Reloading 6.5CM for Ruger Precision Rifle

[Young&Ret.]

Was on the hunt for local scope cap and stumbled across a R.P.R. in 6.5 Creedmoor (for the wife). After getting it home and reading the manual I started looking at bullets and powders online. When it came time to order reloading supplies google search was helpful in purchasing dies, brass, and even primers. But, every forum or article read concerning bullets and powders seemed to cluster into a ball of contradicting information. One article says Sierra Matchking 142gr is most consistent in weight and contact length. While, some forums say Lapua scenar or scenar-L bullets are most consistent (contradiction) while being great for medium game. Then there's Hornady ELD-M bullets that some people swear are best for hunting (contradiction). Berger vld bullets are said to have the best G7 but are the most sensitive to seating depth. After all this powders become even more confusing. was looking at H4350 although a magazine article swore by RL17. Needless to say clarification and/or recommendations are welcome

Incase your not familiar with the Ruger Precision Rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor. It's sports a 24" cold hammer forged 1:8 5R stainless barrel. The selected brass and primer are Lapua and CCI.

 

[Kaldor]

http://precisionrifleblog.com/2015/12/27/best-bullets-brass-primers-powder/

Go there. Read up. Best info you will find.

In short:
H4350 is the best powder by a large margin, Varget is #2
140ish grain bullets from all manufacturers work well
Primers are probably whatever you want to run, but most seem to prefer CCI

You could start with factory Hornady loads which are pretty solid, and keep the brass to reload with.

 

[someguy2800]

You may find that any one of those bullets and powders work the best in your chamber, your barrel, your brass, your primers, your dies, and your reloading style. There is no cut and dry best recipe in hand loading. Some combo's work good in multiple rifles but no combo will be best in all of them. With experimentation you will likely find that a normal soft point hunting bullet is just as accurate and most likely better on deer than the expensive match grade bullets. I have never found any match grade target type bullet to be of any use to me unless your planning to shoot 500+ yards, and they will never be the ideal game taking bullet because they were not intended to be.

 

[Captcurt]

Can't help you with the Ruger PR but I have been playing with three different Creedmoors, a Bergara B-14, Weatherby Vanguard S2, and a American Predator. All three are different animals. So far I have put 120gr- 130gr pills thru them and the Predator took the honors. It woud do 1/2 MOA with 3 different powders and 3 different bullets. The Vanguard didn't like anything and would shoot 1 1/2 to 2 MOA. It didn't matter what you ran thru it. The Bergara likes 143gr ELD-X with R-17. Still playing with it. These loads were for hunting so the bullets were not match unless the ELD and the Nosler Accubond LR counts. You just need to toss a coin and start loading. Find "THE" right load is the fun part.

 

[Young&Ret.]

Picked up a small box of Berger 140 grain hybrid target bullets but couldn't find h4350 or varget. What about 760 or imr4895? There locally available

 

[redbullitt]

I like the 140 amax since it does well on game too!

 

[Bart B.]

There is no cut and dry best recipe in hand loading. Some combo's work good in multiple rifles but no combo will be best in all of them. With experimentation you will likely find that a normal soft point hunting bullet is just as accurate and most likely better on deer than the expensive match grade bullets

If people used 20 to 30 shots per test group, they would find half a dozen very accurate loads across all rifles and the difference across them is statistically insignificant. As long as 5 or less shots per test group is the norm, then of course, no combo will be best in all. Especially when accuracy is judged by the smallest group of several of the same.

 

[dh1633pm]

I read everywhere that H4350 and RL17 are the go to powders. All find and dandy if you can find any in the stores. I have a Savage LRP. I got myself some nice Hornady brass and some Berger 140 hybrids. Then came the now what. Without power they don't work too well. So I researched all the loading data I could find versus what powder I had on hand. I came up with AA2700. Which I use for 30-06 loads and some other military reloads. It worked great. Sure I'll try the others, but I have a working load for my rifle. Of course this can vary by rifle. But a nice working load with a powder I already have a lot of works for me.

 

[Captcurt]

Finally found a load that my Bergara B-14 likes. Narrowed it down to 40 or 41gr Reloader 17, Fed 210 and 143gr. Hornady ELD-X stuffed into Hornady brass. LOA was 2.795". Back to the loading bench and tweek it now. This rifle has had me pulling my hair out.

 

[someguy2800]

If people used 20 to 30 shots per test group, they would find half a dozen very accurate loads across all rifles and the difference across them is statistically insignificant. As long as 5 or less shots per test group is the norm, then of course, no combo will be best in all. Especially when accuracy is judged by the smallest group of several of the same.

I have no idea what you mean by that. If your getting different results with a 30 shot group than a 5 shot group you need to fix the shooter.

 

[MZ5]

I load for a 6.5 Creedmoor; it is my second. I also shoot precision rifle style club matches. Here are some things for your information:

For 140-class bullets:
--H4350 is very, very popular. It is excellent in this cartridge.

--Re-17 and Norma URP will both give higher speeds than H4350 with most powder lots. They may give as good, better, or worse precision than H4350 in your rifle.

--Hodgdon Superformance is likely to give better speed as well, but precision may not be quite as high as the other powders.

--Current manufacture H-414, W-760, and AA-2700 are all the same powder in N. America. This powder works well, but you'll have to test for precision in your rifle. Be vigilant about this powder in high temps. I don't like it so well.

--AA-4350 works well, but is bulkier than the other 4350s, so loads will be compressed, and may not be quite as speedy. Good precision, though.

