Surprised at how inconsistant factory ammo is.

[Tackleberry41]

I had never really ran factory ammo over my chrony. But was just wanting to see the velocity boost for a longer barrel, and compare some hand loads to factory. Bought a box of Federal 45 colt, so I had some factory ammo to run thru my new Rossi. Still close to $50 for some 25ogr jacketed SP. All the place had unless I wanted blazer aluminum stuff, I fork over $50 for a box of ammo, I want brass. Ran it thru my black hawk, avg of 918 fps for that is probably right where its supposed to be. But had 62.7fps deviation, seemed a bit much. Was 100fps deviation thru the rifle. But did get a bit more than 200fps extra with the longer barrel.

Some factory 45 ACP seemed a bit slow. Magtech 230gr FMJ, whatever was cheap at the shop my friend works at. It barely broke 800fps. I seem to remember the military spec we had to memorize being 838fps.

[edler7]

What do you expect for a dollar a shot ? Consistency ???

:kidding:

And the the manufacturers aren't even ashamed to put out stuff like that.

[WILCO]

And the the manufacturers aren't even ashamed to put out stuff like that.

What's to be ashamed of? Ammunition was purchased and it worked.

[Larry Gibson]

Not familiar with Chrony readings; what is "62.7fps deviation"?

Is that the SD (Standard Deviation) or the fps deviation between the fastest and slowest shots of the test string (ES; Extreme Spread)? Also; how many shots were in the test string?

Larry Gibson

[leadman]

I concern myself more with the size of the group than the SD. I had some Remington 7.62 X 39 ammo that had over 100fps velocity spread but the group was very good.

[lefty o]

so how did it shoot? ive had remingturd factory ammo with over 300fps variance in the same box. ill tell you with 300fps difference, groups do go to heck.

[Tackleberry41]

ES sorry.

It shot okay I guess, hit the gongs. But their 12x12 so probably hard to miss at 50 yds with a rifle. It was a box of factory stuff I bought so I had some factory to run thru the new rifle, so if there were any feed issues vs my handloads. I would have a good idea one way or another. And its another 50 cases to reload. Just seems that factory ammo would be a bit more consistent. Fine for plinking, but hunting I would want something better.

[Win94ae]

It isn't like you are going to be long range shooting with those weapons.

[rondog]

How can anyone expect ammo that's cranked out by automated machinery at the rate of thousands per minute to be anywhere close to consistent? Factory-made ammo has always been iffy to me, even milsurp. Getting consistent powder charges and bullet seating by hand is hard enough, but powder charges done a mile-a-minute by a mindless machine? We're lucky it's as good as it usually is, IMO.

Scary stuff, I avoid factory-made ammo as much as I can, .22lr being the exception. But look at the reputation for failure THAT stuff has!

[opos]

Just got back from the range this afternoon...got a new CZ97 that is getting it's "break in" period....I took a box of Federal American Eagle 230 grain ball and took 100 of my handloaded hi tec coated 200 grain Missouri #4 over a moderate load of 231....the Federal was more like a "pattern" than a group...the home brew stuff was nice and tight, clean burning and gentle on the old man's hands...I didn't have a Chrony so have to just go on "feel"...my loads were lighter weight and looking at the data they were about 850fps loads....The Federal is probably about the same velocity with the 230 grain...accuracy with the Federals was ok but the consistancy was terrible.

[Larry Gibson]

....ES sorry.

A 62 fps ES variation for factory ammo if the test string was 5 or 6 shots isn't bad at all. If it was for 10 - 12 shots then 62 fps ES variation is excellent. The 100 fps ES out of the rifle was probably because the smaller charge of faster burning powder was burned up before the bullet exited the barrel. Depending on the number of test shots it might be as bad as perceived.

Larry Gibson

[Tackleberry41]

I only ran 3 rds each over the chrony. Thought I wrote down the factory 45 acp, but would have thought it would have at least avg over 800fps.

I would have checked more rds for velocity, but my friend shot the sticks off my chrony with his 308, barely missed a rd thru the housing.

