Hornady 178 Precision hunter v my home loads , bit of fun

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Evening all.

 

Well after a few weeks of harvest time madness we finally finished on Friday night (well until Monday and the last few hundred acres of drilling) and so after a good old fashioned lay in I woke up sat morning wondering what to do with myself after such a busy few weeks.

And it got me thinking about what a mate of mine said about all the lonely boring nights sat in my gun room reloading. my response was quite simply “I enjoy it!  I’ve been at it for 25 years plus and it’s all I know really “

 

To which he replied …… yes but is it really worth it?

 

Well is it. with all the modern techniques that the big company’s use nowadays, is it really worth the hassle of reloading? 

 

So lets see …

 

Please keep in mind this is buy no means meant to be scientific, it’s just me having a bit of fun. testing my Home loads against the mass produced (high end) Hunting ammo out there, by matching the same bullets against my home loads  but improving them to the best of my abilities .

 

So sat morning (as in yesterday) I called into my local gun shop and picked up 20 rounds 0f Hornaday precision hunter ammo 178 ELD-X to compare with my 178 ELD-x home loads 

 

I loaded up 20 of my home loads using the same heads but obviously my recipe, 

And after a few test shots and a 100 meter zero on both lots of ammo so can get some data on both.

So, after a quick half hour data mining I was ready to rock n roll.

 

Test conditions was a follow ‘s

 

I wanted to give it a good run for their money, so I decided to push them out to an even 500 yards (more than any normal hunting situation, but hey it’s all good fun) 

both loads shot @ 500 yards with a 100 meter zero 

there was a 4-6 mph NORTH/EAST WIND  

and that was about it ! 

 

and so 

pics coming .....

 

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first up the hornaday precision hunter 178 ELD-X  , not to shabby  for 500 yards 

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next up is my home loads using the hornaday.178 ELD-X 

my loads are a tad faster with an ES = 5 

 

[gruntus]

I have subscribed to this thread, will be good to see results from other folks as well.

Good thread!👍

ATB

G

 

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my home load data                    

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I have quite a few pics that I took today but it just won't let me upload them , 

but looking at the results from my simple real word test of my home loads compared to its  equivalent  off. the shelf , I think I know where my money is going .

to be fair though the factory stuff did meet all expectations and would do the job its intended for and very well I might add , but its still nice to know that all our hard work and hard earned cash has paid off with the better results . 

anyone wondering what gear I used for my loads 

petterson brass 

fed gold medal primers 

RS52 powder 

hornaday 178 ELD-X 

cases all trimmed  and full lenth sized 

powder weighed with  Sartorius ENTRIS 64-1S readability 0.0001g

rifle was a Tic-Tac A1

24" barrel 

Jet Z compact sound mod 

scope = Leupold Mk 5 HD 5x25x56 35mm tube ( not be confused with standard mark 5 ) 

 

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.

 

[gruntus]

Excellent results from your home loads, obviously you have  good shooting form but the close vertical dispersion and low ES really validates/justifies precise powder measurement which albiet can be tedious (depending on one's set up) is well worth the effort.

I'm presuming you shot prone, can I ask if you use a rear bag and whether you use a firm hold or freeish recoil?

ATB

G

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Yes I was shooting prone and with a small GRS squeeze bag  at the rear . I wouldn’t say firm as such , the rear was freeish but front slightly loaded on bipod overall though most certainly not to the point of tension. 

And yes the Sartorius can be as tedious as you want it to be , but it is nice to have the option to be as nerdy as you want too  😁 ( which I can be ) 

the auto trickler does take the pain out of the whole process though . 

[gruntus]

I use a chargemaster and then double check and finesse on my beam scale.

I think nerdyness comes with the territory😁 

👍

G

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I also have a chargemaster which I tend to use for undelevers nowadays, the thing is a god send ! 

I only went over to the Sartorius for my smaller calibres ( .22 hornet ect ) when your only using on average 10 grains of powder 0.1-2 grains has a massive impact.

the Sartorius has given my smaller calibres a new lease of life .