In mid-February I purchased some ammo from Hunting Shack & Best of the West in 6.5x284. I had seen them advertised on Best of the West and Long Range Pursuits TV shows. Supposedly both were putting out premium long range ammunition. Decided to buy some to compare to my hand loads to see what all the hype was about. I couldn't believe how horrible the bullet run out was with both companies. The HSM ammo averaged .010" run out with several in a box 20 that went .012"-.015". You could roll these rounds on a table and see the end of the bullets wobbling. I called HSM and they asked that I shoot them anyway and let them know the results. Like I expected, they didn't shoot well. They shot between 1 5/8" & 2 3/8" at 100 yards. This is out of a Cooper rifle that consistently shoots under 1/2 MOA. I sent target pics and run out measurements to HSM and they said they would send me another box of ammo for free. I sent ID for proof of age and signed the ammo statement on 2-21-12. I still haven't received that box of ammo and have made a couple calls in the meantime to remind them. The BOTW ammo was even worse. When I pulled the first one out of the box, I could easily see there was something wrong. The shoulders of these rounds were so rounded they wouldn't even chamber in my rifle. Bullet run out on these averaged .011" and there were three that went .017", .017" and .020"! I spoke to the president of the company himself and he couldn't explain how that ammo could have past inspection. They advertise that this is premium hand loaded ammunition and that each round is individually inspected. What a joke! I've been buying amnmo for 25 years and have never had problems like this with the major manufactures. At least BOTW gave me a refund and acknowledged the problem. Just wanted to share my experience with my fellow readers.

That's interesting. I got some HSM Trophy Gold, 168 gr 7mag and it shoots .650 out of a stock Tikka 695. They're money out to 825 with a VX6 CDS setup.

HSM 7 RM 168Sierra HPBT shot in the.3s in my 700P.Had<.0015 runout.

Glad to hear some people are getting good ammo out of them. I'm curious what concentricity gauge you used? I used Sinclair's.

Just curious if you are happy with your cooper rifle? What scope do you have on it?

Isn't Cooper the company that supported Obama's campaign? Or was it someone else?

I have shot the HSM, Trophy Gold, out of my Remington 700, 300 WSM. It did not shoot well. I also had disappointing results with other ammo I tried. However, the HSM groups were worse than the others.

quote:

Originally posted by larrys:
Isn't Cooper the company that supported Obama's campaign? Or was it someone else?

Allegedly Cooper sold his company to his employees. Needless to say I don't 100% believe that is true, and I would not buy one, well I wouldn't buy a new one.

2nd hand doesn't put any money in his pocket.

Thanks for the info. I really wasn't sure. Just checking the info.