123 Amax 6.5 284

[tbrice23]

Anyone want to share any accuracy loads for 6.5 284 Norma with 123gr Amax. My Savage 111LRH has a lot of throat and a bullet seated .020" off the lands has 1/2 the neck seated with bullet bearing surface so I have plenty of case capacity for Retumbo but I think it might be too slow for a lighter bullet.
140 vlds only gave marginal precision. If the 123gr amax doesn't cut it I'll be annealing 140 hybrids for white tail.

 

[ShootnMathews]

Just tagging in here. I have a handfull of these as well that a buddy gave me to try in my 111 LRH

 

[tbrice23]

Is your seated bearing surface similar?

I think I am going to try h4831sc first. Listed BC is supposed to be .510 g1 but we will see. I hope to run at least 3050fps if possible from a 24" bbl.

 

[johnnyk]

tbrice,
I'm running the 140gn A-Max through my 6.5-284 (26") @ 3038fps. Using 59.0gn of Retumbo ahead of the CCI BR2. This load gives one-hole groups at 100yds and playing card size groups at 700yds. Whitetails can not handle this -- (as Ted Nugent would say) "period".

Did not try the 123 A-Max but I had great accuracy with the 120gn Ballistic Tip, 58.5gn of RL25 and BR2's. This load averaged 3225fps, ran .3445" @ 100yds and I shot sub 2" groups at 500yds with this it. Another whitetail stopper.

Good luck, happy shooting and stay safe. Reduce the above mentioned loads and work up. JohnnyK.

 

[ShootnMathews]

Is your seated bearing surface similar?

I think I am going to try h4831sc first. Listed BC is supposed to be .510 g1 but we will see. I hope to run at least 3050fps if possible from a 24" bbl.

My seating depth is very similar. I'd love To Have some 140 amax. I still need to chrono my 140 BT load. I'm sure the BC is wrong. Using a calculated velocity of 2868 or about to hit at 500 with a 100 yard zero. I shot it a 250 yesterday calculating with that velocity and was about 2" high. So I'm sure my velocity is higher and the BC lower than Nosler advertises.

 

[tbrice23]

tbrice,
I'm running the 140gn A-Max through my 6.5-284 (26") @ 3038fps. Using 59.0gn of Retumbo ahead of the CCI BR2. This load gives one-hole groups at 100yds and playing card size groups at 700yds. Whitetails can not handle this -- (as Ted Nugent would say) "period".

Did not try the 123 A-Max but I had great accuracy with the 120gn Ballistic Tip, 58.5gn of RL25 and BR2's. This load averaged 3225fps, ran .3445" @ 100yds and I shot sub 2" groups at 500yds with this it. Another whitetail stopper.

Good luck, happy shooting and stay safe. Reduce the above mentioned loads and work up. JohnnyK.

Rl25 is slightly slower than Retumbo. So I might try it with 123s. Wonder how you ever thought to try rl25 with 120s.

 

[tbrice23]

My seating depth is very similar. I'd love To Have some 140 amax. I still need to chrono my 140 BT load. I'm sure the BC is wrong. Using a calculated velocity of 2868 or about to hit at 500 with a 100 yard zero. I shot it a 250 yesterday calculating with that velocity and was about 2" high. So I'm sure my velocity is higher and the BC lower than Nosler advertises.

I tried 140 NBT with h4831sc and 210m jumping .010". Best group was 53.4gr @ 2932fps at 700ft elevation and 60°F.

A 4 shot group .655 moa at 200 yards. Much higher pressure than 140 vlds because of the longer bearing surface. That's the only session I've tried them. I've shot them in every caliber I shoot with better accuracy. So I haven't given up on the 140 NBT yet.

 

[ShootnMathews]

I tried 140 NBT with h4831sc and 210m jumping .010". Best group was 53.4gr @ 2932fps at 700ft elevation and 60°F.

A 4 shot group .655 moa at 200 yards. Much higher pressure than 140 vlds because of the longer bearing surface. That's the only session I've tried them. I've shot them in every caliber I shoot with better accuracy. So I haven't given up on the 140 NBT yet.

53.4 grains! Wow! My bolt was sticky at 51 grains with the NBT and 53 grains VLD. I've been planning to try retumbo with the NBT when I find some more. I'd really like to try some 140 amax. But I'll mess with all that after season. Too close now.

 

[tbrice23]

Yeah I definitely stopped there. So far today it appears 123 amax and retumbo has fixed my precision issues!!! Im only at 100 yards today though. So we'll see what happens further out.

 

[backwoods83]

I sometimes shoot the 123 amax in Lapua brass over 55.5 grns H4831sc (fire formed brass) 55 grns (new brass) using a .060" jump and Fed 210Ms to light it. **** does it scream coming out a 30" barrel! Retumbo, Ramshot Magnum, RL25, and H1000 work great with the 140s but I think you will have better luck with H4831sc, Magpro, RL22, Imr7828, and MRP with 120-130 grn bullets.

 

[tbrice23]

Definitely an improvement.

Wonder if 215m primers would work? But I think s.d. of 6 and 2 are hard to beat.

 

[backwoods83]

That's an awful light charge of Retumbo for a 123, I use 59grns of Retumbo under a 140 Berger vld .010" in the lands with a Fed 215M for 3177fps avg 7 fps avg ES (30" barrel). You are burning alot of powder to get 26" barreled 260 velocities. You should really give H4831sc and Imr7828 a try, even with a 24" barrel 3150fps should be easy to get with good case life. RL17 also works good with the lighter bullets if you keep them off jam, 3200fps with RL17 is not out of the norm with the 120 class bullets.

 

[tbrice23]

Right. There is still some room for more powder. Bolt lift was firm not hard. This barrel seems to like Rl22 so that may be in the neer future for 123 amax.