No one should be surprised by any of the weighted Factory loads versus hand loading. Ammo manufacturer simply cannot slow down the process of making ammo to weigh every load like a hand loader can. I'm actually more surprised that they are as consistent as they are. Good video and thanks for taking the time to show us the details

I hope this becomes a series with a leader board of most consistent brands

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

Maybe

Good video. Interesting information that’s good to know. Have not shot factory ammo in quite a few years. Thanks

I've never owned anything that required Weatherby ammo, but Norma and Hornady have both performed well for me, over the years, with the exception of Hornady's SST. I've also had good luck with Federal Premium and the Winchester Supreme lineup from the 1990's and early 2000's

@edwardabrams4972

7 ай бұрын

I have some bad news for you Norma made the Weatherby ammo for 40-50 years before they started making there own! Norma made some of the very best ammo for the price! I might know because I have been a rifle collector reloader and hunter 60+ years and one of my fathers friends was very good friend with John Nosler back in the 50’s when the were first starting out and used there bullets for years in his pre64 to hunt game! And Federal is good ammo too but the powder leaves a dirt residue more then some if the others!

Your son did quite well handling your Weatherby. Another good video

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

Thanks

Don't know if you know who Boots Obermeyer is. Regarded as the father of precision premium cut-rifled barrels. The precursor to John Krieger, of Krieger barrels, I've heard. Some years ago Boots and I were on the phone chatting, while I was ordering a few barrels. He stated to me his best group at a competition shooting 600 yards were his "fouling loads with the widest range in powder charge, biggest variation in seating depth and had the most runout." In other words, a lot of factors play into consistency. His worst batch of handloads he was using for warm up shot the best. Go figure. Regardless, I'd take ammo with no runout and a small variation in powder charge v. noticeable runout and no variation in powder charge.

Wow, surprising about the Hornady. I thought it would have been better. Glad I handload!

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

Hornady does one thing really well... Marketing

My wish was granted thanks.

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

No problem

Just goes to show even if you have an off day you're still gonna have better results with handloading vs factory ammo. Great comparison

@edwardabrams4972

7 ай бұрын

That is the reason most reloader stay reloading🤔😳 you don’t save money most of the time you just shoot more which I have found out in my 60+ years of hunting reloading and collecting guns!

@jasonacosta3860

7 ай бұрын

I got tired of searching for factory ammo during shortages and then federal discontinued some of the rounds I needed

Interesting to see the results. I would suggest that these differences are around exactly what you would expect to see as these charges are getting thrown not weighed. We see the largest deviation in the Norma as it is a stick powder and the other two are ball powders. Stick powders do throw more inconsistent than ball powders. What it means is absolutely nothing. There are so many other variables that a few grains difference is only relevant if all the other variables are more tightly controlled. Measure the bullets you will find likely 3-5 grain variations. Quite frequently variation in brass dimension. One measure of consistency that matters is down range.

@portermcmichael756

6 ай бұрын

Bullets, even cheap bullets, almost NEVER have a grain difference of more than 1 grain.

@ScottGostick

6 ай бұрын

@portermcmichael756 That is incorrect. I've frequently seen +/- 3 to 5 grains with multiple varieties. This can lead to variances of 6-10 if you get some on the low side and some on the high side. Note that the lighter the bullet weight the less dramatic the difference will be in gain weight but potentially quite similar as a percentage variance.

In my opinion, I have had the best luck with Weatherby, Lapua, Barnes, Norma, and Hornady Custom. That was years ago. I load everything myself now after working up loads each rifle likes best.

I'm actually suprised the weatherby did so well considering it was also a much heavier powder charge. But, maybe that makes no difference. It looked like the norma powder was spherical, but I couldn't tell by the other 2. 90gr for the 300wby is a pretty heavy charge for a 180gr, and could be the velocity wasn't as advertised because it was shot on a cold day with what I assume to be ball powder? I couldn't tell on the hornady, but the norma looks like spherical powder nearest I can tell. If that's correct, it could possibly explain why it was the worst considering ball powder tends to meter powder more consistently in a machine. Another test that woul be interesting would be to purposely make somewhat inconsistent powder charges and see how much it actually affects accuracy. If heard a small amount of inconsistency doesn't change much with a heavier change, but I don't know.

