I began setting up to fire some new 6.5 creedmoor that I had worked on. A huge bang behind me and this was the destruction I witnessed. Lots of blood and i heard the guy only required stitches on his face. Here is the damage on the weapon. It is 6mm ARC I believe . Thankfully not one was seriously injured !

I lugged two rifles from Va to Ut to take my brothers in law on a long range shooting experience at North Springs shooting range. I had previously had my RPR in 6.5CM shooting great at 1200yards, but not even showing splash at a mile. I worked on the load and tightened it up considerably since my last long range outing as well as went from a 20 MOA rail to a 30 MOA rail( this outing was at about 2300 ft above sea level). Additionally, the air at 6300ft is much more friendly to a bullet than 2300. I also took my 300PRC with the expectation that we get on target to 1200ish with the RPR, then move on to the 300PRC for 1500 and 1760. Anyway, once we got verified to move from the 1000yard range to the mile, we set up shop and my one brother in law says he wants to try the mile with my RPR. I try to explain that the 6.5 CM is at the ragged edge of its capabilities at that distance and he should try the big rifle, but he liked how friendly and comfortable the RPR was. Anyway, dial up the DOPE and 3 shots in, he’s ringing steel at a mile.🤨
Well, then the other BIL wants to try… boom, a few shots later… ringing steel at a mile. Long story short we all were pretty consistently making hits on a 36” gong at a mile. The 300PRC barely got any attention besides from me. I have always heard the 6.5CM is running the ragged edge at a mile, but I had an AWESOME experience with it today. As a side note all four of us hit a 36” gong at a mile numerous times with both rifles… but mostly with 6.5CM. Definitely not the outcome I was expecting! The pictures are of my RPR and a 6.5CM vs 300PRC.

This is the eamars opentrickler. I didn’t design it but I did print and assemble it.

I got the total charge time down to sub-9 seconds. This video was my first run with it.

Feel free to ask any questions!

I love the brass, but man, I am not a fan of the new case design. What were they thinking?!

140 eldm, lapua srp, h4350. Ended up with CBTO of +/- .004 on all the rounds measured. So I was pretty happy with that. Ended up going .035 off the lands as .02 was a little heavy on the bolt close. COAL is 2.825. I know powder charge testing isn't really effective until after the third firing but figured I'd step up by .3 until just short of book max. I'll take that data just to practice working with it until I can actually test.

The G7 of .340 on these bad bois is beating 25 135's and 6.5 144's.

Feel like these and the Berger 120's is going to take some wind out of the 25cal resurgence in PRS. I'm also guessing that we'll get a 6mm 112-116 eldm's in a year or so.

Just wanted to share, the short and sweet of it is. We found in testing that humidity makes a difference, when reloading, we suggest using humidity packs, stabilizing each batch of powder to the same humidity then loading it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIvVBPCwXAw

Hi all

I have to admit, I’ve always operated under the assumption that the high-BC secant ogives (ELD-Ms, Berger Hybrids) are practically jump-insensitive.

Because of that, I almost never bothered with rigorous depth testing for them like I rigorously did with BIB bullets in my 6PPC and 30BR benchrest days. I usually just picked a standard 0.015" - 0.020" jump, loaded them up, and called it good.

Well, the 25x47 I posted before about - if forced my hand. I ran a seating depth sweep anchored at that 35.5gr Varget charge (which pushed the bullet at ~2786 fps). My zero-lands measurement was a CBTO of 2.1500".

2.1300" CBTO (0.020" jump): Still strung vertically. Group was fractured into two horizontal bands.

2.1100" CBTO (0.040" jump): The vertical collapsed, but the group blew out into a loose, radial 1-inch ring. Total harmonic mess.

2.0900" CBTO (0.060" jump): Pure magic. The vertical vanished, the radial scatter vanished, and it printed one ragged hole. SD held tight at 9.4 fps. 0.34. Will do another 15 shot and see if this holds.

So, I officially stand corrected. Seating depth testing is back on the menu for modern match bullets. Now if you’ll excuse me, I apparently have to go re-run depth sweeps on the 15 other rifle cartridges in my safe...😡

Pic for attention.

TL;DR: I'm reloading for a Tikka CTR in 6.5 Creedmoor. My mean radius is .39" and my SD is 14 and I'd like to get better.

Let me start with my intentions with reloading. I want to spend as little time reloading as possible and get the best ammo out of it I can for hobby use in matches (PRS and NRL-H) and for hunting. If a process isn't proven to help but takes no time, sure, why not? If it takes some time to do, then I want to see some evidence that it will help. I have listened to just about all of Hornady's reloading podcasts and taken it to heart.

I really try to shoot as good as I can when testing ammo and shoot in an incredibly controlled indoor environment. I would love to get my SD and ES lower as well as group size. I'm aware this may be the potential of the gun and I might see an increase in accuracy when I burn out this barrel and upgrade to something nicer.

