Reloading hunting ammo… anything different?

[ExtremeX]

I picked up a new caliber (243 Winchester) in a bolt action for hunting.

Do you guys do anything different for hunting ammo than you would for match ammo? I hear people saying to always FL size and crimp...

Currently the only thing I really do for my target rifle is neck size and seat using a competition seating die...

Not sure if I should take the same approach...

What do you guys do?

['ol shooter]

I use sealer on the primer and around the bullet/case lip.

[SMarquez]

I don't crimp anything. FL vs. Neck size, your choice but generally is done for 1 specific chamber, right? Since I load for 2 different 30-30's, I full length resize. Whatever your routine is will be fine.

[koehn,jim]

For hunting I measure every bullet and weigh every charge. I am not shooting that many so I want as few variables as possible.

[Witch Hunter]

If you are neck sizing, no problem, just cycle them through the action to make sure they will chamber before you go hunting. Also make sure they are short enough to fit the magazine....

[Fjold]

I full length size all my serious hunting rounds, I'll give up a tenth of an inch of accuracy for 100% smooth feeding.

[Masterdebater]

all my hunting rounds are the same as my tedious most accurate loads, for plinking ammo, i sacrifice a little precision sometimes. i measure all my hunting rounds to make sure theyre exact across the board

[ExtremeX]

Looks like I will probably continue to do the same as I do for my match rifle…

I really didn’t want to have a bigger investment into dies since I won’t shoot it as much as my match rifle… I was thinking of trying one of the Lee rifle sets for the first time…

Can anyone comment on their seating dies?

[klewan]

Buy premium bullets for hunting; Nosler Partition, Swift A-Frame, Barnes, that kind of stuff. Especially in 6mm and a good size animal.

Lee dies work just as well as any regular die. I suspect you want some kind of micrometer seating die, like a Redding or Forester. Lee don't do micrometer, but do a have a threaded knob to adjust seating depth.

[Whiterabbit]

Not a darn thing different.

[Abenaki]

If you are neck sizing, no problem, just cycle them through the action to make sure they will chamber before you go hunting. Also make sure they are short enough to fit the magazine....

+1

I will add, that I make sure that when I go on a hunt, that all of my ammo is ran through the chamber. Neck sized or full length sized.
Just to make sure that there is no problems.

I know a guy that did not do this......Long story short, it put the hurt on his out of state elk hunt!!!!!!!!!!!!


Take care
Abenaki

[devster55]

Use bonded bullets instead of a max or sst bullets