The mass producers of ammunition produce a reasonably good all round product on a "one size fits all" basis. This would be great if all rifles were built by one company with exactly the same chamber, rate of twist, barrel and internal dimensions, but as we know, they are not! 

Another important factor is the length of your barrel. A generic cartridge performs differently in a 20" barrel than it does in a 24" barrel. The shorter barrel will result in increased muzzle blast, noise and recoil. Whereas, the 24" barrel has less blast as all the propellant is burnt before the projectile leaves the muzzle. 

Other factors in cartridge performance are differences in the weight of propellant, the rate of burn of the powder, varying bullet weights and the weight of the cartridge case itself.

The four most important points for consistent performance in a given cartridge are:

The weight of propellant in each cartridge

The rate of Burn of the powder

The overall length of each cartridge (COL)

Bullet weight variance

We offer three types of bespoke ammunition:

Varmint Gold

Using brand new cases with the flash hole uniformed and the case mouth chamfered, Benchrest primers hand seated and each charge digitally weighed for precisely the same charge weight. The Ballistic Tip or Hollow Point bullet of your choice is then hand seated and checked for Overall Length. We can load either your own choice of bullet or recommend one of our proven loads.

To see our range of hand loaded Varmint Gold cartridges click here

Hunting Premium

Using brand new cases with the flash hole uniformed and the case mouth chamfered, Benchrest primers hand seated and each charge digitally weighed for precisely the same charge weight. The Ballistic Tip or Soft Point bullet of your choice is then hand seated and checked for Overall Length.

To see our range of hand loaded Hunting Premium cartridges click here

Safari Gold

Especially created for discerning African and European Big Game Hunters. Using brand new cases with the flash hole uniformed and the case mouth chamfered, Benchrest primers hand seated and each charge digitally weighed for precisely the same charge weight. The bullet of your choice is then hand seated and checked for Overall Length.

Please note: If you require your rifle chamber to be measured for Cartridge Overall Length we will need the rifle for approximately 2 weeks.

You may wish to supply your own cases, if you required fire formed brass. This will mean that we will clean and neck size your cases during the loading process. Saves money on brass, but does incur a charge for cleaning and sizing.

Most mass production involves a degree of variance in the fit of components, there are changes in revised models over the production life cycle, and not surprisingly mass produced firearms, and even low volume production guns are not immune from this. In short no two rifles of the same calibre are completely identical. 

From the moment of firing the rifle the first 2 inches are when the acceleration takes place; typically 0 - 1000+ mph. When the cartridge is chambered there is gap between the tip of the bullet and the start of the rifling. If the gap is too great then the bullet will  wobble about prior to entering the rifling, if there is no gap or the gap is too small then there is the increased danger of excessive pressure resulting in the barrel bursting. The first is bad for consistency, the second for your health. When we load your bespoke cartridges we need your rifle to make these important measurements, for two reasons:

 

This is a slightly exaggerated picture to show variances in cartridge overall length. All cartridges are .30-06   On the left is a Remington Accelerator (.223 bullet in .308 sabot), centre is one of our bespoke cartridges using 180 grain Sierra Game King, right is one of our bespoke cartridges using 220 grain Sierra Game King.  The two bespoke cartridges are loaded for the same rifle, and despite the difference in bullet weight and size both cartridges have the same overall length.

 

 

Cartridge case weight

A firearm fires a bullet by causing a reaction which leads to an explosion, the subsequent pressure generated propels the bullet down the barrel and towards the target. The pressure also exerts tremendous force on the barrel, hence the need for proof testing. A cartridge case for a specific calibre is defined in a set of measurements: .308 Win (7.62mm X 54mm), 30-06 (7.62mm X 63mm). As the cartridge cases are of a known fixed size it follows that a heavier case will have less internal space thus using the same propellant charge for a heavier case, as the lighter case, will result in increased pressure from the heavier case. The increased pressure will increase the muzzle velocity, which in turn will make each bullet perform differently from the one just fired. This is why all our bespoke ammunition uses cases with minimum weight variance.

Typically in a box of 100 good quality .308, 180 gr bullets, there will be a variance of .8 of a grain. There will be 55 bullets weighing 180gr, 25 weighing 179.9 and so on. All our bullets are weighed and each batch of bespoke ammunition we produce never has a bullet weight variance of more than .1 grain. The objective again is consistent velocity.

There are of course many other factors we take into account, including the length of the barrel. In short our bespoke cartridges offer you the safe solution to having the ideally matched rifle and ammunition for all your shooting needs.

With all Bespoke ammunition we can chronograph the ammunition and provide you with velocity, power and trajectory data.