6.5-284 Norma Load using imr-7828ssc

[Bwhittty]

IMR7828 is perfect in the 6.5 with the 140 grain bullets as is H1000. I use 49.0 grains of 7828 with a Barnes 127 LRX at 3030 fps, and in the 53 range for the 140 Berger a little over 3,000 as well. I couldn't get near the 3,000 mark with H4350
The H1000 is 57.5 gr with the Berger 140 at 3020. These are with 26" barrels, my 22" gives a little under 2900

My smith runs 7828 in 7 Rem Mags and also believes it would be great in the 6.5. He is in the process of finishing my 6.5 and recommended it. The post above with the target is another one of his 6.5's. I have 2) 7 mags (sendero & sporter) that Im going to run 162 Amax's (sendero) and 160 accubonds (sporter) and am going to try 7828 in both of those. Hoping its a hit in all 3... Makes it easier to buy a large quantity of 7828 with the same lot and shoot the heck out of it. As far as being temp sensitive, has anyone ran tests to confirm??

 

[Bwhittty]

I've been toying around with the 7828ssc as well. I use it for my cool weather practice load but will be using retumbo for my hunting load. I think I'm running right around 53 grains also. I have very faint ejecton mark on some of the cases but no trouble with bolt lift. Velocity seem to be around the 2925ish out of my rifle. Accuracy is good but as one of the other post stated in warm temps expect a pressure increase unless you keep the load a little lighter than max. I also used this in a 257 weatherby and got good results. I tried H1000 but it just never panned out. H1000 is a temp stable powder though and maybe I did not give it enough work up time. One good thing if your developing a load on 7828ssc it seem you can pretty much pick that stuff up everywhere.

I would be ecstatic with 2925... I believe that is right in the range of where you want to be with the 6.5... Cartridge is a barrel burner to start with. If I hit that speed with my setup, I should be able to dial to 1200 no problem. Which is all I want to do. My setup is as follows. 20 moa rail and Zeiss HD5 5-25 (65MOA Elevation). Im going to shoot 143 Hornady ELD-X... At sea level and 2900 FPS, I will need roughly 34 MOA to hit 1200 with a 200 yard zero

 

[Wedgy]

" As far as being temp sensitive, has anyone ran tests to confirm?? "

Regarding temperature stability I did my ladder on the Barnes 127 grain LRX at 84F running up to 50.5 grains where I hit pressure/ejector marks. I settled on 49.0 3030fps at 0.33MOA . I shot it at 96F got ejector marks and bolt lift and loose pockets so I would agree it has temp issues but this is my hunting gun so I don't mind because I don't hunt in that weather but I do shoot up to 105F because some times that's the only time I can. As someone stated the stuff is always available, gives great accuracy, and the SSC measures so well.

 

[Bwhittty]

I have just begun to shoot my newly built 6.5-284. Broughton 5C barrel. 8 twist. 26" long. Cleaned it, shot once, cleaned it, shot once, cleaned it, shot 3, cleaned it, shot 15. Using 7828, I'm starting with 50 grains. First load was touching. Shot a .457 group. 2nd load .030 off and shot .576. 3rd load .060 off and shot .331. All groups shot @ 100. Now I'm going to load 50 more at the .060 jump and go have fun with it. I called Tim @ Broughton and he said the barrel should start to settle in around 75 rounds and also reach its top velocity. Then it will be ladder test and final load tuning.

Lapua Brass
Fed 210m
143 ELD-X
50 grains 7828SSC
2640 FPS
ES-11

All virgin brass so far and will continue until 75 down the tube. The load is slow but will pick up the pace the further I get down the line. Plan on adding powder in final load development. Should be around 52.5-53 grains. Hoping for 2900-2950

 

[Bwhittty]

I have just begun to shoot my newly built 6.5-284. Broughton 5C barrel. 8 twist. 26" long. Cleaned it, shot once, cleaned it, shot once, cleaned it, shot 3, cleaned it, shot 15. Using 7828, I'm starting with 50 grains. First load was touching. Shot a .457 group. 2nd load .030 off and shot .576. 3rd load .060 off and shot .331. All groups shot @ 100. Now I'm going to load 50 more at the .060 jump and go have fun with it. I called Tim @ Broughton and he said the barrel should start to settle in around 75 rounds and also reach its top velocity. Then it will be ladder test and final load tuning.

