6.5-06 AI 120gr Swift - Loads??

[Aldon]

I acquired a 6.5-06 AI with a 9 twist barrel. ADL, Hunting set up.

After some research I have set my mind on the 120gr Swift. Looks very similar to some TBBC's i have in appearance.

I can find all sorts of load data for the straight 6.5-06 and while I have Quickload, I am not experienced enough with it to extrapolate from regular -06 and AI does not look to be included.

Any ideas?

Poweder choices I have that I am thinking would work well are H4350, VArget, IMR4831 or H4831SC. I have RE22 as well.

I like the H4350 and Varget best for temp stability.....

 

[Trnelson]

I have the standard 6.5/06. From the powders you listed I would start with h4831 and r-22. With the 120g bullets you maybe able to use imr-4831 and even 4350 effectively. I use h-1000 and h4831sc in mine with outstanding results. I'm using the 139g Lapua silver scenar and the 140g Berger vld hunting bullet. I would start mid-range in the standard 6.5/06 data to start and work on up. IMR - Legendary Powders IMO you should take full advantage of the case volume in the AI and give the 140g class bullets a look at least. You should have no problem reaching 3,000fps safely in all likely hood. 9 twist is marginal for the 140g bullets but with the extra velocity available to you as your rifle being AI chamber they may very well be stable. At 3,000 fps muzzle velocity a 9 twist gives you 1.33 revolutions of the bullet every 12" and 4,000 revolutions of the bullet per second or 240,000 revolutions per minute. An 8 twist would give you a 1.5 revolutions per 12" and 4,500 rps and 270,000 rpm. Ymmv...

 

[Aldon]

Thanks for the feedback.

I have a 6.5-06 set up with 8 twist with heavier barrel for beanfield and target shooting that I would use 140 bergers and shoot longer distances.

I plan on using this 9 twist AI for white tails less than 300 yds.

I have some Nosler 125's, Hornady 129 Interbonds and some Barnes 130's to try if the Swift does not shoot as I think it will. I think the Swift A-Frame at 3100-3200fps will hammer whitetails.

I had about decided against H4831SC but will give that a try.

 

[Trnelson]

Ahhh ok! You've got that caliber covered real nice! All of those bullets should be really effective for you

 

[Dano1]

Aldon,

I had a 6.5-06AI with a 1-9 twist shilen 26" bbl and now my father owns it....I am still doing his reloads. I tried to load 140g Bergers and 140g Sierra Gamekings and try as I might I couldn't get it to group under 1" at 100yds. It wouldn't stabilize them.

I finally saw the light and realized that the problem was bullet weight and it looks like you've chosen the best bullets for your rifle.

As far as powder is concerned, I worked up loads using 129g Hornady SSTs and 129g Hornady interbonds (These 2 bullets are fully interchangable having identical shape and BCs) for H4831 and Retumbo ( you can't get enough retumbo into the case) and couldn't get the acccuracy. I then had an idea and tried RL-22. (never tried H-1000) It was what i was looking for. I ended up with a final charge of 57g. It maxed out at 58g, I backed off 1 full grain and perfection! This is a hot load, but I shot it in 90 degreee weather and it is safe in this rifle. Velocity is just at 3200FPS, it's quite accurate out to 1000yds. I was able to group under 10" at that distance.

(Of course work up slowly in your rifle)

As a Side note, I have been making my brass out of .270 Win brass, necking it down, trimming, turning the necks and fireforming. I found that not all brass is the same thickness. You can safely use Remington, Winchester, federal, and PMC interchangeably, but Hornady or Frontier (made by Hornady)is a diffrent story altogether. It's thicker and pressures up with less powder than the others. If using Hornady, reduce charges by 1 grain.

Hope this helps,

Dan

 

[Aldon]

Thanks for the information Dano1.

One of the seasoned veterans on the site PM'ed me the rule of thumb for where to start experimenting so I have loaded up a days worth of loads to try at range if the winds die down below 20mph and it warms up just a bit more....


BTW, Have you tried the RL22 in winter or cold conditions?

I would give up velocity if it allowed me to work up an accurate (sub moa) hunting load that could go from ~ 10-70 degrees with little change to POI or grouping.

I have RE22 on the bench so its an option for me but from what I read, I am leaning towards trying H4350 first then a toss up between H4831SC/Varget.

