Anyone have a Seekins Havak? Need some info on loads

[Mrvmax]

I bought a Seekins Havak in 6.5 PRC, I have a Savage 110 High Country in 6.5 PRC that gets .5 Mao with hand loads. I figured the Seekins should be able to do better than that and I am getting set up for shooting at 1000 yards with it. The problem is that I have tried 4 bullets (two ELD's, a Match Burner and Lapua) and I am getting 1.5 to 2 MOA. I have tried three different powders too. I had a Barnes TTSX set up for hunting in the Savage. I was frustrated with the loads I developed for the Havak (different seating depths using distance from lands) not doing well. The Barnes that was set up for the Savage shot at abut an inch and I never even loaded it for the Havak. Anyway, I have never had the much trouble getting a load to shoot well. Three range trips and nothing but the possible Barnes load (which of course I have very few TTSX bullets, plenty of ELD's). I did e-mail Seekins to see if they can shed any light and give me some advice. Heck, my old Sig 716 shot better than this Havak.

 

[waspocrew]

I don't have a PRC, but my Havak 6mm CM shoot extremely well with factory ammo as well as handloads.

Which components have you tried specifically (powder and projectile). Have you tried any factory ammo? Seekins makes a great rifle. They'll help you sort things out. This is how my rifle tends to shoot:

 

[Recon$$]

6.5 PRC havak ph1
59.0 gr RL25
Fed210
Hornady Brass
140 gr Berger .01 off lands
3050 avg velocity (after break in)


.35 @ 100
.5 @ 680

 

[Mrvmax]

6.5 PRC havak ph1
59.0 gr RL25
Fed210
Hornady Brass
140 gr Berger .01 off lands
3050 avg velocity (after break in)


.35 @ 100
.5 @ 680

I wish mine was like that. I'll wait and see what Seekins tells me now that I'm sure it should shoot better.

 

[Recon$$]

Took me two ladder tests to put that together. I love mine.

 

[Mrvmax]

It took Seekins the next day after I e-mailed them to call me. They offered to take the rifle back and check it but I got some load info fro their head of quality control and powder recommendations to check first. I am also going to buy a box of factory ammo from a friend and try that. So far Seekins has exceeded every expectation of mine in just calling me so quickly, I cannot say I expected a call on the next business day.

Despite what happens to this rifle they have earned a customer for life since I value customer support and few companies seem to care about it. I will update the thread as I narrow down the possibilities. BTW, he recommended 15 to 60 thousands off the lands with 20-40 being the sweet spot for most as far as bullet jump.

 

[Mike027]

I recently purchased a Havak PH2. I first tried some factory Hornady Precision Hunter 143 ELD-X and got groups of around an inch and I was quite frankly a little disappointed. I had a few ELD-X 143 bullets so I loaded a few starter test rounds with 50 grains of Reloder 23 and it put 3 shots into the same hole. I thought maybe it was a fluke so I tried it again the next day and got the same result. However, because I was short on that bullet and powder to do additional testing I had to go to the 140 grain ELD-M and H1000 and I'm consistently getting 3 shot groups under a half inch at 100 yards with 57.7 grains of the H1000, with Hornady brass and Federal large rifle primers. My COL is at 2.935". Velocity is 2,929 fps. I will be using this load for an antelope hunt in Colorado next week. I have since been able to locate a couple boxes of the ELD-X 143 grainers so I will do more testing in the coming months. Reloder 23 is nowhere to be found in my area but I have a good supply of H1000. Keep testing and Im sure you will find a couple of loads that will give you the results you are looking for.

 

[Thebear_78]

Both my havaks 300 win and 6.5 PRC shooot extremely well. 1/2moa is consistently achieved. My 6.5 PRC is set up for hunting so I went with the hammer 124 HH and re26. Accuracy is outstanding and really lived up to its name on caribou this fall.