6.5 Creedmoor Light(ish) weight Dracos Build Range Report

[RonSwanson]

I was recently inspired by a 6.5 creedmoor build on another forum using the Dracos Jacket 6.5 creedmoor barrel. So far I haven't done any shooting past 400 yards or any grouping past 100 yards, but I figured I'd share my thoughts so far and update along the way.

Purpose of build: Sub MOA and Minimal (relative) weight - 200-600 yard hunting/200-1000 yard target
Many of the longer range gasser builds seem to have a total weight from 13-15lbs. That's heavy and I don't like to carry heavy things very far. Or at all really.
My goal was to have a bare rifle under 10lbs capable of tagging steel repeatedly out to 1000 and deer sized game out to 600. To date I haven't had a chance to do either with this particular rifle, but the paper accuracy at 100yrds leads me to believe it will be capable of doing either without too many issues
The weight of the rifle with optics/empty mag (and without the 14oz bipod) is 10lb 12oz. That's keeping on track with my purpose.

The two pictures of groupings are as follows:

Top - Left group - 7 shots with Hornady 140 ELD box ammo; Middle - 2 separate 10 round groups using Hornady 140 HPBT Gunner; Right - Different build in 6.5grendel
Bottom - Two separate 5 shot groups with Hornady 140 Gunner

The barrel has only had 100 rounds through it so far. I suspect the groups may tighten up in the future after the barrel has a few more rounds and it isn't so damn cold. I'm a step above useless when the temperature is below 50 degrees.

Notes:
The adjustable gas key is not difficult to tune. I thought it would be a huge pain, but it took about 5 minutes to tune from fully closed to lock-back on an empty mag. Recoil is minimal.
The carbine stock/recoil system isn't awful at 100 yards. An adjustable stock would be nicer for sure, but that just adds weight
I will spend more time tuning/accuracy testing with different ammo, but with 2 toddlers and a newborn it is difficult to spend free time away from family.
Build List:
Upper 2A Xanthos
Bolt Carrier - JP Lmos with RCA Adjustable Gas Key
Bolt - Aim Surplus Nitride 308
Barrel - Dracos Straight Jacket 6.5 Creedmoor 22"
Rail - Midwest 15" Mlok
Brake - Anarchy Outdoor Titanium 30cal brake
Lower - 2A Xanthos
LPK - Spikes
Trigger - CMC 3.5lb
Rogers Super Stoc/BCM Grip
Buffer - JP Silent Capture Spring
Optics - Kahles 624i
Mount - Aero 34mm SPR

 

[Bigjake83]

Looks good, please keep us updated.

 

[Desert_Racer]

I have a similar build, but I'm running their 6 Creed barrel, and I'm running suppressed. So far, I haven't been terribly impressed with it. Groups at 100 are averaging a little over 1 MOA. I have about 200 rounds down the pipe so far, and I'm hoping the groups tighten up. Also, for the claim of "enhanced rigidity", mine sure does seem to flex quite a bit.

Have you played with the dwell time adjustment on the barrel yet?

 

[RonSwanson]

Yes, but it didn’t seem to do a whole lot. Even with the screw backed out almost all the way it seemed over gassed. I only shot it with a full mass carrier about 20 times. I added the adjustable gas key when I switched to the low mass carrier and it worked very well. It was worth the 40 bucks it cost.

I don’t think I can comment much on barrel rigidity, but I would be curious to see if the receiver to barrel interface is less rigid than a bolt gun. I would imagine so. For what it’s worth, I bedded the barrel extension with green Loctite whenever the barrel was installed. Maybe it was a bad idea and will break down over time, but we’ll see.

While it hasn’t been laser beam accurate , I don’t have too many complaints considering I picked up the creedmoor gunner ammo for about 65 cents a round.

 

[padom]

For the money they don't impress me. But that's me. I'll take a cut rifled Bartlein, Rock Creek, Krieger all day long for $200 less...

 

[Forgetful Coyote]

For the money they don't impress me. But that's me. I'll take a cut rifled Bartlein, Rock Creek, Krieger all day long for $200 less...

