Reloading 6.5 Creedmoor

[Ernest T]

Well, in my seemingly never ending quest to find a load my gun likes, in a powder I can actually find in quantity, I've spent the morning loading Lapua SRP brass with CCI 450 Magnum SRP primers and H4350. I got pretty good results with 41.4 gr of H4350 powder and CCI 400 SRPs so I'm repeating the 40.8, 41.0, 41.2 and 41.4 gr loads. I didn't see any reason to start with the lowest loads since the groups were so bad.

[CFJunkie]

Ernest T,
My 26-in barrel 12 FV 6.5mm CM with an Oryx chassis shoots H4350 bests of all powders.
With H4350, Hornady 147 ELD-M # 26333 and Nosler 140 gr RDF UHBC #49824 both average 0.307 for all the groups shot.

Best loads with 147 gr ELD-Ms were 0.234 @ 2666 fps, 0.243 @ 2661 fps, 0.259 @ 2666 fps, and 0.269 @ 2666 fps.

Best loads with the 140 gr Nosler RDF UHBCs were 0.281 @ 2688 fps and 0.297 @ 2687 fps, respectively.

With all weight bullets including 130 gr, 140 gr, 142 gr, 143 gr and 147 gr, H4350 has averaged 0.324 for 287 groups.
Next best powders are H4831 SC that averaged 0.351 for 19 groups, and IMR4451 that averaged 0.352 for 195 groups.
IMR4350 averaged 0.362 for 69 groups and RL-17 averaged 0.401 for 13 groups.

Of the top 10 loads for that rifle, 8 are with H4350 powder and 2 are with IMR 4451
Of the top 25 loads, 17 are with H4350 powder.

Not saying that all 6.5mm rifles will like H4350 powder best, but that it is worth a try.
Note the velocities are all pretty close but that is because I get the best results using the velocity that gets the exit time that minimizes barrel harmonics.

[Palmafiddleman]

I have not tried the 147 ELDs in the 6.5 CM. The ballistics advantage would make it worthwhile to experiment with. Also, I have not tried H4831sc in it. That powder worked better than H4350 in another rifle I play with a 6.5 x 55 Imp.

[Ernest T]

I’ve got 120 and 130 gr ELD match bullets I’m going to give a try too. It looks like the 120s might benefit from a barrel with 10 twists instead of 8? Im enjoying learning a whole bunch of new things about ballistics and reloading.

[Ernest T]

Ernest T,
My 26-in barrel 12 FV 6.5mm CM with an Oryx chassis shoots H4350 bests of all powders.
With H4350, Hornady 147 ELD-M # 26333 and Nosler 140 gr RDF UHBC #49824 both average 0.307 for all the groups shot.

Best loads with 147 gr ELD-Ms were 0.234 @ 2666 fps, 0.243 @ 2661 fps, 0.259 @ 2666 fps, and 0.269 @ 2666 fps.

Best loads with the 140 gr Nosler RDF UHBCs were 0.281 @ 2688 fps and 0.297 @ 2687 fps, respectively.

With all weight bullets including 130 gr, 140 gr, 142 gr, 143 gr and 147 gr, H4350 has averaged 0.324 for 287 groups.
Next best powders are H4831 SC that averaged 0.351 for 19 groups, and IMR4451 that averaged 0.352 for 195 groups.
IMR4350 averaged 0.362 for 69 groups and RL-17 averaged 0.401 for 13 groups.

Of the top 10 loads for that rifle, 8 are with H4350 powder and 2 are with IMR 4451
Of the top 25 loads, 17 are with H4350 powder.

Not saying that all 6.5mm rifles will like H4350 powder best, but that it is worth a try.
Note the velocities are all pretty close but that is because I get the best results using the velocity that gets the exit time that minimizes barrel harmonics.

I got pretty results with H4350 so far. You just can’t find 8 lbs of it right now. I guess the good thing is Hogdon powders do show up on the shelf regularly unlike Alliant powder.

[Ernest T]

I have not tried the 147 ELDs in the 6.5 CM. The ballistics advantage would make it worthwhile to experiment with. Also, I have not tried H4831sc in it. That powder worked better than H4350 in another rifle I play with a 6.5 x 55 Imp.

