Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Do you reload or buy factory for your deer hunting??

Load my own. Other than .22 RF I haven't shot any critters with factory ammo in over 40 years.

I started reloading for my centerfire rifles about 2007. Then I started loading my handgun ammo soon after. I still buy factory shotgun ammo as the cost of components seems to go up equally to the cost of ammo. Started hoarding reloading supplies during the Clinton years and I still have more than I'll ever use up.

Handloader here.

I still hand load all the ammo for my center fire rifles. It is the only way I can get the best accuracy for each rifle. I haven't loaded shotshells or pistol ammo in decades. There is no longer any savings in loading those.

I handload for 95% of my rifles. I sometimes buy factory ammo for the brass and find it shoots too good to mess with loading.

I load all my centerfires (and for a few friends).

Same here. I just picked up 10 boxes of 25-06 in a trade to add to another pile.
I did the math, I'm likely 15 boxes too many on 25-06 alone.

I load for the cartridges I hunt with the most. Shoot factory in the others

I live in a much smaller place than I used to as well and essentially just load out my range kit full time now. Basically that just means all the tools being used day to day fit in the same small machinist chest that I use to load at the range.

Reloading at its core is a very simple operation, it only requires a few tools. I used to have a big bench and the endless piles of stuff everywhere but for the most part enjoy the simplified version more.

All reloads except buckshot.

I'll shoot factory for a good laugh. Then grab a handload.

On a new rifle, I'll generally buy a few boxes of factory ammunition to get an idea of what it likes and make brass with. For premium ammunition, it's always so close in cost to buy or reload, I'll take the good brass and not deal with reloading on the first batch.

All reloads

Both, a reload for the 450 Buchmaster, shotgun slugs are factory ammo.

Factory only for 25 years.

What I hunt with I load.

Other than using shotgun slugs I can’t recall having ever killed a big game animal with ammo I didn’t load myself.

I'm primarily a deer hunter, and my range time is really only for sighting in rifles, developing hand loads, and confirming zeros every fall. Have not shot factory ammo in years. I have a pretty good supply of components for the calibers I shoot, most of it purchased long ago, so it's just much cheaper to work up my own ammo. This year I got my first 25 cal, a .257 Roberts Kimber Montana, so I had to get brass and bullets. Luckily I had an unopened can of IMR4350 that I probably bought 15 or 20 years ago.

All my handgun hunting loads are reloads. The rifle cartridges I use both reloads and factory depending on the caliber.

I only shoot and hunt with reloads. The last deer I shot with factory ammunition was in 1989 and that deer went over 200 yards with a Core Lokt placed right behind the shoulder.