I don't think that small of variation makes that much difference. If you put it into percentage, 0.2 grains in a 70 grain charge is less than 0.3% variation. Things like temperature and wind will probably affect accuracy a lot more.

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

Thanks for commenting and watching!

I sure hope nosler is showcased. I’ve given them quite a bit of my hard earned bucks

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

I'm sorry I don't have any Nosler ammo

@edwardabrams4972

7 ай бұрын

That because Nosler doesn’t try to compete in volume! But more in Quality! You want the best it is usually going to cost you🤔​@@ReloadingWeatherby

@edwardabrams4972

7 ай бұрын

I could own half the Nosler company my family started in the 50’s reloading the Partition bullet and being a reloader and gun collector 60+ years and thousands of dollars and I still use their ammo and bullets but have switched more to the Accubond for reloading because of the Partition cost!

RW, good test but it only scratched the surface. Try to do a test with the same rifle and various makes of ammo. Check the velocity and accuracy first and then the powder charge.

I've been seeing all kinds of craziness with factory ammo. Just ordered Barnes vortex ammo and the shit came in with norma brass and a completely different box. Barnes lrx ammo came in with nexus brass. Underwood ammo you get jag brass one time Winchester the next. Brass cases one time nickel cases the next. Guess I'll have to stick to federal, Hornady, and Winchester copper impact ammo.

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

Weird

Tried some of the bondstrike in my 300 win mag, horrible. Best group was 1.5”. Was very curious on the sd’s, this video gave me an idea. The Norma Oryx actually shot better and it’s not as hot of a load. This was factory ammo of course

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

Interesting

Ou of the 3 I see I'm going to pick norma

Howdy man, I also bought a 7-pc rifle. I couldn't ignore the ballistics data I was seeing everywhere I looked. I have noticed that Hornady is now selling the Outfitter ammunition in 7 prc. I would really love to hear what you think about this ammo? Is this just a gimmick to charge more for these bullets?

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

The Outfitter has a monolithic bullet. It's a much tougher bullet than the ELD-X. It's just a more expensive bullet to make than the ELD-X.

Most factory ammunition is a little off what I've been putting. But one ammunition that works well in yours might not work in my rifle 🤔 just pull them but I've seen cheeper stuff works the same in some cases. But i just hunt not precision shooting I started reading 4years ago for my 243, 308, 30-06 and good old 300 win mag im glad I got my stuff to reload before the big thing in 2020.

I use Norma 3006(training) in a old rifle(1941) and give 13mm 5shot at 100 meters :)

Brother, you forgot to include bubbas piss hot handloads 😂

just for clarity's sake: to really determine statistical consistency, one would have to shoot a lot of ammo per rifle ... and that same "a lot of ammo" through multiple different rifles in the same and different makes & models to make a judgment on overall consistency vs consistency through a specific barrel. in simple terms, a 3- or 5-shot group does not provide enough data to get a meaningful SD or bell curve. any 3-shot group, for example, could represent the 3 best shots or the three worst shots of a true normal distribution. to test consistency, accuracy or similar stats for one lot of ammo in a single rifle, one still ought fire at least 30 rounds (that's one group, more shots if comparing multiple 3- or 5-shot groups) to get a high level of statistical reliability in the outcome; one should also consider mean radius rather groups size (which gives weight to only the two furthest apart shots rather than the impact of each shot vs the aiming point)

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

Yes, this is an extremely small sample size. Take it for what it's worth

Years ago I was reading about accuracy reloading, and the author claimed that loading by volume was just fine. You couldn’t measure the difference in velocity plus/minus 0.1 to 0.2 grains of powder under almost any circumstances. There are too many other factors that affect accuracy and a tenth or two of powder gets lost in the noise.

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

Makes a good idea for a video. Does a .4 grain difference mean anything with velocity.

A tenth of a gr in a medium to large case you can't pick it out in the shot string muzzle velocity seating depth consistency and neck tension and temp will hurt sd more

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

It all counts

Probably the weatherby

Enjoy these videos, I think I would have to disagree with your remarks on factory ammo. I reload as well and understand both sides. But for factory ammo, just think of how many thousands of rounds they pump out every day and to be .2 or .3 of a grain off isn’t really that bad .

