Bullet selection for reloading

[Diamondhitch]

Diamondhitch - it is pretty expensive to buy factory ammo here, .22hornet is +-$100 for 50, .300 +-$130 for 20, .375 +-$200 for 20, .416 +-$400for 20.
a couple of afternoons a month can cost quite a bit for us!
Thats the reason we want to reload!!
Once we get going, i wont bother reloading cheaper bullets, its not a great deal of money saved by loading cheaper bullets as opposed to premium bullets.

Thunderhead - I am happier in my workshop than the office!! i'm certainly looking forward to spending some time trying out different loads.

thanks for the info

Bullets are by far the most expensive relaoding component. If buying from Cabelas (obviously not your supplier but the difference in price should be similar) loading the Ballistic tips in .300 win costs $0.94 per round and TSX is $1.34 per round which works out to a savings of $8 per box which is 30% cheaper. Your .416 will be a much bigger savings yet. 30% more plinking is alot of plinking.

 

[PeteG]

I do not understand why people would want to load a 350gr head in a 375H&H or a 450gr in a 416. What would you gain??
A 300gr in 375 and a 400gr in 416 already shoots through everything. Why load a bullet that the gun was not designed for. The only thing that it does improve is the mathematics of the person doing it. That stays theory. In the practical world of hunting it does not do one single thing better than the original.
In theory, having an extra 50gr will improve the KE. In practice, there is not a bone in any animal that the original bullet will not penetrate through already so why bother?
Having more numbers before the comma in theory sounds great. In practice I have shot hundreds of Baboons sitting on thin branches high in a tree. I have shot them with 375H&H and many more different calibers. Why did not a single one of them fly backwards through the air - like in the movies - when hit with all that KE as the theory stated?
No sir. I do not believe in all of that. Those new weights were developed because people are bored with a design that is over 100 years old and want something new. They are not satisfied with something that works well.

Good to hear some sound opinion, I am still open to it all, not having tried them. But, and its a big BUT, as you mention that the 300gr and 400 gr in the 375 and 416 respectively have worked and still work perfectly, so I personally dont see a need for a heavier round.

 

[PeteG]

Bullets are by far the most expensive relaoding component. If buying from Cabelas (obviously not your supplier but the difference in price should be similar) loading the Ballistic tips in .300 win costs $0.94 per round and TSX is $1.34 per round which works out to a savings of $8 per box which is 30% cheaper. Your .416 will be a much bigger savings yet. 30% more plinking is alot of plinking.

30% is definately a substantial savings. I suppose in a way I got carried away with going from our high prices to the much more affordable reloading prices so I didnt really consider the actual savings per round on different components.
I'll be looking around a bit more from a different perspective now.

The other thing I thought of is how I often read how people say that certain bullets "don't work in my gun". How bad does it get that a bullet "doesn't" work?
Bear in mind most of our rifles have seen better days, but they still shoot well regardless of which factory ammo i use, except for the last batch of prvi grom 170gr bullets which shot about 6in groups at 100m. the first batch was fine, 1.5in groups @100m.
Is this what I could expect if a certain bullet doesn't agree with my setup?
Can that be minimized by adjusting powder loads etc?

 

[Diamondhitch]

30% is definately a substantial savings. I suppose in a way I got carried away with going from our high prices to the much more affordable reloading prices so I didnt really consider the actual savings per round on different components.
I'll be looking around a bit more from a different perspective now.

The other thing I thought of is how I often read how people say that certain bullets "don't work in my gun". How bad does it get that a bullet "doesn't" work?
Bear in mind most of our rifles have seen better days, but they still shoot well regardless of which factory ammo i use, except for the last batch of prvi grom 170gr bullets which shot about 6in groups at 100m. the first batch was fine, 1.5in groups @100m.
Is this what I could expect if a certain bullet doesn't agree with my setup?
Can that be minimized by adjusting powder loads etc?

Every gun is different, some like everything you put in them, some will blow up 2-3x as big with certain bullets but most will show slight preferences toward 1 bullet or another. Your 1.5 inch gun may shoot 2" with some brands but you may find one or 2 bullet/powder/velocity combinations that shoot 1" while yet another bullet just wont shoot less than 3-4" (rare occasion). There is no secret formula, just plenty of time on the bench fine tuning as much as you like or simply getting something that shoots acceptably and being happy with that.

 

[Diamondhitch]

I should mention that usually if you find a bullet that will not shoot well the cause is usually that it is being pushed too fast or your rifle does not have sufficient twist to stabilize it or any of a number of factors that can destabilize a bullet, it is not always an indicator that the brand of bullet is less accurate than others in general but just because it may perform that way in your particular gun.

 

[PeteG]

Thanks Diamondhitch, that certainly makes sense to me about the speed and twist rate.

I'm looking forward to getting set up and playing with loads!

 

[ikeda]

Some of the manufacturers will not like what I say but Hornady makes a darn nice bullet, that is quite frankly good for 95% of your typical shooting and or hunting and usually costs about half of what the so called premium bullets will set you back. The Hornady's are not as sexy as some of the others, but I've been handloading for 47 years and you can save a considerable amount of money in that length of time by choosing a bullet that is not more expensive than what you really need.
It may sound petty but if you choose a powder/load that takes say 5 gr less per load, you can get 9 more loads per can of powder.... as expensive as powder is becoming even here in the US, that adds up also.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Hi guys,

I'm looking at reloading a couple of rifles, not done it before so I'll take any advice I'm given!!

lets start with calibers, between the 2 of us we will reload for .22Hornet, .243, 7x64, 30-06, 300winmag, 375H&H, 416 rem mag.

bear in mind it is just getting too expensive here in africa to keep shooting often.

im looking at using the swift scirrocco for caliber up to 300wm and a-frame for the two bigger calibers.
what are your thoughts?
bigger calibers will be used on eland and dg, the others for plains game up to eland.

im not into long range shooting and on average shots will be up to 100m on the bigger cal and up to 250m on the smaller cal.
pmp stock is readily available in rsa for the scirroco and a-frame.

any opinions or other suggestions??

