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Budget Ammo Is A Waste

CharlieNC

Gold $$ Contributor
After shooting a very accurate new rifle for nine months, I have finally come to the conclusion that budget ammo cost more money than it saves. You end up chasing your tail, modifying gear and shooting technique, only to find out it was only the cheap ammo after shooting just a few shots of the good stuff. Interestingly one day I ran a broad tuner sweep with the cheap stuff and found a spot where it shot well. Two days later without touching anything it was back to crap. Laughing at me!

Time to sell off several bricks of the elcheepo, suck it up, and just buy the good stuff for practice.
 
Budget ammo isn't a waste if you take it for what it is. I use it for general shooting and not for a RFBR match. I have several rifles that are excellent shooters but I can't afford to always shoot my match ammo through them. So I keep lower priced ammo (SK Rifle Match, TAC22, Norma Match, CCI SV, etc) to use for general shooting. I still get really good accuracy but have to accept random fliers. I can live with that
 
PWNolan said:
Budget ammo isn't a waste if you take it for what it is. I use it for general shooting and not for a RFBR match. I have several rifles that are excellent shooters but I can't afford to always shoot my match ammo through them. So I keep lower priced ammo (SK Rifle Match, TAC22, Norma Match, CCI SV, etc) to use for general shooting. I still get really good accuracy but have to accept random fliers. I can live with that
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You need budget ammo for another reason too.. trigger time.. practicing trigger pull is important.. and inexpensive ammo is great for that
 
While I am a long-time centerfire precision rifle shooter, I am new to precision rim fire shooting.

As a carryover from my rimfire pistol competition days, I've been using CCI Standard Velocity for informal precision range shooting. In my opinion, it's a good value (accuracy / cost ratio) and allows me to economically engage in a lot of meaningful trigger time.

I just completed the 10th match using this ammo with my Tikka T1X. I averaged a score 96, 10 match aggregate score on the challenging A17 target at 50 yards off a bipod and rear rest (30 shots per match). Over that 300 shot course of fire I had two extreme flyers which I attributed to the ammo which allowed myself an alibi shot for each flyer.

I am fairly pleased with those results.
 
USMCDOC said:
You need budget ammo for another reason too.. trigger time.. practicing trigger pull is important.. and inexpensive ammo is great for that
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That was one of my reasons too, but after a couple of flyers I think I need to change my grip etc to correct LOL. So chasing my tail due to false signals! I do like dry firing with the same trigger on a center fire. I may try a box of intermediate grade too.
 
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I use the cheap stuff for offhand practice with rifles and pistols. Also, when someone wants to plink in the desert.

I have sold off ammo in the past where I knew the frustration factor wouldn't be worth it. That was more due to misfires and jamming, however.
 
CharlieNC said:
That was one of my reasons too, but after a couple of flyers I think I need to change my grip etc to correct LOL. So chasing my tail due to false signals! I do like dry firing with the same trigger on a center fire. I may try a box of intermediate grade too.
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well Charlie.. Pistol Match Special isn't really all that cheap and it shoots really well in my rifle..
 
USMCDOC said:
and if i get a flyer.. i treat it just like that it is.. a flyer.. and shoot again..
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It's actually worse general dispersion plus flyers. With good ammo it generally shoots 5 shot groups in the .1s at 50yd, but I cannot duplicate that capability on an ARA target when changing targets every shot; this is the objective of my practice. With SK and Wolff Match and Tac22 it's more like .5" groups plus flyers, which doesn't facilitate my objective. Eley Match and Center X both shoot great.
 
CharlieNC said:
That was one of my reasons too, but after a couple of flyers I think I need to change my grip etc to correct LOL. So chasing my tail due to false signals! I do like dry firing with the same trigger on a center fire. I may try a box of intermediate grade too.
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After many years of shooting, I am fairly adept at calling my shots, something I learned in competitive NRA precision pistol shooting. Therefore, I can almost always identify a flyer as not attributed to me or the rifle. Is it perfect, no, but fairly predictable.

In the case of my rimfire rifle shooting these days, what I attribute to a flyer is an extreme off bull (1 1/2") that I didn't call which is way beyond the normal spread of a 1 1/2 circle at 50 yards. I verify the suspect flyer on the next shot. For example, in the two flyers I suspected in the 10-match series I shot that I referred to post #6, the immediate refires were 10 and a 9. In addition, the first was at match 5 and the other at match 9 which further suggested these were not systematic.
 
TRSR8 said:
A. For a good barrel, you don’t need to “season” it. B. You want the same lube in the bore you plan to shoot.
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4 or 5 Shots, "Seasons" my 20" Green Mtn SS barrel ( it was, carefully Broken In, tho ) and I can then get, group's in, the 3's and 4's with, SK standard Plus and Wolf, Match Ammo ( Mid Priced, stuff ).
I'll NEVER Buy,.. Fed "Auto Match" again, as has,.. very SOFT Lead !
I can't even, GIVE IT, away, to my grandson ( One, smart Kid )
 
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I have stumbled across some pretty decent lots of inexpensive ammo on occasion particularly with CCI SV. Generally I use it in my lesser 22s and when I do see I'm into a good lot will also try it in the better rifle. There are more frequent flyers for sure, but like some others above, it can be very useful when working on trigger pull, cheek weld etc., or just when I'm having a bad day but don't feel like going home, and am trying to see where the issue comes from.
 
“Some guns like it and some don’t“ I always tested and found which ammo works for each gun and have even found target 22’s that don’t always like the expensive stuff
 
I have several .22 Rimfire rifles that I can shoot mid grade ammo from to practice with, for hunting and plinking that is. But, for the one rifle that I use for match shooting, I'm only going to use what shoots best from it in practice, to help keep my muscle memory in tune for that particular setup for when match time rolls around. Different strokes I guess, but for me it's hard enough to remember my technique just using my best ammo for match shooting, let alone using several other brands in the mix.
 
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CharlieNC said:
After shooting a very accurate new rifle for nine months, I have finally come to the conclusion that budget ammo cost more money than it saves. .
Click to expand...


I remember a club member years ago that wrote an op-ed in the club news letter about reusing brass for reloading.... his assertion was that it was almost always out of spec and required so much labor to bring it back to spec you were better off buying new.

I don't shoot bench rest. All my games are 1/2 to 1 MOA accuracy. If I can get that accuracy out of mid price ($8-$10 a box) ammo why would I waste money on top of the line ammo ( $18 - $20 a box)?

I load and buy for my accuracy requirements. You should do you but blanket statements with no context are just that... ;)
 
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