Thread: How much does handloading improve accuracy?

Start Reloading! I did a week ago and thanks to @Micky Duck and others I found a great load, shot over 100 rounds in a week, Knuckled down my drop Charts, and nailed a bull over 40ds yesterday. From my 7days of experience... Reloading allows you to practice shooting at lower cost and improves accuracy, enable greater shooting confidence over longer distance.

Yes handloading will improve accuracy, so will practice.

How much accuracy do you need or want?
What distances are you intending to shoot over?

Handloading is only cheaper if you shoot a lot of rounds, recycling your brass.
How many rounds per year do you think you'll shoot?

My son & I started fullbore FTR target shooting with an off the shelf Savage Model 12 .223 (26" 1:7 barrel).

With handloads (80gr A-Max, in Norma cases with ADI2208 powder) it was competitive with 308s in short - mid range (300 - 600 yards) except in strong winds. It was competitive in light winds out to 1000 yards.

The 223s issues with wind strength meant we moved onto 308s for target shooting.

If you know your needs it can help define your answer.

Yes most definitely you are putting each round together by hand to exacting Tolerances
Factory ammunition is mass produced where close enough is good enough
The cheaper the ammo the worse it gets

Handloading isn’t any cheaper than buying cheaper factory ammo infact it maybe even slightly more expensive
But you are getting top quality match grade ammo (if you do your job) for the same price as cheap shitty stuff


You’re howa should shoot sub moa or better (Alot better
Ive delt with arround 10 howa rifles personally and I have mates that have them allso
Ive only seen 2 that don’t shoot well... most will well Surpass the howa sub moa Guarantee Most do half moa or better with a good handload

Yeah I know what you mean, but at the same time I can shoot my 270 sub moa,so even though im not the best shot the gun could still preform better

Like others have pointed out you get a custom made round to your rifle which improves accuracy but also speed as factory ammo especially from the US are typically down loaded due to older rifles the ammo can be used in and the companies don't like law suits.

As for factory ammo your often only limited by what's available on the shelf in your nearest hunting store but with reloading then the options re powders and projectiles is endless and so too are the prices for those components.

You get alot of satisfaction out of reloading your own ammo as you'll tend the shoot more which improves your shooting skills but also when you start shooting animals then you know it's from ammo you made which is similar to making your own knife and using that to gut, skin and butcher your own animal.

Anyway... if you take up reloading... welcome to the dark side

Ummmmmmyep

I agree with everything above.
-If you don't like fiddling, stick to factory ammo.
-If you just want to shoot a few deer a year then you don't need to reload, your 1.5 MOA is good enough to 300m.
-Reloading will likely cost more in the long run due to the investment in equipment, and a lot more shooting at the range


With that said, you should definitely be able to improve accuracy with handloads, as well as velocity and you'll have more control over the terminal performance with a preferred projectile/s. I think of it as quite a separate hobby from hunting, I certainly don't need to reload for the type of hunting I do but enjoy the process as well as the development of a load.

As above, its a dark art so be prepared for frustration, head scratching and ultimately a great feeling of satisfaction when it all comes together.

No not always, even reasonable priced ammo can shoot better then many peoples handloads, But it will be cheaper and you have a much larger selection of bullets to choose from with handloading

I've been loading for more than 40 years and my cylinder bore 12g still shoots a slug into a metre @50 metres. Never daunted, I shall continue the quest for moa @100m. Costs a fortune in powder though.

Depends on your interest levels but yeah, it will make a difference if you spend some time on it.

For me, I love the time investment as it’s a real process that gets better with a lot of practice and rewarding / frustrating results along the way.

In short, if you want a new hobby and you really want to spend the time to get accurate and you shoot enough to justify it then go for it.

Greetings All,
To answer the original question sub MoA should be possible in a good .223 Rem rifle. There are some conditions though. First the rifle must be capable of it. Second the shooter needs to be capable of it. And last the cartridge must be capable of it. Handloading can only improve the cartridge. 1.5 MoA with several different brands of ammo in a .223 sounds a bit loose to me. Perhaps 1 and 2 need to be looked at first.
That said, handloading can improve accuracy over factory ammunition in many, but not all, cases. Some factory loads are very good these days, especially in recently introduced cartridges touted for their accuracy. In most others accuracy can be improved. Here to there are conditions. Components, equipment and technique all need to be good quality. Those that are of the slap it together and blame someone else for poor results probably should just buy their ammo. For others handloading becomes a significant part of shooting and as we age becomes the major part.
Regards Grandpamac.

Handloading is not to save money, you just end up shooting more.

Well my quest for a decent 223 deer load didn’t go so well today , started of at 24g charge of benchmark 2 , fed primers & Barnes ttsx 50g flat base , after the first couple of shots I realised I’d be lucky to get 5 rounds to hit a A4 at 100y lol , but sure enough as I worked along upping the charge it did improve a little , best group was around 2 inches , can’t see any pressure signs so mite do 5 rounds at 26.5 if that dosnt work I mite have to look at a different projectile , suppose I could try more jump ? , my OAL touching the lands is 56.66 so I backed the projectile off to 56.37 . Any suggestions?

What sort of velocities did you get?
Are all the holes completely round?
Maybe try a different projectile.

What sort of groups were you getting with factory ammo?

Originally Posted by Boaraxa

Well my quest for a decent 223 deer load didn’t go so well today , started of at 24g charge of benchmark 2 , fed primers & Barnes ttsx 50g flat base , after the first couple of shots I realised I’d be lucky to get 5 rounds to hit a A4 at 100y lol , but sure enough as I worked along upping the charge it did improve a little , best group was around 2 inches , can’t see any pressure signs so mite do 5 rounds at 26.5 if that dosnt work I mite have to look at a different projectile , suppose I could try more jump ? , my OAL touching the lands is 56.66 so I backed the projectile off to 56.37 . Any suggestions?
Attachment 144915

I don't think I have ever seen a .223 shoot that badly. My first thought is that something is loose or the scope is shot. Further your projectiles are too close to the lands. Barnes recommends a bare minimum of .050 inches (1.25 mm) to the lands and increasing that until best accuracy is found so your maximum cartridge overall length should be 55.4 mm max. Barnes gives a max of 26.1 grains of Benchmark (BM2). The Barnes projectiles are harder and loads need to be cut back for them. If you are using Barnes Projectiles you need to use Barnes data and no other. If you want to try a few more cartridges try 25 grains of BM2 with an overall length of 55 mm. If this still shoots like shit then you need to find the problem. It is just possible that your twist is too slow for the projectile. How do other cartridges shoot?
Regards Grandpamac.