@Pete
In the 22 hornet hogdon Lilgun gives high velocity and power pressure
In the 243 and 7x64 the 2 best powders are H4350 and H4831sc.
30/06 H4350
Sorry I can't help with the others unless I consult load from a disc as I have no experience with them.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Diamondhitch - it is pretty expensive to buy factory ammo here, .22hornet is +-$100 for 50, .300 +-$130 for 20, .375 +-$200 for 20, .416 +-$400for 20.
a couple of afternoons a month can cost quite a bit for us!
Thats the reason we want to reload!!
Once we get going, i wont bother reloading cheaper bullets, its not a great deal of money saved by loading cheaper bullets as opposed to premium bullets.

Thunderhead - I am happier in my workshop than the office!! i'm certainly looking forward to spending some time trying out different loads.

thanks for the info

@PeteG
I load the cheap 40 grain Hornaday V Max in my hornet. A 500 gram container of powder will give you between 6 and 700 rounds of hornet ammo.
In the larger cals up to the 06 you will get up to around 140 loads.
The old cup and core bullets would be a lot cheaper than premiums.
A word of warning tho once you start reloading you will find you start shooting more. A good thing but you find you end up spending almost the same but get a lot more bang for your dollar.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Yes, I like the Nosler Ballistic tip, Nosler Accubond and Hornady Interbonds too. I understand that the Barnes TSX is SUPER. I like expanding bullets that don't leave the animal as often and expand their energy (generally into the lung area). I don't eat much off the ribs anyway. And if animal can't breath it is not going anywhere.

@enysse
Mate I mustn't have shot big enough animals when I was in Namibia as 90% of my projectiles were thru and thru. Accubonds, woodleigh and even the humble Hornaday round nose were all piss thru in my 35 Whelen. The 250 grain round nose left a golf ball size hole out the other side of my Oryx at 120 yards.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Bullets are by far the most expensive relaoding component. If buying from Cabelas (obviously not your supplier but the difference in price should be similar) loading the Ballistic tips in .300 win costs $0.94 per round and TSX is $1.34 per round which works out to a savings of $8 per box which is 30% cheaper. Your .416 will be a much bigger savings yet. 30% more plinking is alot of plinking.

@Diamondhitch
If you use the cup and core it makes it even cheaper. A box of 250 grain 35 cal spire points costs me 66 dollars per 100 a box of 250 grain Partitions or 225 grain accubonds will set me back over 120 dollars for 50 or $240++ per hundred.
Easy maths for even me to figure out. Cup and core for practice and general hunting. Premium for when needed .
Bob

 

[fourfive8]

Yep, right now the best types of truly premium hunting bullets are whatever and wherever you find them. If you see your favorite type and weight for sale somewhere, probably good idea to grab them, for tomorrow they may be no where at any price! For example I wish I would have stocked up on a couple of varieties of North Forks when they were available. Same for GS Custom. GS was the victim of a scam within the flash in the pan marketing wave of "tactical" whatever insanity, so now likely gone. Lucky I have a small stock of GS bullets. Hopefully not a similar case with North Fork. But now.... after a bunch of fluff and promises about "coming soon" availability... not even a smell of movement. Not a good start for supplying a very small market of individuals who plan for expensive hunting trips well in advance and require the security of reliable availability to properly do so. We'll see...

However, if you only require something that shoots out the barrel then there seems plenty of stock out there. And after all- a lead pot, mold and some lead alloy can provide a bullet to shoot out the barrel. While I cast and shoot a lot of lead bullets, it's an apples to oranges argument for me when it comes to serious hunting bullets.

Earlier in the week I noticed a special on some blems from a large supplier in a weight and caliber I shoot. Some 300 grain roundnose solids in .375 for about 66.00 per 100- so jumped on a few. Will not hunt with them but the cost per bullet for practice and range time is plenty cheap.

 

[enysse]

@enysse
Mate I mustn't have shot big enough animals when I was in Namibia as 90% of my projectiles were thru and thru. Accubonds, woodleigh and even the humble Hornaday round nose were all piss thru in my 35 Whelen. The 250 grain round nose left a golf ball size hole out the other side of my Oryx at 120 yards.
Bob

Well my reference was from using smaller calibers like .243, 270 and 7mm. You are correct with a large caliber, you can get full penetration every time.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Well my reference was from using smaller calibers like .243, 270 and 7mm. You are correct with a large caliber, you can get full penetration every time.

@enysse
My son was getting complete pass thrus with his 308 and 150 grain accubonds.
Bob

 

[enysse]

@enysse
My son was getting complete pass thrus with his 308 and 150 grain accubonds.
Bob

People understand the Accubond bullet! I think it’s a premium bullet. I have shot them in my 375 H&H. I would hunt anything with them. Elk, moose, deer and eland etc.

 

[Ray B]

I'm sure that I have fired factory ammo but I can't remember firing any in the last 50 years- even with the disclaimer that my memory isn't what it used to be. i find loading my own with the bullet and powder charge and even the case that I want to be very satisfying. Even if the initial reason is to save money, I'm certain that when you get started in it, you'll be glad that you did.