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Saturday has come and gone with some intersting range results so far. 1Shot stated it perfectly regarding Federal "blue box". This cheap stuff is incredibly accurate at least out to 200 yards with our testing so far.
Federal Blue - 300 Win Mag
One would think that you get what you pay for and this being cheap ammo, you wouldn't get much. Wrong but interestingly, after performing all the pre-range measurements it shouldn't surprise anyone. With the exception of one round in a box of 20, all had bullet runout of .002 or less. Yup that was incredible. Case lengths standard deviation was just over .001 and standard deviation on powder charge (on 4) was (are you redy for this), none!! All powder charges were at 73.6. Is that possible!! I remeasured twice. Unfortunately we did not chrono this round but still have 1/3 box left so will post remaing results later. Standard Deviation for base to ogive - .0004 These numbers are not typos though after recording some of the premium ammo numbers one would think so. Cheapest ammo is proving to be worth every penny we are paying for it and then some.
Hornady Superformance - 338 Win Mag
Earlier unrecorded testing of this ammo in a 3006 showed this to be tack driving "Super" ammo and with the pre-range shooting measurements for the 338 Win Mag it showed possilbe potential but truthfully the measurements did not match up to the tight measurements of Federal "Blue Box". Out on the range, it performed not just very poorly, but indescribably poorly. All over the map would be a best description. I performed 4 different 3 shot groups at different times, between other bullet testing, and when the barrel was always "cold". If I didn't know better, I would say I was shooting at 600 yards, but I was only shooting at 100 yards. Chrono speeds were deviating by sometimes 76 fps. Standard deviation for powder charge (on 4) was a little over 1 grain. Base to ogive had a standard deviation of over .001. Bullet runout was not great at a standard deviation of .004 (a few bullet runouts were .005-.007) Perhaps this proved reason for the "all over the map" hits?? Bottom line: For this 338 Win Mag rifle, we will just say it doesn't like this ammo and won't be retesting. We have a box of 300 Win Mag Superformance ammo and will test in the coming week.
Barnes Vortex TSX BT - 338 Win Mag
Well from a few of the measurements I thought this was going to be a non-performer. After the range results I had to come back and review the measements. I originally thought these measurements were the worst but after looking again, they were not that bad. Brass weight and length were almost perfect with .0004 SD for length and less than 1/2 grain for weight. Standard deviation for bullet runout was at .0035.. For a premium bullet I just thought more attention would be given to this attribute. Guess not. Both 300 Win Mag and 338 Win Mag pre-range measurements for bullet runout were about the same. Base to ogive was what I think is kinda significant at .002 for both calibers as well. Standard deviation for powder charge was a mere approximate .2 of a grain for both calibers as well. Okay range results. For box ammo, this ammo was very very consistent. Some nice 3 shot groups of 5/8 and 3/4s. Worse ones (2) were at 1 3/4. FPS on this stuff was incredible. Sometimes only deviating 1 FPS. This is some pretty good burning powder. FPS around 2830. I felt this ammo performed better than its over all pre-range measurements would have one think. Testing will continue with 300 Win Mag and 3006 testing in the coming 2 weeks. For 300 Win Mag this ammo costs only $45.00 compared to the 338 Win Mag costs of $59.00. Pricey for 338 Win Mag but then what premium ammo isn't for this caliber.
Federal Premium AccuBond
The pre-range measurements for this ammo told us this should have been the second best performer but for the life of me, I can't understand by this box ammo consistently has a flier in 90% of its 3 shot groups ever since i started using this ammo. Today was no exception. Two shots made one think we were a world class sharpshooter but there was always one shot that could be as much as 2" out?? The chrono FPS at least agrees with the fliers most of the time by FPS deviation of up to 50-55 FPS. Nothing in the pre-range emasurements would really give an explanation. Could it be the powder Federal uses for its Premium ammo. Barnes rarely deviated 7-8 FPS. This ammo is up and down 20-30 FPS. It came in next to last becuase of the fliers. WE have some Nosler Custom with the AB bullet that we can't wait to test in the coming weeks. The pre-range measurements look very promising.
Handloads Hornady Inter-Lock SP
Not too surprising since we control all the components. I only shot groups since this round is in the testing stage. One intersting thing that I am finding out about my rifle. It does not like ammo being loading anything closer to 30 thousandths of the lands. 30 and 40 for most bullets work really nice. The groups were less than 1" at 100 but all were consistent in both FPS and in POI. Will also test some Barnes reloading now that we got that result.
Bottom line so far: I am not overly impressed with factory "Premium" ammo with the cost to performance ratio so far especially after seeing Federal Blue Box cost to performance ration. Some might say the manufacturer's put a lot of money into these premium box loads. My pre-range measurements compared to Federal Blue Box ammo might just strongly disagree and I hate paying for 50% advertising, 40% hype and 10% product. Bravo to Federal Blue Box so far.
