HELP: Rifle sold. What do I do with ammo?

Chaps

Thanks for the feedback, but I'm perfectly happy with my ammo supplier

Cheers

I'm sure HPS do a good job, and their reloads represent a huge saving over factory ammo and if I couldn't be bothered with the faff of reloading then I would use them too.
But their reloads will be made to book specifications and probably with standard dies and thrown charges on a progressive press. This is certainly more than good enough and how I reload myself, but not the last word in precision reloading.
 
I agree. If you don’t have the time or wherewithal to do it yourself then use commercial ammunition. There’s precious little you can do about even this if it’s faulty.

There are a lot of custom loading outfits in the U.S, but they’ve got a place as a lot of them deal in the scarcer calibres rather than the standard stuff. I wouldn’t bother with HPS-TR products on principle. I suspect that it’ll be below standard operating pressure for liability reasons. I would also guess that if the customer has supplied used cases as an ingredient then any guarantee of safety (you think is offered?) will be worthless

Interesting view. But I am puzzled by your reasoning. Why would HPS-TR be any different from any other commercial ammunition supplier as far as liability goes? Why do you assume it may be faulty?

Why would HPS-TR's reloading routine be any less safe than yours or mine or Uncle Tom Cobbly's for that matter? Do you know for a fact that they do not carry out an inspection of the brass as per best practice reloading?

I am fortunate in that I enjoy reloading and target shooting as a separate but linked part of stalking. I buy the HPS-TR target ammunition loaded into new Lapua cases so that I can use it as a control in comparison to my reloads and of course for practice. I then use the Lapua brass for my reloading.

Having caught the reloading bug I have no need of HPS-TR's reloads. The main reason I started reloading was because I could not get factory made rounds using the bullets I wanted....eg if you want any TTSX or GMX or Brenneke tugs you are stuffed as far as factory made goes...HPS-TR will load any bullet you fancy, extremely useful if you are not interested in reloading yourself.

Alan
 
In pistol shooting days, think 100-200 rounds fired per week, most all of us reloaded. On single station presses. Dillon didn't exist nor the Lee Progressive. RCBS's Green Machine was tempremental at best and CH's Auto Champ IV and the Star Progressive around £500 when that would buy a S.& W 586 and give £150 change.

But one of us didn't. He bought factory ammo or Mountain and Sowden or Howitzer re-manufactured stuff. He was a jeweller by trade. And said his time was finite. They were only twenty four hours in a day and he could make far more money from watch repairs...hour for hour...than he'd save in homeloading.

So yes I can see where the OP is coming from in buying ready made ammunition. Same as some buy ready made trout or salmon flies. And FWIW I'd never reload for any of my game guns. Factory 12 bore is just too cheap in standard 1oz or 1 1/16oz #5, #6 or #7. Hour for hour I save more on rifle homeloading.
 
Just to explain why I use HPS:

For the .308 I had 100 rounds made up by them. 6 loads from 2 powders. I supplied the brass. They supplied the bullets, the powder, the primers, the time, the kit, the build and the knowledge.

For £120 all in, I had 100 rounds of ammo built to the OAL of my rifle. For each powder there were 15 rounds of 0.5 grains under spec, 15 of 0.5 grains over spec and 20 that were spot on spec.

Spec used was Hornady factory 165gr Superformance (SST).

Factory Hornady costs how much per box? £35 give or take per 20, and no guarantee that it would shoot well with the factory load and OAL.

I paid £24 "per box" and had the choice of 6 rounds after testing. Luckily, all were good enough, with one better than the others, so I ended up with a good supply for that money. Ok, it won't always work out that way, but I didn't have 2 tubs of powder to buy, one of which was then possibly redundant.

Chortle if you will at me paying £1.20 per round rather than £0.70, but I have none of the capital outlay of reloading kit. I don't have to find space or time to reload. I don't have to think about how powder is left, or order primers and bullets with their, now onerous delivery charges. All I need to do is get to Bisley and meet Matt, or stop in at Fulton's where he leaves the ammo for me to collect next time I'm there.

It works for me, and that's all I'm really bothered about.
 
I'm not chortling and I didn't mean to to cause offence, apologies if so. I agree that HPS offers the best bang per buck for a non home reloader. I was merely curious why you didn't reload seeing as you know the exact recipe for your ammo.
Reloading isn't for everyone I suppose, and for me it was once a tedious chore to save money but now I enjoy it almost as much as the shooting.
 
I'm not chortling and I didn't mean to to cause offence, apologies if so. I agree that HPS offers the best bang per buck for a non home reloader. I was merely curious why you didn't reload seeing as you know the exact recipe for your ammo.
Reloading isn't for everyone I suppose, and for me it was once a tedious chore to save money but now I enjoy it almost as much as the shooting.

No offence taken :)

I have a new business, 3 children under 11, a 2 year old lab and a bride, so time is the most precious commodity. Shooting of any form is way down the list of priorities for now, which is why I've offloaded a semi-auto 12b and the .308 recently.

There's just no way that I could dedicate the time to reloading, let alone the kit required. Possibly one day, but I'll not be holding my breath as there will always be another email to write/respond to or a tender document to complete. Speaking of which...

Cheers
PS The "chortle... £0.70" wasn't aimed at you, just the general feeling that comes across from folks that reload because I can't/don't/won't
 
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I class my reloading sessions as Therapy sessions, mind you, I don't get many of them now as PPU is good enough for me now, but I do miss my 'Quiet periods' hidden away in my shed ;)
 
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