I’ve had a box of them for six months and haven’t tried them yet. I need to load some and see what happens with them on my gun.

[Ernest T]

I am working on loads for 130 grain Hornady ELD-M bullets and have the same issue with them as I had with the 140 grain bullets. They are too long for the magazine when seated close to the lands. This is .020 off the lands. Oh so close! This is where I started and worked back toward the lengths I'm using for the 140 ELD-Ms. It looks like I can remove a little material from the magazine and the round will load. Is there a reason not to do that?

9149

[charlie b]

You could, but have you tried seating them a bit deeper? The 155ELDM bullets I used in the .308 had a jump of something like .060 and they were still well under MOA. They were the fist sub-MOA group I fired at 1000yd.

[Dave Hoback]

Ern, pull the mag apart and a rod rolled in some 220grit sandpaper in the front of that mag. You can easily pick up that bit of extra room you need for that COAL.;)

[Ernest T]

You could, but have you tried seating them a bit deeper? The 155ELDM bullets I used in the .308 had a jump of something like .060 and they were still well under MOA. They were the fist sub-MOA group I fired at 1000yd.

This is the longest cartridge, and the closest to the lands. I loaded 8 different lengths shorter than this one to find a length that shoots well.

[CFJunkie]

I had the same problem with plastic AICS mags in my 6.5mm when I loaded close to minimal jump.
It will get worse if you try 147 grain ELS-M or 143 grain ELD-X bullets.

I went with an aluminum AICS magazine that doesn't have all that plastic to strengthen the mag and was able to seat to 2.895 OAL with perfect feeding from the mag.

However, my 6.5mm has lots of rounds (over 4,000) down the barrel and the throat erosion has gotten deep enough that with the 147 gr ELD-Ms, even the aluminum mag is too short to handle the OAL needed to maintain the jump I prefer for that bullet.
I now single load the really long bullets.
Of course, single loading hasn't reduced the accuracy. Actually, the recent single load groups are averaging just about 0.290 with the 0.147s, so that works for target shooting from a bench.
Seating the rounds with an OAL short enough to fit the mag doesn't hurt the accuracy much, less than .020 increase in average, but I'm addicted to getting the most accuracy out of my loads.

[wbm]

LOL!

[Ernest T]

I ran some test loads with H4350 and CCI 450 Magnum SRP with 140 gr. ELD-M bullets. The magnum primers didn't seem to affect velocity that much, but the ES and SD were much better as were the groups. Its interesting that the velocity for the 41.4 loads takes a jump with both primers.

These were five shot groups



40.8
41
41.2
41.4


6-Feb





2600
2593
2608
2689


2591
2591
2589
2704


2594
2578
2616
2665


2615
2609
2576
2697


2579
2605
2587
2693


2595.8
2595.2
2595.2
2689.6


6-Jan





2586
2600
2592
2678


2596
2600
2604
2639


2598
2585
2591
2634


2590
2601
2595
2621


2594
2598
2605
2638


2592.8
2596.8
2597.4
2642.00



6-Feb
40.8 gr. ES 12, SD 4
41.0 gr. ES 16, SD 6
41.2 gr. ES 14, SD 6
41.4 gr. ES 18, SD 7

6-Jan
40.8 gr. ES 36, SD 12
41.0 gr. ES 31, SD 11
41.2 gr. ES 40, SD 15
41.4 gr. ES 39, SD 13

[Ernest T]

It wasn't exactly prime shooting weather this morning, but its going to be worse the rest of the week so you take what you can get. It wasn't supposed to rain, but at least it wasn't raining hard!

9168

[Mr.Snerdly]

Reading the posts about the inaccuracy with the 140 grain, I wonder if that could be the problem with my Axis. It is absolutely the most inaccurate rifle I ever owned but I have not shot it a lot and only with factory ammo. I want to try some reloads but don't have any large rifle primers.