Lapua Brass
Fed 210m
143 ELD-X
50 grains 7828SSC
2640 FPS
ES-11

All virgin brass so far and will continue until 75 down the tube. The load is slow but will pick up the pace the further I get down the line. Plan on adding powder in final load development. Should be around 52.5-53 grains. Hoping for 2900-2950

More testing done yesterday and I'm absolutely ecstatic. Tested loads at 51, 51.5, 52, 52.5, and 53. 52 and 52.5 went in the same hole. Ran back home and loaded 6 shells at 52.3 and .060 jump. First group went out of the tube at 2873, 2879, 2867 for an ES of 12 and SD of 6. Group size was .421. Made a terrible pull on the 3rd shot in the group. Let the gun cool and made another 3 shot group with the exact same load and shot a .220. Speeds were 2886, 2904, and 2892 for an ES of 18 and SD of 9.17. The last group was shot 33-35 down the new barrel. As I stated before, Tim told me the speeds would climb as I got closer to the 75 round mark and then stabilize. Really like what Im seeing and thought I would share my experience with the 143 ELD-X.

Lapua Brass
Fed 210m
143 ELD-X
52.3 grains 7828SSC
2904 FPS
2.392 CBTO - Case Base to Ogive with Hornady Guage and Modified Case

 

[Hotolds442]

With IMR-7828, we stopped at 52.0 under the 140VLD and CCI-250's, CBTO at 2.575 - .020 jump. Velocity was 2850 in the 24" Savage barrel. The goal was 2850, and once we hit it, we stopped working up. We have since moved on to Retumbo, and have gained an extra 150fps with smaller groups.

 

[Wachsmann]

I moved to retumbo as well but the 7828 worked ok also....For being a barrel burner of a rifle I think that may be slightly over stated in comparsion to a lot of other 6.5's out there today with the worst being the 26 Nosler and yes the 6.5-300 Weatherby. I now have over 1300 rounds down the pipe and I havn't seen any accuracy loss on this gun. Its a stock 116 savage. I've cut my reloading teeth on this gun somewhat and learned a lot about different ways to do this. I think I have learned some of the best load development processes on this gun also. Out of those 1300 plus rounds I tried some different powders, seating depths, charge work ups, different bullets, ladder testing on loads, different methods to try and prove out a load, etc, etc... This gun has been my testing ground and now it become my all around fun gun to shoot and my most trusted go to gun when it comes to making a shot. I've resent been able to lay some groups down at 1000yards now with this gun as well. I think over the life of the gun
I have moved the seatting depth forward by .005 just to tune the retumbo load a little better than what I was using. Hoping with normal good cleaning practices and what I have developed as a system to keep the gun at I can at least get another 1000 to 1500 rounds are so out of this gun. That would put me so where at 2800 and who knows may be even get more.

 

[Jack Ford]

Put together a 6.5x284 and wasnt happy with RE22, it was flattening out primers a few grains below max. Just worked up a load using 7828, not the SSC kind. Out of a remage barrel with less than 50 rounds through it and brand new lapua brass.
54.4 grains 7828
143grn ELDX
2/1000 jump to lands
Winchester primer.
Results are 2849fps with an ES of 6, no pressure signs on the brass and less than half MOA, touching bullet holes at 100 yards. I'm happy with that but I notice that everyone above seems to be getting the same velocities with a few less grains of powder, might be because my barrel is new or maybe the humidity and close to sea level?

 

[Wachsmann]

Most of this is pretty old in this thread but my gun has bit the dust at about 4300 rounds. I had to start cleaning a lot more around the 35 to 3700 round count and finally it just quit holding accuracy. The last couple of bullets I was playing around with was the 142 LR accubonds. I never got them to shoot and I tried everything but that being said I think the barrel was getting toasted. I need to re-barrel the rifle now. I might try something else but the 6.5X284 was definitely a fun round to shoot. I've been looking at the Sherman long action rounds or a 280AI. Who knows may just do the 6.5x284 again since I have all the dies.