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

Second happiest day of shooting was a cloverleaf with handloads. Happiest day was selling all that schit.

Just sticking to the normal stuff. 223, 270, 30-06, etc.. Plenty of good ammo around. Hornady has been good. I don't play past 500 and 223 covers all the playing around. Bulk stuff is decent in my Tikka on calm days. Elmer Fudd chambers for hunting.

Have at it. It's boring as schit.

I own 4 guns that are chambered for wildcat cartridges. So I'll just keep reloading.

Doesn't the 30-06 show back up once all the reloading equipment is gone?

Ha!

I've never shot a big game animal with a factory load and don't ever plan to. For me Reloading adds an extra dimension or layer of enjoyment.

Well since you can never find 40-40 Maynard and 275 Rigby Improved on the shelves.....

And have you priced 28GA lately.....

Not to mention 338WM and 7RM $s... and my BIL would hang-up his 338 if he couldn't have my 250grn/2400fps loads....

And OWS has never had 500grn/Paper Patch 45-70....

I do buy 45ACP cause I can't load it as cheap....

Occasionally I will buy factory if I need some brass....

Good stuff, and 257, no doubt Hornady has set a benchmark, and we could hope the trend in quality, and price/value would be replicated on a grand scale with more chamberings by all major mfg.

Good feedback folks.

I will find out tomorrow. Shooting a RPR and an American Predator in 6.5 CM with the factory 147 ELD match. I think they'll do fine.

I will never give up reloading. Heavy handgun loads are a no-brainer in cost to reload vs. factory rounds. Most rifle cartridges in heavy bullet loads, which most prefer including me, are easier to reload than find in factory loads. But the 6.5 CM and the 6mm CM are different, and I guess that's why they're so popular.

Agreed. One can get lots of cheap barrel/range time with some of the factory rifles vs a full blown custom, for general work, learning drop/drift etc.

Agree on other comments as well.

I can't imagine enjoying shooting half as much with factory ammo. I cringe every time I walk into a place and look at the price of factory ammo. Pulling the trigger at $2 a shot would suck all the enjoyment out of it for me.

I enjoy the tweaking of loads as much as anything else, no factory ammo for me.

I like reloading. Son and grandkids like it too. Little ones .like the idea of making their own ammo.

I cringed too, until I found http://ammoseek.com. Some pretty good deals come up there if you keep an eye on it. For instance, right now they have American Eagle FMJ 30-06 for $0.68 per shot. That's about the cost of components, plus you don't have to sit there pulling a lever all night to get it.

I can save a fair amount by getting components online, but shipping eats into the savings.

There are also factors beyond cost. When I travel by air to hunt, I only take rifles for which factory ammo is widely available because I expect the airlines to lose my gear. At least in 30-06, the cheap stuff is still very accurate and powerful enough for most of my needs, and I can use a 338 for everything else. Handloads might bump the performance a bit, but at the cost of the logistical edge that was a reason to choose those cartridges in the first place.

Handloading also isn't always the cheapest way to go if you're starting with a new rifle or cartridge. Sometimes it's cheaper to buy a couple of cases of factory ammo and have a bunch of new/once-fired brass from the same lot number going forward. Then you get two shots for the labor of one.

Finally, you'll never enjoy anything if you focus on the cost. Even handloaded ammo is expensive if you do that. I believe that the money I spend on factory ammo buys me extra time to spend on the millions of other things that people expect me to do and need me to do. I realize that may not work for everyone, but it's working for me for the moment.


Okie John

Pretty much for my old Ruger tang safety .30-06. It is picky about what it likes but has a general preference for for lighter bullets. Hornady Superformance 150 GMX is consistently sub-MOA and over 3k MV. I'm not sure I can improve on that with handloads.

Expat

I'm 48 and just now getting set up to start reloading. In the beginning of my hunting days,I used Sako rifles that would shoot most any factory ammo into 1.5" or less at 100 yards.I killed every deer I ever shot at.

Then a few years later when I started reading internet forums,I realized that I needed different ,lighter rifles and better premium bullets. That went fairly well until it began to get hard to find some of those newly preferred premium loads. I decided to start reloading. For a while I couldn't even find components,so I only picked up some equipment and stored it away because my life was just too busy to devote time to a new hobby.

I am just now picking it back up and my main reason is that with my new rifles that I really do prefer to hunt with factory premium ammo is very expensive. I can order ammo and pay extreme shipping charges,or I can drive 45 minuets one way and get it at my local pusher. The factory ammo my rifles like best averages $55-$65 for 20 rounds.

I think I will enjoy reloading because I am a meticulous person by nature and chasing every bit of accuracy possible,and knowing my efforts were successful is something I get great satisfaction from.

A couple of years ago, I bought reloading gear - good press, scale, etc.

Never got the time to get it set up.

I've found I can buy very accurate match ammo from Prime, federal, etc. that works great in my target rifles. Could I get tighter with handloads, maybe, but I can get sub inch by buying the right rifles...

Discovered Barnes Vor-tx and have found it to be great hunting ammo with my preferred bullet.

For DG and a .404 I can use Superior, Safari Arms, etc. More by the box, but great loads, great bullets and I don't shoot that many rounds.

On cost, check out ammoseek.com!

Barnes Vortex 150gr ammo shoots so well in both my 308's I'm not sure if I will work on loads for them. Though it's hard not to take advantage of the added mag length of the Forbes 20b action.

Yes here's the factory they come from

I enjoy handloading. It's cheaper than any other form of therapy.

When I got started as a kid of 10 or so, I could not afford factory, or very much of it.

My folks were not really gun people, so I was by myself in learning to reload....couldn't just shoot up dad's stuff.

Still reloading 24 years on, dont see ANY reason to change.

Probably out of stubbornness and frugality.

Lightweight.........

FMJ for .68 per, hey? Helluva bargain?

Shootin' cheap but higher quality loads is what hand loading is about in my book. Start casting your own bullets and spell cheap in upper case letters.

Old Marlin .25-20 shoots for about 6 cents per pop with current primer prices representing half that. Went nutz awhile back and bought a bunch at around half that so it is quite a bit less...for me.

Warmed up with it awhile back and did this at 50 yards:



Got a little cocky and did this with 2 shots at 100:



Good luck doing that with factory ammo and a 100 year old lever gun.