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Ammo & Handloading

These are all the posts related to ammo, handloading, and reloading components like bullets, powders, brass, and primers.

A 2-Time PRS Champ’s Reloading Setup & Process – Austin Orgain Shooter Spotlight

Best Precision Rifle Reloading Equipment and Process From PRS Champ Austin Orgain

Austin Orgain, a two-time PRS champion, shares an exclusive behind-the-scenes look into his reloading process, revealing the components, equipment, and techniques that have helped contribute to his success. He shares complete load data for his 6 Dasher, 25 GT, and 25x47, plus his full reloading workflow and load development process. Additionally, he mentions collaborating with Clay Blackketter, another PRS champion, to streamline their ammunition for consistent performance. If you’re looking to improve your precision rifle shooting, Austin Orgain’s insights and techniques provide valuable guidance for loading match ammo.

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The PRS Champ’s Load Data & Reloading Process – Austin Buschman Shooter Spotlight Part 3

The PRS Champion's Load Data & Reloading Process

I interviewed the reigning PRS Champion, Austin Buschman, and he shared every detail of his current match ammo load and entire reloading process. Austin has a very pragmatic approach to reloading that I promise will surprise (and challenge) you! Clearly, his ammo is capable of precision that can win on the biggest stage – so get a behind-the-scenes view of how he makes it and hear about all the reloading steps that are on his long “list of things that don’t matter!”

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Best Rifle Ammo for the Money – 19 Brands Tested!

Best Rifle Ammo

This article takes all of the performance data collected from my massive ammo test based on 1,000+ rounds of live fire and shows us what the best rifle ammo for the money is. It takes the hit probability from 400 to 1,200 yards for each of the 19 types of ammo and the average price for a box of ammo and calculates which provides the highest value per dollar spent. Check out which brands are offering a ridiculous value to the shooting community – and which are not! There are more than a few surprises!

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6.5 Creedmoor Ammo Test Summary: Hit Probability At Long-Range

6.5 Creedmoor Ammo Review

If you only read one article in this series, MAKE IT THIS ONE! This article takes all the data collected over months of live-fire research and sums it all up by ranking each type of ammo by hit probability from 400 to 1,200 yards! After all, the size of a group on paper at 100 yards or the muzzle velocity our chronograph spits out doesn’t really matter – at least not directly. For long-range work, all that actually matters is if our bullet impacts the target downrange. Precision and velocity affect that, but so do a lot of other factors! So this article is like the grand finale and ranks which ammo gives us the best odds of connecting with long-range targets.

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6.5 Creedmoor Ammo Test Part 5: Live-Fire Group Sizes & Precision

6.5 Creedmoor factory Ammo comparison

Welcome to Part 5 of the results from my massive 6.5 Creedmoor ammo field test! This article will cover the results from over 150 five-shot groups that I fired. There were 760 shots for record, which I carefully collected over several tedious days at the range. When it comes to long-range, precision rifles, many of us can fixate on trying to coax tiny groups out of our rifles. After all, if you can’t hit a 1” target at 100 yards – your odds of hitting a target at 1,000 yards aren’t great. But, what is factory ammo truly capable of? ...

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6.5 Creedmoor Ammo Test Part 4: Live-Fire Muzzle Velocity Details

6.5 Creedmoor Ammo Muzzle Velocity

This is the second article in this series covering the muzzle velocity data I collected. The last article covered how this data was collected, along with a summary and head-to-head comparison of all the 19 different types of match-grade factory 6.5 Creedmoor ammo that was included in this research. If you haven’t read that article yet, I’d suggest starting by reading it – but here is a quick summary: I bought two boxes of 19 types of 6.5 Creedmoor ammo that were marketed as “match” or “target” grade. Each box was purchased 6 months apart from different distributors to get ...

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6.5 Creedmoor Ammo Test Part 3: Live-Fire Muzzle Velocity & Consistency Summary

6.5 Creedmoor Muzzle Velocity

Welcome to Part 3 of the results of a massive 6.5 Creedmoor ammo field test, where I tested multiple boxes of every kind of 6.5 Creedmoor ammo that is marketed as “match” or “target” grade. That included 19 different brands and types of 6.5 Creedmoor ammo! This article is going to cover all the muzzle velocity data that I collected over almost 1,000 rounds fired. Consistent muzzle velocity is key for long-range shooting, otherwise, bullets that leave the muzzle faster than normal could miss high, or bullets that leave the muzzle slower could miss low. While the goal is for ...

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6.5 Creedmoor Ammo Test Part 2: Physical Round-To-Round Consistency

6.5 Creedmoor Ammo Consistency

I’m so excited to start sharing the data I collected in a massive field test I conducted on 19 different types of 6.5 Creedmoor match-grade factory ammo. With the price of this kind of 6.5 Creedmoor “match-grade” factory ammo hovering around $3/round right now, it seems like this series might be especially relevant! That’s too expensive for most people to experiment with several brands and types of ammo, so hopefully, this research will help guys narrow down their search to a couple of the best-performing brands and types to try in their rifles. I know there are a ton of ...

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Precision & Group Size – Statistics for Shooters Part 3

Precision & Group Size

This is the final article in my Statistics for Shooters series, and it focuses on the application of statistics when it comes to quantifying precision and group size. It provides practical answers to some age-old questions: How many shots per group do I need? Should I exclude fliers? Is extreme spread the best way to measure my groups? What is the most effective and accurate way to compare groups between two loads? I spent more time writing this article than any other single post I’ve ever written! It challenges some common beliefs held by some in the shooting community, so I tried to carefully present the reasoning behind that in a way that was approachable to shooters who aren’t math nerds. It also contains a lot of practical tips. I firmly believe these concepts will help a TON of people in the long-range community.

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Muzzle Velocity Stats – Statistics for Shooters Part 2

Muzzle Velocity Statistics for Shooters

Part 2 in my Statistics for Shooters 3-part series focuses on how to analyze muzzle velocity consistency, which is critical for us as long-range shooters. This article shows how to apply the concepts from Part 1 to get more insight and make better decisions related to muzzle velocity. It provides practical answers to some age-old questions: Should we look at ES or SD? How many shots do we need to fire in a string? How do we get the most value from the shots we fire at the range? I spent an absurd amount of time arduously crafting this article and creating visuals so it was approachable by shooters who aren’t math nerds because I firmly believe these concepts can help a TON of people in the long-range community.

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