Factory “match” ammo that is consistent

[264win]

Not sure if this is the right spot for this, feel free to move if needed.

I have seen a serious drop in the consistency of some factory “match “ ammo the last few years.
Wondering if there is any ammo manufacturers that have maintained pre C19 quality.

My own use is 308, 6.5 and 6cm but have seen the same in other calibers as well.

 

[TheOE800]

Federal LE .308WIN 168gr Tactical Tip.

 

[Nik H]

Federal GMM
Berger
Hornady

No change - 308,6.5 and 338LM. I think consistency has improved.

 

[charnicus]

Not sure if this is the right spot for this, feel free to move if needed.

I have seen a serious drop in the consistency of some factory “match “ ammo the last few years.
Wondering if there is any ammo manufacturers that have maintained pre C19 quality.

My own use is 308, 6.5 and 6cm but have seen the same in other calibers as well.

I was impressed with a couple boxes of the 168 ELD 308 in my picky ass barrel that won’t even shoot FGMM less than an inch. I’ve always found the 140 and 108 ELD stuff to be really good. I swear I don’t work for Hornady but for factory stuff I’ll shoot it every time. Kinda miss the Prime stuff.

 

[DoctorBen]

Hornady Precision Hunter.

Precision Hunter® - Hornady Manufacturing, Inc

Precision Hunter^® is the ideal load for any hunting situation because of its effective terminal performance at all practical ranges.

www.hornady.com

Their loads in 6.5 creedmoor have been amazingly low SD (<10) on a garmin chronometer. I use it for everything. Comps, range, animals to 800yds.

I reload for more velocity, but as far as out of the box low SD (8fps) I’ve not found better. 2756 FPS. Min/max have 2752-2760. Across plenty of lots.

Shot 2k or so, have another 2k on hand.
Went through plenty of brands.

Those garmin chronos showed how inconsistent many manufacturers were.

 

[TheOE800]

Federal GMM
Berger
Hornady

No change - 308,6.5 and 338LM. I think consistency has improved.

I’m consistently getting 25fps S/D and 80-100fps spreads on Berger in 308 and 6.5. Haven’t tried the 300PRC I have, but I basically bought it for the brass anyway.

I have a lot of FGMM right now that’s pretty insane, but I have had lots that are shit too.

 

[264win]

I have tried quite a few lots of hornady match 308 and 6.5 recently that had an es of well over 100 fps
And some Berger 6.5 that was almost 100 fps
This may be ok for paper at 100yds but that’s about it.

Of the stuff I have been able to get my hands on only FGMM has been consistent.

 

[Stevo86]

Haven’t shot black hills in awhile, but always had good luck with them.

 

[ShtrRdy]

I was having trouble with a lot of Hornady match not working well. I pulled the bullet on a "good" one and on a "bad" one. I found that they used as totally different powder in them.

 

[straightshooter1]

Not sure if this is the right spot for this, feel free to move if needed.

I have seen a serious drop in the consistency of some factory “match “ ammo the last few years.
Wondering if there is any ammo manufacturers that have maintained pre C19 quality.

My own use is 308, 6.5 and 6cm but have seen the same in other calibers as well.

Back in March I ran a new test of Federal Premium 175 SMK's to see if there was any improvement over the same test I did a few years ago. I took a box of 20 cartridges, pulled the bullets on 10 of them and weighed the power and redistributed the powder evenly and reseated the bullets to the same CBTO/COAL. The 10 factory rounds produced an SD of 13.3 with an ES of 43 fps. The 10 rounds that I uniformed the powder weight in produced an SD of 8.6 and an ES of 25 fps. 10 shot Groups on target were .655" and .514 respectively. The factory load result this time was much better than what I had gotten a few years ago with the Federal Match. Actually, not too bad IMHO. But as before, just uniforming the powder load makes a big difference.

If you haven't already seen this article, you might want to read through it to give you some ideas regarding factory ammo:

6.5 Creedmoor Ammo Test Summary: Hit Probability At Long-Range

Choosing the right ammo can dramatically increase your odds of connecting with a target at long ran...

precisionrifleblog.com

 

[Nik H]

I’m consistently getting 25fps S/D and 80-100fps spreads on Berger in 308 and 6.5. Haven’t tried the 300PRC I have, but I basically bought it for the brass anyway.

I have a lot of FGMM right now that’s pretty insane, but I have had lots that are shit too.

Factory quality and consistency have never been an issue for me. I consistently try many types of factory ammo and use what works.

I don't have a chronograph so I don't measure or labor over anything...just hit targets.

 

[918v]

I’m consistently getting 25fps S/D and 80-100fps spreads on Berger in 308 and 6.5. Haven’t tried the 300PRC I have, but I basically bought it for the brass anyway.

I have a lot of FGMM right now that’s pretty insane, but I have had lots that are shit too.

What’s your neck clearance in the chamber?

.003”?

 

[TheOE800]

What’s your neck clearance in the chamber?

.003”?

Dunno? Two or three different guns for that data. A PVA barrel, a Barrett, and a TacOps.

 

[misser]

not going to say “match “ ammo yet after getting a R25 in 708 i picked the Hornady American whitetail it was a OMG moment. i then question my sanity of loading my own

 

[918v]

Dunno? Two or three different guns for that data. A PVA barrel, a Barrett, and a TacOps.

Good idea to check

 

[TheOE800]

Good idea to check

Roughly checking with a caliper I’m in the .003” neighborhood on one of those guns.

 

[918v]

That’s too tight

Factory ammo assumes it’s being shot in a saami spec chamber. If you put it is a tight chamber then you’ll have these issues.

 

[Nik H]

I was impressed with a couple boxes of the 168 ELD 308 in my picky ass barrel that won’t even shoot FGMM less than an inch. I’ve always found the 140 and 108 ELD stuff to be really good. I swear I don’t work for Hornady but for factory stuff I’ll shoot it every time. Kinda miss the Prime stuff.

I'll have to try the 168 ELD. The ELD cartridges always work well for my AIs. Unfortunately, not all Hornady is the same. I was given a couple of boxes of Hornady 168 BTHP. It sucked heavy ass. I fired 2 five round strings and said WTF? I fired 2 five round strings of FGMM 168 SMK next and all was normal. I fired another 2x5 with the Hornady and said WTF.

LOL

 

[Cody S]

I've always had really good luck out of hornady match in 6.5 and 6 creedmoor with the eld and I've had decent luck with the berger factory 6 creed ammo. I will keep buying the berger so I can get the ready to go lapua brass.
ETA I'm talking group size
none have ever had acceptable ES/SD (usually SD of 20+ for 10rds)for me for our 1k yard comps, but I really like factory ammo that groups good to help me practice my 100 yard prone game

 

[kthomas]

FGMM has been the most consistent for me.

Hornady has been pretty mixed, at least velocity wise. But generally always shoots good out of chambers designed for it.

Chamber design is going to influence ballistic performance as well. Ammo behaves differently in different chambers, and that includes SD/ES.