Factory ammunition recommendations for 6.5 cm.

[Ks new guy]

Getting started in long range target shooting. Reloading not an option for me at this time and looking for factory ammo for shooting steel 800-1500 yds.
Spending time behind the scope with Hornady American gunner to get comfortable with rifle at targets out to 500 but have been told by several people that round will lose consistency beyond that. Any help appreciated

 

[wade2big]

And those people are full of crap. You have the rifle and you have the ammo. Why not experience life for yourself and report back.

 

[Ks new guy]

Would agree that sometimes there's advice that's not always correct. Just wanting to put things in my favor as far as ammo. Trying to take as many variables out of the equation as I can. (Besides the guy behind the scope!)
Doubt I'm the only beginner not hand loading and wondering what works for other shooters

 

[wade2big]

Would agree that sometimes there's advice that's not always correct. Just wanting to put things in my favor as far as ammo. Trying to take as many variables out of the equation as I can. (Besides the guy behind the scope!)
Doubt I'm the only beginner not hand loading and wondering what works for other shooters

You are probably gonna get a lot of replies in this thread with guys posting chrono numbers. Pretty useless stuff. The only way to really know is to experiment yourself. The same load in different rifles can have very different results.

 

[Dthomas3523]

Do you have a chrono? I so, and it runs with a decent SD/ES and it groups well, then it will do fine at further distances. If the sd/es is pretty high, you’ll run into consistency problems the further you go.

So, if one round runs our barrel say at 2650, your dope at 1k will be 9.3 (example. It’s environmentally specific) at 1,000. If the next round runs 2690, it will be 9.6.

Depending on target size, that can be a miss.

Then skill level takes over. Are you confident enough in your fundamentals that you know you made a good trigger press and it was likely the velocity that ran you high/low?

Or are you going to be wondering if it was you or the ammo that caused the error?

 

[1911hombre]

American Gunner is your friend. Consistent in my RPR at 1000 yards. The 140 AG is just as consistent in my RPR as the 140 ELD Match, albeit different dope.

 

[Big Bo]

Idiots spew. Reminds me of the guy that said he shot a deer at 1000 yds. I asked what his holdover was? It shoots flat, I just hold dead on he said. I walked away.

 

[canezach]

Run the American Gunner over the chrono and see how it does. If it's giving you an SD in the 20s and an ES in the 40s, look at the factory stuff from Hornady, Prime, and Berger. The Berger stuff shoots VERY well and it's loaded in Lapua brass, so since I'm assuming you don't reload, you can sell the brass off rather quickly to lower your costs a bit.

 

[supraguy88t]

Hornady American Gunner aka Hornady Black 140gr out of my factory RPR was very consistent up to 1500yds. 1600 was a no go for me but the Hornady Match 147Gr got me to 1600yds consistently. At $1 a round for the American Gunner/Black try it out.

 

[whatsupdoc]

American Gunner 6.5 Creed through a 25" Krieger. Four 5 shot crono results.
Draw your own conclusion.


Stats - Average 2700.19 fps
Stats - Highest 2712.58 fps
Stats - Lowest 2668.81 fps
Stats - Ext. Spread 43.77 fps
Stats - Std. Dev 17.77 fps

Stats - Average 2690.4 fps
Stats - Highest 2703.03 fps
Stats - Lowest 2671.35 fps
Stats - Ext. Spread 31.68 fps
Stats - Std. Dev 16.79 fps

Stats - Average 2710.69 fps
Stats - Highest 2731.51 fps
Stats - Lowest 2669.72 fps
Stats - Ext. Spread 61.78 fps
Stats - Std. Dev 35.48 fps


Stats - Average 2708.24 fps
Stats - Highest 2731.45 fps
Stats - Lowest 2693.03 fps
Stats - Ext. Spread 38.42 fps
Stats - Std. Dev 14.91 fps

 

[1911hombre]

I am new at this long range game, but have been shooting all my life. No Chrono, no Kestrel, but I am a member at a super-nice range about ten minutes from my house. We have four of these electronic target gizmos. According to the microphones my 140 AG had an ES of 17.2 on this group. I also do not reload; have no time in my life for puttering. Wish I did. In any event I feel the American Gunner is a solid value and works for me in my everyday shooting (usually alone, usually on steel.) Best cheap 6.5 ammo that I can not get frustrated over. This idiot has spewed.

Gopher

• 1911hombre
• Nov 22, 2019

 

[mrtoyz]

Berger all day long. My SD is 10.
started with Hornady then Prime now Berger.

