6.5 PRC Hornady 147 gr. ELD Match factory powder

[Nimrodmar10]

Does anyone know which powder Hornady uses in their 6.5 PRC 147 gr. ELD Match bullets. My rifle shoots then into one hole at 100 yards. But $35 for a box of 20 is pretty expensive. I'm an experienced loader and can work up a load on my own, but knowing what powder they use would be a great jump start

 

[Dmagna]

They will never put a factory powder recipe out to the public

 

[Mram10us]

Love to know also. Guys figure this out all the time

 

[Nimrodmar10]

They will never put a factory powder recipe out to the public

Hornady used to put their loading data on the box.
But I hoped someone had pulled a bullet and identified the powder type

 

[Recon$$]

Following

 

[highdrum]

I'd bet it's H1000......and part the reason you cannot find any of it on shelves!

 

[Nimrodmar10]

Since no one knew for sure what the powder was, i did a little research of my own. I pulled a bullet from a new Hornady 147 gr. ELD-M. The powder weighed exactly 59.0 grains. I first measured the length and diameter of the grains. The diameter was .042" and the length was .065". I then compared it to powders i had on hand. Reloder 25 and H1000 were definitely not a match. Next i compared it to Retumbo. The grains were exactly the same size and the colors was a very close match. It seemed to be a match.
The velocity listed on the box is 2910 fps which matches the velocity I got in my 24" barrel Savage. Hornady's reloading data which I obtained from their web sight list a velocity of 3050 fps with a load of 58.5 gr. Of Retumbo in a 26" barrel
Of course I can't be positive that the factory powder is Retumbo, but I'm definitely going to get a box of the 147 gr. ELD-Ms and try working up a load for my rifle.
Thoughts?

 

[257Tony]

Good work! Retumbo has also been very difficult to find, seems it went out of stock just before h1000 did. Good news is, looks like there are several good options for that bullet to get it to 3000 fps.

 

[olrvrat]

I've had some people tell me they're pretty sure it's RL26.

 

[Nimrodmar10]

I've had some people tell me they're pretty sure it's RL26.

It may be, I don't have any RL26 to compare it to

 

[olrvrat]

The man that told me said he pulled a bullet and weighed the powder. Compared it to rl 26 and they looked and weighed the same. He's a custom reloader around here, so I believe him. But you can't get rl 26 so i'm using h1000. I have a lot of it

 

[kiwikid]

Reloader 26 that I have here measures 0.041 to 0.044 in diameter. Lengthwise my sample varies a lot from 0.041 to 0.069 with several measuring 0.058". From what I have read it is not unusual for ammo manufacturers to use a blended powder that is not available to reloaders.

 

[JJMoody]

Listing to the gunwerks podcast episode on the 300 prc, they mentioned doing exactly that, blending powders.

 

[FURMAN]

Does anyone know which powder Hornady uses in their 6.5 PRC 147 gr. ELD Match bullets. My rifle shoots then into one hole at 100 yards. But $35 for a box of 20 is pretty expensive. I'm an experienced loader and can work up a load on my own, but knowing what powder they use would be a great jump start

I matched the factory OAL and ran a small ladder with H1000 and 210ms and found a duplicate load(same speed and accuracy). When my barrel sped up around 100 rounds the same lot of factory ammo that was shooting tiny would not shoot under 1". My duplicate load was doing the same. It is why I dont like to rely on factory ammo. I have since moved on to 156s.