6.5 Creedmoor

I highlighted what I’m concerned with
 

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Still doesn’t seem to be bad to me from the pics. Definitely be your own judge obviously. I’ve never used that powder so maybe some one else can chime in if that seems to be a normal load or not.
 
I'd say those velocity variations are equal within sample noise, are you using a lab scale or beam to finish the charge to target?

What projectile & barrel lenght? What powder?

If that's "old" winchester brass should be fine, the new stuff seems to be hard but thinner in the body, lot of people getting cracking with low fire count on new stuff but the old ones seem to last a long time. If it's the older brass it may get light ejector prints at reasonable loads, I can see faint ejector marks on my 6br norma brass from about 3 grains under what everyone runs, my velocities line up pretty much exactly with all the 6BR/Accurate shooter load guides too.

Primers look fine. Extraction ok?
 
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I'd say those velocity variations are equal within sample noise, are you using a lab scale or beam to finish the charge to target?

What projectile & barrel lenght? What powder?

If that's "old" winchester brass should be fine, the new stuff seems to be hard but thinner in the body, lot of people getting cracking with low fire count on new stuff but the old ones seem to last a long time. If it's the older brass it may get light ejector prints at reasonable loads, I can see faint ejector marks on my 6br norma brass from about 3 grains under what everyone runs.

Primers look fine. Extraction ok?
Bear in mind that headspace can also be a problem separate from charge weight.
 
22” barrel
Ditch the polymer mags for binder less MDT or accurate AICS. That will allow up to 2.960 mag fed.

As for the load I don't have much to offer. Never loaded Winchester brass or those 142's for the 6.5C. So not sure how Win case capacity compares to Lapua etc.
Anecdotally though Win brass in other calibers I've loaded has pretty hard heads & BR2's I believe have the thicker cup. Or in other words that combo may not show pressure signs as early as say Hornady brass with Federal 210's.

I don't see cratering on the primers, they don't look very flat, & you said bolt lift was normal. All good there.

With 6.5 Staball I haven't been able to achieve as low SD as I can with other powder choices such as H4350, RL16, RL15.5, N555

I don't think you ever told us the speed you got or what rifle/barrel you've got. That is an important piece of the equation.
 
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Last winter I was using some left over Prime brass just to break in my newest 6.5CM build, but I was not happy with the SD numbers. This was with 140 ELDMs and 41.7 gr of H4350, .035” jump for 2,750 fps. SDs was in the teens. Switched to Peterson SRP brass and immediately the SDs dropped like a rock. Last time I chrono’d my SDs with the Peterson brass load was 2.7 fps from a 10-shot string.

Do you recall which SRP you used ?
 
Ditch the polymer mags for binder less MDT or accurate AICS. That will allow up to 2.960 mag fed.

As for the load I don't have much to offer. Never loaded Winchester brass or those 142's for the 6.5C. So not sure how Win case capacity compares to Lapua etc.
Anecdotally though Win brass in other calibers I've loaded has pretty hard heads & BR2's I believe have the thicker cup. Or in other words that combo may not show pressure signs as early as say Hornady brass with Federal 210's.

I don't see cratering on the primers, they don't look very flat, & you said bolt lift was normal. All good there.

With 6.5 Staball I haven't been able to achieve as low SD as I can with other powder choices such as H4350, RL16, RL15.5, N555

I don't think you ever told us the speed you got or what rifle/barrel you've got. That is an important piece of the equation.
42.3gn-2662
41.9-2648
Aero Solus in KRG Brovo
 
I’ve got go/no go gauges I’ll check it out
Since your new I don't want to skip the obvious. It's not just chamber head space. Do you have a comparator to check the shoulder bump on your resized vs shot brass? This is important. You can't just screw the die in till the shell holder is contacting and expect all to be well. .002-.004 shoulder bump is what you want. If the shoulder clearance gets to high about .010+ you'll see false pressure signs from the case head slamming back into the bolt. This is especially true with actions like the Solus that have spring plunger ejectors. Those ejectors push the case forward till the shoulder contacts. Extra or excessive shoulder bump also reduces brass life because the base of the brass stretches out to meet the bolt (big contributing factor to early case head separations).
 
Yes I have a competitor set. They’ve all been bumped back. I believe to 2660 (off memory I’d have to check my notes) I’ve also been using the ogive comparator for overall length as opposed to going tip to butt.
 
Ditch the polymer mags for binder less MDT or accurate AICS. That will allow up to 2.960 mag fed.

As for the load I don't have much to offer. Never loaded Winchester brass or those 142's for the 6.5C. So not sure how Win case capacity compares to Lapua etc.
Anecdotally though Win brass in other calibers I've loaded has pretty hard heads & BR2's I believe have the thicker cup. Or in other words that combo may not show pressure signs as early as say Hornady brass with Federal 210's.

