https://precisionrifleblog.com/2023...ustin-buschman-shooter-spotlight-part-3/

Lines up with what Hornady podcast about what matters and what doesn’t.

I didn’t realize this guy is only person to clean a PRS match and it was the Leupold Match at the Navasota CCC club which I have shot at and it’s tough when wind is blowing.

No doubt he is better at this game than I will ever be and knows much much more. So much so that he found his load with excellent components 10-15 barrels ago and it always shoots. He doesn’t worry about neck tension but uses an awesome SAC die that gives the exact neck tension every time.

So…. No brass prep = start with brass that doesn’t need prepped

No load development = use the same barrel, reamer, brass, powder, and dies that you used when you did do load development and found your load.

I think he’s downplaying the work he’s put in in the past. …… and I wish I knew half of what he and others do.

That's impressive! When I load my match ammo for 6.5x47 Lapua, I kind of take his same approach. With good components and weighing out your powder to within.02 grains, I find those are the most important. The only time I adjust my load is when I switch powder lots. But rounds like a 6 Dasher are meant to not be a finicky round. The humidity part is interesting, too.

I found the primer information surprising. I’ve always heard changing the primer was a big deal.

I think changing primers can sometimes make a difference but more times than not it doesn’t. Some of this trying different components and seeing an improvement is due to just shooting a couple 3-5 shot groups and assuming the improvement will continue when in reality if it was carried on out for 20-30 shots it doesn’t bear out.
I have seen magnum primers get 30-50fps more velocity but they may or may not shoot better and usually shoot the same size groups just faster.
I have taken brand new Nosler brass to a F Class style match and won and I know Bryan Litz has said he has done the same with Lapua.

Very interesting article. Reloading is one of my favorite hobbies. That articles kinda shows us that it is easy to get caught up on the minutia of the process. I have uniformed primer pockets, uniformed flash holes, weight brass, played with primers, played with seating, sorted bullets, measured all sorts of run-out & tried to shoot tiny groups from my HUNTING RIFLES! My fools errand....

Probably the biggest improvement in my rest shooting was investing in good bench equipment & concentrating on a consistent shooting technique.

That articles kinda shows us that it is easy to get caught up on the minutia of the process.

PREACH !!!!!

That was very interesting.

I mean, you know, winning competition shooting is 90% about your own skill and 10% about your ammo (assuming custom loaded ammo - most people make it consistent enough. Can easily be a higher % for factory ammo, depending on the ranges we are talking) and how that combo matches up against the other shooters you are competing against....

That said, I don't think his loading practices lead to making the greatest ammo... but certainly more than sufficient to accomplish his goals when combined with his obvious high level of shooting skill

Did you mean lower? Factory ammo is generally less quality than hand loaded.

Interesting article. I watched a video this morning by Bryan Litz, 2 high level shooters saying certain things that some obsess over really don't matter that much.

That's how I was looking at it. If he was playing a different game he may not have fared so well, but he equipped and prepped for the game he is playing and executed. How may times have we heard, "it's not the arrow, it's the Indian?"

No, I actually did mean higher %... but I can see how what I said is confusing and it only makes sense if viewed from the specific viewpoint I was looking at it from.

90% is about skill of the shooter, or in other words, 90% of the shooter's performance is based on their skill. Improving shooter skill moves the % of potential impact of shooter skill UP, only limited by the quality of the ammo.
10% is about your ammo, or in other words, 10% of the shooter's performance is determined by their ammo. Improving ammo quality, moves the % of impact of ammo DOWN, until such time that the unachievable happens and ammo does not impact outcome and only the shooter's skill does.

I'm assuming in the above that the shooter is using custom ammo, as most people are making custom ammo that is sufficient for the purposes they are using it for. Essentially, as long as you have ammo sufficient for the purpose it is being used for, 90% of the outcome falls on the skill of the shooter.

So, the lower the quality of ammo, the more the ammo effects the outcome and the less the skill of the shooter effects the outcome. So, I'm viewing any ammo that isn't sufficient for the purpose it is being used for (factory ammo for competitions), as playing a larger role in the outcome. Thus, maybe you end up with the competition results being 80% on the shooter and 20% on the ammo. Essentially, the higher % for ammo = sh$tt$er the ammo. But I view the higher % of impact for ammo only goes in one direction - towards lower performance. Ideally, with the absolute unattainable perfect ammo, the outcome would be 100% on the shooter.

