This is supposed to be about Big Game Rifles after all.
That's a funny dynamic, the "hunting rifle", almost to the point of hilarity. I never quite understood why a "hunting rifle" is excused from being the best it can be, or why a mediocre rifle is even tolerated. Some really well known famous gun guy somewhere back in the day said only accurate rifles are interesting. I say only accurate rifles are worth having around. I personally enjoy the challenge, and crafting good and righteous ammo is just that, a craft.
Do I NEED that level of accuracy or precision to kill a deer or any other big game animal? Dude, I hunt with a long bow and cedar shafts, a flintlock and roundballs, a stable of Marlin lever guns, a couple of single action pistols.....and my precision bolt rifles.
Each platform has its own level of limitations and are well understood by me. That doesn't mean, oh well, it's just a flintlock I hunt with and it doesn't matter. No, it has the best barrel and lock I could afford when I built it, I use one type of powder and patch, and I cast my own roundballs, because I WANT to make it do the best it can do. Anything less is a failure of the challenge.
It's no different at the reloading bench. Over the decades I've learned what matters and what doesn't. It's not hard to make a rifle shoot worth a damn within its inherent limitations. Killing an animal is only the ending of the entire journey to get to that point. It's all about what you personally want to invest in it to get there. If I didn't enjoy making the firearms I own perform to their level best then I would just buy cheap factory ammo and call it a day. I would probably have to take up golf too, and bass fishing, and fooling with high maintenance wimmin, just to burn up my money and waste my time.
