Nosler RDF 130 grain for 6.5 Creedmoor

clcustom1911

clcustom1911

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    • Oct 23, 2017
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    In a van, down by the river.
    #1
    Well, here we are, on the general life quest to not suck. During my personal quest, like you, ideas pop into my head and I decide to investigate them to see if they may or may not suck.

    I was investigating the Nosler RDF (Reduced Drag Factor) 130 grain .264" bullet for my 6.5 Creedmoor and couldn't really find a whole lot of info, and what I did find was...meh.... Uneventful.

    It seems to me the 130g .264 bullets don't seem to tickle anyone's fanny. But, like my girlfriend, the 130g bullets do mine because I've been shooting nothing but the 130g Norma Golden Target bullet by way of the Prime 130g 6.5 Creedmoor ammo for a couple years with good success and fun. That's the bullet I'm loading up for my Ruger Precision Rifffle since I scored a box of 500 Norma GT bullets a little while ago, but just starting to load up now that I actually have time (finally finished with my self-inflicted, 2 year career enhancement curriculum of EMT, advanced EMT, Paramedic, PHTLS, and TCCC training).

    Being a full time cop AND going through Paramedic school was a true test of time management skills to put it lightly.

    I digress...

    All that said, I figured I'd just get this particular thread going to document my findings to throw out more information to clog people's brains.

    I'm going to be using the Nosler RDF 130g .264 bullet with:

    -Prime (Norma) 6.5 Creedmoor brass
    -Federal 210M Primers
    -H4350 and Reloder 17 powders because that's what I have on hand.

    My RPR has a Proof Research all stainless 24", M24 profile barrel with an APA Little bastard brake. I haven't really wrung the barrel out yet, but I have every reason to believe it will do 1/2 MOA as long as I don't suck.

    Gonna use the charge data from my Norma GT 130g pills. I might drop the charge 0.4 grains and work up in 0.2g increments to my current load for safety reasons. Remember folks, only YOU can prevent forest fires.

    COAL is negotiable because the ogive is different and the Nosler load data says their test loads were at 2.775" base to tip. Prime ammo, for reference is also 2.77" base to tip. Per Nosler's info and Prime's info, the BC's, both G7 and G1, are a c-hair better in favor of Nosler. We shall see.

    Nosler Pills are in the mail from MidSouth shooters supply as they were on sale for just over $28 for 100.

    Let the quest to not suck begin!!
    Mematic_meme_20180108_032222.png
     
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    #2
    Curious to hear your results, as there have been mixed reports. Also, there has been some question about whether there was a change to bullets since the first lot was run (thicker jacket maybe?) and how that may have affect their performance.

    I just received 500 of them, and intend to load some up with 2000MR to see how that combo performs....
     
    #3
    MarinePMI said:
    Curious to hear your results, as there have been mixed reports. Also, there has been some question about whether there was a change to bullets since the first lot was run (thicker jacket maybe?) and how that may have affect their performance.

    I just received 500 of them, and intend to load some up with 2000MR to see how that combo performs....
    Click to expand...

    I figured there was a reason why they were on clearance or sale. Whatever. I'm sure they'll be plenty accurate for me. I shoot for "minute of plate" accuracy because I know at my level, I'm a 1-2 moa shooter on a good day with light winds LOL! Gotta know limitations of gear and the dummy behind the wheel.
     
    #4
    I used the same components in a very accurate mpa that shoots 140eld factory stuff exceptionally well. Granted, I am not a professional loader, I did what I could and had very good SD, and velocity numbers with dismal groups. 3 shots would be 3/8" and the other two, one would be 1" high and the other 1" right, almost every single time!
     
    #5
    beretta_man11 said:
    I used the same components in a very accurate mpa that shoots 140eld factory stuff exceptionally well. Granted, I am not a professional loader, I did what I could and had very good SD, and velocity numbers with dismal groups. 3 shots would be 3/8" and the other two, one would be 1" high and the other 1" right, almost every single time!
    Click to expand...

    That blows donkey balls.
     
    #6
    The 130 RDF bullets I had just plain suck. Accuracy was non existent in two rifles.
    Many have had similar results, look elsewhere. I cant believe nosler sold this crap!
     
    #8
    Dont waste your time. I tested these extensively in 2 different custom bolt guns that shoot one hole with 130 AR Hybrids, 130 ELD-M, 123 Scenars, 140 Hyrbids and 140 ELD-M's. The 130 RDF's shot like buck shot compared to ALL other bullets tested. I tested them from touching to .1 off lands in .005 increments. HORRIBLE

    I use what I have left to tune gas systems on 6.5cm semis. Hahaha
     
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    #9
    padom said:
    Dont waste your time. I tested these extensively in 2 different custom bolt guns that shoot one hole with 130 AR Hybrids, 130 ELD-M, 123 Scenars, 140 Hyrbids and 140 ELD-M's. The 130 RDF's shot like buck shot compared to ALL other bullets tested. I tested them from touching to .1 off lands in .005 increments. HORRIBLE

    I use what I have left to tune gas systems on 6.5cm semis. Hahaha
    Click to expand...

