Reloading 6.5 Creedmoor

[Bmars06]

Greetings!

I'm about to start reloading 6.5 Creedmoor and I'm curious what people believe is the best way to perform the ladder test to find the optimal powder charge. Here is what I'm working with:

6.5 Creedmoor Lapua brass (small rifle primer pocket)
H4350 power
Hornady 140grain ELD-M bullets and Berger 140grain hybrids

The question is: What do you suggest the powder increments should be? 1 grain? 1/2 grain? Something else?

Also, what are you looking for when you perform these ladder tests? The tightest group out of all the different loads?

Any other advice?

[Tommy Gun]

.3 gr ladder and then you have seating ladder as well to contend with. I use 41.5 H4350 .2 from lands and that nets me 2750 FPS (@4yds). RPR is my rig.

[tabascoz28]

Wow, same except with a Barnes Burner 140. AR10

Consider barrel temperature, do you shoot a lot or one shot to hunt. Scope and base are they up to par.

[Bmars06]

Wow, same except with a Barnes Burner 140. AR10

Consider barrel temperature, do you shoot a lot or one shot to hunt. Scope and base are they up to par.

It's a bolt action--Christensen MPR rifle--that I use for precision shooting matches. Scope and rings are higher-end Vortex.

[Tommy Gun]

What you are looking for is FPS to be consistant and your standard diviation to be as low as possible. To get a good indication of your SD you need at the very least 5 round strings, to take it seriously more like 10 per ladder increment. That's a lot of powder and componants to burn through but more work now equals easier competition later not guessing what the bullet will do.

[Tommy Gun]

I'm on a phone so cant edit,
ow SD while giving you good groups. Everything needs to come together for your recipie.

[Bmars06]

I'm going to give the OCW approach a try and see if I can find a "group" and then adjust seating depth.

Dan Newberry’s – Optimal Charge Weight Load Development – Instructions (twincityrodandgun.com)

[Michael in California]

In my RPR, I'm @ 42gr h4350 with 140gr ELD-M and max length i can fit in the magazine. I used the OCW method as well. 42 gr works better than 41.5 for me. Stick with one bullet, it's expensive enough to tune in one bullet.

[triggs75]

Both of my 6.5 bolts like 42gr of h4340 with those bullets. It seems to be a sweet spot and gets you to 2800 FPS

I would start at 41 and go up .2 till you start seeing pressure signs

[HAVOC5150]

I’m new as well, I posted a question to a popular ammunition manufacturer (unknown munitions) and the essentially said loading anything below 40 in your ladder is a waste of powder.

[Wykyd]

I started a ladder last year at 40.5 of H4350 and 140 BMB. looking back at my data it was just under MOA and that was loaded to a COL of 2.800. Dont know if this will show....

Date Caliber Rifle Bullet Powder Charge Shots Group Size Temp Altitude
06/08/20 6.5 RPR 140 BMB H4350 40.5 4 0.093 80 1430

[Bmars06]

Good info. It seems like starting at 40.0 or 40.5 and going up .3 grains until about 42 may be ideal

[stand125]

How far are you planning on shooting. I use H4895 reduced loads and get .5 Moa or better. I only shoot these to 300 yards though so the mild recoil, less powder and small groups Works very well. I do have a full power load for shooting farther out but I see no advantage of more barrel wear, brass wear and more powder if It benefits me none inside 300 yards.

[smoothy8500]

I'm going to give the OCW approach a try and see if I can find a "group" and then adjust seating depth.

The OCW method works for me in developing my F-class loads. The beauty of it is that the optimum charge weight allows a certain tolerance so you don't need a super-sensitive scale, any beam scale works. There is also some tolerance to velocities and you can get away with a somewhat larger Standard Deviation (SD).

I test my loads at 300 and confirm them at 1000yds.

[Bmars06]

I plan on shooting the 6.5 CM out to 1000 yards.