I don't see cratering on the primers, they don't look very flat, & you said bolt lift was normal. All good there.

With 6.5 Staball I haven't been able to achieve as low SD as I can with other powder choices such as H4350, RL16, RL15.5, N555

I don't think you ever told us the speed you got or what rifle/barrel you've got. That is an important piece of the equation.
What kind of modifications do I have to do to the bottom metal?
 
Ditch the polymer mags for binder less MDT or accurate AICS. That will allow up to 2.960 mag fed.

As for the load I don't have much to offer. Never loaded Winchester brass or those 142's for the 6.5C. So not sure how Win case capacity compares to Lapua etc.
Anecdotally though Win brass in other calibers I've loaded has pretty hard heads & BR2's I believe have the thicker cup. Or in other words that combo may not show pressure signs as early as say Hornady brass with Federal 210's.

I don't see cratering on the primers, they don't look very flat, & you said bolt lift was normal. All good there.

With 6.5 Staball I haven't been able to achieve as low SD as I can with other powder choices such as H4350, RL16, RL15.5, N555

I don't think you ever told us the speed you got or what rifle/barrel you've got. That is an important piece of the equation.
Sorry I missed one of your questions (I went back and reread to make sure I had all of the input correct) speed is mid to high 26xx (I don’t have my dope book with me somewhere around 2645 at the slowest and 2685 at the fastest with a sd of like 12.5) 22 inch barrel
 
So until those other mags get here I can test by breach loading. My plan was to start at 2.850 and work my way down. From the comments on my question and those previous it seems that the consensus is to start small and increase coal so as to avoid compressing
 
So until those other mags get here I can test by breach loading. My plan was to start at 2.850 and work my way down. From the comments on my question and those previous it seems that the consensus is to start small and increase coal so as to avoid compressing
I usually see pressure/speed bump when I get under .020 off the lands. I've got 2 Creedmoor's currently. 1 is a SAAMI chambered Rock Creek (PVA) & the other is a hammer forged CIP chamber. The CIP is throated about .080 longer.

I don't have any experience with the Accubond LR. Based on your info (hits lands @2.942), I'd start at 2.920 with 42.0. Then back up from there on seating depth 2.9, 2.88, & maybe 2.860. If those don't shoot, I'd switch bullet or powder. The latter 2 will make a bigger difference. Loading opinions are many and varied. Seams like factory Hornady 140 or 147 ELDM is like the Creedmoor version of FGMM 168. If the gun wont shoot those barrel is suspect.

I'll give you a personal example. I wanted a hunting load so bought luckily only one box of Norma 156 Vulcans. Tried in the Rock barrel (known good barrel) with 2 powders and 3 seating depths. Shot close to 2 moa at best. Then tried those little bastards in the hammer forged barrel. It's very accurate & fast + that's actually the one I'll be hunting with. This time only tried 1 powder and 3 seating depths. More suck & those things have the BC of a school bus anyway.

Switched bullet to Berger 156 EOL first Powder ladder 3rd step was under 1/2 moa & around 5 SD done. That was the same powder that sucked with the vulcan's. I don't need the BC for deer under 300y, but the Bergers were money well spent.
 
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I went with this bullet because this is my new bear rifle. I want a bonded bullet. I also like to play the long game (1k and less). And I do mean play. I don’t compete although one day I wouldn’t mind doing it. Again my primary concern is to build a bullet that is better than shelf ammo that allows me to be decently accurate, while putting down a bear in one shot at 300 yds across a canyon with a wicked cross wind
 
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They are. Thanks for the reply. First time reloading so I am trying to learn.

Be mindful of mag primers as they can spike pressures ,especially if one is loading near top end . So eyeball spent primers carefully for pressure signs if need be . IF in doubt post a few photos and our resident expert panel will advise accordingly :D
 
I have a desire to hit the range for a quick zero this coming week before I head to NC. Then I think about having gun powder residue on my stuff at the airport. LoL. I guess I will need to head to the airport a little earlier muahaha

Won't make a difference at the airport. Always good to head a little earlier when flying with a rifle though.
 
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Won't make a difference at the airport. Always good to head a little earlier when flying with a rifle though.
Actually. They got real interested in my bag for a while and took everything, and I mean everything out of it. Should have seen the confused look (but no questions) when they saw my snares. Took an extra 30 minutes or so. It set off their chemical sniffer thingy. No dog this time. I had time, so I wasn’t worried and they were nice, respectful of my property, so it was all good.
 
