Ammo & Handloading

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? ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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.

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.

Many shooters have an uncomfortable relationship with math and aren’t impressed with fancy formulas. However, statistics and probability are insanely applicable when it comes to rifles and long-range shooting in particular. I have literally spent months crafting this 3-part series of articles specifically with the math-averse shooter in mind. I invested all that time because I strongly believe that understanding just a few basics can help us gain actionable insight, make better decisions, and put more rounds on target.

I recently tested every popular type of 6.5 Creedmoor ammo, and carefully collected data on the performance of each one. I thought it’d be fun before any of the results are published to poll my readers to see which type of ammo you expect to end up on top. What do you think will perform the best when it comes to hit probability at long-range (e.g. 600 to 1200 yards)? Cast your vote and see what other readers think will end up on top!

This is the last post in a series of articles focused on bullet jump research that has been conducted more than two years by Mark Gordon of Short Action Customs (Who is Mark Gordon?). In this post, I’ll provide an executive summary of what we covered and provide a few tips for how to apply this new knowledge in our load development. The first article provided a comprehensive overview of what 10+ of the most respected books and reloading manuals had to see about bullet jump and laid the foundation of what bullet jump is, along with other concepts like ...

Are you one of those guys who has been reading this series of posts on bullet jump, and thinking to yourself, “Well, my 0.020” bullet jump sure seems to be working fine. Doubt this would be any improvement over what I’ve already got!” This is the post for you! As Mark started sharing some of his bullet jump findings with a few shooters, he met some skepticism – even from sponsored shooters on his Short Action Customs team. Here is how Mark tells one of those stories:  “After we’d already done most of this bullet research, we had Solomon from ...