Range Report generic ball ammo down a high end match-grade bbl

[Dsparil]

has anyone tried this just for kicks to see what kind of accuracy a match barrel like a krieger could bring with say winchester hunting ammo just to see what the accuracy difference is between it and actual match ammo? even with generic el cheapo .308 was anyone able to bring out 1 moa?

 

[BOLTRIPPER]

Re: generic ball ammo down a high end match-grade bbl

garbage in ....garbage out

 

[Jerry m]

Re: generic ball ammo down a high end match-grade bbl

Practice your standing, kneeling, and sitting shots with lesser ammo. Unless you can hold 1/4 inch from standing....lol

Good luck

Jerry

 

[azimutha]

Re: generic ball ammo down a high end match-grade bbl

I shoot the stuff, esp. when given it for free, but there's more than just the quality of the barrel at work...bullet quality & shape, brass quality and attention to loading it, and uniform powder loads. A better barrel will generally shoot anything better, but don't expect much from basic ammo.

 

[sinister]

Re: generic ball ammo down a high end match-grade bbl

British and Australian Palma shooters shot their rifles like this for decades as 7.62mm was surplused from military stocks to civilians for competition.

Cheap (but fairly good) ammo and gun ownership restrictions (i.e., you could own one centerfire rifle) became the mother of invention.

The Brits and Ozzies started developing very, very good four lug bolt guns and tight-bore cut rifled barrels (typically .298 bore diameter and 28 inches or longer, with 2.9-inch long throats). A "Commonwealth" Palma rifle generally meant a rifle that could squeeze the most from plain Radway Green or ADI F4 7.62 Ball, with the ability to switch back to Sierra 155s for 1,000-yard shooting.

 

[Downzero]

Re: generic ball ammo down a high end match-grade bbl

My factory rifle will shoot MOA @ 100 yards with Port ball.

 

[Dsparil]

Re: generic ball ammo down a high end match-grade bbl

port ball?


ok here's the story and the reason I asked. I have a rifle I'm having built in 8mm mauser and prvi partizan is supposed to be releasing 8mm match this fall in America. I'm not the greatest shot but I'm very adapt at learning and plan on reloading once I can get my berings on how to operate my weapon properly. I need some practice ammo and I'm not too keen on running corrosive stuff through it so I've been looking at the generic prvi partizan 8mm SP to run through it. It's a bartlein barrel. just a wee bit of practice until the match stuff comes in, then the next step is the handloading. It's going to be melonited so I'm not all that worried about wear and tear. 40k rounds is a lot time especially for match shooting. That being said, I'd at least like 1 moa accuracy out of the barrel at 100 yards. I've heard of noveske barrels driving 1 moa using standard ball .223 out of the ar-15s and I was wondering if the 8mm bartlein might do the same with 196gr 8mm prvi partizan Soft Point ammo.

 

[Grump]

Re: generic ball ammo down a high end match-grade bbl

I just got two, 1 MOA 3-round groups from reloads using M80 Ball bullets. Stock Remington 700 SPS or whatever Varmint.

Then the next three rounds when 2 MOA. Most of the rest of that stuff does 3 MOA in the other rifle...

 

[Dsparil]

Re: generic ball ammo down a high end match-grade bbl

hmm. well I'm anxious to see what this rifle does. I have a ton of faith in milled AK style weaponry and feel it can do a lot more than people give it credit for. if I recall people had little faith in the ar-15 series of rifle when it first came out too. Who knows, maybe I'll take this to a whole new mile, or maybe I'll get caught with my foot in my mouth. Only time will tell =D

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: generic ball ammo down a high end match-grade bbl

I see this topic as relatively similar to the one about using match ammo only.

A match barrel won't make generic ammo shoot like match ammo.

Every shot fired through any barrel subtracts one shot from its projected accurate lifespan. IMHO, unless it's done in the furtherance of the barrel's dedicated purpose, it's mostly just wasteful of bore/throat life.

When I see a question regarding finding out the difference between suitable ammo and unsuitable ammo, I fail to grasp the point.

In the unlikely scenario that requires I find this out to save my life, I'll leave it to then to find out. Odds are it'll work well enough for the purpose, and also that the likelihood of its actually occurring are a bit too small for me to be wasting valuable bore life finding out as a matter of conjecture.

Greg

 

[Dsparil]

Re: generic ball ammo down a high end match-grade bbl

understood on the barrel life issue hence why I want to get the interior nitrocarburized.

 

[tacticalrifleman]

Re: generic ball ammo down a high end match-grade bbl

I can say I have fired Port, Lithuanian, santa barbara, and some south american crap through factory 700P, and SPS tactical barrels. I have found that the better stuff (port, lith., and santa bar.) usually shoots surprisingly well, I have fired many 3/4 MOA groups for 5 or more shots, and a pretty good amount of 10 shot groups that were still MOA. This ammo just seems to work well in the factory twist, long throat barrels. Is it match ammo? No, it isn't precise enough to hit say 1/2 inch or so dots every time, but if you are shootng a MOA size targets then it seems to work well at 100-150 yards. Once you get out to further distances you need slightly bigger targets.I had a friends SPS tactical that was shooting Lith. into a 1 inch square with boring regularity.

I have tried the same stuff in match barrels just to see and unless you are doing position shooting like was mentioned by another poster I don't see it as beneficial. For off hand practice, and sitting if you aren't a hard holder and shoot little groups that way then I think it would be fine. Once your level of skill was up to the level of being able to clean the rapid sitting targets, I think you would need to switch to match ammo.

My opinion would be use it for factory barrels if it gives acceptable accuracy (your version of this), and try it in your match barrel if you want and again see if it gives your personal level of satisfaction. I don't use it now, except for practice with a garand or M1A at 100 yards as it just doesn't give me the level of accuracy at 200 or more. Oh I forgot it's also good for your barrel break in if you are into that, lol.

 

[azimutha]

Re: generic ball ammo down a high end match-grade bbl

If you got the barrel nitrided and consider that these are .308s with fairly low velocities and good barrel life into the 5000 round range...well, why not if you can get the better stuff fairly cheap? I was given 400 rounds of assorted FMJ a couple years ago and got more comfortable with my rifle shooting it. The practice and experience is worth sacrificing some barrel life.

But you may reach a point where you aren't as gungho about putting a lot of rounds down the same barrel. I typically bring 2-4 rifles with me nowadays and get plenty of shooting in rotating among them. I fire maybe 20 shots between my two bolt-action .308s using my best handloads. In between cold-barrel shots on those, I fire a lot of .22 rimfire (and if not at a range, do it while running around the target area). I often bring along my M1 Garand and 64-80 rounds of surplus HXP. It's good for high-power practice and I do try to shoot as well as I can with it but don't need to measure things like muzzle velocity.

 

[Genin]

Re: generic ball ammo down a high end match-grade bbl

I personally use Winchester Super X 180grn rounds from Walmart for general practice. Through my Shilen Match barrel I get 1"-1.25" groups at 100yards, but odly enough can get about 1.5" groups at 300yards (as long as my local range allows me to shoot). I am guessing that the bullet just stabilizes better at 200+ yard

 

[Jerry m]

Re: generic ball ammo down a high end match-grade bbl

At a $1.25 times 5,000 rounds the cost is $$6,250; at 6,000 rounds the cost is $7,500. I laugh when I hear people talking about the cost of their $400 barrels.

Jerry