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!
Read More »6.5 Creedmoor Ammo Test Summary: Hit Probability At Long-Range
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.
Read More »6.5 Creedmoor Ammo Test Part 5: Live-Fire Group Sizes & Precision
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? ...
Read More »6.5 Creedmoor Ammo Test Part 4: Live-Fire Muzzle Velocity Details
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 ...
Read More »6.5 Creedmoor Ammo Test Part 3: Live-Fire Muzzle Velocity & Consistency Summary
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 ...
Read More »6.5 Creedmoor Ammo Test Part 2: Physical Round-To-Round 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 ...
Read More »6.5 Creedmoor Ammo Test Part 1: Intro & Reader Poll
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!
Read More »6.5 Creedmoor AR Showdown
Why don’t more people use gas guns in the precision rifle world? I get asked that question a lot. Many military snipers use semi-automatic rifles for long-range work, but there isn’t a single shooter among the top 100 competitors in the Precision Rifle Series (PRS) using a semi-automatic rifle. Why not? Even though speed, maneuverability, and recoil management are huge parts to that game, the best shooters are all running bolt-action rifles. Some believe that is because AR’s can’t achieve the same precision as bolt guns, so the goal of this test was to quantify the precision difference between a couple of high-end ...
Read More »Ruger Precision Rifle Review
Very few rifles have received the hype and fanfare like the Ruger Precision Rifle. With an MSRP of $1399, we all want to believe in a budget precision rifle that is match-ready out of the box… but does it deliver? This post tries to give you an honest and straight-forward review of what we experienced out of the box. Guest Author & the Best Christmas Gift Ever Recently a close friend asked me to help surprise her husband with a rifle for Christmas. She had heard him mention one rifle in particular, and asked if I recognized what kind it ...
Read More »Reloading Like A Pro – Tips From Top Precision Rifle Shooters
I’ve surveyed the top 100 shooters in the Precision Rifle Series (PRS) for the past 4 years, and published what gear they’re running in my annual “What The Pros Use” series of posts. This year, I also asked a few questions about their ammo loading practices and how much they practice. When handloading there are a thousand operations and details you can spend time trying to perfect. It’s easy to get caught up trying to do them all, or spending a ton of time focusing intently on a couple of aspects and completely miss other important steps. But I was ...
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