Amateur Accuracy

[YosemiteSam357]

I have a hankerin’ to do some rifle shooting, focusing on accuracy. I’ve got a fair amount of experience shooting other disciplines: I do trap weekly, weather permitting, and until recently also did pistol regularly, though not in any kind of competition.

I don’t plan on reloading; I don’t reload for shotgun or pistol, don’t have the space for it, nor the time/desire to jump into that aspect of the sport(s). This, as well as cost of the firearms themselves, has led me to forego any thoughts of actual “benchrest” shooting. I'm not really into competition, I'd just like to get some good groups. Given these considerations, in addition to the low cost of ammo and lack of recoil, I’ve mostly settled on the .223 Remington as the round to shoot.

By limiting myself to commercial ammo, am I going to negate any accuracy that may be found in a better gun? That is, would I see a marked difference in accuracy between say a NEF Handi-Rifle, a Savage 110, and a Remington VLS, if I limit myself to factory loads?

Thanks in advance,

-- Sam

 

[LAK]

".... That is, would I see a marked difference in accuracy between say a NEF Handi-Rifle, a Savage 110, and a Remington VLS, if I limit myself to factory loads?"

.... I would say so. Now I am not stating that there is not a single NEF Handi-Rifle that will group as well as your second example, the Savage 110, with factory ammo of some type. But that it is perhaps unlikely you'll find a Handi-Rifle to match a 110 with any given factory ammo.

That said, "limiting" oneself to factory ammo with the .223 is not a particular handicap if you are not going to compete. There is such a big pile of factory .223 I would say that it should not be too difficult to find ammo that will group tight enough to test and then improve your skills.

 

[Smaug]

Sam,

You're really missing out on half of the sport by not reloading. It sounds like you have enough guns already to have a good start. For your next $300 in gun spending (after you buy the rifle) get started in reloading.

It really is worth your time; both for accuracy and cost.

Check the link in my signature file for tips on how to get started for not too much dough.

 

[Selfdfenz]

I won't argue with any of the prevoius comments but if you want to get into rifles, shoot a lot , and tinker very little, consider getting into 22s.

I shoot hi power and I love it but nothing surpasses haning at the range for hours shooting tiny groups cheaply without the noise, recoil and expense of even a 223 (which is a winner in all three catagories BTW).

Like Smaug said reloading is half the fun of shooting but if you are not going to reload go with a 22.

How much are you planning to spend on the rifle whatever it may be???
S-

 

[kombi1976]

One aspect of the whole non-handloading issue is that all rifles are not made equal. In this I don't mean accuracy per se. I mean that every individual rifle shoots best with a particular type of ammo. Some very expensive rifles only group well with specific, rather expensive factory ammo & so it's a case of picking your rifle & then investing in a lot of different brands of ammo to find what suits your rifle best. To warn you I've read of Steyrs & Sakos that would only group well with Sako premium ammo & of Weatherby Vanguards that grouped very well with simple Winchester Powerpoints. Selfdfenz comment about fiddling less with ammo with 22LR has similarities to your situation.
What ever you buy find another friend who has a rifle of the same chambering but who handloads. That way if you only fire a few rounds of each brand that turns out less than suitable he can take those off your hands for a suitable price & use the spent brass buy full length resizing it for his own rifle.
The other type of target shooting that doesn't necessarily need reloads, although it isn't bench rest, is Military Rifle. I've heard of many Military Rifle Clubs who buy surplus ammo & use this for their comps, selling it to their members for very low prices. This too will affect your choice of rifle. Keep in mind you can still buy NOS Yugo Mausers in 8x57 dirt cheap.

Cheers & God Bless

 

[JNewell]

In a word, no, limiting yourself to factory ammo will not compromise your results. Black Hills and Federal match ammo is as good or better than what most reloaders can turn out. The cost isn't too bad either. My local dealer sells .308 Federal match ammo for $13.95/box. That's more than handloads but less than a box of .30-30 at the same shop.