    Damn. Is Nosler aware of the issues?
     
    #10
    I'm somewhat interested in your results, but really enjoyed your entertaining description.

    That said I can contribute that I was not able to get the 140 gr RDF to group consistently in a .260 Rem. It had moments of greatness but would always through a flyer.

    Oh, and I noticed you have "1911" in your screen name. I'm a recovering 1911 addict so it's probably best for me to stay away.
     
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    #12
    I was swearing the rdf off based on my experience with the 70rdf (I shot 500 testing in every way possible with no good groups being repeatable the following weekend)but I gave the 6mm 105 a chance (18 cents per at shooters pro shop now) and they have been pretty great through two lots now. I say you bought em, give it a chance, you might love them. If not youll get some valuable loading time.
     
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    #13
    spife7980 said:
    I was swearing the rdf off based on my experience with the 70rdf (I shot 500 testing in every way possible with no good groups being repeatable the following weekend)but I gave the 6mm 105 a chance (18 cents per at shooters pro shop now) and they have been pretty great through two lots now. I say you bought em, give it a chance, you might love them. If not youll get some valuable loading time.
    Click to expand...

    Exactly, sir. I only got 200 just to tinker with. I never really buy "large" quantities of bullets for reasons like this. But hey, I'm on a quest to refine my reloading process (not suck) after about a decade of making "equal to or slightly better than factory ammo" .

    I was in the desert with a good friend and his buddy last month. I enjoy shooting long range, but they are truly passionate about it. Friend has a custom action 300WM, Bartlein, Manners, etc, etc.. A Very nice rig.

    After we were doing steel at 450, 700, 1050, 1220... He moved is swinger way out.... I was able to get onto a 15"x30" steel plate at 1685y. The farthest shot in my life. After that, I was like "well, time to actually get my ass in gear and do this regularly. Because that was AWESOMENESS!!"

    Since then, incrementally, I have been changing my process to make everything "more gooder". Got a new barrel for my RPR, etc. Additionally, I became more active on The Hide, and found the crowd here to be of like mind, heart, and soul: red blooded American Patriots who understand, cherish, and if need be, utilize the Second Amendment for what it was originally intended to do: defend against and overthrow an authoritarian government.

    May God bless these unknown, and possibly wonky bullets so that they further my knowledge, training, and experience in pursuit of our beloved American Way.

    Sorry, Too much coffee.
     
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    #14
    ShtrRdy said:
    I'm somewhat interested in your results, but really enjoyed your entertaining description.

    That said I can contribute that I was not able to get the 140 gr RDF to group consistently in a .260 Rem. It had moments of greatness but would always through a flyer.

    Oh, and I noticed you have "1911" in your screen name. I'm a recovering 1911 addict so it's probably best for me to stay away.
    Click to expand...

    The 1911 addiction is real. I had to literally stop myself in my insanity, realize I had a problem, and stop buying and building them from bare frames/slides LOL. Although I did accumulate a shit-ton of knowledge and experience over the last 10 years or so. I have my one Les Baer Thunder Ranch and I am satisfied. My buddies occasionally have an issue I can fix, or little upgrades I do for them here and there. That keeps my addiction at bay, I guess.
     
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    #15
    I ran the 130 rdfs last year in my savage 12fv for prs at 3000 using h4350. I had to jump them about .090 or so possibly a little moreto get them to shoot but once I found the spot I was consistently around .4 moa. I did buy the blems and weight sorted them and have heard of other guys having weight sorted their rdfs that werent blems in order to get rid of the flyers. Overall they treated me well last year so I just bought the 105 rdf to test in my dasher for this season. Hopefully they shoot well.
     
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    #16
    Banango said:
    I ran the 130 rdfs last year in my savage 12fv for prs at 3000 using h4350. I had to jump them about .090 or so possibly a little moreto get them to shoot but once I found the spot I was consistently around .4 moa. I did buy the blems and weight sorted them and have heard of other guys having weight sorted their rdfs that werent blems in order to get rid of the flyers. Overall they treated me well last year so I just bought the 105 rdf to test in my dasher for this season. Hopefully they shoot well.
    Click to expand...

    Great info. What barrel length was your Savage?
     