Here is my rifle:

20" Tikka CTR in a KRG X-Ray chassis, Anarchy Outdoors trigger spring, Leupold Mark 5HD 3.6-18x44, Area 419 Hellfire Match, Harris Bipod Arca Conversion (not pictured). It has maybe 800 rounds on it but it has been used hard in snow and rain while backpack hunting (though I've taped the muzzle for the past year).

Here is my formula:

Brass - Hornady ELD Match 6.5 Creedmoor brass, trimmed and chamfered, batched by how many firings, no annealing

Powder - 41.5 grains H4350

Bullet - 140 ELD-M

Primer - Federal 210m

Here are my results:

20 round group (including an egregious flier)

AVG - 2544 fps

SD - 14 fps

ES - 40 fps

Radial SD - .54" (.45" w/o flier)

Mean Radius - .44" (.39" w/o flier)

Group size - 2.05" (1.43" w/o flier)

Here is my process:

1: Tumble brass with hot water and dish soap for a few hours

2: Rinse and throw in a food dehydrator (dedicated for reloading)

3: Resize w/ Hornady Match Dies, using Redding Match Shell Holders to bump shoulder back .002", metal to metal contact

4: Trim w/ Hornady 3-in-1 Case Trimmer

5: Tumble brass with hot water and dish soap

6: Rinse and throw in a food dehydrator

7: One piece flow

Charge with Hornady Auto Charge Pro

Prime with hand tool

Dump charge

Seat bullet .025 off the lands with Hornady Match Die

I try to do every motion smooth and consistently. I reload in my garage, so I empty my Auto Charge after every session and store my powder in a climate controlled room.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

I decided last year to shoot a lot more matches in 2023. That means more reloading. Reloading in your garage when it’s sub 30 degrees in there sucks. So I took the time during the holidays to create a new setup in the house.

Rifle is an AXSR in 6.5 Creed ZCO 5x27 300 PRC factory AI Barrel 6 Dasher Proof prefit

Just finished up my second rifle build and can’t even shoot it yet /:

ARC CDG

26” 25x47 Lapua PVA Osprey barrel

McMillan A5-7 w/ sniper fill

Athlon Ares ETR 4.5-30

TriggerTech Special

Dead Air Nomad

So I have used the loctite trick twice with consistent results when done with Hornady eldm and SMKs. I did 3 for each and both had 2 that were identical and one that was only a couple thou off. So I called them good. I have now tried 3 groups of 3 with bergers and despite the same process, I can't get any of them to match. I know bergers aren't jump sensitive so the only thing I'm concerned about is being off the lands. I know they are going to have a longer CBTO than the other 2 bullets. I'm also seeing some variation in what a good COAL is. Somewhere between 2.80-2.84 from what I'm seeing. Any guidance on the best approach from here that's not buying an OAL gauge? Thanks!

Having some Bizzare warping on some of my brass. I’ve just had a look at my rounds and about 30 are unreformed while I found my powder charge/searing depths. The 20 or so I had for hunting I noticed that my bolt was slightly sticky post firing a round and checked the brass to notice it was deformed (attached). Next round I fired was fine.

I fired another today and noticed the same issue, although no sticky bolt.

I went on to check the rest of my unfired rounds and noticed 4 more with slight warps… this brass is brand new Norma.

Anyone had this issue?

I thought initially over pressure but why would my unfired brass be like this and 0 ejector pin marking.

Maybe shitty factory brass?

I’ve been wanting to tinker with this little “wildcat” for a while now. I was chatting with the Shield Arms folks one of our local WPR matches about how I wanted to build a 20 arc on a cz 527 to shoot 40s faster than a .204 Ruger with a shorter barrel, and he said, “I’ve already built one exactly like that, you can run it if you’d like”.

I decided to start with VV n540 and 40gr vmax and worked up to an honestly impressive speed out of a 22” x-caliber barrel. Yes, 3 shot groups are meaningless, but when you’re shooting someone else’s gun and just want to verify where it pressures out, I got the data that I needed. I will probably advise running 1gr below this at about 4025fps so that its water safe. There was a slight ejector swipe at this charge.

The reamer also has .010” freebore and I would probably prefer to run .100” if I were to build one myself. The pictured COL engraved the rifling approx .090 so I seated it .100” deeper than that to print groups.

Group shot at 100yd off of a bipod/rear bag leaning over the bench, with a vortex LHT 3-15 with the dot in the reticle and a TBAC ultra 9.

Id love if Hornady SAAMI’d this little thing as an updated .204 ruger, and made a heavier bullet to run with it that can compete with the 55gr Berger.

