6.5 X 47 Lapua and IMR 8208 XBR

[Dennis]

I'll try your 120 SMK loads, working up to the 39.3 grains

Remember, I am shooting the SMK's on the lands, they don't like to be in the lands! Only the VLD's!

[GaCop]

Yup, familiar with the SMKs not liking to be jammed. I'm going to try heavier bullets than the 120's, maybe it will shoot better with my 140 SMKs and Nosler Match BTHPs. I do want to try the 120 SMKs first to see how they will do.

I replaced my Vortex scope that's acting up with a Mueller 6.5X25X44 that's been a proven performer so maybe the Lapua will settle down after I get it sighted in. With the few fairly tight groups, it shows it wants to shoot but something is holding it back and I think it was the scope...............we'll see.

It being touchy about loads is very true having found that out during load development.

[GaCop]

I'm shooting the Criterion barrel. Are other Criterion owners having any accuracy issues? I'm blaming everything BUT the barrel up to this point.

[Aircraftmech76]

Do you have another rifle you could screw the CBI barrel in to eliminate it being the problem? I'd like to see this issue resolved as much as you do!

[MDM]

I'm just about in the same boat as Dennis with my 6.5 Lapua. I can't say that I have tried any thing that shot over .75". 37.8 varget and 123 Scenar's are sub .25". I have been doing alot of testing with the 140 amax the past few days with Reloader 17 and it seems to have a huge accuracy window. Anything from 40-41g and I get atleast sub .5 moa. 40.9g was gave me .34moa at 560yds. Velocity ranged from 40g-2807, 41g-2902 all with the 140 amax. I'm going to try some H4350 and see what happens with the 140s. I've found that the 6.5 Lapua has been the easiest caliber I have ever loaded for. with just about everthing coming in at .5 or under.

Hope you get yours wrung out GaCop. Mine did some weird things with pressure in the first 50 rounds or so, but it always shot great.

[MDM]

I think I finalized my tactical loads with the 140 amax today. 27" McGowen Bull 40.5g H4350 .015 jump COAL 2.745" If anyone could run a simulation in QL for me on this I would appreciate it, wondering what the predicted pressure is. Primers and bolt lift good, but a slight ejector mark that I'm attributing to virgin brass. All 4 shot groups.
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h270/dm2596/s652.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h270/dm2596/s651.jpg
13 shot string. AVG. Velocity 2766. ES 17 SD 6.4
2760
2760
2766
2760
2766
2760
2772
2766
2777
2777
2766
2772
2760
I should have pushed it up to 41g to see what happened, I'd like to get to 2800, but I would like to see what QL says my pressure is at.

[GaCop]

I'd give a left one to shoot groups like that with mine. Right now, mine is about as accurate as an off the shelf Remmy 700...............not saying much, right! The factory 270 barrel I took off my 110 action shot sub 1/2". Sadly my Criterion barrel can't match that to date. I know I didn't torque my action while removing the factory barrel and installing the Criterion because I use an action vise that won't allow the action to torque. If the action, with factory barrel can shoot sub 1/2" something is very wrong with the Criterion me thinks, we'll see after todays range session.

[GaCop]

The Quickload data I got from Walt Berger shows 39.8 grain as a max load with RE-17 and 140 grain VLDs?

[GaCop]

Looks like the Vortex scope was the cause of all my trepidations. To make a long story short, it finally settled down and is shooting just under MOA with the 140 grain/RE-17 loads I tested today in a 15-20 mph wind varying from 9 to 2 o'clock. SD and ES was looking very good for the loads tested. My faith is restored, back to load development. Round count is now at 112 and barrel cleaning is no longer yielding any indication of copper on the patches.

[SMK Shoe]

:)GaCop, glad to hear you found your problem. You had me a little nervous since I have the same barrel to build on in about a week. I was hoping it was a scope issue, thats easy to fix.

[MDM]

This is good news. Here is some data I gathered with Re17 and the 140amax if it helps any. All groups for the 4 charge weights hovered from .38 to .515".

