Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Who has given up reloading and gone straight factory ammo?

Curious if anyone has gone solely to factory ammo, due to decreased range sessions and increased ammo quality?

If so, what round(s) and preferred ammo mfg?

jmho- if i had to start fresh and had
to buy everything i bought over the years,
i'd buy cases of ammo for everything i shoot.
some of the powders such as accurate that
i'd tried when they were first available here
now cost as much as any other powder, where as
they were $5.00+ less per pound than the older lines
of powders. (this was locally- may have been
different elsewhere)
all components and tools are much higher now
than when i started, and the few shops left around
here have to stock twice as much of a selection
of everything as they did back then.

Back when I was hunting in Alaska with rifles (from the mid-70's through the mid- 90's) I hand loaded (mostly for bear hunting) because I could not get ammunition with quality projectiles. Now, with the available ammunition that can be purchased over the counter you'd have to shoot a lot or value your time very little to reload. Folks who like to chase accuracy perfection can and should continue to reload. But for hunting-quality accuracy with quality projectiles the need to reload has greatly diminished.

Note this article by John Barsness. While it focuses mostly on accuracy John fairly and correctly points out how much factory ammo has improved over the past few decades.

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/factors_in_accuracy_two.html

If anything, I went the opposite direction. Reloads are the only thing I really shoot in any of my firearms anymore. Living in remote alaska makes factory ammo cost prohibitive, if you can even find it. The local shop in town still has the same 4 boxes of 300saum ammo in stock as when I first went there 3 years ago. Priced at $99.99/box, for basic remington core lokts. No thanks!

My time to reload has been limited by work luckily I have found several great shooting loads so I have been slipping away from loading for now.

Aside from RF and Commie guns, I can't imagine NOT loading my own.

I'll shoot factory 6.5 and 6mm Creedmoor ammo. Already stockpiled 3 cases. At $25/box for good match ammo, it's hard to pass up. But I've got a lot of Amaxes in both calibers I'll reload as well. 1st time, really, that I've been impressed with factory ammo.

Still load my own.

What is this "factory ammo" you speak of?

Since I've yet to find factory ammo that outshoots my handloads, I guess I'll stick to them. When I buy a new rifle, dies and components are picked up at about the same time, if needed. Most of my rifles never see factory, unless I've got some extra laying around.

I have had excellent luck with Fiocchi .223 ammo, which can be had pretty cheaply. I'll continue to buy that, and handload special-purpose loads.

When I bought an old Sako FN .30/06, it was mainly because it was interesting and since my '06 dies had gone with my last rifle for that cartridge, I just picked up a bunch of Prvi loads. Somehow, a bag of Nosler brass made its way into the house, along with a Lee Loader and a couple hundred overrun Partitions. Previously, I used a Lee Loader to decap and neck size and then a RCBS competition seater for plugging in the bullets. This time, I used the Lee seater with equally good results. May not ever get "real" dies for this one.

When I started reloading in the 1970s it was to be able to use the bullets provided by companies making components, Hornady, Nosler, Speer and Sierra mostly. It was always time consuming, taking me the length of a football game to prepare just the cases for 60 rounds.

When the factory ammo started loading bullets from these companies, I started realizing they were worth it to me.

I cannot recommend one brand or load over another. When I get a rifle that is new to me. I bed the rifle and buy about eight to ten different loads and shoot them at 100 yard targets.

Usually, there will be two or three of these that will look good from the target practice, and I may buy a few different brands of ammo featuring the same bullets that did good.

I then do testing at 200 yards and eventually I will find something that will put five rounds inside of a 2" group @ 200 or I will keep trying. Eventually, I find a few loads that will do this or sell the rifle. I have a few rifles that I consider keepers that will shoot MOA 5 shot groups @ 300 and 400 yard targets with a factory load. I will say I've learned to include Federal Fusion along with brands featuring TSX loads in the testing phase.
Happy Hunting

Factory ammo is all I ever use...............In Rimfires!!!!!!!

I still load my own, although I do not enjoy it as I once did.. I am sure I could not do the high volume shooting with factory ammo that I enjoy so much..

I very rarely shoot a factory load in a handgun, rifle or shotgun. The exception is .410 shotgun, because I shoot it very infrequently. Currently loading for five gauges and 25 or so metallic cartridges.
I think I can produce ammo that is better than factory, because I can tweak it to the firearm.
And I really enjoy reloading.

Only factory ammo I use is the stuff I get for free or dirt cheap and then shoot it either just for the brass or when I have a need to sight in a rifle if I just mounted a new scope or some other reason. I won't hunt with factory ammo just because of the satisfaction I get out of being successful on a hunt with ammo that I made myself.

I only buy factory ammo when the sum of them is cheaper than buying the components individually. For any type of precision work whether it be prairie dogs or long-range shooting, it's going to be a reload.

I've been at the range on the 1,000 yard line watching guys trying to shoot factory ammo. This is with "match" grade factory rounds. Factory ammo will not hold vertical dispersion down compared to hand-loaded, tuned ammo for a particular rifle.

Pistol is another story. I'm good with plinking with factory ammo.

I shoot mostly factory ammo. My job keeps me on the road a lot, so I have very little time to reload any more except for very specific high-performance hunting loads. If I had more time, I would definitely reload more.


Okie John

nobody who shoots a lot. You would go broke.

That depends on your income.


Okie John

All of my pistol,rifle and shotgun reloading equipment have been stored in tubs for 10-12 years.
I never did find reloading enjoyable. I did it to save money.
After starting my own business I do not have the time, or I should say my free time is to valuable to sit at a bench reloading shells. I don't shoot my rifles and handguns enough to warrant it. Factory ammo shoots good in my guns, I buy it on sale. I shoot sporting clays leagues and go through a lot of 12 and 20 gauge shells. I buy cases of AA or STS on sale for around $70. To reload shells of equal quality it would cost me $5.00-5.50 a box and that is if I scrounge enough good hulls for free.
My time is worth more than $1.50 a box. Plus I love watching guys with 3-4k guns trash can diving for my spent hulls.

I do buy plain shafts and build my own arrows but they last a long time.