Black Hills match ammo

Guns Magazine, Dec, 2005

I'm a fairly experienced handloader, although not given to the arcane art of benchrest-quality reloading. | used to be able to handload better than anything I could buy, but I'm not so sure anymore. To match the quality of the Black Hills .30-06 Match would take some pretty serious work. Part of the success of modern factory loads is the quality of the components put together under the consistent pressure of the heavy commercial reloading machines. A manual home press can't be operated with the consistent force of the powered machinery time and again. We home rollers make up for this lack with case prep including flash hole deburring, neck turning, case trimming and competition die sets.

Reloading is a lot of fun, but serious match-quality ammo is very time consuming to make in the volume target shooters need. It depends on how much you're willing to pay yourself to load when equal or better ammo is available for sale. At $24 bucks a box retail, it's well worth buying Black Hills ammo for match shooting and reloading the practice ammo.

My test platform is an ersatz 1903A1 National Match (acquired from the Civilian Marksmanship Program, 419/635-2141, www.odcmp.com). When I got it, it was pretty rough-looking parts gun with a like-new 1944 High Standard 4-groove barrel on a 1920s-era receiver. I glass bedded the action, installed a Lyman 48 Target rear and 17 front sight and worked over the trigger a mite. It now shoots like a dream and, as I learn to shoot it, I'm able to regularly get rested groups of 1 1/2" to 2 1/2" at 100 yards. The best target from a recent range session with the Black Hills .30-06 Match (topped with a Homady 168-grain BTHP) is 5-shots of IX" with four of those going into a 5/8" group. The flyer? Well, I'm still learning how to hold the rifle.

BLACK HILLS AMMUNITION

3050 EGLIN ST.

RAPID CITY, SD 57703

(605) 348-5150

WWW.BLACK-HILLS.COM

CHRONOGRAPH RESULTS

Firearm: 1903A1 Springfield, 24" barrel
Amino: Black Hills .30-06 Match 168-grain
Hornady BTHP Screens 15' from
the muzzle. Temperature: 78 degrees

HIGH:                 2,842 fps
LOW:                  2,824 fps
AVERAGE:              2,834 fps
EXTREME SPREAD:       18
STANDARD DEVIATION:   6