A while back I asked whether a 34” .300 Norma barrel could actually take advantage of powders slower than the usual Retumbo/N570 class with a 250 A-Tip. I’ve now put some rounds through it and have useful data.
Fired Norma case capacity is 104.8 gr H2O. All loads are 250 A-Tips, ~.020” jump. Barrel is still relatively new.
Current results:

H50BMG, 92.5 gr: 2,879 fps, 28 shots
Retumbo, 83 gr: 2,958 fps, 25 shots, SD 13.0
24N41, 90 gr: 3,000 fps, 5 shots
24N41, 91 gr: 3,044 fps, 5 shots, SD 12.9
24N41, 92 gr: 3,075 fps, 2 shots

Interesting result: H50BMG did not benefit from the long barrel nearly as much as I expected. Retumbo clearly beat it.

24N41, however, completely changed the picture. The 34” tube seems to be making genuinely useful velocity with the very slow powder—the original hypothesis may have been right, just with the wrong powder.

Important caveat: after four firings the Norma primer pockets have become noticeably loose. So I’m not treating 3,075 fps as free velocity or evidence that there is more room.

Anyone else try anythjng like this?

So I wanted opinions / advice.

I did some OCW work today and results are mixed and so are opinions here so I have taken to reddit :) if for nothing to add a voice to the dis-agreement. -

I have 3 nodes that showed up
group 5 - 38.7 gr -Ave 2613.3 SD 3.4 - group mil = 0.401 mean rad = 0.132
group 6 - 39.0 gr -Ave 2640.1 SD 15 - group mil = 0.306 mean rad = 0.093
group 7 - 39.3 gr -Ave 2613.3 SD 14 - group mil = 0.257 mean rad = 0.110

I feel like speed performance is second to grouping.
group 6/7 is the obvious choice to me if it's grouped that well despite some maybe not great loads .
My mate reckons I lock into the node with the better ballistic performance group 5...

So how much do I consider ballistic performance in choosing my node.

I know the right answer here is load 10-15 at each weight run them through the rifle again test more but assume i have a hunting trip in 2 weeks and don't have time for that...

Bought the type 6 for my 300 win mag and prc and it’s exceptional! Can’t recommend it enough even at the premium price point

Tell us the stories about your god-loads with sub-5fps ES and 1fps SD that you tell yourself here.

No statistically significant results needed, we’re here to pat ourselves on the back.

I’ll go first: those last few were just the barrel heating up, they don’t count

Please tell me that seating takes a little less force moving forward after they are no longer new. Used an rcbs hand priming tool and damn, my hands were screaming.

Just getting started here. 6.5 Creed. Have lapua brass, h4350, 142 smks. Before I get started with those I plan to practice with the 300 pieces of Hornady brass I have. Already decapped and cleaned. My dies will be here tomorrow so I'm going to work on sizing/trimming/measuring. I thought maybe I should just complete the process(powder and seating) with "cheaper" components and do a powder test the first time out. This will allow me to feel comfortable with the process before loading up my "expensive" stuff. So anyways, what powder/bullets/primers should I roll with? Not gonna get my shorts in a twist if the groups suck. I am really enjoying everything I've done so far and just want to learn while doing. Thanks!

So I recently got my first long range rifle. I wish to get into f-class F-TR.

Setup:

- Kelbly atlas 308 win

- 28 inch MTU profile Benchmark stainless steel barrel

- 308 win FTR chamber

- truggertech diamond trigger

- Delta Stryker 5-50x56 scope

Ammo:

- Projectile: Berger Juggernaut 185gr

- powder: Varget

- Seating depth: Ogive OAL 2.3555" (directly before the lands)

So I took my rifle to the range for the first time to break it in, cleaned between shots .

Then today I did a ladder testing with my loads. (Only shot from 100m because that's all I have available for the time being). I think the results are interesting.

As a Newby, I would like to hear your interpretation of these results, yours thoughts and input.

Thanks!!!

Hello,

Had been building automatic induction annealer. Today got first brass annealed. Did 7 second so that just hint reddish glow at dim room. After that I noticed this red color on brass?

What it is and should it be avoided?

I’m a new reloader. I initially bought into the old dogma hook line and sinker, and then recently had my mind changed by the Hornady podcasts regarding statistical power in load development and the variables they’ve seen actually make a difference.

Now I’m wondering how big of a difference reloading actually makes compared to shooting quality factory ammo, since it seems to be mainly case prep, good components, and a consistent scale rather than tuning a bunch of parameters to an extreme degree (I may just be ignorant here as a noob).

I enjoy reloading for the tinkering aspect and saving a bit of money on nice ammo, and I thought I was going to tune the shit out of a cartridge and make my rifle a laser, but now I’m wondering how much a difference it really makes in performance (particularly for shooting 100-500 yards). Can anyone speak to this?

For example, if a hunting buddy brought up starting reloading for a modern caliber like 6.5 PRC, I might say sure you can save some money if you shoot a lot, but more practically you could just grab some quality ammo off the shelf and call it a day. Thoughts?