New from Illinois

TCreedmoor

Captain
Full Member
Minuteman
Jul 22, 2022
1,155
5,495
Illinois
Hello everyone,
I'm a reasonably new shooter from the NW suburbs of Chicago. I purchased a 6.5 APO Savage 10 6.5 Creedmoor last summer and started reloading this Spring. My first reloads were with IMR 4350 and StaBall 6.5 using Hornady 140 gr ELD-Match bullets. After a whole batch with a COAL of 2.800" like the factory ammo, I started playing with the seating depth. Following Eric Cortina's advice, I measured the lands at 2.847", subtracted 0.020" (2.827") and then down in 0.003" increments. I love the RCBS MatchMaster seater die for those precision adjustments.
  • IMR 4350 did really well with 41.1 grains and a COAL of 2.824".
  • I recently found a few pounds of Hodgdon 4350 online. My rifle seems to really like either 40.5 or 41.0 gr of that and a COAL of 2.821".

With the 24" barrel, my muzzle velocities seem to be higher than the H4350 published values in the reloading guides. (measured with a MagnetoSpeed V3)

40.5 grains: Ave = 2749 ft/sec; Max = 2776, Min=2727, SD=13.8​
41.0 grains: Ave = 2770 ft/sec; Max = 2792, Min=2744, SD=14.5​

Most of my shooting has been 5-shot groups at 100 yards, with a few rounds at the range's 200 yard max near the end of the day. My next range trip will include far more rounds at 200 yards since I've found a sweet spot of powder and seating depth.

I've been following several long distance rifle and reloading YouTube channels including Eric Cortina, Ultimate Reloader, Backfire and GunBlue490.
 
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