Just got back from the range.. I got a question

[Fireblade545]

For you experts out there...I went to the range today with my .270 Abolt. I have only shot Federal XLC xbullets out of it but since i didnt want to spend alot just to target shoot , i got some Remington 130 gr PSP Core Lockt Express. Last time i shot my rifle at the range with the X bullets it was dead on at 100yds. Well the remingtons didnt shoot that well. It is shooting about 3 inches low and 2 inches left grouping about 2 1/2 inches. What my question is can ammo affect your accuracy THAT much? Giveme your experiences. Thanks guys.

[1dahunter]

In answer to your question Yup! Major differences in factory loads and every gun out there will like a certain load and perform well the trick is to find what your gun likes and stay with it. Same if you are reloading you have to find what will perform best in your gun, as a lot of people say work up a load. I hope this helped some I dont have any technical stats but I am sure you will be getting the experts soon to answer yoyr question.

[Deleted User]

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[ktscontender]

Yep, took a buddy of mine out yesterday to site in his 30-06
Last year he was shooting some 125 gr Ballistic tips for antelope and was dead on with them.
At the range he had some 165s 'just to shoot' and it was a good thing he just wanted to shoot them up because he sure couldn't hit anything!!

Funny thing is, he had some Rem. green box 150s that he proceeded to shoot into one tiny little hole before we left.

Go Figure.

[Fireblade545]

Thanks for the input guys. Guess my gun likes Federal X's better.. which i would prefer over the Remington cl's anyhow for hunting

[Nomercy]

Absolutely yes, ammo can easily have that much effect on your accuracy. As a rule of thumb, core locts are great for hunting, terrible for shooting...they're a good bullet construction, they'll kill what they hit, and you don't really need any better than 3" at 100yrds to kill a deer, but for targets, they suck. They're certainly the most inaccurate popular selling non-surplus round available.

2.5" grouping isn't bad, and that size of change in POI isn't really that surprising...Without even changing brand or model series, simply changing bullet weight or bullet type you might notice much worse changes. Take my Ruger M77 for example, two Winchester Supreme 150grn bullets, one the Balistic Silvertip, the other the power point plus...the BST's shoot amazingly well, cloverleaf groups at 100yrds off a bipod, while the power point plus' are spread out to about 3" at 100yrds, and the POI is shifted down about 3" (same horizontal luckily), while Winchester Super-X soft points shoot about 5" groups and are 3" low and 6" left of the Supreme BST group...and that's just with Winchester ammo. Changing from Win Supreme BST 150grn to 165grn opens my groups up from a clover to about 1.5-2", and drops me about 2" (heavier bullet, makes sense at least).

I shot some FMJ surplus ammo (comes 8rnds to a CLIP for M-1 Garand for $2-I just want the CLIPS) out of that rifle one time, TERRIBLE groups, and that's only after I found out where they were hitting!!! I wasted two clips worth before I moved the target up to 25yrds and found out I was about 12" off of my normal POI AT 25yrds!!! Of course, out of my Garand, they give 12" groups at 600yrds!!

What load/bullet your gun likes can be extremely specific. Don't be surprised if you notice much worse changes in the future...but that certainly is a testimate to the quality of Core lokts, decent at best.

[Fireblade545]

Thanks ALOT Nomercy. I guess you are right about the cl's accuracy. Your post helped alot.

[Nomercy]

Well, you did say you wanted to hear some "experiences".