Typically, I shy away from writing controversial articles that would cause some to become butt hurt. I will give you a fair warning. Today is not that day. I am going to discuss the importance of precision reloading. Should you reload for competition shooting? Well, let’s get real.

In specific shooting disciplines, Competitors used to be able to get away with using factory ammo. Time and technology brought that practice to a screeching halt.

The targets got further away and a lot smaller. Without much warning, people using factory ammo found themselves falling behind. The choice became begrudgingly clear to change or be left behind.

You can still use factory ammo in some cases if you wish, but not if you want to win.

Every rifle is different, kind of like a human fingerprint. Even another barrel on the same gun will change things. They may look the same, but you will discover they are not. If you have ever dated twins, you will understand what I am speaking of.

Factory ammo is produced more as a one size fit’s all deal. Those cartridges need to work in several different rifles as long as it’s the same cartridge.

If you reload ammo for your rifle, it is tailor-made for that platform. Not only that, the ammo is produced for the task at hand; in short, you would reload differently for PRS compared to Benchrest, etc…

It doesn’t matter how you do it as long as you do it; producing ammo is no time to get lazy.

Nancy Tompkins, a member of the first family of shooting, says in her highly acclaimed book, “You need to put just as much into your reloading as you do everything else.” She is 100% correct, and you can’t argue about her family’s many successes. (I am sure some will.)

I often hear shooters say, “Spend less time reloading and more time shooting.”

That is not entirely correct, and I’ll explain why. If you don’t put time and work into your ammo, how do you know whether that lousy shot was a result of the Wind God’s expressing their displeasure with you, operator error, or a sub-par load?

I firmly believe that, in part, you can win or lose a match by what you accomplish in the reloading room. Unfortunately, I learned that lesson the hard way. What would you give to spend a few more minutes on a particular round that ended up going wild because it wasn’t produced correctly?

“The people who half-ass their ammo are generally the ones standing around at the end of a match, scratching their heads, wondering what happened.“

So, how precise do you need to be?

That depends entirely upon what you need to accomplish. Personally, my X-ring is the size of a softball from ten football fields away. I need to be precise to the point of utter insanity. It boils down to the size of your target and the distance from which you are shooting.

You will not find a shooter in the top ten of any competition who isn’t an absolute master of the trade.

Should you reload for competition shooting?

If you want to be a successful shooter, the answer by now should be relatively straightforward. If you don’t believe me, you drop some powder, stick a bullet in it, and that works for you; by all means, keep doing that. It will make my job a whole lot easier.

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