Originally Posted by Mule Deer
Originally Posted by jwall
Well, you can always just shoot Factory Ammo.


Jerry


If you can buy it. That said, just by chance I've picked up 4 boxes of "reasonably" priced .308 factory ammo in the past week, 2 of (new Remington!) 180-grain Core-Lokts, and 2 of 165-grain Hornady American Whitetail.

But must also note, as an aside, that obviously many handloaded still place too much faith in primer appearance as a "pressure sign." Flattened and "cratered" primers don't necessarily mean anything, especially factory ammo--as I pointed out in my still-pinned essay on primer appearance at the top of this page. But old myths die hard....


I got my first lesson on primer appearance with my second 243, a Remington Varmint Special. I had been handloading another 243 for for several years before my wife gave it to me for Christmas in ‘73. With starting loads I was getting flattened primers so I was a bit confused. I kept reducing the loads with the same flattened primers. Hmmmm?

A year or two later I read an article about a little excess headspace (with the rifle’s chamber or created with sizing techniques) giving false high pressure “signs”, i.e. flattened primers due to riveting as the case backs up on a primer that backs out slightly on primer ignition. That led me to neck size some cases…problem solved. Since then I’ve been using the technique of sizing cases just enough to give slight “feel” on chambering a round especially with that rifle.

NRA Life,Endowment,Patron or Benefactor since '72.