6.5 PRC and ADG brass...where to start?

[JMHNL]

Just took delivery of 200pcs of ADG brass. I'm stoked, it's super nice and seems to have tight tolerances as advertised and talked about.

I just put together an Anti-X with a 24" Proof barrel. Been breaking in the barrel with some Nosler brass, RL26 and 156 EOLs with sort of underwhelming results in accuracy. I know that it is still not even broken in with 84 rounds down the tube....

So, the question is to all the gurus: where do I start? Ladder test? Regular OCW and then adjust seating depth? I also am not sure if I should resize this stuff before I shoot it, seems lots of guys just shoot it to FF straight out of the box. The brass chambers in the rifle fine so it's tempting to just shoot it, especially considering that my rifle still needs to be shot for break in.

I have RL25, RL26, H1000 and H4831sc on hand, primers, and plan on shooting 140 VLD Bergers and perhaps 156 EOLs later.

Thanks in advance for some starting points and insight to the above.

 

[Hawk in WY]

The combination of Reloder 26, ADG Brass and a Proof carbon fiber barrel in 6.5 PRC is working great for me.

I run only Barnes bullets and use QuickLOAD for load data backed up by manufacturer's data. I ended up loaded long and over book max, not someting I will recommend on an open forum. The 127 gr. Barnes LRX and the 145 gr Match Burner both go into one hole.

There are multiple ways to work up to safe, accurate loads. Half are voodoo with no statistical validity. The problem is we don't always know which half are which. OCW to find a powder node followed by seating depth works for me.

I see no need to size ADG brass before loading particularly for the first 100 rounds through the rifle.

Good luck.

 

[martinakl]

I've been doing the same as above. OCW followed by seating depth.

I skip full length sizing as often as I can. I haven't had issues with the quality brass. I like to run the brass through an expander mandrel to make sure neck tension is more consistent. Makes sense to me it would help with OCW testing.

Last weekend I did just that and when I graphed out my charge weights vs FPS it was shockingly smooth graph with one very noticeable flat spot. Unfortunately, I was too conservative and didn't load high enough charge weights to find max pressure. Based on the FPS (via LabRadar), I know I was getting very close (probably within a grain, two at the most). I hope to hit another flat spot right about where I ended, as the FPS is right where I'd expect/wanted to see.