Handloading can do a great deal….and sometimes nothing at all. I have a couple Mark Vs that regularly cloverleaf with factory amm they like. I tried to duplicate those loads with the same bullets. In both rifles, I could match accuracy or velocity, but never at the same time. This was even loading the same bullets to the same COAL.
On the other hand, the majority of rifles I’ve owned shot notably better…and faster with my handloads, and used the bullets I chose for a particular purpose.
Case in point: I’m a Tikka slut and have found them remarkably easy to shoot well, whether factory or handloads. Along came a T3x in 7mm-08. With factory ammo and numerous loads at various COAL, it was a 3 moa gun. I changed scopes, retourqued the actions/bases/rings, all to no avail. Turns out this particular gun does not shoot well with a number of bullets and loads with a COAL <2.8” which was all the factory mag would accept. When I tried loads.020 off the lands, every load shot <.75”, and with Pharmseller’s load of 47.5g of big game, it has shot multiple one hole groups. Fortunately, Mountain Tactical mags work perfectly accommodating a 2.922” COAL.
My point is a gun that I’d have sent down the road turned out to be a real shooter. While the accuracy/quality of factory ammo has markedly improved over the decades, handoading is the best bet to find a load that matches a particular rifle.
