Best Brand name Bullets for reloading

BHLBAMA

New member
I'm trying to get a lot of opinions before I make my big order of reloding equipment. I personally always like and shoot Hornady factory ammo mainly due to not having a lof of choices with Remington and Winchester. I personally hate Winchester ammo the Ballistic silvertips and accubonds have never impressed me one bit. That being said now that I am starting to reload Ill have a lot of different options like swift, speer, berger, sierra that I have really never had any experience with. Anyone with any good or bad experiences or just good advice with any of these for a 22.250, 243, 3006??? ALso is the sierra Matchking a hunting bullet or is mainly a comp. round??? Thanks for any help /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
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If you want to find out if a rifle is accurate or not start with Sierra bullets.

My top two choices in bullet manufacturers are:

Sierra and Hornady.

Next I like Speer, then Remington.

and Nosler has a few varmint bullets I like
 
The Sierra MK was not designed for hunting purposes and Sierra recommends them for target shooting only.

In the .243 cal, I like the 85gr sierra HPBT Gameking and the 70gr and 80gr Nosler BT bullets.
 
The SMKs are match bullets by design but seem to do a pretty good job on flesh and bone too. The 70gr in 6mm and 168gr in 30cal in particular do a pretty good job on coyotes, especially if you aim for the shoulder. I also have a liking for the 87gr V-max 6mm, again aiming for the shoulder.
 
I think it's most important to stick with one. Most are very good. Few are so inconsistent they can't be relied upon. I like Speer, Hornady, and the occasional Nosler.
 
Soon after getting into reloading, my preference seems to lean towards Sierra and Hornady, with some Nosler and a bit of big green in there too. Still testing some loads for 30-06, but one I've found for my 760 is the 180 grain Hornady interlock. IMR 4064 at about 2600, it groups good.

Also in my experience, I think any rifle is capable of shooting excellent groups with handloads, so don't give up on any of them, until you work up some recipes for them.
 
What you may find is that a particular gun may favor a certain bullet. I've found that you often have to try several to find one or two yhat that gun performs best with.

I've had good luck with Sierra's an Hornedy both. Right now my 243's both seem to work well with Nosler's nice little 55 grainer. My 280 isn't fussy with about anything I put thru it, but the Rem 8mm Mag likes the Sierra 220 grain boattail best.

The 204 CZ likes Hornedy's and Sierra's and the Hornedy bullets on sale are a bargain.

I'd sure start with a variety and see how accuracy was before I ordered a large amount of anything that I wasn't sure of the accuracy in your rifles.
 
When I am working up loads for a new rifle, I start, with three or four differant brands in whatever bullet wts. I have figured on and work loads up in those wts. Then find the most accurate loads in the differant wt. and brands.
 
It kind of depends on what you plan on doing , varmints , targets , predators , medium game , big game , REALLY big game that might bite back , ect ??????
I have had some pretty good luck with Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets and have used them for for game from the size of prairie dogs up to White tail deer .They ase usually accurate and perform well for me .
That being said , I use bullets form quite a few different manufacturers . I think almost all of them make some really good bullets and most rifles will prefer one over another .
This is the reason that I reload my own ammo . I can match the load , bullet , primer , brass combination to each individual firearm .
There are just too many great bullet manufacturers to say that one is the best or even better than another . What shoots best in my rifle might not shoot well in someone else's .

I guess it's kind of like asking "What's the best powder ?" .
It just isn't going to be the same for every person or every firearm .
 
The bullet that you think shoots best in your rifle, just may not be the best choice as far as accuracy goes. When shooters "work up a load" that usually means they take a bullet and try it with different powders. Then go on to the next bullet or next powder.
Why not start with a powder known to shoot in the caliber you have and use a bullet also known to shoot in the case your working with. Some days I shoot better than I do other days. If I discounted a bullet or powder today because it didn't do as well as I thought it should, it may have one of those days for me, and it was the best choice and I'll never know. I know Berger bullets are super accurate and when testing a rifle I use them. But, I want a cheaper bullet for prairie dogs, so I shoot Hornady V-Max.
I always start with the powder I think will give me the best chance of getting the accuracy and velocity I'm looking for. When it comes to bullets I have a different approach than most varmint hunters do. I like to shoot the cheapest bullet that will get the job done, and be as accurate as the best match grade bullet available. How do you find these little gems? I check every bullet made, and pick the one I like. It don't hurt to have the right equipment to get the job done. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Bulletcheck.jpg
 
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If you want to find out if a rifle is accurate or not start with Sierra bullets.




Absolutley /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif Sierra is number 1.

I use the match grade hollow points for varmints and the BTSP for big game with outstanding results.

I wouldn't use the Nosler Ballistic tips on anything bigger than deer. Way to fragile. The best bullet Nosler ever made was their Solid Base line of bullets which they discontinued in favor of the Ballistic tip, bad move on their part.

After matching the bullet weight to your rifling the biggest factors affecting accuracy are Case Resizing Method, Primer pocket uniformity, powder, primer and bullet seating depth.

I hate it when people post these huge pictures, stretching the frame way out.
 
I have a far number of rifles and I learned a long time ago that most riles will let you know what they like best not what you like best. You will have to willing to invest some of your time if you really want to find the best load. It seems that most of the bullets I shoot after sorting that out are Berger, Dogtown, Hornady, Sierra, Speer, Starke (no longer in production) yes and even some Remingtons.

Not probably what you wanted to hear but its a fact. Having said that I usually start with the Hornady's because even if not the best they are generally close and are price pretty fairly whatever that is in the industry today.
 
In most hunting and target situations I start with Sierra. The only time I defer from that is shooting small light for caliber deer rounds then I shoot Nosler Partitions.
 
Just wondering here but has anyone ever weighed a batch of Sierra match bullets one by one ?
I've shot a bunch of Sierra's and really like some of them . But ..... I weighed a bunch of them once on a digital scale to compare with some others for consistancy . I was very surprised that the Sierra bullets were not even close to being as consistant to some others as far as weight .
Sierra makes some good bullets , no doubt about it ! But to say they are the BEST , I don't know about that . Most of the companies out there make good bullets . I think one might be better for one application and another better for a different application , ect. .
I don't think there is any one company that makes the best bullets for everything .
 
I like sierra bullets in about everything I shoot. although I have recently loaded the 180 accubond in my 300wsm. they are grouping good about 1" Brubo
 
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most rifles will let you know what they like best not what you like best. You will have to willing to invest some of your time if you really want to find the best load.



That pretty much covers it. You can take two rifles of the same make ,model and calibers with consectuive serial numbers and each will like a different bullet/powder combo as its' "best" or "pet" load. Most of the time though its seems Hornady or Sierra are it. I have one gun though that really will only shoot Speer bullets. If it wasnt for the Speers I'd have gotten rid of it along time ago.

Tim
 
I will agree that Sierra and Hornady are most reloader's 1st choice...not as a competition match (well some) but for target and hunting.

I will add that I have very good luck with Hornady bullets in general...but they seem to copper foul more than any other brand I've tried. That said...most of the bullets I reload are Hornady and Sierra.
 


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