory Nosler ammo for sure. Seems to always be pretty good stuff.
What's the new rifle? Caliber?
 
I'd only experiment until I found a loading that shot the bullet I wanted to use to a level of accuracy I found acceptable. At that point, I'd just buy that and practice with it. Pretty much how I go about handloading.

I'd not sweat barrel break in. Shoot it until it tells you it needs cleaned then clean it. If I was starting with a brand new rifle, I'd highly consider using dyna-bore cote before I fired the first round.
 
FWIW - I would try a box of 165 grain TTSX and a box of 180 grain Accubond, if either or both shoot under 1 MOA, I would just use that round and not look much further. If they don't I would try 150 grain TTSX and 165 grain Accubond. If none of those four worked I would probably try 165 and 180 grain Partitions. Gotta believe one of them will shoot.
 
I couldn't get factory loaded partitions to group in my 300wm. After shooting a lot of different stuff over the years I pretty well settled on Hornady American Whitetail 180grn. Those Interlocks are a standard cup and core design, not a premium bullet, but I've shot a bunch of animals of various sizes, species, and distances and always got very good performance.
 
180gr accubonds and hornady superformance 180 gr will be my first two contestants. Now i need to pick between vital shok accubonds and nosler accubonds, decisions decisions
 
Here are a couple of things I would offer for consideration.
- Know the twist in your rifle barrel and get weight of bullets that matches up with that twist. Forget about what you want to shoot unless that barrel was made for that weight of Bullet.
- any time you change anything in a loaded round (bullet, powder or primer) clean your barrel thoroughly before shooting different batch. If you've ever bore scoped a barrel that has shot say Barnes all copper bullets over the top of say Nosler partitions you'd see what I meant.
- breaking in a barrel is only controversial to those that haven't done it or know how to measure the difference. We can argue back and forth and no one will win but all I can say is when in doubt - what can it hurt.
- Take as much time between shots as you can.
- Lay off the coffee etc on bench shooting days.
 
A 180 gr. bullet in the 300 Win seems to be a good weight for just about anything you would hunt. Hard to beat a 180 gr. Accubond or Partition and Winchester, Nosler, and Federal load them up. I'd try a couple of those first.
 
I've never had a 300 mag, don't shoot magnum's much at all anymore. What I hear, lot of guy's like the 180 gr bullet's in them. I've always figured the bullet to shoot in a 300 is a 200 gr bullet. The nice thing about the 300 with that bullet is it handles it better than anything lesser. The 30-06 handles 180's very well, they are what I use in my 30-06. If I couldn't get a 200 to shoot, them I might try a 180 but would rather the 200. Drop down to a 30-06 and if I couldn't get a 180 to shoot well I might try a 165 but I use 165's in 308's! I think you'll find in the eend that there is one wt of bullet that will suit you.

I think the idea about magnums is it can deliver extraordinary at normal range. Not normal power at extraordinary range.
 
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