Thread: Reloading for 6.5 Creed & 300WM - Confirming Research

Originally Posted by Flyblown

2209 / H4350 was the original powder used in the Hornady ammo produced at the Creedmoor launch.

That 18” barrel though will hinder the performance. You can expect to lose >100fps compared to a 24” barrel. This was properly tested by Rifleshooter shooter if IIRC.

Also there is the potential for your Tikka barrel to be quite slow - they tend to be a bit slower than other makes. Side-by-side performance of a T3 vs Howa (24”) shooting the exact same ammo gave a -60fps delta when tested a while back.

All up you could be down 150-200fps over a decent 24” barrel. We’ll see! I would expect a MV of around 2,500 - 2,550fps if things work out ok.

Having done a lot of longer range deer and goat shooting with the 143gr ELD-X, do you want a minimum terminal velocity ~1,900fps to get decent expansion and a decent exit. The 6.5mm 143gr ELD-X being so long and thin has a high SD which is great for penetration but it doesn’t create particularly wide mushrooms at lower impact velocity. It does however have the advantage of being very accurate and precise and as long as you are on the money the animal is going down.

1,900fps equates to ~650m in my rifle (24”) but in yours it will likely be around 500m. Still plenty far enough though.

Most 2209 loads end up around 41-42gr. The wildcard here is that Hornady brass - it has a reputation of being quite soft and not lasting long. On the 6.5 Creedmoor forum back in the day, guys were reporting loose primer pockets after just a couple of firings.

Personally if I was going to get into reloading the Creedmoor I would not bother with the Hornady brass and I would hang out for some Lapua SRP. That brass has been tested with hot loads and found to stay the course for a long, long time. I remember one bunch on YouTube tested it to 20 firings before giving up and admitting defeat - the brass was still fine and within spec. That was a hot 43gr load too.

Good luck and keep the questions coming (some feedback on how you go would be nice too).

Thanks for the advice!

Actually picked up 2kg of 2209 from Serious Shooters (great bunch of blokes) today, so thats what ill be starting with for the creedmoor.

As far as distance, longest shot either of these 18 inch tikkas will be taking would be 350-400 at the very upper end. majority of shooting being 100-250 (has been till now anyway using the factory precision hunter ammo.

Regarding the brass, funny you should mention this, i have been looking into the brass thing alot. ever since i started using the precision hunter ammo, i have noticed (more often than not) heavy ish bolt lift and swiping marks on the base of the case after firing. full disclosure - im a complete rookie in regards to reloading and properly diagnosing these things at this stage, and im not sure how much heavy bolt lift is too much, or if im just overthinking it. ill post up some pictures of the brass if i can get a good one with my phone and hopefully yourself or someone else more experienced than i can offer some input, but to me it seems like the precision hunter is very hot, or the brass is particularly soft, or both. from my research i have found people saying hornady brass is quite soft, alot of people recommended norma brass, so this afternoon i picked up a pack of the norma bondstrike 143gr. if it shoots well i plan to swap to that for the near future and once ive punched through a couple more packets have enough norma brass collected to load that instead.

Ill keep an eye out for lapua brass, but by the sounds of things (correct me if im wrong) the norma should be more than sufficient, im not trying to shoot far with this gun or chase MV / Run really hot loads. For the distance i want these rifles to shoot at i dont see any need to go chasing speed.

Cheers for your input!