bigfellascott wrote:I would say quality brass is more important from a precision target shooting standpoint, but for general hunting it's a waste of time and money, same goes for all that case prep work where it's really not going to make any real difference in real hunting situations where distances aren't measured, time to take a shot can be just a second or two, often there's no real quality rest options at hand, not time to get your breathing right, stuff around worrying about wind etc, it's more spot something, check to make sure there's nothing behind the target that may be an issue and if all ok get the aim right and send it on it's way!
So if you think it's going to make for a better outcome in a hunting situation you are kidding yourself big time.
I agree totally Bigfella. It is horses for courses. I reload and I take care to be precise. I only do field shooting and try to keep my distances under about 200 metres. Under those circumstances pursuing the level of precision that a long range bench rest competitor pursues is pointless for what l do. My 204 handloads have enough accuracy to headshoot Roos and bowl over foxes. For me, I have hit the point of diminishing returns. I use different brands of brass (including Norma brass) and for the shooting I do there is no discernible difference in accuracy. I am very pragmatic, and time poor, so only want to spend the time necessary to meet my needs. To illustrate this point I give the example of a recent trip where I headshot six Roos from 6 shots and four foxes with five shots (I pulled the first shot with one of the foxes). More time spent at the reloading bench would not, in my view made any appreciable difference.
Having said that, it makes no difference to me how others choose to spend their free time. So whether matching brass will be worthwhile depends upon your shooting goals. Making sure your reloads are as close as possible in muzzle velocity is very important if shooting at long ranges as the difference in velocity will cause vertical stringing. For bench rest shooting you are shooting at known distances. This seldom happens when hunting. A flat shooting round is more of an aid to accuracy as you want to optimise your maximum point blank range.