"I dont see the cost of ammo as a factor. One can go to the auction and buy 470, 450 etc for $3-4 a pop, one cannot buy the heads and powder, wads, primers ,brass etc for that."

This a sure way to end up with ammo that doesn't shoot well in one's rifle. Take the 470NE as just one example, it is loaded to five specs by five companies. Try chrono'ing Federal, Kynoch, WR, Hornaday and Norma, or try shooting each in your rifle. Beyond that, different powders, at the same velocity will shoot differently, let alone different powders at different velocities, and that with the same bullet.

Your tollerance for accuracy must be low. I suspect that it is not too difficult to improve shooting in any double rifle, The regulator can only come so close before luck comes into play. He can't shoot the rifle with the solder soft and the barrels ready to move, he ends up "guessing" how much to move them and living, in the end, with his best "guess". Doubt this? Ask JJ Perodeau.

The handloader can do more than guess, and his incremental changes in a load can be relatively minute, as he closes in on the unatainable "perfection."

JPK