I’m posting this letter to a number of similar forums in hopes of getting some quick feedback on a question about custom load development...

First some background: I’ve got a custom rifle (my first such) built by a local gunsmith with an excellent reputation. It’s a 7MM Magnum with a Hart stainless barrel, built on a Remington 700 ADL action that’s been trued, lapped, triggered, and bedded in a laminated factory stock.

The problem is that it’s not terribly fond of any factory ammo that I’ve fed it. I’m not shooting junk, either — I’ve tried numerous kinds of Hornady, Federal Premium, and high-end Remington in various bullet weights and configurations...

I’m a good shot, with solid experience behind rifles of all kinds, from .17HMR up to .458 Lott. I’ve never felt the need to reload, because I can generally put together fine groups with any gun I’ve ever owned, after a little tinkering with factory rounds.

But with this gun, I’m struggling to get inside of 1.5 - 2 inches. I’ve gone over it with a fine-toothed comb: The action’s properly torqued into the stock, and fully floated. And I clean the barrel to bare metal using Butch’s Bore Shine and Shooter’s Choice every 10 - 12 shots, so I’m certain it’s not a fouling issue...

Anyway, I need something accurate to hunt with this season. And a shop I’ve had good dealings with for 20 years (Hendershot’s Sporting Goods in Hancock, MD) is now offering their own line of “Extreme Custom Ammunition” that’s comparable in price to factory premium rounds...

They sell it pre-loaded by the box, but I’ve decided to have them develop a load specifically for my gun — a service they offer for $395. Turnaround time’s pretty quick, too. A couple of weeks, so they tell me.

I figure that’s at least as cheap as me buying all the reloading stuff and attempting to nail down a load that works on my own (which I don’t really want to do anyway).

Can anyone tell me what to expect from this type of service? I know there are numerous outfits that advertise custom load development for individual rifles...

Anybody care to share some stories about their results with such a process?

Thanks,

J

I think for $375 you could get into reloading yourself and develop more then one load that works in your rifle.
That said, todays ammo especially the "premium" stuff tends to be very accurate. I find it hard to beat in some flavors with handloads and expect you won`t see much group improvement over it with handloads. If you haven`t broke 1.5" after trying a few types of good factory ammo I`d take a 2nd look at the rifle. A good rifle IMO should shoot all ammo well and shine with a specific load or two.

As expensive as factory ammo has gotten, this could be money well spent. At $40+ per box and your time, this could easily be money well spent. I think there are a couple of places that will sell you sample packs of loads. 5 each of a certain bullet so you're not buying a whole box that you're then stuck with. I can't recall now the name, but a friend did this with a couple of calibers and was quite happy.

LWD

That sounds like an awful lot of money to me, but unless I missed it in the post, you don't state how many boxes of ammunition they supply when finished...

I have been loading for almost 30 years now, and have pretty well figured out what it takes to make a rifle shoot. And it seems to me that every Remington I ever got hold of needed a pressure point under the barrel to make it shoot well. If your barrel is free floated you might put a false pressure point in the stock a couple inches back from the forend tip and see how the rifle acts.

If you were close, I would do the handloading for you gratis, as I have for others. It is just what friends do. You don't know anyone that handloads?

Your built rifle should do much better than what you've seen so far. You aren't going to get a bunch of loaders to suggest you pay someone such a high price to load for you.

"Custom developed" ammo is what handloading is all about. "Reloading" just gets some ammo to shoot, handloading works beyond the basics to achieve optimum accuracy.

Perhaps the most critical component in a load is the bullet. If the rifle doesn't like it there is no powder change that will make it so. Factory ammo has a small number of bullets to try.

I have a friend who has a factory made 7mm Rem mag that prints consistant 5-6 MOA groups with one bullet but it prints just under 1 MOA with two others. Same powder and about the same speed with the different loads.

quote:

built by a local gunsmith with an excellent reputation

...but with no accuracy guarantee on a custom rifle? I would be talking with your gunsmith.

Today's factory ammo is very accurate.

Yes, I would talk to your gunsmith. A custom built rifle should shoot better than that with at least some good factory ammo.

As far as custom loaded ammo goes; you're going to be REALLY unhappy if you spend almost $400 for load development and your rifle still won't shoot well.

quote:

...but with no accuracy guarantee on a custom rifle? I would be talking with your gunsmith.

Yes. I missed that part of the original post. This gun should be doing much, much better than this. I'd eliminate scope issues first, then tell the gunsmith to fix it perfectly NOW.

LWD