    #18
    Copy 24". Your info is consistent with other anecdotes I've uncovered about this tricky little bullet. I know we in the long distance shooting world tend to load long and chase lands. So, this jump stuff goes against the grain of the Standard Operating Procedures.
     
    #20
    I have stated in the reloading depot that I shoot a 6.5 Super LR and have switched to these and Peterson SRP brass, when I first got these bullets i loaded H4350 as that is what I was loading for my 140 load. To make a long story short I went through 75 and they did not group at all, I switched to Varget and thngs picked up. I settled on 40.8gr of Varget at 2.815 and in a 22" 1-7 Broughton they will shoot 3/8" and have single digit SD/ES this load is running 2920 suppressed. I have a friend that I gave some to that shoots a 47 and he could not get them to group using Varget so I don't know if it is powder or just some guns donnt like them. They work for me.
     
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    #21
    308Gunner said:
    I have stated in the reloading depot that I shoot a 6.5 Super LR and have switched to these and Peterson SRP brass, when I first got these bullets i loaded H4350 as that is what I was loading for my 140 load. To make a long story short I went through 75 and they did not group at all, I switched to Varget and thngs picked up. I settled on 40.8gr of Varget at 2.815 and in a 22" 1-7 Broughton they will shoot 3/8" and have single digit SD/ES this load is running 2920 suppressed. I have a friend that I gave some to that shoots a 47 and he could not get them to group using Varget so I don't know if it is powder or just some guns donnt like them. They work for me.
    Click to expand...

    Thank you, Sir. That goes along with other info that these like to be pushed at roughly 2900+ for whatever reason.
     
    Last edited:
    #22
    My son and I have had good luck with the Norma 130 Golden Target that Prime uses. They are usually $130-150/500 and they were easy to get to shoot good in my 260 and his 6.5 Creedmoor.
     
    #23
    260284 said:
    My son and I have had good luck with the Norma 130 Golden Target that Prime uses. They are usually $130-150/500 and they were easy to get to shoot good in my 260 and his 6.5 Creedmoor.
    Click to expand...

    Absolutely agree. I have a bunch of those as well. Great bullets. Just kinda hard to come by. Do you have a regular source for them?
     
    #30
    Nosler meplat on left, Norma GT on the right:

    IMG_20190112_1219213.jpg


    Nosler RDF 130 right, Norma GT 130 left. Looks like the bearing surface of the Norma is longer.

    IMG_20190112_1222334.jpg


    Below, Nosler RDF on the right, Norma GT on left. The bearing surface on the Norma is much greater. Thinking aloud: Perhaps with the internal ballistics difference on bearing surface area with the barrel, could that explain why @308pirate would need to push these to 2900+ (120g bullet speed) to get them to group?

    My gears are turning....

    IMG_20190112_1227194.jpg


    Sierra 130 TMK left, Nosler Right.... Similar difference in bearing surface difference (Sierra longer bearing surface) ...

    IMG_20190112_1234367.jpg
     
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    #34
    Someone on here said "RDF" actually stands for "Random Damn Fliers" and I think they're correct!

    The only RDF's I've had decent luck with is the 6mm 105's in my dasher. They're not as accurate as Berger 105 Hybrids but still pretty good-- and for use inside 700Y I'll finish up the box of 500 I have.

    Other than the 6mm 105s, I've had very bad luck with the RDF's and wasted a lot of time and components trying to get them to shoot.

    .224 70 RDF's in 223 & 223AI bolt guns, .223 ARs, and 22BR bolt gun = terrible accuracy
    6.5 130 RDF's in my 6.5 Creedmoor bolt gun and AR10s = terrible accuracy
    6.5 140 RDF's in my 6.5 Creemdoor bolt gun = not horrible, but nowhere near as good as the 140 ELDM

    Their BC looks great on paper and the price is good so I tried my best to get them to shoot-- but they just don't group worth a damn in my experience. The higher BC doesn't do me any good if it won't be able to hit what I'm aiming at.

    Not sure if it's design of the bullets or manufacturing inconsistency, but until they change things I'll spend my money and time elsewhere.
     
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    #35
    I wonder if anyone from Nosler is reading the feedback on these? I've got some 105gr pills to try and have weight sorted them as they vary from 104.9gr to 105.2gr.

    I'd sure as hell like to know if Nosler corrected any issues for the 7mm 1085gr since it hasn't been out as long?
     
    #36
    KWilson said:
    I wonder if anyone from Nosler is reading the feedback on these? I've got some 105gr pills to try and have weight sorted them as they vary from 104.9gr to 105.2gr.

    I'd sure as hell like to know if Nosler corrected any issues for the 7mm 1085gr since it hasn't been out as long?
    Click to expand...

    I notified Nosler of this thread via their customer service email portal. We'll see if they can provide any hints/tips/tricks.
     
