Black Hills ammo?
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 31
Black Hills ammo?
Tom the Enabler Gresham loves to hype this brand. I know they are considered one of the better off the shelf lines but I have one silly question. I go back to the old musty days when we were all told that each rifle is a "law unto itself" regarding ammo. I know you can keep close tolerances in smaller productions but how can you match the seating depth to various chamber throats? My 1967 Forester probably does not match up exactly to the preferences of a new Ruger American I'm sure.
#3
Ammo factories come up with seating depths by shooting rifles from different makers and coming up with one depth that gets best all around by average. It's why some factory rifles like Winchester fac. ammo while others like Fed. and so on and so forth. It goes by whatever rifles they tested it with. I've got quite a few rifles of the same cartridge that each and every one of them like a different load as well as seating depth. Got a matched pair of old Colt .45's with following serial numbers that won't shoot the same loading worth a damn. No ammo maker could live up to the claim that every rifle will like their brand. It's impossible to do. And back in the "old musty days" rifles could be, and a lot of times were, made with closer tolerances than they are today. Hand crafted, closely inspected, and top shelf quality control has went the way of the Greek Gods. Simply a myth anymore.
#4
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 31
Ammo factories come up with seating depths by shooting rifles from different makers and coming up with one depth that gets best all around by average. It's why some factory rifles like Winchester fac. ammo while others like Fed. and so on and so forth. It goes by whatever rifles they tested it with. I've got quite a few rifles of the same cartridge that each and every one of them like a different load as well as seating depth. Got a matched pair of old Colt .45's with following serial numbers that won't shoot the same loading worth a damn. No ammo maker could live up to the claim that every rifle will like their brand. It's impossible to do. And back in the "old musty days" rifles could be, and a lot of times were, made with closer tolerances than they are today. Hand crafted, closely inspected, and top shelf quality control has went the way of the Greek Gods. Simply a myth anymore.
#5
That'd be a nice neighborhood to live in there Simon. .32" is absolutely nothing to thumb the nose at. Most all of my rifles like Hornady bullets. But of course when you own a small armory, you will get some that are so picky they make you want to wrap them around a tree sometimes. Get into re-loading Simon. You will wake that Old Sako up with a little loving attention at the re-loading bench. After you get some decent glass on it! Don't go buying that junker stuff anymore. Many of my rifles wear glass that cost as much as 3 times what the rifle did. But expensive doesn't ALWAYS mean better. Stick with brands with a proven track record, good warranty, and value for your money.
#6
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 31
That'd be a nice neighborhood to live in there Simon. .32" is absolutely nothing to thumb the nose at. Most all of my rifles like Hornady bullets. But of course when you own a small armory, you will get some that are so picky they make you want to wrap them around a tree sometimes. Get into re-loading Simon. You will wake that Old Sako up with a little loving attention at the re-loading bench. After you get some decent glass on it! Don't go buying that junker stuff anymore. Many of my rifles wear glass that cost as much as 3 times what the rifle did. But expensive doesn't ALWAYS mean better. Stick with brands with a proven track record, good warranty, and value for your money.
#7
So get you a set of Dies and get to work on some loads for that .243! They aren't that expensive and if you shoot a lot at the range they will pay for themselves in Ammo savings in no time. Not to mention the "tailoring" you can do to find out that perfect load for that old girl! Every Sako I have ever owned has been a picky heifer about ammo. But once I found the right load they have all been tack driving machines. All but one of them has liked fairly close to the lands and high octane loads. The one that didn't was an older .30/06 that liked a friggin mile jump. Took me a while for that one. It almost became a fence post!
#8
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 31
So get you a set of Dies and get to work on some loads for that .243! They aren't that expensive and if you shoot a lot at the range they will pay for themselves in Ammo savings in no time. Not to mention the "tailoring" you can do to find out that perfect load for that old girl! Every Sako I have ever owned has been a picky heifer about ammo. But once I found the right load they have all been tack driving machines. All but one of them has liked fairly close to the lands and high octane loads. The one that didn't was an older .30/06 that liked a friggin mile jump. Took me a while for that one. It almost became a fence post!
#9
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Eastern wv
Posts: 3,650
start .030 off the lands, shoot a group of 5, look for a group within the group, if you see that, first I would back off .010 see if its better, for the same accuracy I'd rather be .050 off the lands than .010.
this group was .030 off the lands at a lazered 752 yards, and its 125 fps faster than the same load at .010 and the primers are much rounder.
RR
this group was .030 off the lands at a lazered 752 yards, and its 125 fps faster than the same load at .010 and the primers are much rounder.
RR
#10
[QUOTE=Ridge Runner;4200660]start .030 off the lands, shoot a group of 5, look for a group within the group, if you see that, first I would back off .010 see if its better, for the same accuracy I'd rather be .050 off the lands than .010.[QUOTE]
.030" -.035" is a good place to start unless it is a mono-metal bullet (Barnes, etc.). With the mono-metal bullets .050" - .070" is usually the place to be.
.030" -.035" is a good place to start unless it is a mono-metal bullet (Barnes, etc.). With the mono-metal bullets .050" - .070" is usually the place to be.