 

[FCS]

View attachment 7109089

McCourt’s 6.5CM 140gr VLD’s. 100degF traveling at 2895fps. Height 1.8”, Width 1.45”

Berger is hard to beat for factory ammo.
Might find a place that will manufacture your fired brass with a load that is optimized to your rifle.

 

[TxWelder35]

Run the American Gunner over the chrono and see how it does. If it's giving you an SD in the 20s and an ES in the 40s, look at the factory stuff from Hornady, Prime, and Berger. The Berger stuff shoots VERY well and it's loaded in Lapua brass, so since I'm assuming you don't reload, you can sell the brass off rather quickly to lower your costs a bit.

X2

 

[Kickin45]

I actually like the S&B 140’s. Haven’t taken them past 600, but they do as well as Hornady ELD. Different dope of course

 

[Ks new guy]

Do you have a chrono? I so, and it runs with a decent SD/ES and it groups well, then it will do fine at further distances. If the sd/es is pretty high, you’ll run into consistency problems the further you go.

So, if one round runs our barrel say at 2650, your dope at 1k will be 9.3 (example. It’s environmentally specific) at 1,000. If the next round runs 2690, it will be 9.6.

Depending on target size, that can be a miss.

Then skill level takes over. Are you confident enough in your fundamentals that you know you made a good trigger press and it was likely the velocity that ran you high/low?

Or are you going to be wondering if it was you or the ammo that caused the error?

Advantage of AG ammo is reasonable price. Has let me spend some time behind the scope without breaking the bank. Can tell the good shots from the bad but admit they're not all good . Recognize the shots that aren't. 1st to admit there's room for improvement.
Have access to chrono but on limited basis. Unusual work schedule makes that an issue but will just have to figure out a way to get it done

 

[tate1976]

Check out prime Ammo. Great stuff. Very consistent

 

[Healy]

Still shooting the 130grain Berger FGMM, using federals ballistics calculator Friday at 425 I made a cold bore center mass hit it couldn’t have been any better. That’s not really a far shot but I stacked the next 2 right on top. For factory ammo I’m pretty happy.

 

[Ks new guy]

Still shooting the 130grain Berger FGMM, using federals ballistics calculator Friday at 425 I made a cold bore center mass hit it couldn’t have been any better. That’s not really a far shot but I stacked the next 2 right on top. For factory ammo I’m pretty happy.

Appreciate a direct answer to my question. Thanks.

 

[Ks new guy]

Check out prime Ammo. Great stuff. Very consistent

Appreciate your. Help. Just trying to see what works for others shooting factory ammo

 

[leftyk82]

35 rounds of Berger factory; 140g Hybrid variety.

8.5 mils to 1000 yards in 800 DA

 

[Ks new guy]

American Gunner is your friend. Consistent in my RPR at 1000 yards. The 140 AG is just as consistent in my RPR as the 140 ELD Match, albeit different dope.

American Gunner 6.5 Creed through a 25" Krieger. Four 5 shot crono results.
Draw your own conclusion.


Stats - Average 2700.19 fps
Stats - Highest 2712.58 fps
Stats - Lowest 2668.81 fps
Stats - Ext. Spread 43.77 fps
Stats - Std. Dev 17.77 fps

Stats - Average 2690.4 fps
Stats - Highest 2703.03 fps
Stats - Lowest 2671.35 fps
Stats - Ext. Spread 31.68 fps
Stats - Std. Dev 16.79 fps

Stats - Average 2710.69 fps
Stats - Highest 2731.51 fps
Stats - Lowest 2669.72 fps
Stats - Ext. Spread 61.78 fps
Stats - Std. Dev 35.48 fps


Stats - Average 2708.24 fps
Stats - Highest 2731.45 fps
Stats - Lowest 2693.03 fps
Stats - Ext. Spread 38.42 fps
Stats

I am new at this long range game, but have been shooting all my life. No Chrono, no Kestrel, but I am a member at a super-nice range about ten minutes from my house. We have four of these electronic target gizmos. According to the microphones my 140 AG had an ES of 17.2 on this group. I also do not reload; have no time in my life for puttering. Wish I did. In any event I feel the American Gunner is a solid value and works for me in my everyday shooting (usually alone, usually on steel.) Best cheap 6.5 ammo that I can not get frustrated over. This idiot has spewed.

