[Paul S]

A buddy ask if I could help him sight in a deer rifle he had been having problems with. So my 15 year old son and I loaded up about 5 of our guns that we wanted to shoot and stopped by Wally world to pick up some ammo. We got his deer rifle lined out right quick and moved on to shooting other guns. We started shooting my sons Marlin .17 HMR and ran out of the Hornady hollow points we had been shooting so we shot some of my friends Hornady .17 HMR ballistic tips of the same grain and they hit 6" lower and a few clicks to the right at 50 yards. I was amazed at the difference. But the biggest surprise was with my S&W 3913 9mm. We sat up an empty box a 27" tv came in and with the cheap Remington ball ammo I picked up at Wal-mart it was all we could do to hit the box from 20'. No joke I thought something was bad wrong with my gun. We shot 100 rounds and hit all over the place. I had about 10 Federal hydro shoks with me and we put them in the gun and with three of us shooting it all ten rounds where in about a 2" group. Wow, I new changing ammo made some difference but I didn't have a clue it would do anything like that. I guess that's the fun thing about shooting. I'm 44 and still learning.

 

[kennisondan]

thanks for the insights I bet none of us thought it would be that much difference ... either... impressive, glad you realized the gun was fine.
dk

 

[Redhawk1]

My rule is, find a load that shoot's the most accurate in my guns and stick with it. Any time you switch ammo, the impact will generally shift. The key to great shooting is consistency. That is why I reload.

 

[Savage]

Hmmm, something really strange about that kind of difference in POI at 20 FEET!! I can see a foot or so in an extreme situtation at 25yds, but WOW!!
Savage

 

[obxmike]

Learned that lesson the hard way myself! I missed a perfect broadside on a six-pointer last year in ML season. I loaded the gun in the dark and stuffed a lighter (225gr) powerbelt than I had sighted for (295gr) down the barrel. Shot about 5" below POA and missed him altogether at @ 75 yds! Gave away all those when I got home, and ONLY have the heavies now. Won't make that mistake again!

 

[Dusty Miller]

A similar thing happened to me recently with my 4" 629. The 180 gr. JHPs were pretty much staying on the 7" paper plate at 25 yrds. (I ain't no dead-eye shot!) but the 230 gr. LFPs were WAY off even when shooting at the 9" plates. That same 230 gr. bullet is VERY accurate out of my Colt Anaconda, go and figure.

 

[rockbilly]

Different guns like different diets. I found this to be extremely true while shooting competitively many years ago. I had 1911s that had been rebuilt by by Jim Clark, one gun was a tack driver with Winchester match grade ammo, but was a very poor performer with anything else. Over a period of several years I worked up many different hand-loads, and still could not get the accuracy I had with the Winchester ammo.

But by the same token, just last week I took a 6.5x55 Swed to the range to sight it in. The gun has been fully sportrized, with a 3-9 Leopold scope added. I started shooting with Remington factory 140gr ammo. I had it grouping very tight about two inches above the bull with that ammo. After firing all of my ammo, my son gave me a box of S&B 139gs SP ammo. It was all over the target. I then switched to some of his hand loads with a 120gr Nosler ballistic point, they grouped tight just above the Remington. Could it be that the quality control of the S&B is such that it will not give good performance, or does the gun not like that ammo?

The point. After many years of experience, I am convinced that a load had to be worked up, or found for each firearm, and all ammo of a certain type will not provide the same degree of accuracy in like guns.

 

[Mikey]

rockbilly: Both my Swedes, a sporterized M38 and a Ag42b prefer the S&B 131 gn soft point. The M38 groups to one hole at 150 and the Ag groups as well as the old battle sights (and my old eyes) will allow (gotta find a way to scope that beast)............Mikey.

 

[Chris D.]

I usually use mostly S/B ammo in all my guns, but my RIA 1911 in .45 ACP does not like it, tolerant of other brands but not the Sellier and Bellot. To keep things simple I usually try to keep bulk amounts of a certain bullet and brand for all my guns. In centerfires I like the Sellier and Bellot, in .22 RF I use the CCI medium loads.

 

[ccoker]

yep..