6.5 X 47 Lapua and IMR 8208 XBR

[SMK Shoe]

Well, I got about five days of travel to get back to the states and start the build. I'll post the build info and ALL my load data after that. I'll be mostly working with Varget and RE-15 with 120's and 140's. I have a 1lb can of 8208 so may work a little with that. Everything will go across a chrono and will post even if not great.

[GaCop]

Welcome back and we' await your results. I have yet to try Varget. So far, RE-15 with the 120's has given me the highest velocity and good accuracy. H4350 is so so with the 120's in the velocity area but accuracy is on par with the RE-15 loads. Varget is so close to RE-15 performance, velocities and accuracy should equal it. The only thing holding me back is no place to shoot more than 180 yards.

[MDM]

Here's a short video I made of shooting mine at 740 and 915.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkkMog08Ff8

[SMK Shoe]

Well, built the gun first day home ( wifey kept wanting to talk) and shot it sunday. Will post results later but with 37 grains of varget ( 1 grain under max) and SMK 120's .010 off lands I was getting 3025 FPS average. 37.5 of varget was getting me about 3070ish with NO pressure signs of flattened primers or hard bolt lift. accuracy was 1/2" ish once I settled down at 100. gonna work in the 37 grain area and play with seating depth tuesday. I will post pictures of targets when I can. This barrel has alot of potential. Hopefully wensday I can streach to 250 yards and work more data.
Had loaded smk from 34.0 thru 37.5 grains of varget to start with the SMK's. velocities were well over 25-35 fps different per load until I got up into the higher pressures. Accuracy was also worse the slower I pushed. groups were under 1/2" from 36.5 thru 37.5 of varget ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[GaCop]

Your results are just about identical to mine with RE-15 and the 120 SMK bullet. I gotta try the Varget.

[SMK Shoe]

Well, back in the sand box. vacation went alot faster than I expected. saved most of the targets but didn't have time to scan and post. shot mostly sierra 120 Match kings and 100 grain hp. everything out of this barrel liked being pushed near max. loads in the max range for published data showed NO signs of high pressure on brass. I could have probably gone up two grains of varget and been fine but didn't try it. Everything that I pushed towards the high end grouped well under a inch with most in the 1/2" range. also seemed like everything liked being in the lands. didn't really hurt jumping but consistency was a little worse. I expect that with some extreme reloading procedures ( trimming brass, neck turning for consistancy, weight sorting brass) will give me better results. a large amount of what I shot was brass right out of the box, and a powder measure throwing charges. I just didn't have time each night to produce the best ammo, but I did shoot 10 days of the 15 I was home. And one of them I had to build the gun. Target dropped right into a stockies HRT laminate. only had to open the barrel channel. Some more bedding will also probably help. All in all this is a kick a$$ chartridge. Recoil was mild and had a good thump on the steels at 200 yards. everyone keep me up to date on their 6.5 x 47 projects since I have to wait 7 months till I can pull the trigger again ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[GaCop]

I re-tested some 140 grain A-Max loads with 38.8 grains of H4350 and got my smallest group yet at .209" for five shots at 100 yards. I seated em .002" off the lands. velocities were in the low 2700 fps range but ES was no more than 15 fps and SD was 5.6. Range temp was 71 degrees with humidity close to 90%.

[MDM]

I've settled on 40.3 H4350 and the 140 amax at 2850, jumping .015". It's a border line hot load in my rifle. My dad has an identical setup and this load is too hot in his rifle. We are trying the 123 amax in his. We can go up to 41.5 g of H4350 with the 123's with no pressure, but with the 140's, even 40g is too much. We really need to try Varget instead of the 4350 with the 123s, but I'm about out of Varget.

[GaCop]

So far, initial testing with Re-15 using 37.5, 38.0, 38.5 and 38.7 grains shows real promise with the 123 grain A-Max. My worst group was 37.5 grains at .875". The other charges were at or under 1/2" at 100 yards. Velocities were between 2926 fps and 3054 fps. I'm seating the A-Max to the lands. 38.7 grains gave me a bit of stickey bolt lift but no hard extraction.

[SMK Shoe]

Well, back from the sandbox for good. Put the 6.5x47 back together to shoot first weekend home. Just shot the smk 120's that i had still loaded from march. Still in the half to three quarter range. Put together a load this evening of re15 and nosler 140's. Starting from scratch. Will post results afterwards. Picked up some berger 85's so may play with them and 8208 later this month.

[GaCop]

Well, back from the sandbox for good. Put the 6.5x47 back together to shoot first weekend home. Just shot the smk 120's that i had still loaded from march. Still in the half to three quarter range. Put together a load this evening of re15 and nosler 140's. Starting from scratch. Will post results afterwards. Picked up some berger 85's so may play with them and 8208 later this month.

Good to have you safely back.

[SMK Shoe]

Well, this project sat on the shelf for a couple of months. Pulled it back down a couple weeks ago to start over. Hadn't found any more load data so inferred some from my 6.5mm br and tried out some sierra 107's with IMR 8208. Show'd promise so did same with some berger 85 FB bullets had on the shelf. HOLY COW, worked loads across 3 grains ( 35-38 ) and not one group was over 1/2 inch. Tried same with some Sierra 85 grain FlatBased bullets and shot a group measuring .091 ( 5 rounds), had to walk to target to double check. A true one hole group. Others with that load were in the low two's. Seems that IMR8208 likes the really light bullets. Not sure how good they will be past 250 yards, but I can at least shoot this now. Had been extremely disappointed with this gun. ;D ;D ;D ;D