Hey folks!
I've been testing 3 brands of factory ammo in my rifle to decide which to pick as my practice ammo and which as my hunting ammo. All in 30-06. All 165 or 168gr. I wanted to find non-lead high-quality hunting ammo and inexpensive practice ammo that my rifle "liked." To make this a valid comparison test, I did couple of things: (1) shooting from bench rest and sand socks, (2) taking 7 minutes between each shot to cool down my barrel (which made the test excruciatingly long
), (3) shooting 1 round of each ammo, then moving to next brand for one shot, and so on, until shooting 3 shots at each target. I was shooting from 109 yards (100 meters). Each hashmark is spaced 0.5 inches apart (thick hashmarks on vertical axis are spaced 1 inch apart). The groups are a bit off, I will be zeroing my scope properly after deciding on which ammo I will be using for practice. So, for now I'm concerned with repeatability (group size) rather than accuracy (group location relative to the center of the target).
I think I've found my hunting ammo - group on the right, as it produced the best groups overall -- 1 inch average (1.25 inches for the first test, 0.5 for the second, and 1.25 for the third). But, I'm struggling with practice ammo decision.
The CoreLokt produced an average of 2.3 inches, while Fusion gave me an average of 1.8 inches. CoreLokt did give me one decent group (1.2 inches) - but it also gave me the most sucky group (4 inches). Fusion had less deviation. What do you guys think? Should I keep looking and testing other factory ammo until I find something giving me under a MOA? Or, should I just go with Fusion, and hope that with practice I'll be able to shoot it under MOA from 100 yards (I'm new to rifle shooting and have a lot to learn). Looking forward to your thoughts. Thanks, as always!
I've been testing 3 brands of factory ammo in my rifle to decide which to pick as my practice ammo and which as my hunting ammo. All in 30-06. All 165 or 168gr. I wanted to find non-lead high-quality hunting ammo and inexpensive practice ammo that my rifle "liked." To make this a valid comparison test, I did couple of things: (1) shooting from bench rest and sand socks, (2) taking 7 minutes between each shot to cool down my barrel (which made the test excruciatingly long
), (3) shooting 1 round of each ammo, then moving to next brand for one shot, and so on, until shooting 3 shots at each target. I was shooting from 109 yards (100 meters). Each hashmark is spaced 0.5 inches apart (thick hashmarks on vertical axis are spaced 1 inch apart). The groups are a bit off, I will be zeroing my scope properly after deciding on which ammo I will be using for practice. So, for now I'm concerned with repeatability (group size) rather than accuracy (group location relative to the center of the target).I think I've found my hunting ammo - group on the right, as it produced the best groups overall -- 1 inch average (1.25 inches for the first test, 0.5 for the second, and 1.25 for the third). But, I'm struggling with practice ammo decision.
The CoreLokt produced an average of 2.3 inches, while Fusion gave me an average of 1.8 inches. CoreLokt did give me one decent group (1.2 inches) - but it also gave me the most sucky group (4 inches). Fusion had less deviation. What do you guys think? Should I keep looking and testing other factory ammo until I find something giving me under a MOA? Or, should I just go with Fusion, and hope that with practice I'll be able to shoot it under MOA from 100 yards (I'm new to rifle shooting and have a lot to learn). Looking forward to your thoughts. Thanks, as always!
