Some observations on the Hornady 140gr ELD Match and 147gr ELD Match (6.5 Creedmoor)

[pugnado]

Recently I sent away some once-fired brass to Hornady so they could make me a case for their OAL tool.

Now I've finally been able to measure the distance to the lands in my rifle's barrel for any given bullet. (Proof Research AR-10 22")

When I use a 140gr Hornady ELD Match bullet, the distance to the lands, from base to ojive is 2.262"
Subtract .030" from that for a little jump, 2.232", the OAL of the 140gr cartridge is 2.85" and fits just under the limit of an ASC magazine, but won't fit in MagPul.

When I use a 147gr Hornady ELD Match bullet, the distance to the lands, from base to ojive is 2.29"
Subtract .030" from that for a little jump, 2.26", the OAL of the 147gr cartridge is 2.904 and that is too big for any magazine.

So, even though the G1 ballistic coefficient of the 147gr projectile is superior to the 140gr (.697 vs .646) , I am thinking that I will have better accuracy from the 140gr projectile in an ASC mag which allows an OAL to 2.864" because the 140gr can be loaded closer to the lands in my rifle than the 147gr can and still feed properly.

That being said, I made 50 rounds of 147gr @ 2.8" with powder charges for 5 velocities and 50 rounds of 140gr at 2.85" with powder charges for the same velocities.

I've got a chronograph on order and when that arrives I'll be able to collect some data and have target results.

Obviously a bolt action rifle / magazine will probably have more space and in that case the 147gr is probably the better choice.

I have not measured any of the 143gr bullets or the -X hunting loads yet.

Thoughts?

 

[Bradu]

You can either remove the plate in the aics mags or but mags without the plate in it from Accurate.

 

[CavReconScout]

Just load them 147s to mag length (mine are 2.860) and go shoot tiny groups. In my experience they are very jump tolerant.

 

[bfglowkey]

When load developing remember that seating depth is a tuning option not necessarily needed every time. Some bullets are very jump tolerant. I am lucky that I was turned on to an aftermarket acis mag that allows COAL for my RPR of up to 2.914. But regardless I would first see how both shoot mag length....find a node and then if you suspect greater potential then mess with seating depth.
Everyone has thier order of how they develop, I tend to mess with seating depth last if at all. Otherwise I keep it simple and see what my rifle tells me.

 

[CanSniper]

147s will jump.

 

[Supersubes]

Way too much emphasis is put on bullets loaded close to the lands. Load them up and shoot them. Let the target tell you what’s going on.

 

[Rob01]

Factory length at 2.800" with both 140 and 147 ELDs shoot great in my rifles. Don't stress the jump too much. Load so they fit in the mag and go shoot them.

 

[Rick7353]

Recently I sent away some once-fired brass to Hornady so they could make me a case for their OAL tool.

Now I've finally been able to measure the distance to the lands in my rifle's barrel for any given bullet. (Proof Research AR-10 22")

When I use a 140gr Hornady ELD Match bullet, the distance to the lands, from base to ojive is 2.262"
Subtract .030" from that for a little jump, 2.232", the OAL of the 140gr cartridge is 2.85" and fits just under the limit of an ASC magazine, but won't fit in MagPul.

When I use a 147gr Hornady ELD Match bullet, the distance to the lands, from base to ojive is 2.29"
Subtract .030" from that for a little jump, 2.26", the OAL of the 147gr cartridge is 2.904 and that is too big for any magazine.

So, even though the G1 ballistic coefficient of the 147gr projectile is superior to the 140gr (.697 vs .646) , I am thinking that I will have better accuracy from the 140gr projectile in an ASC mag which allows an OAL to 2.864" because the 140gr can be loaded closer to the lands in my rifle than the 147gr can and still feed properly.

That being said, I made 50 rounds of 147gr @ 2.8" with powder charges for 5 velocities and 50 rounds of 140gr at 2.85" with powder charges for the same velocities.

I've got a chronograph on order and when that arrives I'll be able to collect some data and have target results.

Obviously a bolt action rifle / magazine will probably have more space and in that case the 147gr is probably the better choice.

I have not measured any of the 143gr bullets or the -X hunting loads yet.

Thoughts?

I have a savage 12 varmint 26 in bbl. I shoot both the 140 ELD M and the 147ELDM. I have an extremely long chamber and Found the length on the 147''s like COAL of 2.873 in .in a chamber that's 2.890 . I have a Bell and Carlson A5 stock and when I was instalking the internal mag it kept popping out. So, I took a washer and drove it in front of the mag which gave me extra room. I have shot 4895, BL C (2), and 100 v. I got good groups with all but really like the 100V at 39 grains. I guess wags long as you measure for each round you can go from there is start at .020 off lands.

