Shawnee
member
Since Forever the gunners' "conventional Wisdom" has been that the reloader can produce ammo that leaves the "factory stuff" in the dirt. That bit of "Wisdom" has sold an insanely HUGE amount of reloading equipment, powder, primers and "special" bullets - to me - and I shudder to think how much to the rest of the nation.
It's true that - for almost any given caliber - the person who reloads often has more bullet choices than the person who doesn't reload.
It's also true that if the bulletmakers put out 47 "different" 100-grain .243 bullets - die-hard reloaders will immediately buy at least one box of each (wave at the cash register now) to determine "which one shoots best in my rifle" - nevermind that all, or most of, them shoot 3 times more accurately than a hunter needs.
It's also true that - for any given caliber - the reputable ammo makers usually produce a choice of bullets in their ammo that will serve the entire range of what a person would be likely to do with that caliber.
It's also true that the reputable companies have figured out how to make very, very good ammo - ammo that is usually more accurate than a hunter needs it to be.
Like a great many reloaders gorged with gun-zine "conventional Wisdom", I used to feel a bit smug toward people who depended on factory ammo for their hunting. I thought of them as some type of woefully under-informed peasants who did not realize that one cannot fire a rifle unless one has developed eleven different armadillo (or deer or Elk) loads.... all specialized based on relative humidity, hemispheric variables and the Zodiac.
But I got my attitude corrected when I worked Saturdays and Sundays, for 12 weeks, doing nothing but sitting at a bench sighting in peoples' rifles with factory ammo, daylight to dark. I'd guess it was about 20 rifles a day - any caliber and any model and any factory ammo (often Walmart "on-sale" stuff) handed to me. I came to realize three really valuable facts about ammo.
* The quality of factory ammo from reputable ammo makers - at least for the more common calibers - is usually top-notch - and is so in many makes and models of rifles.
* Good factory ammo for many calibers can be bought in many small stores in most rural (hunting) areas - but my special reloads canNOT.
* The % of hunters/shooters who depend on factory ammo is HUGE.
One of my neighbors has a .223, two .22/250s, a .243, a .25/06, and a 7mm Rem. Mag. He has common factory ammo that will shoot sub-MOA for each of them, and except for the .25/06, he has at least two factory loads that will do so in each. For the .22/250, the .243 and the 7mag. - he has at least two factory loads for each that will shoot close enough to the same P.O.I. that they are virtually interchangeable in the hunting fields. As he puts it: "How much more accuracy and so-called "versatility" do I need - and how much reloading money and time would I have to spend before I could duplicate what I already have?"
A most Excellent point.
Another very good point he makes is that; if he shoots a deer DRT with a 100gr. Hornady bullet today - why should he use a different bullet/load tomorrow?
Though my neighbor has shot about 25-30 deer a year for a decade or so on agricultural damage permits, he obviously hasn't read enough gun-zines.
It's true that - for almost any given caliber - the person who reloads often has more bullet choices than the person who doesn't reload.
It's also true that if the bulletmakers put out 47 "different" 100-grain .243 bullets - die-hard reloaders will immediately buy at least one box of each (wave at the cash register now) to determine "which one shoots best in my rifle" - nevermind that all, or most of, them shoot 3 times more accurately than a hunter needs.
It's also true that - for any given caliber - the reputable ammo makers usually produce a choice of bullets in their ammo that will serve the entire range of what a person would be likely to do with that caliber.
It's also true that the reputable companies have figured out how to make very, very good ammo - ammo that is usually more accurate than a hunter needs it to be.
Like a great many reloaders gorged with gun-zine "conventional Wisdom", I used to feel a bit smug toward people who depended on factory ammo for their hunting. I thought of them as some type of woefully under-informed peasants who did not realize that one cannot fire a rifle unless one has developed eleven different armadillo (or deer or Elk) loads.... all specialized based on relative humidity, hemispheric variables and the Zodiac.
But I got my attitude corrected when I worked Saturdays and Sundays, for 12 weeks, doing nothing but sitting at a bench sighting in peoples' rifles with factory ammo, daylight to dark. I'd guess it was about 20 rifles a day - any caliber and any model and any factory ammo (often Walmart "on-sale" stuff) handed to me. I came to realize three really valuable facts about ammo.
* The quality of factory ammo from reputable ammo makers - at least for the more common calibers - is usually top-notch - and is so in many makes and models of rifles.
* Good factory ammo for many calibers can be bought in many small stores in most rural (hunting) areas - but my special reloads canNOT.
* The % of hunters/shooters who depend on factory ammo is HUGE.
One of my neighbors has a .223, two .22/250s, a .243, a .25/06, and a 7mm Rem. Mag. He has common factory ammo that will shoot sub-MOA for each of them, and except for the .25/06, he has at least two factory loads that will do so in each. For the .22/250, the .243 and the 7mag. - he has at least two factory loads for each that will shoot close enough to the same P.O.I. that they are virtually interchangeable in the hunting fields. As he puts it: "How much more accuracy and so-called "versatility" do I need - and how much reloading money and time would I have to spend before I could duplicate what I already have?"
A most Excellent point.
Another very good point he makes is that; if he shoots a deer DRT with a 100gr. Hornady bullet today - why should he use a different bullet/load tomorrow?
Though my neighbor has shot about 25-30 deer a year for a decade or so on agricultural damage permits, he obviously hasn't read enough gun-zines.