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

It's not... but at the same time it's not good when comparing them to reloads.

@matthewbennett4496

7 ай бұрын

Like I said I reload as well and understand both sides .

@edwardabrams4972

7 ай бұрын

You are correct the factory ammo has come a long way but so has the price of it! The only problem I have besides price is the band wagon of long range shooting on game! Having hunted,reloaded and collecting rifles for 60+ years I think it is a tragedy that a ammo company promote long range shooting on game animals for profit 🤔😳 and that is exactly what Hornaday has done! No respect for the game or the sport just about profits!

@Drivapete

7 ай бұрын

​I agree, this long range hunting crap is taking over, and destroying our integrity as hunters. Yep, I've got a .257 Weatherby that will shoot MOA all day with handloads and runs out of gas at 500yds for big game in an ethical sense, for my capabilities around 400yds. To each his own as long as it's legal. I just wonder how many animals are wounded every year and not recovered because these 'long range' heroes who mistakenly think their equipment is going to make the shot for them? Expensive equipment is only the starting block, common sense and a limitation on the human capability needs to be implemented into each and every shot taken 12:20 ! s​@@edwardabrams4972

Hopefully you didn’t pick Hornaday! The last box of 30-06 almost half the box would not close in my 4 factory 30-06 rifles! And when you go to reload them they are the only brand that’s start splitting after 2 reloads! Now there’s Quality🤔😳

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

Ouch

This is Excitement for the Hunting Community! Is Factory Ammo all that Pricise? Answers Soon!

Hey you ever thought of trying federal blue box? I don't know how many old timers swearing its the most consistent factory loads available and would be interesting if that were true.

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

I'll have to look for some

@ScottGostick

7 ай бұрын

It is most definitely not true. It is consistently among the cheapest available factory ammo. I've experienced it shoot consistent with some rifles and not so much with others. I've witnessed it shoot 6-8" groups in 2 different rifles, the worst results I've ever seen from any factory ammo. Old timers are going to have tendencies to not get caught up in the hype and therefor stick with what works and gets the job done. You are surely going to run into a significant number who find success with a particular load and who will logically swear by that load. Surely many of those will swear by their opinions. Ultimately the primary consistency that matters happens down range so when it works it works.

@edwardabrams4972

7 ай бұрын

Having reloaded, hunted and collecting rifles for 60+ years I have not found that to be true! I have found that Federals premium ammo is very consistent in my custom and well as factory rifles but does leave a dirty residue!

@jk-kr8jt

7 ай бұрын

In my experience the blue box ammo is not worth buy, other than for practice or the brass. I have experienced too many bullet failures with the blue box.

In my experience, which is new this year to Norma factory ammo, that stuff is CONSISTENT. To my surprise, the Hornady ELD-M and ELD-X has been really good as well

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

Good

@derekmcmurry

7 ай бұрын

@@ReloadingWeatherby Also, for the first time, I used 180 ELD-M 7PRC factory ammo on deer. Worked as well as any other good hunting bullet. (hope that's not a repeat comment from one of your other vids)

@edwardabrams4972

7 ай бұрын

Try that ammo in elk and find out how that works out for ya! Have been reloading 60+ years and a gun collector so I have been there more then a few times​@@derekmcmurry

@edwardabrams4972

7 ай бұрын

Norma makes some of the best ammo for the price! They made Weatherby ammo for years before Weatherby started making there own and was better then Weatherby’s new stuff!

@derekmcmurry

7 ай бұрын

@@edwardabrams4972 Agreed. I'm actually shocked because if I buy Norma brass for handloading it's not cheap. But I can buy factory Norma ammo for $22-$29/box of 20

Nice testing. What method did you use to get everything out of the primer. When I pull loads I regularly have some powder sticking down there. Thx

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

I looked through each case and I couldn't see any powder left in it...

@nikos6220

7 ай бұрын

@@ReloadingWeatherby thx

Do you weigh each powder load on a digital scale? If so, they should be exactly the same to the tenth of a grain. If not, there no excuse for not doing so unless loading 1000 rounds at a time. 😉

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

I weigh each of my reloads on a beam scale

Underwood ammo with 165 grain accubond shoots a damn 6 inch group. I hate Underwood and they are 200 fps slower than advertised even from a 26 inch barrel. I was hoping bondstrike would be better. I have a lot of it.

