ORIGINAL: Troutman10
I bought myrifle last fall and shot my first deer with it Nov. 1st '06 at about 60-70 yards. I've been shooting all summer long to get used to it and to get more practice. I've mainly been shooting 150 gr. Winchester Super X Power Points with alright accuracy and tried some Federal Fusions in the same grain and same result. Does anyone else have a similar gun and reccomend a specific load that I'll get better accuracy? I'll be hunting and my furthest shot will be around 150 yards (maybe 200), but could also shoot something around 25-50 yards as well. I hear the Federal vital shokw/ Nosler ballistic tips are good. Just curious to see if anyone has something they think I should try for a little better accuracy. Thanks in advance.
Accuracy is always a crap shoot when you are using factory ammo. Even different lots of the "exactly the same" load can give results very much different from the last bath of the same stuff. Even the powder type might be different, because factories don't load ammo based on a specific amount of a specific powder-they load to a pressure and velocity specification using however much of the powder they currently have on hand it takes to achieve these levels.
The ONLY reliable way you can be assured of uniformly excellent performance is to work up a handload using the bullet of choice in your rifle with components you can duplicate in the future.
Another approach, although not as effective, is to test all the varieties of factory ammo you can get with the type and weight of bullet you want to use. And, after you identify the very best load, buy at least a case lot of the SAME LOT NUMBER of that ammo so you don't have to go thru the testing process every year. Store ammo in a cool, dry environment! It will last longer than you will......