I see there is brass with the small primer pocket for the 6.5 but I can't seem to find any of that either. It seems small rifle primers are a lot easier to find than the large rifle and I do have a fair supply of those. I am only able to shoot my 223s at this time due to lack of large rifle primers. This primer situation is past ridiculous, what has it been now, 3 years and still the same situation. I don't understand what is going on with the component shortages. Everything is harder to get than it used to be but primers are by far the worst.

[prdatr]

Reading the posts about the inaccuracy with the 140 grain, I wonder if that could be the problem with my Axis. It is absolutely the most inaccurate rifle I ever owned but I have not shot it a lot and only with factory ammo. I want to try some reloads but don't have any large rifle primers.

I see there is brass with the small primer pocket for the 6.5 but I can't seem to find any of that either. It seems small rifle primers are a lot easier to find than the large rifle and I do have a fair supply of those. I am only able to shoot my 223s at this time due to lack of large rifle primers. This primer situation is past ridiculous, what has it been now, 3 years and still the same situation. I don't understand what is going on with the component shortages. Everything is harder to get than it used to be but primers are by far the worst.


I remember hearing a year or two ago that primer manufacturers were going to cut back on selling to the general public and due to demand were going to provide more to ammunition manufacturers. It seems now that more primers are up from $80/1000 a few years ago to $115/1000 but I have seen LR Magnum Match going for $175/1000 and they get gobbled up as soo as they are posted.

[Ernest T]

Reading the posts about the inaccuracy with the 140 grain, I wonder if that could be the problem with my Axis. It is absolutely the most inaccurate rifle I ever owned but I have not shot it a lot and only with factory ammo. I want to try some reloads but don't have any large rifle primers.

I see there is brass with the small primer pocket for the 6.5 but I can't seem to find any of that either. It seems small rifle primers are a lot easier to find than the large rifle and I do have a fair supply of those. I am only able to shoot my 223s at this time due to lack of large rifle primers. This primer situation is past ridiculous, what has it been now, 3 years and still the same situation. I don't understand what is going on with the component shortages. Everything is harder to get than it used to be but primers are by far the worst.

My Axis didn't like factory ammo at all, but I finally found a combination of cartridge length and powder charge that will give me sub MOA groups with 140 ELD-Ms. As to 6.5 CM SRP brass, I've found it all over, but you have to act fast as it doesn't stay around long. I saw bags of it at Bass Pro shop in Round Rock, TX while I was picking up an order. They also had SRP primers in stock.

These people have SRP 6.5 CM tonight.

https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/77494

https://alphamunitions.com/product/6-5-creedmoor-srp-small-rifle-primer/

[Ernest T]

I can't believe it! Brownell's has RL-15, RL-16, and RL-17 in stock!

[Ernest T]

I've been working on two parallel load development tracks, one using 140 grain ELD-M bullets, H4350 powder, and CCI 450 magnum primers. The second load is using 130 grain ELD-M bullets, Winchester 760 powder, and CCI 450 primers.

The magnum primers tightened up the 140 grain bullet groups a little at the same powder weight and seating depth that previously yielded the best results. I ended up with three sub MOA groups at 41.0, 41.2 and 41.4 grains. The 41.2 group was actually 3/8". I'm really happy with these results.

I got excellent results with the 130s, but I tried so many different powder loads and seating depths that I only used three shot groups. Still, I had 5 sub MOA groups using 43.4 grains of powder from 2.165 to 2.194 CBTO. I've got to go back and look at these to see if I get the same results with 5 shot groups.

This was the best 3 shot group.

9182

[Ernest T]

I was thinking last night, and decided to finish testing the 140 ELDs with magnum primers and H4350, AND the 130 ELDs with Winchester 760 and magnum primers. That will just about exhaust my supply of H4350 and Winchester 760. Then, since I now have 8 lbs of RL-16 and 8 lbs of Superperformance on hand , I'm going to try different bullets with those powders. So far I've only loaded Hornady ELD match bullets.

This morning I received an email from Powder Valley offering free shipping, today only, so I ordered 500 Nosler 140 Grain HPBT Reduced Drag Factor bullets. They have a BC just slightly higher than the Hornady ELD match bullets so there shouldn't be much of a learning curve with them.