What do you think???

[Matty_ola]

I don't mean any disrespect to those who do this and I'm sure it's fine but why would you practice with one type of ammo and hunt with another? If I shoot 30/06 Fed premium at animals I think I should shoot the exact ammo at targets being as my sights will be sighted in for that particular ammunition.

If I sight in my rifle with the chapo fed or hornady ammo then wouldn't my POI change when I go to and shoot that beauty buck. Especially since most hunters sight in for 2-3" above center at 100 yards and hold dead on at up to 350yards. Not mention thew consistancy of cheap ammo is terrible.

I bought a box of cheap Win super X 30/06 ammo (Probably what most practice with) and took five cartridges appart, None of them had the exact same amount of powder in them one actually had 1 full grain less then the rest, and the bullets were diffrent weights as well up to 2 Grains. How can you expect your practice ammo to give you the exact same POI as your hunting ammo if they are not the same?

I think if your going to take the life of an animal at distances further than 200yards you should at least make damn sure the ammo you're using id going to hit the spot your aiming at and not just in the general area...

I personally reload my own ammo as I can make sure every cartridge is built the exact same. Yea I weigh my bullets, cases, powders and even primers to ensure the best consistancy I can reach. If I'm going to go out and kill something the least I can do is ensure it dies as painless and quick as possible with a well places and practices shot (Maybe I have too much time on my hands)

Just my rant I've been wanting to talk about for awhile. Please don't take it as insulting anyone who does it. It's just how I feel about it.

[tikkatac]

Maybe you should learn to spell before entering the internet

[Matty_ola]

Maybe you should learn to spell before entering the internet

Really? Perhaps you can add something a little more constructive to HBC

[bforce750]

Maybe you should learn to spell before entering the internet

This isn't hooked on phonics tictac:)

[steel_ram]

I find factory ammo these days pretty darn good. Did you take any premium factory ammo apart? Bet you would find the same abnormalities as in the less expensive stuff.

Unless your talking BR accuracy, a half grain either way in a 30-06 sized cartridge makes little difference. Try it, you may be surprised. Supreme accuracy is a culminatiion of many fine details, from ammo development to fine tuning the rifle, never mind the shooter.

When I buy a new rifle, I usually put a box of factory ammo through it, or I'll pick up some clearance priced stuff to play with. With few exceptions, I disagree that cheap off the shelf stuff is crap, much of it capable of near MOA accuracy.

[Matty_ola]

I find factory ammo these days pretty darn good. Did you take any premium factory ammo apart? Bet you would find the same abnormalities as in the less expensive stuff.

Unless your talking BR accuracy, a half grain either way in a 30-06 sized cartridge makes little difference. Try it, you may be surprised. Supreme accuracy is a culminatiion of many fine details, from ammo development to fine tuning the rifle, never mind the shooter.

When I buy a new rifle, I usually put a box of factory ammo through it, or I'll pick up some clearance priced stuff to play with. With few exceptions, I disagree that cheap off the shelf stuff is crap, much of it capable of near MOA accuracy.

Last season I did some test firing. 5 rounds of Fed premium ammunition in my Sakko 85 300WSM then followed up with a quick clean and shot 5 rounds of Win SuperX 300WSM the groups were not too much diffrent Fed was .7MOA and the Win 1.3MOA the big diffrence was POI. The fed POI was 1" From POA and the Win POI was 3.5" from POA


The groups were consistant on both ammunitions but POI was totally off. 2.5" betwen the two that could be the diffrence between a quick kill and a miss at 350 Yards aiming Dead on.

I'm just saying that if you sight your rifle in just before hunting season with some cheap ammo then go out and buy the "good stuff" For hunting you could see a diffrence from your POA to your POI

To answer your question about the premium ammo, No I didn't take any appart... Have you seen the price of that stuff:D

[steel_ram]

POA will change from ammo to ammo, more particularly bullet to different bullet. Has nothing to do with ammo quality at all. I agree that you can not just pick up a box of any ammo and expect the bullets to land where the ammo the rifle was sighted in with does, but, there is no reason to conclude it is crap.

Yes you have to sight in with the ammo your hunting with.

[Gateholio]

I don't mean any disrespect to those who do this and I'm sure it's fine but why would you practice with one type of ammo and hunt with another? If I shoot 30/06 Fed premium at animals I think I should shoot the exact ammo at targets being as my sights will be sighted in for that particular ammunition.

If I sight in my rifle with the chapo fed or hornady ammo then wouldn't my POI change when I go to and shoot that beauty buck. Especially since most hunters sight in for 2-3" above center at 100 yards and hold dead on at up to 350yards. Not mention thew consistancy of cheap ammo is terrible.

I.

Dont know what type of scope you use, but all of mine have dials on them that you can use to make adjustments.:wink:

[BiG Boar]

I just don't understand why the rant? Is this something you just learned? Yes you should sight in your rifle with the bullet you'll be hunting with. Just fire one when you get to camp to check it and make any adjustment necessary.