For 120-class bullets, Varget or other 4064-class powders may be a bit better choice. However, I have found Re-17 and URP to still be excellent. I don't recall having worked with H4350 with this weight, and AA-4350 is too bulky to work.

The RPRs are great entry competition guns.
HTH

 

[MZ5]

I forgot: IMR-4451 also shows promise in the 6.5 Creedmoor.

 

[Bart B.]

If your getting different results with a 30 shot group than a 5 shot group you need to fix the shooter.

Does that mean the most accurate load for a rifle will shoot a few dozen bullets inside the size of the first 5 shots' extreme spread by the best marksman?

Looking at each persons' 5- and 10-shot groups fired in this match,

http://azbrs.com/matches/2016-lv-hv-cactus-classic/

their several times group size spread from smallest to largest says a lot about their shooting and reloading skills.

 

[horsey300]

I have no idea what you mean by that. If your getting different results with a 30 shot group than a 5 shot group you need to fix the shooter.

Ever shot a 30 shot group?

 

[Bart B.]

Here's fifty-four 5-shot groups, all shot back to back from a 7.62 NATO barreled action laying in a Mann rest's V block. 1 MOA and 2 MOA rings for reference.

Which five comprise the first 5 rounds fired?

 

[Walkalong]

Larger samples are statistically better in all things.

 

[someguy2800]

Ever shot a 30 shot group?

absolutely. I guess what I'm getting at is if a rifle shoots poorly with a 5 shot group its certainly not going to shoot well with a 30 shot group. If it does not shoot well with a 30 shot group its not likely to shoot well with a 5 shot group unless you get very lucky. I have a couple guns that are not sensitive to loads and bullet choice, but I have a couple others that a .2 grain change in powder up or down will change the group size from .3 moa to 1 moa consistently. I usually shoot two sets of 5 round groups of each load to back up the results of the first test, then when I find the load I want to keep working on I shoot 50 or so of them in one sitting to verify if the combo is prone to flyers.

 

[Bart B.]

Well now, thanks for the clarification.

 

[someguy2800]

Do you typically find that a certain rifle will shoot pretty much the same with large group sizes across multiple loads and bullets ect... vs shooting small group sizes? Based on your signature it looks like you have more experience with this sort of testing than I do.

 

[horsey300]

absolutely. I guess what I'm getting at is if a rifle shoots poorly with a 5 shot group its certainly not going to shoot well with a 30 shot group. If it does not shoot well with a 30 shot group its not likely to shoot well with a 5 shot group unless you get very lucky. I have a couple guns that are not sensitive to loads and bullet choice, but I have a couple others that a .2 grain change in powder up or down will change the group size from .3 moa to 1 moa consistently. I usually shoot two sets of 5 round groups of each load to back up the results of the first test, then when I find the load I want to keep working on I shoot 50 or so of them in one sitting to verify if the combo is prone to flyers.

So you use a 10 rd group, have you ever had the first 5 group worse than the second 5? Even that is a better data provider than a single 5 rd group. However, if one 5 rd group for load A gets you to .65 moa and one 5 rd group from load B produces .5 moa, both groups are good and "good enough" for plenty of folks, but what if the group from load A is the absolute worst group that load will produce, and the group from load B is the absolute best that that load can produce? Obviously you see the reasoning to some extent or you wouldn't test 50 rounds. To say that a rifle will perform equally bad/good with 30 rounds as it did with 5 rounds is simply inaccurate. My favorite hunting loads are sub moa, during my workups, the only loads I consider unworthy of testing, group larger than 1.25 moa. Then load up a few handfuls of the best 3 or so and test the spit out of them. When I find a .75 moa group at this point, I KNOW that I didn't miss anything.

 

[Bart B.]

Do you typically find that a certain rifle will shoot pretty much the same with large group sizes across multiple loads and bullets ect... vs shooting small group sizes?

Yes. As long as bullet velocity is decent for the twist rate. Best example is when high power match rifle competitors with a 26" 308 Win barrel with 1:11 twist. 150 and 168 grain bullets would shoot half MOA through 300 yards with charge weights fixed someplace across a 3 grain spread in reduced to maximum loads. 168, 180, 190 and 200 grain bullets at longer ranges shot 3/4 MOA at any point in a 1 grain spread with maximum loads. IMR4064 powder did this best. Same charge weights did well regardless of powder lot used

But I don't use small groups for any accuracy evaluation. I cannot tell if they are the result of everything being perfect or all the variables pretty much cancelling each other out. Small groups are mostly luck and the smaller they are, the harder it is to duplicate them. Groups with many shots show what happens when all the variables add up in all directions.

Best example is the 5-shot 100-yard benchrest record of .0077". It's holder has shot no other record groups at any range of any size.

 

[Young&Ret.]

The force is strong with MZ5. Found and loaded some IMR4451. Put 10 shots within a hair over 3/4" at 100yards. Loads were increased by .3 grains from published minimum and the 140 grain Berger hybrid targets jumped .020" to the factory lands. Total round count on the hammer forged chromolly R.P.R barrel is now 60. Can anyone verify rumors of increased accuracy after 100 rounds (either by copper equilibrium or burn in) with the 6.5CM R.P.Rs? Either way amazing rifle for amazing price!

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Back to the Mrs. She got me a Redfield Rampage 20-60x80 Spotting Kit for the B-Day. Haven't had any experience with Redfield but the packaging seems a little suspect by over stressing reassurance in a so called "no excuses" warranty. Is there anything I should know up front about them or, are they just over driving the phrase, "no excuses" to ensure long term memory?