I was just curious the pistol/rifle difference. Standard pressure I got a little more than 200fps from my black hawk w 5 in barrel to the 20 in rossi. With slower powder, it was a 500fps difference. Win 296 really chucked em down range, but wow was it loud out of the pistol.

[TXGunNut]

When I started loading rifle ammo 30+ years ago it was difficult to build a hand load to outperform my benchmark rifle ammo, good old green box Remington Core-Lokt. After a year or so I was finally able to do it, was certainly a valuable learning experience. At the time I was amazed that factory ammo performed so well in a variety of firearms. I haven't bought much factory ammo lately but I did try some Hornady 300 Savage ammo recently. Good stuff.
Pistol ammo has been a bit of a disappointment lately, however. Seems the mantra of quantity over quality rules when building pistol ammo. It got so bad (and expensive) that I pulled the cover off my Dillon, ordered a mould and built my own 45acp ammo. I found over 2K pieces of nearly forgotten of 45acp brass under my loading bench and eventually recycled them with judicious charges of 231 and repurposed WW's. Come to think of it though, haven't fired a single one over my Chrony. Accuracy is quite good, I have a pretty good idea of what the velocity should be and ES is of no concern when group size is acceptable.

[oldblinddog]

Go to Nebraska and go to the front door of Hornady, walk right in and ask for a tour. You will appreciate what they do.

Hornady 155gr Amax .308 Win is less than 1/2 moa in two of my stock Remington 700 rifles. Nosler 165 gr BT ammo is in the third one. If you want to shoot factory ammo it is similar to rimfire ammo, you have to feed the rifle what it likes. Don't bad mouth it because it doesn't shoot in your rifle because it is certain to shoot in someone's. Also, everyone of my stock Remington 700's will shoot the appropriate Remington corelokt ammo into 1 moa or better. I have been doing this for over 40 years in over 20 examples of the 700. Makes me wonder about all the rifles I hear about that "won't shoot".

All of the above applies to handguns too. Winchester .45 Colt was my backup. The plain old 255 gr. in my S&W 25 or RBH.

[lefty o]

he didnt even shoot a group and is complaining it wont shoot lol! velocities are a nice to know thing, but in the end dont amount to much in how well they shoot.

[Lloyd Smale]

I was given 5 boxes of rem corelock 280 165 grain ammo once by a buddy. I wanted it for the brass so started pulling bullets. Just for grins I started weight powder charges. they varied by as much as 5 full grains. Amazinging this stuff shot real well in the 280 my buddy got rid of.

[montana_charlie]

I concern myself more with the size of the group than the SD. I had some Remington 7.62 X 39 ammo that had over 100fps velocity spread but the group was very good.
At what range was the group made?



How can anyone expect ammo that's cranked out by automated machinery at the rate of thousands per minute to be anywhere close to consistent?
Other than speed, how much difference is there between a factory line and a guy who runs a Dillon progressive?

Scary stuff, I avoid factory-made ammo as much as I can, .22lr being the exception. But look at the reputation for failure THAT stuff has!
Have you had a lot of failures, yourself? I think I've seen four or five ... in fify years of shooting.

[wingspar]

I recently bought a Marlin 1894 in .45 Colt and spent a fortune on factory ammo to try out and to have some brass to reload. I only loaded my first .45 Colt Boolits today, so no Chrono or anything with my hand loads yet. Below are the results from running 7 different factory ammo thru the Chrono. The Remington performed the best thru the Chrono and on paper with the Winchester and Buffalo Bore a close second. Some factory ammo can be all over the place, but some can be very good. If I was going to shoot a lot of factory ammo, I’d be shooting that Remington stuff. If I wanted my shoulder massaged, I’d be shooting that Buffalo Bore. These were 5 shot groups.

http://www.pbase.com/wingspar/image/161591729/original.jpg

[oldblinddog]

I had a Marlin 1894 in .45 Colt once. Every time I pulled the trigger a big bulge appeared just above the web on one side of the case. Very disappointing.