Thread: 6.5 creedmoor reloading

Originally Posted by 6.5 CRD

The only way your going to get any noticeable speed back is to run some strong brass, lapua or peterson, a slow burning magnum powder like superformance or reloader 26, and stuff it full of as much of said powder as you can fit in the case (for rl26 anyway) loading it to what will certainly be above book max/saami rated max pressure.

Dont take this the wrong way, but theres no free lunch. The idea that you can cut off a large portion of a barrel and make up for it with handloading staying within the confines of what saami deem as safe pressures is a dream, especially on smaller bore cartridges. Yes you may be able to get a little back but the only way your making a significant enough increase to put yourself back in the realm of where you were, is to use tough brass, exotic hard to find magnum powders, and load it hot.

Your only alternative is to go to a much lighter bullet like you have which sacrifices energy and bc doing so, and as you have found still may not give you the speed you want without the appropriate faster powder.


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yes i agree, thanks for the input
it is what i am coming to realise as i keep trying different combos and always circle back to factory ammo as the best. I have already tried more reliable powder with as much as i can fit, compressed loads,
but i found that this caliber likes to be seated deeper, so it throws that idea out a bit.

definitely getting closer to just having to accept that what i have is the best i am going to get with a 16 inch barrel, otherwise i need to put a 22 inch barrel back on.

but thats why i am reaching out to others. reloading is all about seeing what a rifle can really do.

Well you already have one thing covered your rifle clearly likes the blade bullets so thats where i would start. Its already proven it can shoot them accurately, you just want them to go faster. After having a look at some load data and trying some stuff in GRT it looks like superformance would be a good bet, around 2750fps looks achievable without getting too silly with pressure.


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Get the 120 blade load it the same length as the factory sako and you’ll probably be right to pick up more speed personally I think you shouldn’t be using a mono that slow 120BT could be a good option

Originally Posted by Moose.

oh really? i used the eldx and it did ok, not great. when i got up to around 2750fps the group got too big.
does ok for a large red deer shoulder shot but taking a gamble when trying to headshot with accuracy.

Mine will hit a 4" gong at 500M if I'm doing my bit

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Dich the 748 get a slow burning powder I've found RL 26 or Hodgdon Superperformance the best for speed.
For a barrel that short I would try as Kelton sad Nosler 120BT or 129 ABLR

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I'm running 120gr Nosler BT with RL16 in an 18" barrel. They're at about 2820fps and make a mess on everything I've shot. Good penetration but absolutely wreck the meat. Never had an animal move more than a few steps if whacked correctly, which is good.

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Why do you need more energy? Have animals been getting away? As far as a flatter trajectory, all bullets drop. Another 100-150 feet per second may not shoot much flatter, you may need a lighter bullet to try and flatten it out. As has already been said, there’s no free lunch, the price of a short barrel is velocity loss. The higher the case to bore ratio the bigger the loss.

Originally Posted by 25/08 IMP

My creedmore is a 18" shooting 143 eldx easily under 1" at 100m doing 2770fps.
Hodgdon Superperformance is a great powder for a lot of calibers.

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Thats impressive performance. In my Tikka T3x with a 20" barrel a book max charge of Superformance gives me 2675. A 100fps less with a 2" longer barrel!!

Originally Posted by zeropak

Thats impressive performance. In my Tikka T3x with a 20" barrel a book max charge of Superformance gives me 2675. A 100fps less with a 2" longer barrel!!

I'm showing no pressure but I use Lapua SR brass in a 85 Sako at mag length. My old Tikka .260 18" is doing 2811 same powder and pill.
Maybe 1 grn over book max.

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Originally Posted by Moose.

Hi all
I have built a tikka t3 bush rifle, it has a 16inch barrel with suppressor.
Shoots a great 1/2 inch group with factory sako ammo. Just had a too much bullet drop from slower speeds.

Trying to create a cartridge load that makes up for lost velocity caused by short barrel.
Have tried a few different things. But nothing that gets a good grouping

So far have 2850fps, but a pretty average group, like 2-3 inches at 100m

Compared to the factory sako ammo that shoots dead on but only 2550fps.

Trying to get velocity up to shoot flatter so there isn’t so much bullet drop out to 300m

Latest load is 100gr barnes projectiles with win748 ball powder. Speed was great but grouping it so good.
Any advice or does anyone have a better load?

Thanks

One question why use barns they need speed to proform, I would use a standard cup and core 129 sp or 120 Nosler BT

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I'd probably give up on the Barnes bullet, they are pretty expensive and probably not the easiest to tune compared to something like the Nosler 100gr BT.
If you don't have the money/time to tinker with different loads then I think you'd be best to decide what's combination of speed, accuracy, and easy of tunning you want.

For as easy as possible I'd say buy some Sako projectiles, seat them the same depth as the factory ammo, and use ADI 2209.
Will probably be slower than you'd like though.

If you want more speed try a different powder that's been mentioned, RL16, RL26, or Superformance with ADI 2209.
Or try a different projectile with ADI 2209, something like the 100gr Nosler Ballistic Tip should be easier to tune than the Barnes TSX.

Or if you want as much speed as practical try a different powder and different 100gr bullet.

Originally Posted by Mathias

I'm running 120gr Nosler BT with RL16 in an 18" barrel. They're at about 2820fps and make a mess on everything I've shot. Good penetration but absolutely wreck the meat. Never had an animal move more than a few steps if whacked correctly, which is good.

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How much RL16 are you running for that?
I am considering playing the with the 120BT in my creedmoor and use RL 16 at the moment with a 140 sst

Originally Posted by Moose.

yes i have found in the 6.5 caliber every inch makes a big difference compared to a 30 cal.

just trying to get it to shoot a little bit faster and flatter so its accurate in every situation

Faster and flatter is NOT more accurate. It's faster and flatter....group size dictates accuracy.slower means more drop....end of story.if load is accurate and groups well a bit of extra drop won't matter as you will be/ should be range finding and using drop chart and or dialling if shooting out to range where the extra drop matters.

I dont know a thing about the topic but 25/08 IMP seems to wring the most out of the calibers he has so I would follow his path and try Hodgdon Superperformance