Choosing Good Factory Ammo

The topic is huge and the methods are many….  so this is just a glimpse and one attempt to help.  I reload, but have customers that don’t so I have this discussion often enough.  Figure out the intended use first of all.  Learn about projectiles and what makes one better for hunting than another or what makes one better for long range shooters than another.  Hunting at short distance may change the choice versus shooting steel at 1200 yards, or you may find a good projectile for both uses.  I’m addressing this from a view of a person that may shoot practical precision type matches, or just want to enjoy shooting steel at the range over a good long distance.   

My two main uses for long range rifles are hunting and practical precision matches, to give some idea of my bias.  I'm using 6.5 Creedmoor as my example because it's a cartridge I discuss with a lot of customers and friends these days.  The same logic applies to other cartridges though.  One main difference between the Creedmoor and some other widely used cartridges is that the Creedmoor has many good factory options available to the practical precision shooter or the hunter. 

You can narrow the field by looking at what other folks are getting good results with.  If you don’t know where to begin to look… look to the shooting sports.  You’ll find that most folks shooting practical precision matches do reload, but there are some shooters using factory ammo.  Why look at what they are using..... well first be sure you are looking at good info from a person that understands what they are talking about, but the reason is because the good shooters at these matches want to do the best they can and often do their best to remove any variable that will decrease their chance of that.  If your main use is hunting be sure to talk with good hunters that you know will share good info with you.  On my last 6.5 Creedmoor barrel I ran through 800 rounds of PRIME ammo, because I wanted the brass.   I’m going to chamber a 6 Creedmoor barrel for use on a SwitchLug rifle and it’ll only run factory ammo for those times I want to shoot a match, but don’t have, or want to make, time to load first.   I’ll have good data to share with people that want to know the ups and downs of shooting factory ammo and there are lots of other shooters that will do the same.   Not every cartridge has as many options available when it comes to factory ammo.  Be sure you are getting good projectiles that will do what you want and be sure your rifle barrel twist will make good use the projectile choice.  

Order enough of each ammo type to really get a good idea of what they will do.  You can even start with the ammo you want to use most and see if it works for you or not as opposed to ordering more than one brand at a time.  One thing to keep in mind is that your velocity is likely to change some, especially over those first 75-150 rounds.  Another thing… give yourself time to do this the right way.  These days many folks rush the process way too much. 

What are you looking for…..  this is the part that can get complicated.  It’s easy to say a good group and that’s true.  There are many ways to study a group when comparing one to another to choose what’s best.  What I would hope for is a nice group that didn’t show more than an acceptable amount of vertical dispersion from a factory load.  The amount that’s acceptable is up to you.  When you shoot factory ammo you often have to compromise.  Generally, if you get a good factory ammo you are going to deal with a slower velocity or a powder that is more temperature sensitive than you’d hope.  There are some places to buy loaded ammo that produce excellent ammo, but you’ll certainly pay for it as compared to something like a PRIME or Hornady, for example.  This is not meant to say that PRIME and Hornady are bad choices.  I think, properly understood, they can do what a lot of people need.  There are other good brands and I’m just making an example with these two. 

Besides a good grouping, you would want the best extreme spread and standard deviation possible.  Some people skip this part when they use factory ammo.  You can have an acceptable group at 100 yards and not have a good ES or SD.  It will show up further down range though, so don't think that just because you have a good group at 100 yards you are good to go.  Some folks shoot at further distance to try to verify ES and SD, but I find that to be difficult for many shooters, generally speaking.  I believe a better answer for most folks is to get with someone that has a good chrono or buy one themselves.  I prefer the MagnetoSpeed, personally.  It's a good tool at a good price and it gives excellent data.  I also like that the company is so involved in the shooting sports and how they support the sports.  The main point though, is to be sure you are using a chrono that's providing good and helpful data.  

The chrono data is going to help you choose the better ammo for your rifle and it’s also going to help you collect velocity data so you can better engage targets at distance.  It’s also going to help you collect data on temperature sensitivity so you can properly correct for it, when needed.   Earlier I mentioned that your velocity is likely to change those first 75-150 rounds, but you can have a velocity change later on and you will likely have a velocity change as your barrel begins to near the end of its effective use.   So… a good chrono is a good tool to have for many reasons.  It’s good to check velocity, ES, and SD at times throughout the life of your barrel, for many reasons.    

Once you find a good ammo for your rifle, buy as much as you can from one lot.  Continue to verify everything even within that lot, but especially verify when you buy more ammo or change lots.  When you buy your ammo, look at each cartridge individually before you head to the range or whenever you can before shooting, but verify because eventually (if you shoot much) you’ll find something wrong and you’ll be glad you culled it. 

What happens when you have tried every good ammo choice and you can’t get a good answer…. well… it’s time to figure out what’s wrong with either you or the rifle system.  If it’s you… then you know you need to learn more and practice more.  If it isn’t you, or you have eliminated you as the problem, then you begin to look at what may be wrong, or needs altered, with the rifle to get the accuracy you want.  Maybe it’s not the barrel or ammo, but it’s the stock, base, rings, or scope (etc).  Maybe you had bad mirage that day, but didn’t understand how that can cause issues.  Some things are simple and others get complicated.  This is another big topic, so I won’t go into it more with this blog entry. 

A few other things… don’t be married to these things without verifying the data yourself.  The internet lies.  Test it for yourself.  Take a good class and learn how to use all of this information properly.  A good class isn’t cheap, but neither is wasting good ammo when you don’t even know what you don’t know.  Meet good shooters in your area and learn together with them.  Put yourself to the test and learn where you are weak.  Learn to make good use of tools available and have methods that back up your tools.  Have a backup for your backup plan.   I hope this helps someone and keep in mind that this is just one thought on choosing factory ammo and there are certainly many ways to skin that cat.