Ammo preferences

[ridgerunner6901]

I enjoyed reading lots of good responses on a recent post about everyone's favorite deer caliber, so I figured ammo choice may be a good discussion. I know factory ammo wont ever approach the quality of hand loads but not everyone wants another hobby. What have you guys found to be good bad or ugly?
I'll start by saying that nosler trophy grade is too expensive but shoots very well and as bad as I wanted them the hornady superperformance just doesn't shoot well in the rifles I've fed them to.

And dont limit to just deer hunting ammo

[Blackwoodz]

We have several good loaders local. Scorpion loads.
I always liked blackhills loads from outwest.

[Transom]

I handload just about every round I shoot. Cast lead bullets for pistol and big bore rifle and Sierra boattails for the bottlenecks.

I do buy factory .22, 9mm, and .223.

[MindenSkeeter]

Can’t beat Remington core-locs for factory bullet performance on deer size game.

[riverc]

I like Remington Core-Lokts no complaints...With my new .308 shot a box of Hornady American Whitetail at the range was quite impressed with the results.Thats what I am using this deer season.

[CaymasMan250]

Can’t beat Remington core-locs for factory bullet performance on deer size game.

Killed a many of deer withs core-locs, have never had an issue, can't beat them.

[yetti462]

Barnes bullets. Several manufacturers load their bullet in their line of ammo.

[adchunts]

Hornady gets my vote for across the board value regarding price versus performance. Not a fan of their Superformance line, though. Doesn't seem to matter whether it's my .44 Mag, .38 SPL, .30-30 WIN, .300 Win Mag, or 6.5 Creedmoor, their ammo shoots good and is affordable.

[hatcreek]

Fan of Hornady InterLock BTSP and Nosler Partition projectiles.

[Bass Junkie]

I hand load too but I still have a bunch of Winchester 168 Ballistic Silver tip for my 308 I need to shoot up so I've been using them on deer. They've done a good job. If I'm carrying my 270 then I like a 130 grain Sierra Game King on top of about 55.5 grains of IMR 4831. Any good cup and core bullet will do the job on whitetail though. It's when you get into true big game like elk or larger that bullet construction, caliber, and down range energy becomes important.

[Gamblinman]

Custom Reloads of Dallas gets all my business for precision rifles. His loads are excellent no matter the caliber. His 125 grain Hornady SST loads in .300BO are some serious medicine for hogs. His .308 Subsonic cold tracer loads are also very good.

[adchunts]

Custom Reloads of Dallas gets all my business for precision rifles. His loads are excellent no matter the caliber. His 125 grain Hornady SST loads in .300BO are some serious medicine for hogs. His .308 Subsonic cold tracer loads are also very good.

I consider Chad’s ammo to be semi-custom. I have quite a lot of his stuff in .300 Blackout and 10mm.

[mikesxpress]

I only load 12 gage dove loads. I just don't shoot enough to warrant loading rifle rounds so when I find a round that performs well I buy a bunch and never have to screw with it again. My R25 GEN2 is my primary deer/hog/elk gun and it likes the Hornady Super performace 150 SST rounds. I've never had any issues with any of the Hornady ammo.
https://www.hornady.com/ammunition/r...-150-gr-sst#!/

[jc1992]

I mainly use my 270 and l also reload with nosler ballistic tips 130gr with IMR 4831. my recent loads are for a 264 Winchester magnum 123 grain hornady SST with IMR 4831. im till playing around with the 264 as It is still pretty new to my collection.

as for factory ammo, I have had good luck with hornady for rifle and pistol, and Winchester white box for all around everything. but normally the only thing I don't reload is my duck shells simply because I cant get my hands on any steel shot.

[Stompy]

It's funny that some of y'all don't like the Superformance, they shoot great in my 270. I'm getting 1" moa or less at 200 yards with the 130 grain SST's. They also are doing a great job on the hog population around here.

[ridgerunner6901]

It's funny that some of y'all don't like the Superformance, they shoot great in my 270. I'm getting 1" moa or less at 200 yards with the 130 grain SST's. They also are doing a great job on the hog population around here.

It's not that I dont like the superformance.. I like them just fine, my x bolt doesn't.

[Goldstar225]

PSP Remington Core-lokts in .243, .308, & .30-06 for whitetail have worked for me the last 45+ years. I've even used them for my own reloads.

[cconn]

I like what the gun likes and works on what it is to be used for. I have found many times where one brand/type of ammo will drive tacks in a particular rifle of mine, but have terrible accuracy in an identical rifle made by same company. Each barrel seems to have a preference. When I get a new rifle, I generally buy as many options of hunting ammo as I can find, and test for accuracy with 5 shot groups. If I cant get good accuracy from any, then I might create my own reloads. I generally do not shoot enough of my hunting ammo to bother reloading, unless it is an expensive caliber like 45-70. I save reloading for high volume rounds like 300 BLK, 9mm, 45 ACP

I have had really good luck with Hornady ELD and ELD-X ammo recently in my 308 and 6.5 rifles.

[rock]

I reload and my best bullet is the Barnes TTSX (blue Tip)

[berudd]

I enjoyed reading lots of good responses on a recent post about everyone's favorite deer caliber, so I figured ammo choice may be a good discussion. I know factory ammo wont ever approach the quality of hand loads but not everyone wants another hobby. What have you guys found to be good bad or ugly?
I'll start by saying that nosler trophy grade is too expensive but shoots very well and as bad as I wanted them the hornady superperformance just doesn't shoot well in the rifles I've fed them to.

And dont limit to just deer hunting ammo

Good handloads might be the most accurate but you first have to do the research and build the skill needed to create them. Besides, a $20 box of ammo on the shelf at Walmart is probably more accurate that the vast majority of shooters. The best equipment in the world is wasted if the guy using it lacks the necessary skill.

That said, I pretty much stick with Corelokt for deer ammo. For clay targets and dove I use the cheapest reliable stuff I can find and when shooting a lot of clays I load 12ga, 1oz of #8 at 1200fps because its fun, easy and when buying components at the club a buck or two cheaper a box. For ducks, I'll use a the heaviest load of 3" steel #3 I can find that goes faster than 1400fps. For shooting paper with pistols, 22s and AR, the cheapest stuff in a brass case I can find. If something was unreliable I'd shoot the remainder of it, cussing at it constantly, and not buy any more. For SD 9mm I like the feedback on the Federal HST but don't have any.

I guess that about covers it for me.