6.5-284 Norma hunting loads 4831 or retumbo

[highfinblue]

I got a lh savage predator in 6.5-284 right before deer season last year and got 50 grains of IMR-4831 behind a 140 grain Sierra btsp shooting good enough to hunt with. I'd really like to shoot 140 grain VLD's and lots of folks swear by H-4831SC, and if I can get adequate velocity shooting accurately I'm good with that. Lack of time last year limited what I tried and if I can save a little powder and barrel life with a good idea here I'm all in. I've got plenty of H-4831, Retumbo and IMR-4831. I'm going to use the 24 load method with the VLD's on this forum, I'm just not sure which powder. I've got Lapua brass, CCI-BR primers. The barrel is 24", I do have some Fed 215M's if that's better with Retumbo. I looked through the threads for half an hour before starting another so I apologize if this is old ground.

 

[rdsewell]

I shoot a custom 6.5 x 284 with a 26" barrel, load I've worked up for it is 54.5gr H 1000, CCI br primers using 140gr Berger VLD's. 2830 fps shoots under 1/4" moa if I do my job.

 

[Frank in the Laurels]

How about neither !! Good old H-4350 is the way to go..

 

[MarkA]

24" barrel....... 6.5-284 case capacity = H or I 4350 with 140 or lighter bullets.

 

[highfinblue]

OK I left the house this morning before anyone had replied so I loaded nine instead of twenty four and started at .010 under then .050 and .090 with three of each. In my mind I couldn't imagine very many rifles shooting the VLD's seated at .130" under the lands. Like I said, I'm trying to cut a few corners as my time is kinda tight right now. I weigh every load, have Redding competition seater and used 56 grains of Retumbo. All three seating depths shot under one inch, but the .090" was a hole that only two bullet holes could be seen and they were really tight. I didn't measure it, but I'm sure I've never shot a better three shot group at one hundred yards. My chrony is old, but in the past has been very reliable, but my question is the spread with each group was 50 fps. How on earth can you get a one hole group when the bullets are traveling at such different speeds? I'm not a bench rest shooter at all, but I do shoot off a totally solid bench with bags, my scope is a nf nxs 5.5-22 mounted with nf 20 moa base and nf rings all torqued to factory specs so I can see what I'm shooting at, but isn't that unusual, and how can I tighten up the spread in velocity?

 

[DocDoc]

Vertical, due to velocity difference, does not show up well till you get to distance.

 

[highfinblue]

So it's new Lapua brass, in theory when I once fire and neck size with the Redding dies will that possibly tighten up the velocity spread?

 

[rdsewell]

My Berger 140's .100 off the lands. No where does it say you have to crowd the lands, its just most vld bullets like to be .010 off to touching. You say your best group is .090 off the lands, and say your shooting the best group you've ever shot with the holes all cutting each other, that would calculate to be a 2 or 3" group at a 1000 yards. IMO very acceptable.

 

[Greyfox]

This is my load that I use in my Cooper and Savage 6.5x284''s. It gives velocity of 2975FPS, ES <10FPS, .25-.5MOA groups. Retumbo will generally give 50-100FPS higher velocity then H4831sc. It is temperature stable from 0F-80F.

140 VLD .075" off lands, Lapua brass(neck.292), 58gr Retumbo, Fed210M.

My Custom Rem 700 uses the same load except loaded at .020" off the lands

 

[600BP]

In my 6.5 THE tightest and most stable bug hole groups were with H4350. I tried 4831sc, H1000, and Retumbo. 4350 was the slowest of all but I don't mind giving up velocity for accuracy. As others have said at one point or another, vlds typically have two sweet spots. One up against the lands and another backed fairly far off. Jiust a suggestion, do all your load testing at 2-300 yards once you're centered at 100. As was mentioned earlier, load testing at 100 can be very misleading once you move out a ways.

Regards,
ERIK

 

[highfinblue]

Once you find the sweet spot for VLD's does that work for basically all powders or does each powder have a different seating depth for them?

 

[Greyfox]

Once you find the sweet spot for VLD's does that work for basically all powders or does each powder have a different seating depth for them?

I have found the optimimum seating depth for a given bullet to be consistent for different powders with my rifles.

 

[Clucknmoan]

I run 56.5 grains Retumbo, 210m primers, 140 Berger VLD's Hunting or Hybrid 10/1000 off @ about 2940 from a 27" Benchmark. Shoots well.

 

[highfinblue]

I went out for a short while today, but should have went earlier; mirage was a nightmare. Saying it was difficult to aim is an understatement, but tried a few groups with the same seating depth with 57 grains of Retumbo. The results weren't spectacular, but three groups around an inch at 200 yards and fairly consistent velocity, at around 2920 fps. I'm going to continue tinkering with Retumbo and maybe even adjust the depth .005" both ways and even put another grain of powder in as there were no pressure signs at all in 70 degree temp. I'll be there early in the morning.