I also have some RL17 which I have gotten great velocities/accuracy out of(25-06) but was very sensitive to temperature. I will make use of it in a target set up that I tend to only shoot in summer or warm weather.

 

[Dano1]

Aldon,

Sorry, I haven't tried RL-22 in winter conditions. I too, have heard that it can be temp sensitive. Like I said earlier, I tried it on the Hot end, for safety reasons, but unfortunately not on the cold end. Other Powders to consider would be H-1000 or IMR 7828SSC, as they are slow enough. H4350 can be used , but can cause delayed ignition as the charges are low for this cartridge. I tried H414 (for fireforming) which has a similar burn rate, but needed magnum primers to get it to be consistant. You are looking at a 75% fill ratio with H4350. H4831SC would be a better choice and it's now an extreme powder.

Don't even look at varget or similar fast powders, you simply have too much case capacity to bore ratio for that type of powder. I have read good things about Hodgdon's Hybrid100V.....that may be what you are looking for. I'm not sure if it's in your version of quickload for the standard 6.5-06, but you can look at Hodgdon's data site and it has loads that can be used as a starting point for the improved 6.5-06. Hybrid has the highest listed velocitys for that bullet weight and that's more than all other powders that we have mentioned so far.

The Case capacity of the improved version is approximately 7-8% more than the standard version. So you can go 2-3grs over standard data without any problem. I've been able to work up more than that, but pressures can spike with out much warning unless you're shooting over a chrony, in which case, velocity will stop increasing with greater powder charges, just before you start blowing primers and losing primer pockets.

Never tried RL-17. My first experience with Reloader powders was RL-22. I have more experience with IMR and Hodgdon powders as they are what is mainly available to me.

As we all know, velocity is nothing with out accuracy, so Accuracy is king.

Let me know if I can help.

I hope this is at least helpful,

Dan

 

[Aldon]

Dan,

As before, thanks for the great information.

I am headed to store and will see if they have the H1000, Hybrid 100v or IMR7828SC on the shelves and see if I can get some to experiment with based on your advice.

I did work up some initial loads with H4831SC and would be trying them today but for poor conditions.

 

[Dano1]

Cool,

Let me know how it works out... Would love to see those bug hole groups!

Dan

 

[Trnelson]

Early on in my load development I tried working with R-17, and h4350 and both proved to have ignition problems as previously pointed out. I also spent a little time with R-19 and didn't find great accuracy. I didn't try R-22 as I found what I was looking for with h4831sc and h1000 both are "extreme" powders and have proven to be consistent from -10 to 75. With IMR 7828sc I have a "winter" load and a "summer" load. I used it with the Hornady Amax that I just loved until I started using the Berger vld which I couldn't get sub MOA using the IMR 7828sc so I gravitated to h4831c. I haven't tried the hybrid 100v so I'd be interested to see your results. Ymmv

 

[loaders_loft]

Check out the nosler data for n560 on the 6.5-06. It looks promising.

I would start one or two grains below the max and work up one or two grains above.

 

[Aldon]

I tried 3 different powders, varget, 4831sc and H4350 and perhaps it is the bullet choice but accuracy was elusive. I expected a bit better out of an after market barrel and trued action set up....but I may yet get there.

Surprising to me is that I finally did hit nodes with all three powders all around 3200 fps with the 120 gr swift each with groups of .75 moa.

The one that showed the best promise was H4350, so i will work on narrowing the window a bit on the accuracy node. My thinking is that the groups on each side of this charge were better than the others by ~.5 inches.

Waiting on some more supplies so it will be a while before I update again.

Thanks all for the assistance.

 

[Dano1]

Aldon,

Good to hear that you're getting some decent accuracy with H4350, I had always thought that it was a little too fast, but it seems that it's working for you.

What primer are you using?

I found my accuracy node also at 3200fps, using RL-22 my smallest group was .325" at 100yds.

I'm still hopeing that you'll try Hybrid 100V. I'm thinking of working up another load for my father's rifle as RL-22 can be a bit dirty...

Keep us posted.

Dan

 

[Trnelson]

Hmmm.... H4350 huh? I never found anything even MOA with that powder. Every weapon is different! I had ignition problems until I reached 48 grains, my rifle just didn't have any real accuracy with anything that would light consistently. If it works for you run it, if not I'd look for a better case fill to insure reliable ignition and even, stable, consistent burn. It seems that ymmv.