[Matty_ola]

I just don't understand why the rant? Is this something you just learned? Yes you should sight in your rifle with the bullet you'll be hunting with. Just fire one when you get to camp to check it and make any adjustment necessary.

I just overhear guys talking at the range sometimes and yesterday it was this conversation and older gent talking to what appeared to be a novice hunter,

" I'm using this 150gr surplus stuff for sighting it in cause it's cheap and I'll buy some premium right before I go hunting"

"---Oh so you sight in your rifle with this stuff then you can buy the hunting ammo and you're good to go?"

"Yea exactly that way you don't have to throw your money away shooting expensive bullets downrange"

This conversation sounded to me like a novice hunter is going to sight in with military ammo and assume he can go buy some premium stuff and the rifle will magically shoot fine regardless of what he puts in it.

It's not really that big a deal and I did go over to the gentleman and tell him what my thoughts were on the subject. He replied that if I buy the ammo for him he'll make sure his scope is sighted in for premium stuff.:-|

I guess I'm just wondering how many of us sight our rifles in before each hunt to ensure nothing has changed in our POI? I'm pretty sure the numbers won't be too high.

[shekarchi]

Dont know what type of scope you use, but all of mine have dials on them that you can use to make adjustments.:wink:

lol....you can do what most people do...practice with the cheaper ammo then shoot a few rounds with the premium ammo that you want to hunt with. After that you can just dial in your scope for the premium ammo and you should be dead on. After awhile you know exactly where each type of ammo will hit, for example federal premium in my 30-06 hits 2" to the left.( i sight my rifle with the Win super X ammo)

[Tenacious Billy]

I guess I'm just wondering how many of us sight our rifles in before each hunt to ensure nothing has changed in our POI? I'm pretty sure the numbers won't be too high.

Pretty standard to make sure my rifles shooting straight before a hunt. Some variables you can't control....whether or not your rifle is sighted in is one you can. I can't imagine missing an animal because I didn't take the time beforehand to double check my POI.....

[M.Dean]

Was talking to a guy a while back, he had a 30 06,real nice gun. Out of his pocket he pulls 6 or 7 rounds, old rounds. All different size bullets and he starts to show me what he use's for Deer, Moose and the 2 real heavy ones were for Big Bear he said! What a stupid human! Unless you fire your gun lots and lots you'll have very little idea where those bullets will hit! I fire Speer or Hornady, yes I know there's way better bullets out there, I have bought them, but not any more! I fire 180 Grn bullets, I load a hundred at a time, and everyone is checked and rechecked! I want to shoot targets with the exact same bullet I shoot Deer and Moose with, I have yet to see one of these cheaper bullets not do it's job, with proper shot Placement! I'm not rich enough to shoot BarnesX at rocks and bottles, and I enjoy shooting. And all my Guns are sighted dead on at 100 yards, 99% of all my shots have been at 100, so why not have the Rifle and scope sighted in for that distance?

[Big Lew]

This has been talked about before. most of us sight in our rifles with the same ammo used for hunting. Regardless of the manufacturer, or if we load our own, as long as all the bullets are made the same, with the same ingredients, they should perform well. The only time I've noticed a big long distance difference while using the same bullets has been between older and new. For this reason, I buy 2 or 3 boxes of the same case lot at a time, verified by the case lot production number.

[kishman]

Sounds like you have have an excellent excuse to pick up reloading as a hobby!:-D It's fun to develope loads that fire well out of your Gun, and it gives your GF another reason to say you ignore her:confused:.....

[MuleyMadness]

I think that the reason a lot of people go with the practice with on type, and shoot with another is so they can get tons on trigger time. Nothing else will make you a good shooter...you have to practise, practise, practise. Yes point of impact will change between loads and brands, BUT that is a simple matter of sighting in the rifle. What isn't so simple is learning proper posture, hold, cheek weld, trigger pull, etc etc etc.

Some guys put several thousand rounds down range a year. Now think about the savings you can obtain by changing from a $65/box bullets for a $30/box for practise. Even if we are just talking about 300 or so rounds a year, the savings from that switch alone would be $525 A YEAR. That's some pretty serious savings. And while the POI does change, it's not as though it's going to take you a couple of boxes to get it back to where you want it.

Basically it comes down (for me) to how much I want to practise. If I want to put 1000 rounds down range per rifle, doing so with Barnes handloads (call it 1.25 per bullet without powder, primer, etc when handloading) would cost me $1250, doing so with Speer 180gr spitzers would save me $825 per gun, per year. That my friend is nothing to sneeze at.

Course some people don't have time for that much range work, or to mess around with different loads and resighting in the rifle, and that's fine, but it's not for me. That and any excuse to play with my guns is reason enough :)

[mod7rem]

The only response I can think of to this topic concerning "premium bullets or premium ammunition" is dont let the marketing machine get to you. I have handloaded for a long time with both premium and standard bullets but almost everyone I hunt with uses federal classic ammunition and they kill everything I do with the same results.