Gopher

• 1911hombre
• Nov 22, 2019

Appreciate your response in spite of the fact that narrow minded people now are self declared experts and qualified to ridicule people just trying to help out. Seems some were born expert long range shooters and were never a beginner!

 

[1911hombre]

I actually like the S&B 140’s. Haven’t taken them past 600, but they do as well as Hornady ELD. Different dope of course

I have been tempted to try these as well. Sam Gabbert has these for a good price!

 

[kenny1773]

You need to try different ammo in your gun

I have one gun that loves FGMM 140 SMK ammo and hates Hornady 140gr ELD
and a second gun that is the opposite, it loves the Hornady ELD and hates the FGMM

 

[Ks new guy]

Understand most rifle's like some ammo better than others. More piece's to the puzzle!

 

[Racer88]

Yep... gotta see what works. I've tried many different factory ammo in my RPR 6.5CM. In the end, they ALL worked pretty well, if I did my part. Some just work better than others. The three best performers for me (in no particular order):

Federal Gold Medal Match Berger Hybrid 130-gr
Hornady ELD-M 140-gr
Berger Target Hybrid 140-gr

When I first tried the Hornady Black / American Gunner, I got some remarkably good groups. I was jazzed! But, then... not so much. Seems inconsistent "in my hands."

 

[Mortalpawn]

The Hornady ELD 140 grain match is great factory ammo. We had 7 of us in a long range course for 7 days shooting this stuff every day with most targets from 400-1000 yards and I never felt limited by the gun or ammo. Most misses were either errors ranging the target or errors calling the wind (which is the hardest part). We still had plenty of first round hits, with many over 900 yards away.

Whether the gun shot 1" groups or 0.5" groups at 100 yards really did not matter once we started shooting unknown range targets (we milled them the old fashioned way) in real wind. If you could make the right wind and range call you were very likely going to hit, otherwise you miss.

 

[Ks new guy]

The Hornady ELD 140 grain match is great factory ammo. We had 7 of us in a long range course for 7 days shooting this stuff every day with most targets from 400-1000 yards and I never felt limited by the gun or ammo. Most misses were either errors ranging the target or errors calling the wind (which is the hardest part). We still had plenty of first round hits, with many over 900 yards away.

Whether the gun shot 1" groups or 0.5" groups at 100 yards really did not matter once we started shooting unknown range targets (we milled them the old fashioned way) in real wind. If you could make the right wind and range call you were very likely going to hit, otherwise you miss.

Thanks. Appreciate that type of input. Just trying to find out what works for other shooters

 

[Steel head]

Getting started in long range target shooting. Reloading not an option for me at this time and looking for factory ammo for shooting steel 800-1500 yds.
Spending time behind the scope with Hornady American gunner to get comfortable with rifle at targets out to 500 but have been told by several people that round will lose consistency beyond that. Any help appreciated

I’ve shot the Hornandy 147 ELD load numerous times from 1100 yards to just past a mile.
It did quite well.
Vertical dispersion was not all that bad.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

I just recently replaced my Chrony, which had been O/O service for quite a few years. When I bring it up and run it, I'll only be using it to confirm handload muzzle velocities for trajectory computations.

The only true indicator of the right(er?) load will be the target.

Good ammunition, factory or handloaded, will provide a consistently smaller band of velocity deviations. That can be useful, BUT only if that velocity corresponds to the barrel harmonic accuracy nodes that your particular barrel exhibits. It can be the most consistent stuff available, but if the barrel harmonics don't correspond, you'll be seeing more dispersion than if they did.

Factory ammo is concocted so it matches the more/most common barrel harmonic accuracy nodes. If that's your barrel, you're in like Flynn. If not, try other factory loads, and accept the one that shoots best. If there is more than one, consider cost.

Yes, that's right; the barrel may be the wrong thing, not the ammunition. When you select a barrel, have a very good reason for departing from the accepted norms. They all shoot well with the proper loads, but finding those loads can be Hell's own little gift to the handloader.

Not handloading is no shame. In truth, handloaders do the same comparisons, often even including factory loads in that mix. The special place only they can go is into those load choices that the factories do not favor with an offering.

Just consider that there may be very good reasons why they don't. Safety is one.

Greg

 

[Darkside-Six]

Try some of the Berger 140 Hybrids. Hands down the best factory ammo that I have personally ever shot.

 

[Jimgal62]

Try some of the Berger 140 Hybrids. Hands down the best factory ammo that I have personally ever shot.

Totally accurate statement.