6.5-06 best powder for 140gr. Bullets

[Fred Ea]

I am having a 6.5-06 built for target- hunting and wondering what powder gives the best velocity with 130gr.-140gr. Bullets. Any 6.5-06 owners out there with any suggestions.
I have a bunch of IMR4831 and IMR7828sc on hand if anyone has a load with these on hand. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
FElightbulb

 

[Shooter264]

I shoot Retumbo in my 6.5-06AI's. But H4350, 4831, Retumbo, and Ramshot Magnum are all good choices.

 

[diriel]

Your 4831 and 7828 are both very good choices.

IMR4831 = 46 gr to start out ... it depends on WHAT 140gr bullet.
IMR7828 = 49.2 to start, again depending on what pill you use. Both of these are upper, but SANE, loads so it might be a good idea to drop about 1gr below and shoot 1 round to look for potential pressure sign just to be safe. Honestly, the 7828 may very well be THE powder for the 140gr pills

I recommend Win. LR. Primers 100% for sure with either of these powders.

Have a good one,
Gary

 

[KurtB]

Mine loves 140 Bergers and RL22. Just saw a report on a guy running 7828SSC with great success as well though. Another one to consider is H1000. Good luck

 

[diriel]

+1 to H1000 it is one of my go to powders.

Gary

 

[jlamb]

I use H4831 on two different 6.5-06 rifles. One a tactical setup with 142gr SMK's and the other a sporter with 140grn Accubonds. I'm getting and ave .5" 5-shot groups from the tactical and .6" 3-shot groups from the sporter. The H4831 also seems to be stable over a wide range of temperatures.

 

[diriel]

H4831sc is a really solid powder choice. I like most of the Hodgdon Extreme powders. Personally I will take a high degree of consistency over a broad range of ambient conditions over pure velocity any day of the week. Fortunately with H4831sc you rarely have to compromise in this area gun) ||

Gary

 

[Fred Ea]

Everyone,
I appreciate the insight on your loads and will consider all of them. I have a lot of IMR7828ssc so I will probably start with it, but also have some of the other powders too. I will test these and see what happens.
Thanks.
FE

 

[diriel]

Fred,

Hey that IMR7828SSC will do you proud! I used to have a 300WM that was a solid 1moa rifle no matter what I tried. Then one day I bought a pound of IMR7828SSC and suddenly that rifle was piling them up into just slightly over 1/2 moa! Ended up selling that old dog to my brother-in-law. After that I tried it in my 6.5x55 BJAI and it shot really good there too!

Over all H1000 is sill my slow burning favorite ( i have 24lbs of it ), but I do have an 8lb'r of IMR7828SSC that gets used ever so often too!

Have a good one,
Gary

 

[Trnelson]

+ 1 for H-1000 and the 142 Sierra Match King. I found the best accuracy node at 54.4g which is .6 below published maximum. I haven't had it across the chronograph yet, but it should be at least 2,800 fps. The IMR 7828sc is good medicine as well for the 140g range 6.5 bullets and provides a good case fill, but hasn't shown me what I'm looking for. My rig has a 26" tube on it (next barrel will be finished at 30") FWIW. BTW I'm using Federal 210 Large Rifle Primers. Best of luck and safe shooting YMMV.

 

[Fred Ea]

Mine loves 140 Bergers and RL22. Just saw a report on a guy running 7828SSC with great success as well though. Another one to consider is H1000. Good luck

I have bought a box of the 140gr. Bergers just for this rifle and they will see some action as soon as I get the rifle back in a few weeks.
Thanks,
FE

 

[jakelly]

I am working up a load on my 6.5-06 AI using:
H4831sc
H1000
IMR7828
Magnum
Magpro

When the rifle was barreled in 6.5-06 I used H4831sc and Fed210m primers.

I'll let you know what works best, when I'm done.

 

[.284]

H1000 will give higher velocities than h 4831. I have an 8.5 twist and get 2980ish with the 140 bergers from a 24 inch tube with good accuracy and no pressure signs. H 4831 was 2830ish with accuracy. Those are the only two I tried.

 

[B23]

My dad uses IMR7828sc with 140 Bergers in his 6.5-06AI. He tried H1000 and Retumbo but he liked 7828 the best. His has a 28in tube and is getting just under 3100fps. I know he played with Retumbo for awhile and was getting over 3200fps but that load was leaving ejector marks and the accuracy wasn't as good as the 7828.

I don't know how temp stable 7828 is and I'm not sure it would be my first choice but it seems to be working well for my dad's 6.5-06AI