Federal Blue - 300 Win Mag
One would think that you get what you pay for and this being cheap ammo, you wouldn't get much. Wrong but interestingly, after performing all the pre-range measurements it shouldn't surprise anyone. With the exception of one round in a box of 20, all had bullet runout of .002 or less. Yup that was incredible. Case lengths standard deviation was just over .001 and standard deviation on powder charge (on 4) was (are you redy for this), none!! All powder charges were at 73.6. Is that possible!! I remeasured twice. Unfortunately we did not chrono this round but still have 1/3 box left so will post remaing results later. Standard Deviation for base to ogive - .0004 These numbers are not typos though after recording some of the premium ammo numbers one would think so. Cheapest ammo is proving to be worth every penny we are paying for it and then some.
Hornady Superformance - 338 Win Mag
Earlier unrecorded testing of this ammo in a 3006 showed this to be tack driving "Super" ammo and with the pre-range shooting measurements for the 338 Win Mag it showed possilbe potential but truthfully the measurements did not match up to the tight measurements of Federal "Blue Box". Out on the range, it performed not just very poorly, but indescribably poorly. All over the map would be a best description. I performed 4 different 3 shot groups at different times, between other bullet testing, and when the barrel was always "cold". If I didn't know better, I would say I was shooting at 600 yards, but I was only shooting at 100 yards. Chrono speeds were deviating by sometimes 76 fps. Standard deviation for powder charge (on 4) was a little over 1 grain. Base to ogive had a standard deviation of over .001. Bullet runout was not great at a standard deviation of .004 (a few bullet runouts were .005-.007) Perhaps this proved reason for the "all over the map" hits?? Bottom line: For this 338 Win Mag rifle, we will just say it doesn't like this ammo and won't be retesting. We have a box of 300 Win Mag Superformance ammo and will test in the coming week.
Barnes Vortex TSX BT - 338 Win Mag
Well from a few of the measurements I thought this was going to be a non-performer. After the range results I had to come back and review the measements. I originally thought these measurements were the worst but after looking again, they were not that bad. Brass weight and length were almost perfect with .0004 SD for length and less than 1/2 grain for weight. Standard deviation for bullet runout was at .0035.. For a premium bullet I just thought more attention would be given to this attribute. Guess not. Both 300 Win Mag and 338 Win Mag pre-range measurements for bullet runout were about the same. Base to ogive was what I think is kinda significant at .002 for both calibers as well. Standard deviation for powder charge was a mere approximate .2 of a grain for both calibers as well. Okay range results. For box ammo, this ammo was very very consistent. Some nice 3 shot groups of 5/8 and 3/4s. Worse ones (2) were at 1 3/4. FPS on this stuff was incredible. Sometimes only deviating 1 FPS. This is some pretty good burning powder. FPS around 2830. I felt this ammo performed better than its over all pre-range measurements would have one think. Testing will continue with 300 Win Mag and 3006 testing in the coming 2 weeks. For 300 Win Mag this ammo costs only $45.00 compared to the 338 Win Mag costs of $59.00. Pricey for 338 Win Mag but then what premium ammo isn't for this caliber.
Federal Premium AccuBond
The pre-range measurements for this ammo told us this should have been the second best performer but for the life of me, I can't understand by this box ammo consistently has a flier in 90% of its 3 shot groups ever since i started using this ammo. Today was no exception. Two shots made one think we were a world class sharpshooter but there was always one shot that could be as much as 2" out?? The chrono FPS at least agrees with the fliers most of the time by FPS deviation of up to 50-55 FPS. Nothing in the pre-range emasurements would really give an explanation. Could it be the powder Federal uses for its Premium ammo. Barnes rarely deviated 7-8 FPS. This ammo is up and down 20-30 FPS. It came in next to last becuase of the fliers. WE have some Nosler Custom with the AB bullet that we can't wait to test in the coming weeks. The pre-range measurements look very promising.
Handloads Hornady Inter-Lock SP
Not too surprising since we control all the components. I only shot groups since this round is in the testing stage. One intersting thing that I am finding out about my rifle. It does not like ammo being loading anything closer to 30 thousandths of the lands. 30 and 40 for most bullets work really nice. The groups were less than 1" at 100 but all were consistent in both FPS and in POI. Will also test some Barnes reloading now that we got that result.
Bottom line so far: I am not overly impressed with factory "Premium" ammo with the cost to performance ratio so far especially after seeing Federal Blue Box cost to performance ration. Some might say the manufacturer's put a lot of money into these premium box loads. My pre-range measurements compared to Federal Blue Box ammo might just strongly disagree and I hate paying for 50% advertising, 40% hype and 10% product. Bravo to Federal Blue Box so far.