THIS x10000. Same with the carbon wrapped stuff too IMO. No offense OP.
That Teludyne Straight Jacket deal has been around forever, and never caught on when it had the old name either for a reason IMO.

 

[Desert_Racer]

For the money they don't impress me. But that's me. I'll take a cut rifled Bartlein, Rock Creek, Krieger all day long for $200 less...

I tend to agree with this, based off of what I have experienced so far. My Krieger 308 barrel this Dracos replaced shot really well, around .70 MOA without much effort, sometimes better if I did my part. I wanted to get something flatter shooting but didn't want to take the barrel life penalty, so I thought I'd give Dracos and their warranty a shot. It'll get the job done, but I expect more for a $550 barrel (I bought one of their blems).

If I could go back, I would have ordered another Krieger, but in 6.5 Creed.

 

[Potss]

Damn nice looking build OP. Hope the groups tighten up for you all. I also hope the barrel life claims are true.

I've seen great results with the original SJBS but haven't seen much data on the Falkor version. I know they were using BHW blanks in the beginning. Keep us posted on accuracy and life. Who knows, they may end up being worth the money in the end.

 

[knuckleballz]

I picked up the 6 creedmoor and the 6.5 creedmoor barrels. When I get them built I am going to try pushing lighter bullets as fast as I can to test the design. Hopefully I can get some acceptable accuracy. Keep us posted on your findings

 

[Desert_Racer]

I took mine out again yesterday. I’m at about 320ish rounds out of the barrel.

I managed to get a 0.80 MOA Group out of it, which honestly is by sheer happenstance in my estimation, as everything else looked like a shotgun blast. I have been shooting 105 RDFs. I’m going to try 95gr Sierra TMKs to see if the 9 twist likes them better. If I can’t get it to shoot, it’s going back to Dracos.

 

[Desert_Racer]

@RonSwanson Any updates on how yours is shooting?

 

[GBMaryland]

Nice.

I picked up a Larue 22inch 6.5CM upper and I’m still playing with loads, both factory and hand loads.

I’m a little disappointed in the lockup between the upper and lower; as opposed to my original 7.62 OBR upper the 6.5CM upper / lower lockup actually have a fair amount of play - I had to get a bag of Accuwedges and grind off the bottom to remove the play between the upper/lower recievers!

 

[RonSwanson]

@RonSwanson Any updates on how yours is shooting?

Between work and the kiddos in school I have not had a chance to take it back out. I just ordered some prime 130gr last week and will hopefully be able to take the rig out this Thursday if nothing else comes up this week.

 

[GBMaryland]

Yeah, I’m having a similar issue. Though with the USG shutdown I may be able to get some trigger time! Let us know how its going!

 

[RonSwanson]

Had a chance to run some Prime ammo through it today. Was pretty pleased with the results. Both of the circled groups are 5 rounds at 100 yards. The group on the right is 5 rounds of 140gr Hornady gunner ammo. Since I’m apparently a sucker for marketing and things that are lightweight, I picked up one of the BSF carbon jacketed barrels. I’ll install in the next few weeks and see how it shoots. The BSF weighs 36.5oz compared to the Dracos at 57oz.

 

[Coyote Kev]

I took mine out again yesterday. I’m at about 320ish rounds out of the barrel.

I managed to get a 0.80 MOA Group out of it, which honestly is by sheer happenstance in my estimation, as everything else looked like a shotgun blast. I have been shooting 105 RDFs. I’m going to try 95gr Sierra TMKs to see if the 9 twist likes them better. If I can’t get it to shoot, it’s going back to Dracos.

My experience has been been similar. Although my 260 isn’t like a shotgun blast. It shoots the first round high and the rest in a nice tight group. The first round is always 1 MOA high. You can set your watch to it. This is with 130 ELDs. Lighter bullets the effect is worse. More like 1.5 to 2 MOA high. Ive tried everything to fix this and I’m out of ideas. As is Dracos. They sent me a new barrel and it does the same thing. I’m wondering if it is inherent to their design.