New 6.5 Creedmoor
- Thread starter GeauxTide
- Start date
RL17 was accurate in my 6.5mm CMs with lighter bullets up to 130 gr and not so great with 140 gr and heavier bullets.
If you are shooting 129 gr bullets, it might work for you.
With heavier bullets, 140 gr to 147 gr, H4350 worked best, but IMR4451 also shot very accurately.
Good luck finding either of those powders.
If you are shooting 129 gr bullets, it might work for you.
With heavier bullets, 140 gr to 147 gr, H4350 worked best, but IMR4451 also shot very accurately.
Good luck finding either of those powders.
Varget works really good up through 140 grain bullet in the 6.5 Lapua. Hornady lists it as a powder for all bullet weights up to 160 gr snub nose for the 6.5 CM (they were co-inventors of that cartridge)
I don't think you can go wrong with either R17 or H4350. I just happen to have lots of Varget.
After some 8 years target shooting with 30 caliber guns (30-06/7.5 Swiss/308), my brother convinced me to try 6.5 (he has the 6.5 Lapua and the 6.5 CM, not sure which I shot, I liked it!)
When I quit work, sold a couple of guns and built a 6.5 Lapua on a Savage target action (left port only, Savage Target trigger) with a Shillen barrel and a Boyds Thumbhole stock.
It has been a lot of fun. I am a far better shooter now. The low recoil and the really fine trigger has allowed me to focus on technique vs handling recoil (pretty stout for the 30 caliber rounds despite the heavy barrel and stock)
And accurate. I put 10 rounds in a 3/8 hole last week. Did 10 rounds into 5/8 this week. I moved my best target scope (NF with a dot) to the 6.5 to take advantage of being able to see target circles vs the 3/4 square on my targets of choice.
Yesterday it was 40 degrees, I had some layers on and the 6.5 was like shooting a 22!
I don't think you can go wrong with either R17 or H4350. I just happen to have lots of Varget.
After some 8 years target shooting with 30 caliber guns (30-06/7.5 Swiss/308), my brother convinced me to try 6.5 (he has the 6.5 Lapua and the 6.5 CM, not sure which I shot, I liked it!)
When I quit work, sold a couple of guns and built a 6.5 Lapua on a Savage target action (left port only, Savage Target trigger) with a Shillen barrel and a Boyds Thumbhole stock.
It has been a lot of fun. I am a far better shooter now. The low recoil and the really fine trigger has allowed me to focus on technique vs handling recoil (pretty stout for the 30 caliber rounds despite the heavy barrel and stock)
And accurate. I put 10 rounds in a 3/8 hole last week. Did 10 rounds into 5/8 this week. I moved my best target scope (NF with a dot) to the 6.5 to take advantage of being able to see target circles vs the 3/4 square on my targets of choice.
Yesterday it was 40 degrees, I had some layers on and the 6.5 was like shooting a 22!
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You may want to ask Kilotanker.
He's been rocking the Manbun for a couple of years now.
He's been playing with different powders & bullets.
I've been hearing the 6.5 Staball shoots decent, but kinda dirty.
It's really making roads into the 7mm-08 though. Really good velocities with that cartridge.
The new Alliant TS15.5 is showing promise in the Creedmoor line of cartridges.
Not much load data on it as yet though.
He's been rocking the Manbun for a couple of years now.
He's been playing with different powders & bullets.
I've been hearing the 6.5 Staball shoots decent, but kinda dirty.
It's really making roads into the 7mm-08 though. Really good velocities with that cartridge.
The new Alliant TS15.5 is showing promise in the Creedmoor line of cartridges.
Not much load data on it as yet though.
kilotanker22
New member
I have been shooting the 6.5 Creedmoor since 2011.You may want to ask Kilotanker.
He's been rocking the Manbun for a couple of years now.
He's been playing with different powders & bullets.
I've been hearing the 6.5 Staball shoots decent, but kinda dirty.
It's really making roads into the 7mm-08 though. Really good velocities with that cartridge.
The new Alliant TS15.5 is showing promise in the Creedmoor line of cartridges.
Not much load data on it as yet though.
Reloader 17 has always given decent accuracy and excellent velocity with 130 and 140 grain bullets. I saw velocity spreads across temperature differences to be too great for me to shoot matches and hunt with the same loads.
Staball 6.5 have excellent accuracy for me, at the expense of velocity. I was able to load Staball 6.5 well above published data and still could not achieve acceptable velocity. I was 100 fps slower than my H-4350 loads and 150 fps below the RL 17 loads. That was when I decided I was not going to attempt to load any hotter with it. I presume the reason for this is my primer choice. I use CCI 450 small rifle magnum primers for my 6.5 and my 308. My hypothesis is that the small primer is not igniting enough of the Staball 6.5 to ensure a complete burn. I have not tested Staball with a large primer.
If you can find H-4350 by chance, buy some. It is far and away the best powder for 130-150 grain bullets in the 6.5 Creedmoor.
Varget shot impressively well in terms of accuracy and velocity spread. The draw is that it is too fast burning to push the heavier bullets. I was not able to come within 175 fps of H4350 load when using Varget.
Don't overlook H4831 either. With CCI 250 primers and H4831, I was able to obtain good velocity, velocity spreads and accuracy with 145 grain bullets. Mostly compressed loads though and still didn't perform as well as H-4350.
Reloader 26 is my second favorite powder for the 6.5 Creedmoor. Well above average velocity with 130-147 grain bullets. Decent velocity spread too and accuracy. Trouble is, I have not gotten my hands on Reloader 26 in like 18 months
Hybrid 100V gave good velocity, but I could never get the ES under control with it.
That Hornady bullet will probably want a decent jump. I had best accuracy with them from a Savage 110 Tactical when seated so the bottom edge of the cannelure was at the case mouth. In that rifle, they shot best at around 2900 fps. You should be able to get there with RL 17. In a 24" barrel with Staball and that bullet, my velocity topped out a shade over 2700 fps. In that same barrel I was able to push a 147 grain bullet to 2760 fps with H-4350 and 2830 with RL 17. Your barrel might be a bit slower or faster.
I keep my velocities down (only have a 100 yard range). Saves on the barrel wear.
For that the Varget has been steller (2500 fps in the 140s and 2650 in the 120s gr bullets)
The Lapua 120-L like to be close to the lands.
The Hornady 140ELDM likes to be back a bit.
R17 might get you the vest velocity if you want to or need to push to fast.
With my setup I am getting consistent under 1/2 MOA groups.
For that the Varget has been steller (2500 fps in the 140s and 2650 in the 120s gr bullets)
The Lapua 120-L like to be close to the lands.
The Hornady 140ELDM likes to be back a bit.
R17 might get you the vest velocity if you want to or need to push to fast.
With my setup I am getting consistent under 1/2 MOA groups.