 

[YosemiteSam357]

Thanks for all the replies! As I'm learning more I'm finding that yes, loading for your rifle really is part of the whole hunt for accuracy. But it appears I'm not going to hobble myself too badly (except financially ) shooting good quality target ammo. We'll see. Maybe I can make space in my garage after all.

-- Sam

 

[garrettwc]

This is what I love about TFL.

You can browse through a topic that you only have a passing interest in, and still find a jewel you can use.

In this case it was Smaug's reloading link. That's one of the best I've seen on the net from the beginner's viewpoint.

Thanks Smaug.

 

[dfaugh]

Can't beat a .22...

for low cost practice. I don't yet reload either, but even when I start, I will still do most of my shooting with my .22s. There's no better way for me to practice, breathing etc. And, of course, no recoil at all. You can walk into a gunshop, and get one box of every different kind of .22 ammo there is for $40-50 (but usually you'll find the high-velocity stuff isn't as accurate, so I'd just get the standard-velocity stuff to start). And you don't need a fancy rifle, either...My "tack driver" is a $125 Marlin 60 (which was actually given to me) with a Tasco 3-9 Pronghorn I got on sale for $30. It consistently (if I do my thing right) shoots 10 shot groups just over the size of a dime at 50 yards.
Now, it doesn't have the "cool factor" of some of my other guns, or especially those of my best shooting buddy (who owns about 125 guns), but any one whose laughing, stops real fast when they see my groups! I always take it to the range, so even if I having an off day with another gun, I always come back with a good looking target to hang on the refrigerator.

 

[YosemiteSam357]

I have no problems with .22 rimfire. I own four of the suckers, mostly handguns, as well as a 10/22, and enjoy shooting them all. Indeed, I'm also thinking of putting a scope on the 10/22, maybe an aftermarket barrel, etc. Or there's that nice Remington 513T at the local shop...

But I digress; For the subject of this topic I'm looking at centerfire, specifically .223 because it too is a (relatively) cheap round to shoot, if you buy factory ammo. Not so with .22-250, .308, or a host of other calibers that are shot for "accuracy".

-- Sam

 

[Rohann]

Good choice Sam. .223 is a great caliber. You can find ammo for the .308 just as cheap as you can find it for the .223. Go to http://www.cheaperthandirt.com and look at some of the military surplus ammo they have there. Still, the .223 is a fine caliber for accurate shooting.


Kombi: Do you post at "the hunter's life"?

 

[orlando5]

By limiting myself to commercial ammo, am I going to negate any accuracy that may be found in a better gun? That is, would I see a marked difference in accuracy between say a NEF Handi-Rifle, a Savage 110, and a Remington VLS, if I limit myself to factory loads?

Yes it will limit the accuracy of any good rifle. Cheap ammo negates the accuracy of your rifle. It doesn’t matter if you spend $3000 on a rifle that is listed as .25MOA, you would not get .25MOA if you were using factory non-premium ammo. In fact you probably end up with 2MOA@100yard because that is the rule of thumb for most factory non-premium/surplus ammo.

The reason for this is that non-premium/surplus ammo bullets have a very high different weight from one bullet to another (up to 5 grain difference, if I remember right when I tested the weight on the Israeli bullets a few years back). Also the powder is not precise in each round adding to the inaccuracy. These two main inconsistencies in the round negate almost all benefits from a very accurate rifle.

So many people I have seen complain that their $1000+ rifle is not getting the accuracy that it promised. When asked what kind of bullet they used they almost all replied that they were using factory non-premium/surplus ammo. If you want to improve your marksmanship make sure that you use premium rounds otherwise it is a waste of time and effort. Either reload or spend money buying factory premium rounds.

Edit:

But I digress; For the subject of this topic I'm looking at centerfire, specifically .223 because it too is a (relatively) cheap round to shoot, if you buy factory ammo. Not so with .22-250, .308, or a host of other calibers that are shot for "accuracy".

The .223 is an accurate and enjoyable round to shoot. If you’re not shooting anything longer then 400 yards it should serves your needs.