6.5x55 build in Wyoming

[davemuzz]

Come on out and shoot, but the car isn't going anywhere :)

I'll be back out to shoot. But for the car:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a212/davemuzz/Cartman_zps7212a4cc.jpg

[65impala]

Well, the parts all came in yesterday so this morning I got up and started assembling stuff. Tomorrow morning I'll test fire and start load development, but for now here's a couple of iphone pics just to show the progress for now.

http://i70.servimg.com/u/f70/11/81/01/07/05410.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=337&u=11810107)

http://i70.servimg.com/u/f70/11/81/01/07/05210.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=338&u=11810107)

It's a Savage 110 action with a tuned and modified accu-trigger, McGowen 26" stainless barrel in 6.5x55, Choate tactical stock, Bushnell elite "tactical" milradian scope, burris rings with 10 MOA cant and a harris bipod.

At this point my total invested is roughly $900, I guess the range results will tell if it was a good choice or a waste of money....

[wbm]

Looks GREAT! Just finished mine a few days ago. Shilen barrel. Never had used H4831 in the 6.5x55 but read a few posts where guys were having good groups with it. Anyway put 49.5gr of H4831 in Lapua brass and added a 120 Sierra Match bullet on top. Five shot group was just .65"....wind was really gusting from all directions so one shot was right just a bit the other four measured .35". I'll take it.
Love the Swede. Keep us posted on how it shoots.

[65impala]

Will do for sure. I'm using IMR4831 and have loaded up 15 at the minimum load for testing and sigthing then 20 in .3gr increments to shoot a ladder test to give me a basis for where to start my load development. I'm running 140gr sierra MKs for now since they are out of the 142gr version. I'll post up some kind of report tomorrow when I get back from the range.

Thanks,
George

[dcloco]

Very nice. Please post target pictures when you have the chance.

Both of my 6.5x55 AI's like H4831.

[davemuzz]

Saaaaayyyyyy.......That rifle looks strangely familiar?????

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a212/davemuzz/b2a228fa.jpg

[wbm]

Yeah. Spooky. Makes me almost believe in the "parallel universe" stuff.

[davemuzz]

Even more stranger yet (more stranger?) is that my photos were taken with my iPhone!! Wait!.....I'll show you my shocked look:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a212/davemuzz/WORK-AMMO-b.jpg

[65impala]

Well, it shoots :) It was cold and snowing so I only put five rounds downrange with this gun, I had several others I needed to test loads in and didn't want to stay out all day. I'll go back tomorrow or later today if the snow calms down a bit. At any rate, the first three rounds out of the tube shot a .690" center to center group which isn't bad considering it's the first three shots with a new gun and zero load development. I'll get back out and do an incremental load test session (ladder test) at my next outing and then I'll have a good starting point for an accurate load. These were just sierra 140gr matchkings loaded to "book length" which is way short for the throat in this barrel. They are new win cases, CCI 200 primers and 45grains of IMR 4831. I'll keep a running log of the results, especially when I get something accurate worked up.

BTW, the 4th and 5th shots were me figuring out the milradian adjustments in the scope since I'm used to MOA ;)
http://i70.servimg.com/u/f70/11/81/01/07/iphone10.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=339&u=11810107)

http://i70.servimg.com/u/f70/11/81/01/07/iphone11.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=340&u=11810107)

Pardon the iphone pics, I left my camera at home. Incidentally, taking pics through a scope with an iphone is a real pain!!

[davemuzz]

Nice stuff 65!!!! I honestly don't know if I could get my brain to wrap around a Mil Rad scope. I'm sure in a big buck hunting situation....my brain would freeze like I was trying to down a gallon of ice cream in 30 seconds. For sure the score would be Dave-0 Largest Buck on the Planet-1. Grrrrr

[65impala]

Thanks Dave. It's a learning curve, but once learned its a good system I think

George

[65impala]

One other interesting tidbit, at least to me. With the scope set at zero, cheap mounts (I ran out of toy budget for the month) and my first random handload the point of impact was less than 3 inches away from dead on. This is probably closer to perfect than any other gun I've owned and in my mind it says something about the scope, action, mounts, barrel, etc all being pretty dang good to be that close straight out of the box. Now that I know that I have full value of down elevation avaliable, I'll probably toss my 10 or 20 MOA inserts in the burris rings and see if I can get my zero towards the bottom of the travel so I have more up elevation avaliable for when I do start working at longer ranges...

[65impala]

Today I shot a ladder test at 200 yards. The rounds were all seated 0.020" off the lands and all used the Sierra 140 SMK bullet. The powder used was IMR 4831 and primers CCI200. The target wasn't much use since all 14 shots went into about a 2" group at 200 yards despite having over 300fps variation from bottom to top. Here's a chart of the chrony results. You can see a definate node at 44.5 grains +/- although I'm not sure if I would be happy with 2687 fps. I may run another ladder test going even higher on the top end seeing as how the highest charge and the lightest charge measured exactly the same at the case head, primers looked identical and there was not even the slightest hint of sticky bolt. Seeing as how the chart starts to taper into possibly another node at the very top I'm hoping to find another sweet spot around 2900fps when I am done. If not then we'll see where I go from there. Typically I don't try and base my accuracy on chronograph nodes, but I'll have to move it out to about 500 yards to really tell anything from the targets themselves. I guess if anything my day told me that this barel is pretty accurate at almost any velocity!!

http://i70.servimg.com/u/f70/11/81/01/07/ladder11.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=344&u=11810107)

So consider this a baseline. I will load up another ladder test or two and re-shoot it at 500 yards and then go from there.

[rattfink]

30-06 and 6.5x55 are my two favorite calibers. And great deal on that rifle! I think she looks pretty good as is ;)

[65impala]

Well, I finally made it out to do some more testing and found a sweet spot at 2,700fps which puts it at the top of the node from my ladder test. I was wanting a little more velocity and may still do some more work up high, but in the meantime I am perfectly fine with 2,700 fps. This is enough velocity to keep my current bullet supersonic out to 1600 yards and my current optics are not good enough for me to shoot very precise out past a grand anyway. I do have enough adjustment to get me to 1700 yards so really I'm good to go with this load until I get better optics and start playing at long range. For my normal medium range shooting of 600-800 yards this should be a great load.

Anyway, here's the results of today's tests. I will continue working on it and I'm sure I can get 1/4 MOA out of this rifle, especially with having a vertical spread of only .168" already.

http://i70.servimg.com/u/f70/11/81/01/07/savage12.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=348&u=11810107)

I forgot to add on the photo that the bullets are 140gr SMK

[davemuzz]

That's some fine shooting '65!! Those 6.5's do nice work! Bad part is...when you miss, you can't blame the gun!! (BTW.....where do you find penny's the size of Silver Dollars anyway??)

Dave

[rattfink]

Woops...double post.

X2 Great shooting!

[65impala]

Thanks guys, I'm really wanting to try it out on a proper rest with some higher quality optics, but for now I really can't expect anything more considering I'm shooting it prone off the bipod with a 10X scope :)

George

[davemuzz]

I dunno George......you put some good glass on it.....then you have absolutely no other choice on a miss than to say..."It's my fault!" Unless of course, you don't use lock-tight when you mount the base!!!

[65impala]

Never been to big on excuses anyway:) besides, I can always blame it on Dave!