40g avg 2807
40.3 avg 2830
40.6 avg 2879
40.9 avg 2902

41.5 - fired one round at 2949 and a slight ejector smudge but primers were still good and bolt was not sticky, probably nothing since all was virgin brass.

[GaCop]

"MDM", I'll give those a try. How far off the lands was these loads?

[MDM]

I was .010" off with Re17 and the 140 amax, but went to .015 off with H4350, so you might try that first. They seem to like that real well. My OAL is 2.745 - thats with the .015 jump. You can definately get the speeds way up with Re17. It shot very well, but I keep hearing that it is temp sensitive so I went to H4350. It is only about 50 deg where I'm at and I didn't want to have to do more load testing when temps got to 80-90. Let me know how it works out.

[GaCop]

Will do. Our temps are already in the upper 70s-lower 80s in central Georgia. I ran at 6 AM and it was 67 degrees, beautiful running weather.

[GaCop]

This is good news. Here is some data I gathered with Re17 and the 140amax if it helps any. All groups for the 4 charge weights hovered from .38 to .515".

40g avg 2807
40.3 avg 2830
40.6 avg 2879
40.9 avg 2902

41.5 - fired one round at 2949 and a slight ejector smudge but primers were still good and bolt was not sticky, probably nothing since all was virgin brass.


Starting a bit lighter I worked up loads from 39.0 to 39.3 grains of RE-15 and 120 SMKs, ended up with the following:

39.0 grains MV3002 fps, SD-2.4, ES-5.9..............658" group for five at 100 yards. 010" OTL

39.1 grains, 3022 fps, SD-10.3, ES-25.6,..............566" group. .013" OTL

39.2 grains, 3021 fps, SD-6.4, ES-15.0..............398" group. .010" OTL

39.3 grains, 3025 fps, SD-7.6, ES- 19.6...............758" group. .010" OTL


Last but not least is the 140 grain A-Max, BR4, H4350/40.5, 2778 fps, SD-7.0, ES-17.8..............742" group. .015" OTL


Next batch tested will be in the RE-17/40 grain area as you listed.

[MDM]

Much better! It's funny how that 40.5g charge is giving you VERY similar numbers compared to mine. You've got 12 fps on me. How long is your barrel? I bet if you worked around that 40.5 charge you could find something real sweet. Any pressure with the 40.5 charge? Keep in mind that those long 140s will probably group better at 300 and out.

[GaCop]

I've got a 26" barrel. Different chronographs will give slightly different averages. It is interesting that our SD/ES averages are so close. The load seemed like a ***** cat, no hard bolt lift, primers looked good

[MDM]

GaCop - I shot mine today at 550, 730 and 915. I used Litz's G7 of .299 for my drop chart and my velocity for my drop chart was actually around 2800 according to how much dope I actually needed. 10.5 moa to 550, 17moa to 730, and 25.25 to 915. What a fun round to shoot and the 140 amax is darn accurate at distance.

[GaCop]

With concerns about RE-15 being temp sensitive, I decided to see how well H4350 would work with the 120 gr SMK. Of course, load density was very good with charges at the junction of the neck and shoulder.

I tried the following charges at 100 yards in full length sized Lapua brass and BR4 primers, my seating depth was .008" OTL:

40.6 grains, MV-2845 fps, SD-14.3, ES-34.0, five shot group of .714"

40.7 grains, MV-2864 fps, SD-7.6, ES-19.5, group: .476".

40.8 grains, MV-2874 fps, SD-6.0, ES-11.5, group: .548".

40.9 grains, MV-2880 fps, SD-15.4, ES-38.4, group: .508".

The above velocities can't compare to more than 3000 fps with the RE-15. I'm going to again try H4350 loads at 40.5 grains and above with the 140 grain A-Max to see their performance at the longer ranges when I can.

[Terry Balding]

I shot the ToadWalker match in Wabash IN Sunday. One of the loads I tested Saturday produced 1/2" group at 300yds. It was 41.4 H4350, 123 Secnar's, with Wolf SRM primers.