6.5 PRC velocity question

[thaught]

Working on a load for a new rifle I had built. I've got 60.5 gr of H1000 pushing a 140 gr Berger Elite Bunter bullet. My avg velocity is 3114 FPS (LabRadar). The accuracy is about 1" and I'm not happy with it. Would you slow it down to tighten the group? I've tried several seating depths.

 

[Kimber7man]

What is barrel length? 3100 with a 140 might be pushing it?

 

[thaught]

24" barrel. No signs of pressure at all. According to Berger, I can go up to 63 gr as a max. However, velocity seems high.

 

[MajorSpittle]

My sierra manual shows H1000 and 140gr bullets topping out around 2850fps with 54.1gr of powder.

So if you have more velocity then expected, I would probably look for a node with less powder.

 

[thaught]

My sierra manual shows H1000 and 140gr bullets topping out around 2850fps with 54.1gr of powder.

So if you have more velocity then expected, I would probably look for a node with less powder.

I'm going drop down to 59.5 and see what happens

 

[Jumpalot]

I shoot 58.5grns. of H1000 under a 140grn. Berger VLD at 3025fps. I worked all the way up to 61 grains with no pressure signs but decided to back off to a node that gives me zero vertical dispersion out to 1000yds. I also don't shoot groups at 100yds. anymore. I'm more concerned with how my bullet is acting at 500+.

 

[Dmagna]

Working on a load for a new rifle I had built. I've got 60.5 gr of H1000 pushing a 140 gr Berger Elite Bunter bullet. My avg velocity is 3114 FPS (LabRadar). The accuracy is about 1" and I'm not happy with it. Would you slow it down to tighten the group? I've tried several seating depths.

If you are hunting with it I would keep going with more powder. Might be able to find a spot to make it happy, but if you like to shoot it a lot you might want to find a lower node to keep the heat down while shooting. I push pretty hard on hunting rifles because I am just looking for that one shot and I am not concerned about barrel heat. I think in my prc I have ran all the way to a filled case and never hit pressure. It just stopped picking up speed.

 

[HawkinsPrecision]

In our experience that's more of a 6.5 SAUM load. I would consider backing it down. We've been shooting PRCs in that 57-58 grain range.

Good article with some information -

Reloading for 6.5 PRC

Reloading for 6.5 PRC and Hunting with 6.5 PRC

www.rockymountainhunting.com

 

[LongBomber]

If you played with seating depth already and have that tuned I would take the best seating depth and shoot a ladder test on paper at 600y. Run from a grain under where you are to a grain over in .2gr increments. Be nice to shoot through a chrony at the same time.

 

[dargie12317]

Working on a load for a new rifle I had built. I've got 60.5 gr of H1000 pushing a 140 gr Berger Elite Bunter bullet. My avg velocity is 3114 FPS (LabRadar). The accuracy is about 1" and I'm not happy with it. Would you slow it down to tighten the group? I've tried several seating depths.

Which brass you use?
I use ADG brass and load at 56.4 with 147 gr bullet, I believe in accuracy then speed.

Tom

 

[thaught]

Which brass you use?
I use ADG brass and load at 56.4 with 147 gr bullet, I believe in accuracy then speed.

Tom

Yes, I'm using ADG brass as well. I'm going to slow it down from 60.5 gr to 59 and try again.

I have ADG brass for other calibers and I'm not super impressed with the PRC batch I have. Flash holes are bad, necks are super tight, and necks have dings on the edge. I'm having to do quite a bit of case prep that I didn't have to do with other ADGs

 

[Another Casual]

I'd recommend a velocity ladder over a chrono as well. I'm pushing 140 accubonds at 3,060 out of my 26" with 58.7 grains of H1000. Nice wide velocity node for me there and accuracy is excellent.

 

[vancewalker007]

Working on a load for a new rifle I had built. I've got 60.5 gr of H1000 pushing a 140 gr Berger Elite Bunter bullet. My avg velocity is 3114 FPS (LabRadar). The accuracy is about 1" and I'm not happy with it. Would you slow it down to tighten the group? I've tried several seating depths.

First, if you have less than 200 rounds through the barrel you are going to get more speed shortly. Even if you had to drop 100fps its not a big deal performance wise. A deer or elk will not know the difference. I don't know what your velocity ladders/nodes look like but it wouldn't hurt to drop to a lower velocity node, which lowers pressure. Also, are you trying 0.003 steps in your depth checks. If not you could be skipping accuracy nodes. The 140 EHs liked being right on the lands in my PRC.

 

[JTB]

I have loaded a lot of 6.5 PRCs and would recommend trying Retumbo or RL26 if you have some. The Retumbo won't reach the velocity of RL26 but has achieved the best accuracy for me. Just something to try. The only time I have found H-1000 preferred over Retumbo is with barrels less than 24". That being said my most accurate loads/nodes come in around 3000-3050 fps with the 6.5 PRC/140 class pills. Hope this helps but I understand powders are in short supply