 

[Rob01]

I have a savage 12 varmint 26 in bbl. I shoot both the 140 ELD M and the 147ELDM. I have an extremely long chamber and Found the length on the 147''s like COAL of 2.873 in .in a chamber that's 2.890 . I have a Bell and Carlson A5 stock and when I was instalking the internal mag it kept popping out. So, I took a washer and drove it in front of the mag which gave me extra room. I have shot 4895, BL C (2), and 100 v. I got good groups with all but really like the 100V at 39 grains. I guess wags long as you measure for each round you can go from there is start at .020 off lands.

The 2.890" length is what it should be for the SAAMI Spec .199 freebore chamber. I loaded to .020" off at 2.870" as well and it shot great but moved it to 2.860" to give a little more room in mag and it shot the same. But like I said above the factory ammo shot great at that length too.

 

[pugnado]

Got to shoot my first-ever reloads today!

None of them blew up in my chamber and my face / fingers are all still attached.

Such a good feeling!

140g:
The Hornady 140g loaded to 2.85 OAL" and shot from the ASC mag was not happy at all.
At least four failure to feeds (stuck like this / ) between the mag and chamber out of the lot of 50.
The ones that chambered properly were great, best S-D of the day was about 10.1 @ 2576 fps.
Got my best group about 1 MOA or slightly less at 2705fps. (S-D 16.0) which was the highest recorded velocity of the day.
This rivals what I've been able to do with factory ammo. Too bad it doesn't always feed properly in that configuration.
I'm definitely going to experiment with this load at 2.8" OAL in the MagPul mags.

147g:
The 147g loaded to 2.8" OAL and shot from the MagPul mags never had a failure to feed or chamber.
The best S-D from those was 10.8 @ 2518 fps, but the group sucked, could have just been me, or a hot barrel stringing them since these were some of the last loads of the day. Not bad but total group size > 1 MOA. I need to revisit some of these loads on a colder barrel.

There were no signs of overpressure on the brass or primers, no cratering, no flattening.

This was with Hornady Handbook published loads for RL17 and 140g/147g. I think I can go higher.
RL17 was very consistent and linear giving me about 64.9 fps per grain for the 140 and 64.5 fps per grain for the 147g.

I'd like to make more of the 147g loaded for 2700fps with 41+ grains, but I'm almost out of my 1 pound bottle now, which sucks.
Lesson learned, order 8 pound powder jugs from the same lot to make the hazmat fee sting less.

The Magnetospeed hanging off the end of the barrel definitely shifted the point of impact quite a bit in elevation and windage and I could not get good groups with it on there. For each load, I shot 5 to get an average speed, SD, ES, min, max and then 5 without it to get the group.

 

[918v]

Recently I sent away some once-fired brass to Hornady so they could make me a case for their OAL tool.

Now I've finally been able to measure the distance to the lands in my rifle's barrel for any given bullet. (Proof Research AR-10 22")

When I use a 140gr Hornady ELD Match bullet, the distance to the lands, from base to ojive is 2.262"
Subtract .030" from that for a little jump, 2.232", the OAL of the 140gr cartridge is 2.85" and fits just under the limit of an ASC magazine, but won't fit in MagPul.

When I use a 147gr Hornady ELD Match bullet, the distance to the lands, from base to ojive is 2.29"
Subtract .030" from that for a little jump, 2.26", the OAL of the 147gr cartridge is 2.904 and that is too big for any magazine.

So, even though the G1 ballistic coefficient of the 147gr projectile is superior to the 140gr (.697 vs .646) , I am thinking that I will have better accuracy from the 140gr projectile in an ASC mag which allows an OAL to 2.864" because the 140gr can be loaded closer to the lands in my rifle than the 147gr can and still feed properly.

That being said, I made 50 rounds of 147gr @ 2.8" with powder charges for 5 velocities and 50 rounds of 140gr at 2.85" with powder charges for the same velocities.

I've got a chronograph on order and when that arrives I'll be able to collect some data and have target results.

Obviously a bolt action rifle / magazine will probably have more space and in that case the 147gr is probably the better choice.

I have not measured any of the 143gr bullets or the -X hunting loads yet.

Thoughts?

Your assumption that a bullet seated closer to the lands is going to be more accurate is inaccurate.

 

[rockywlw]

Way too much emphasis is put on bullets loaded close to the lands. Load them up and shoot them. Let the target tell you what’s going on.

This I have found to be very true, my 6.5 with 140 ELDs like .030 off the lands. The closer I went the wider the groups went. Funny thing is .040 the groups again opened up so .030 it is. My 22-250 is the same way, it hates being close to the lands.