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    #37
    clcustom1911 said:
    I notified Nosler of this thread via their customer service email portal. We'll see if they can provide any hints/tips/tricks.
    Click to expand...

    Yeah I sent them a message last night also, expressing my disapointment at the lack of consistency in bullet weight. Length of the bulletsis as consistent as any I have tried, but the weight variation is horrendous for what they deem to be a "match grade" bullet.
     
    #40
    chavezz556 said:
    Nosler says to jump them 60-100 thou.. which is bonkers...

    I got some Nosler 85 grn 224's I'm going to send back to mid south and pick up some 80 eldm's
    Click to expand...

    If it makes them shoot well, why is that bonkers? Seems like a mag length bullet seating depth would be a good thing to me...
     
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    #41
    MarinePMI said:
    If it makes them shoot well, why is that bonkers? Seems like a mag length bullet seating depth would be a good thing to me...
    Click to expand...

    I don't know.. I really don't like Nosler .. their shit is over priced and I've never been wowed by the performance.. so for them to say you have to find a perfect seating depth within a 50 thou window is stupid.. eldm's will smoke this bullet any day and the price is better
     
    #42
    Hmmm...so you admittedly have an axe to grind with Nosler.

    WRT seating depth, I think we all try and find a "perfect seating depth" regardless of the bullet maker.

    WRT pricing, the RDF's cost slightly less than the ELD-M's.

    As to performance, many get stellar performance from them (and yes, I have witnessed others myself, get one hole groups with some of the RDF bullets).

    All of this leads me to suspect your opinion is largely based on gut/emotion rather than facts.

    Shrug...if that's the way you wanna roll, hey, by all means, roll on brother.

    But it seems pretty blatant when reading your post where your opinion comes from, and well, doesn't exactly reflect well on factual reasoning. No flame intended, just pointing out your post seems very personally biased.
     
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    #43
    chavezz556 said:
    I don't know.. I really don't like Nosler .. their shit is over priced and I've never been wowed by the performance.. so for them to say you have to find a perfect seating depth within a 50 thou window is stupid.. eldm's will smoke this bullet any day and the price is better
    Click to expand...

    And that's definitely your choice to use whatever bullet you want. I chose this bullet mainly because there wasn't much info on it and wanted to try it out myself and post my testing, ranting, and results.
     
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    #44
    So, here I am, trying to not suck ?. @308Gunner dropped a ninja star of information reference the use of Varget with these RDF's. This aforementioned ninja star stuck in the back of my brain. I knew there was more to find, but didn't really realize the information was right in front of me (metaphorically speaking) here on the Hide.

    @TresMon detailed the importance of having uniform/consistent bearing surface in his outstanding thread about bullet sorting:

    https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/threads/hand-loading-for-long-range-2-bullet-sort-prep.34360/

    In the thread is says this nugget of gold about bearing surface:

    " But if a bullet shows up with .490” bearing surface, - .010” (10 thousandth’s) short of standard We know it will not have as much surface rubbing the bore, which will not cause as much pressure build up so that bullet will achieve a lower muzzle velocity and it will impact low. Ah ha! Now we are learning."

    If you haven't read it, please do even if you have no intention of getting "that anal" about reloading. Knowledge is power.

    That above nugget, to me, means with the reduced surface bearing area of the Nosler RDF as compared to my Norma and Sierra 130's, this bullet will have less friction inside the barrel, therfore, maybe, possibly, potentially.... This particular bullet "likes" powders which are a tid bit quicker burning like Reloder 15 or Varget as compared to the slightly slower burning H4350 and Reloder 17.

    Nosler's data states RE 15 was the "most accurate" powder tested and this goes along with my covfefe brain:

    Screenshot_20190115-093605.png


    Yes, I know.....I'm about to charge my battery.
     
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    #46
    Interesting nugget. As mentioned previously, I was using 2000MR (slightly slower than Varget or RL-15) in .223 with the 70gr RDF's and saw some promising accuracy. Especially considering the general experience by this community with that bullet.

    The whole Hybrid bullet design has always left me suspect that where the secant ogive intersects with the tangent ogive is driven by a specific cartridge (or family of cartridges) the bullet is intended to be loaded. Meaning that , where that transition occurs is likely driven by the expected loaded (COAL) length of the bullet. I mean, that's the whole point of a hybrid bullet; the forgiving secant ogive for accuracy, and the tangent ogive for the increased BC. All in a bullet that can be loaded at mag length.

    It just seems to my knuckle dragging brain, that seating depth has a LOT more affect on hybrid bullet designs than typical secant ogive designed bullets. But then again, not as finicky as the tangent designed ones that often required a long COAL to hit the sweet spot.
     
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