Had great luck with precision hunter as far as consistency. But the ELDX to me is a target bullet it is terrible inside 100 yards about completely loosing its core. Which this causes fast kills, but I’ve seen in have horrendous penetration. It’s inferior to the good old interlock spire points which I like to call the poor man’s partition at normal hunting ranges. The ELDX may be great at 800 yards but that’s not my type of hunting. But it is terrible inside 100 yards on a shoulder shot

Norma, most consistent would be my guess

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

Thanks for commenting and watching

I enjoyed the video brother but I gotta say.. how tf are you getting ANY variance in the tenths hand loading?? I get having some variance in the hundredths because not everyone wants to pay $700.00 for a scale that precise but you should be hitting spot on numbers on every round. I can only assume your powder dropping..

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

I am not powder dropping. I use a beam scale for everything. I'm kind of scratching my head as well on it.

@chrisfametano6361

7 ай бұрын

@ReloadingWeatherby why not just use a scoop to get close then trickle the rest by hand using the Lyman scale you had in the video? That would put you spot on at least to the tenth, and probably just as fast as a charge Master.

@chrisfametano6361

7 ай бұрын

A trickler is $15.00 "ish".

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

@@chrisfametano6361 I use all the things you have talked about. I use scoops to get close and I use a trickler to get the exact amount. I do not get close and call it good. It has to be the exact amount that my scale is saying. Scales are by no means perfect. Go ahead and pull your reloads and see how close yours are.

@chrisfametano6361

7 ай бұрын

@ReloadingWeatherby I've done plenty of that over the years and I've made my share of screw ups as well. Right now with my 300RUM and 6.5 Cm my SD is about 10fps +/- that alone tells me my charges are spot on, at least to the tenth. All I'm saying is if your .1 or .2 off a trickler will get you there.

The chronograph and target would give better answers. And why not compare the same cartridge??

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

I don't buy factory ammo very often. It's the factory ammo I had at the time. In the coming weeks we will find out how the Hornady ammo shoots.

I check all factory ammo also worst i seen was nosler ammo in 300 rum it was grains off not tenths

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

Oh wow

You are spending all this time pulling bullets. Have you compared all the weights of these projectiles. That will vary as well. Not to mention most of this ammo is suited for hunting and not match ammo for shooting. These are expected results in my oppinion. You could also check the contricity of each round to see how out of round they are. And bullet seat depth may vary between each cartridge. All factory ammo will have these issues.

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

Very true

@Stu.E.

7 ай бұрын

Agree, next time weigh bullets, get high low and SD.

I seen a video where a guy bought 3 boxes of precision hunter same caliber etc but different lot numbers they all had different kinds of powder 🤦🏻‍♂️Hornady does do well at advertising though 🤷‍♂️

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

Not unusual

@highdesertkatz7790

7 ай бұрын

When buying factory ammo always buy in bulk of the same lot #s

My guess will be weatherby being consistent the most

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

Good guess

@ThemantleofElijah

7 ай бұрын

@@ReloadingWeatherby I handload too and I painstakingly measure every load even if it’s time consuming it’s ok for me.

Norma or Lapua.

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

I would bet Lapua makes very good ammo.

@markcox2870

6 ай бұрын

@@ReloadingWeatherby Amazingly consistent accuracy. My boys 9 and 10 years old can put 50 on the size of your fingernail at 100 meters.

You will never get accuracy with factory loaded ammunition.

Better go back to the old beam scale.😊

@nt3523

7 ай бұрын

Maybe test some cheaper stuff. My daughter is shooting her grandad's 1970 Rem 700 in .270 and it'll shoot one ragged hole with good ol' CoreLokt roundnose.

Hornady is tops. I don’t think you know what good factory ammo is. No sportsman shoots game at 1000. I don’t care how good a shot you think you are, shooting at game at that range is disgusting.

@ReloadingWeatherby

7 ай бұрын

Please do educate me on what Good factory ammo looks like. Unfortunately there are a lot of hunters out there that take way too far shots at game.