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Actually. They got real interested in my bag for a while and took everything, and I mean everything out of it. Should have seen the confused look (but no questions) when they saw my snares. Took an extra 30 minutes or so. It set off their chemical sniffer thingy. No dog this time. I had time, so I wasn’t worried and they were nice, respectful of my property, so it was all good.

Flown many times all over the country and never had that issue. Must be something about your local airport. LOL
 
DFW. Or maybe it was that I don’t go through metal detectors. I have a pacemaker, so I always elect for pat down. They said it failed the sniffer, but I never saw “it” LOL

Maybe that was it as I have flown into and out of DFW for matches and my rifle and gear is definitely not clean after a 2 day match and never an issue.
 
Maybe that was it as I have flown into and out of DFW for matches and my rifle and gear is definitely not clean after a 2 day match and never an issue.
Normally I get no flack when I tell them my reason. This time I got the feeling they just wanted to inconvenience me for not being part of the “herd”. It wasn’t though, I had lots of time and had a nice conversation with them. Oddly I expected problems with the snares (2) but got none. I suspect they had no idea what they were.
A few years back I flew my 85 year old dad up to my brother’s in Washington and they made a huge deal over is money clip that had a 1” nail file. That really pissed me off. That was just stupid, but snares made of steel cable were ok last year. They didn’t even ask what they were.
 
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DFW. Or maybe it was that I don’t go through metal detectors. I have a pacemaker, so I always elect for pat down. They said it failed the sniffer, but I never saw “it” LOL

Maybe it's just ME but I'm super confused as too why it makes any difference now ?. A Veteran , held a DoD security clearance 42 years worked for various aviation companies as well as priority Military contracts sub contractor . Yet :
I mean hell Feds are flying in Non-vetted people near daily and how many have traveled inside our Country as undocumented without valid credentials via our Southern borders !.
Yet they want ME to carry MY Passport ,Star card , CCW and Match current photo with address of residency ,along with showing up 2-3 hr. early .

Makes ME wonder if I'd not be better off stepping over the border and returning anonymously :censored:
 
Switching loads for my 6.5…at a crossroads need some input. 144 vs 153.5 Berger hybrids. Going to be for PRS, 26” barrel, h4350, cci450.
I hear good things about the 144s but I also hear good things about the 153.5 . Can’t decide which to run and don’t have time to shoot a bunch of each.
Anyone have time with each and can say which performs better?
 
Switching loads for my 6.5…at a crossroads need some input. 144 vs 153.5 Berger hybrids. Going to be for PRS, 26” barrel, h4350, cci450.
I hear good things about the 144s but I also hear good things about the 153.5 . Can’t decide which to run and don’t have time to shoot a bunch of each.
Anyone have time with each and can say which performs better?
if your barrel is a 1-8 twist I would use the 140’s/144’s.
 
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I’ve been working up a hunting load that will be accurate at long ranges so that I can use the same load to hunt and play with. I have used 200 bullets thus far developing this load. At 1 dollar a bullet it’s starting to hurt. I have a charge that’s seems decent (my first load I’ve ever tried to develop) I started messing with seating depth did ten rounds (2-5 round groups) of each 2.290,2.288,2.286,2.284,2.282 (ogive measurements) and the beast group may have been under 1 moa (I was getting consistent sub 3/4 with Winchester shelf ammo). So now I feel like I’m back at square one. I am reloading nickel plated shit. I just had 500 pieces of star line come in. I’m pretty tempted to toss everything I’ve tried so far and just start all over. Is this the best move? To me I think so just grumpy about waisting my time and money thus far
 
I’ve been working up a hunting load that will be accurate at long ranges so that I can use the same load to hunt and play with. I have used 200 bullets thus far developing this load. At 1 dollar a bullet it’s starting to hurt. I have a charge that’s seems decent (my first load I’ve ever tried to develop) I started messing with seating depth did ten rounds (2-5 round groups) of each 2.290,2.288,2.286,2.284,2.282 (ogive measurements) and the beast group may have been under 1 moa (I was getting consistent sub 3/4 with Winchester shelf ammo). So now I feel like I’m back at square one. I am reloading nickel plated shit. I just had 500 pieces of star line come in. I’m pretty tempted to toss everything I’ve tried so far and just start all over. Is this the best move? To me I think so just grumpy about waisting my time and money thus far
Sorry. I seem to be confused about who I am replying to about what. *sigh*

Anyway, I would start with your previous solution and work on seating depth to fine tune.
I could go on, but most people do not like what I have to say about the subject. If interested shoot me a message. I can explain a few things re: the reloading world according to Garp, I mean Bruce. Been shooting and reloading since the 70’s and I certainly do not know it all, but I do have lots of experience, good, bad and indifferent.
 
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