Or maybe it is better to state it this way. The starting point is that the skill of the shooter is 100% responsible for performance... from there the quality of the ammo LOWERS the % of impact of the skill of the shooter. Custom ammo that is sufficient for the purpose in which it is used for may impact the outcome by up to 10%. But the crappy the ammo, the higher the impact.... and the impact is always negative on the results because ammo doesn't make better shooters (unless we are talking about that crazy military prototype sh$t that can mid-travel redirect the bullet towards the target LOL).

Yeah, I can see how my view on that and how I stated it was a bit confusing. Hopefully, I explained my viewpoint a little better there.

100%
Dude is not getting the same results from his process competing in something like King of 2 Mile. But his process is sufficient for the purpose in which he uses the ammo for. A man of his skill with ammo sufficient for the purpose in which he is using it, will very much have great performance results. Man is a skilled shooter in the types of competitions he competes in, no doubt.

it's always on the Indian. Well, unless you're shooting ammo made by ChadTRG42, then you can certainly blame the ammo hehehehe *poke* *poke* I'm just messin'

If I was still shooting competitively, I'd hope all my competitors read this and took heed.

Dude is obviously a great shooter, no debating that.

whatever you think works for you is fine. Benchrest shooting is a mental game.

Everything is a mental game Buzz...

Yep, every time I wake up is a mental game

When I load my match ammo, I load it very quickly and cut a lot of corners that I wouldn't do when loading for customers. My match ammo will easily hold sub moa at 1000 yards, and shoot very tight groups (often about 1/3 moa). The main thing I want when loading is consistency in my brass prep, keeping my powder charges within .02 grains (which is to the kernel accuracy) and keeping a consistent seating depth. Once you have fired brass to work with, I find it is more consistent than virgin brass. I get lower ES and SD numbers. So loading the ammo quickly is fairly easy. But I don't mess with cleaning out the primer pockets or weighing brass, bullets or primers. I think it's a waste of time and does not yield a quantifiable difference.

This is the one thing that surprised me. I've always cleaned my primer pockets, but maybe I won't worry about that from now on. How many of you don't worry about your primer pockets?

I wet tumble with pins that clean out the PP. I also uniform PP and trim/anneal as needed. I don't weigh cases or bullets. Don't uniform flash holes either. Use CCi primers. Weigh a few powder dumps and then load em. Not a competative shooter or much of a hunter, casting and shooting is a hobby that is cheaper than building fast cars. Consistent loading = consistant results. Never shot over 200 yds but when I did, near MOA always. Good enough for me.
Cleaning PP = consistent primer seating every time. Worry about changing primer brand? Make sure the ones you use work like they should. ES/SD varys with proper powder ignition as well as load. Even more critical with lite powder loads.

I've become a little more lax about it I know that. I used to put the cleaner in the drill press and clean every time, now I only do it when they are actually dirty. A tiny bit of carbon doesn't seem to be a problem.

I hate brass prep but sometimes some steps are necessary. Example, I was swaging some .223 with crimped primer pockets and some seemed to have a squishy feeling at the start. I discovered that the flash holes were more like having been punched rather than drilled and there was excessive brass flow into the case. When swaging, this would partially close up the flash hole since the rod which acts as the anvil would flatten that brass. So I now find myself cleaning the flash holes from inside the case prior to swaging. Granted if the brass was higher quality I would not have to do this step. Or if I reamed them by cutting away the metal I could skip this step too.

Primer pocket get as clean as boiling water with three drops of Dawn and about 1/4 TSP of Lemi-Shine can get them. If crimped, I use the swage THEN the RCBS uniformer in my Franklin prep station.

LINK to RCBS

For 40+ years I have always cleaned rifle brass primer pockets, and now I find that ChadTRG42, arguably our lead dog, doesn’t. Dang! I really don’t know if I can make myself quit doing it. I may be more OCD than I thought.

For years I just popped out the crust with a small pick after 2 or 3 firings then started uniforming and cleaning the pockets after a while I decided it wasn't worth the effort. Back to after a few reloads knock out the big stuff. I do not polish the brass very often unless it is pickup, dirty or old brass. A bit of discoloration on the brass with a shiny new bullet shoots just as well as ones that have been cleaned and polished at least in the rifles I have and with me shooting them. I been never been accused of being OCD as a disclaimer.