Bergara HMR 6.5 Creedmoor Fliers?

[Tnwhip]

Yes the Factory said they use Prime Match ammo.

 

[WildRose]

Yes the Factory said they use Prime Match ammo.

Prime is the best factory ammo I've ever shot. For varmints and targets I shoot it religiously in my .260's.

 

[Creedmoor Coyote]

I have a Bergara HMR in 6.5 Creedmoor. It was either this or an RPR, but after seeing the shoty machining in a friends RPR action, I said hell no. My Bergara HMR does not like any ammo unless it's match/qulaity ammo. That being said, for hunting I am running the new Winchester 142 LR Expedition ammo. 5 rounds at about 7/8 of an inch, with a suppressor on. I bring that up as a suppressed weapon will heat up incredibly faster and I can shoot the 5 shot group without any cool down. Other ammo that I found my HMR likes are the 140gr AMAX and the 140gr BTHP Hornady American Gunner bulk ammo. As for barrel break in, per Bergara: "Because of the honing system used in place of bore reamers , the Bergara Barrel has a mirror-like bore surface prior to and after button rifling, little or no break-in is needed." After reading this I put the rounds down the pipe and on target and haven't had any problems.

If it were me, I would try different ammo.

 

[adam]

So, we have some interesting video of three separate 1/4 moa groups from the same lot of 100 rounds of hornaday 147 gr 6.5 ammo.

The setup was a new Tika 6.5 Creedmoor 24" @1140ish under really good conditions under a long proven nsx 1x15 with a match quality shooter. Video was shot with a 90x Panasonic camcorder and reviewed onsite with a display monitor. (Awesome setup btw)

The setup hardly matters, as I have seen this repeated several times. 140 eldm factory rounds shoot 1/4 moa consistently out to 3/4mile. Savage, Browning, Ruger, Jim bobs bubba works, doesn't seem to matter because H4350 and 140 eld in front of a gold medal match primer just works.

Same with the 143 eldx = 1/2 moa groups

In our video, we get clear 1/4 moa groups. Mostly much smaller...... the problem is they fall into three separate groups. (the same aim point) If we didn't have it on video, it would seam crazy.

Each group is small. The problem is not parallax or cheekweld. The total group size is approximately 2.5 moa aggregate if you were to look at all the impacts.

When I got home, I used a spreadsheet to look at Case weight. No surprise. I found three nodes across four grains of Case weight. This is more than normal in my experience for Hornaday brass, but clearly the powder needed to drive the 147 gr bullets was not as good as the H4350 in the 147 eldm Load. (I suspect superformance)

My guess, it's probably not your rifle. Try hornady 140 eldm. If it won't shoot with that load, you need to grow tomatoes instead.


Edited to add

I've burned more powder correcting cheek weld than any other issue combined....by far.

 

[WildRose]

So, we have some interesting video of three separate 1/4 moa groups from the same lot of 100 rounds of hornaday 147 gr 6.5 ammo.

The setup was a new Tika 6.5 Creedmoor 24" @1140ish under really good conditions under a long proven nsx 1x15 with a match quality shooter. Video was shot with a 90x Panasonic camcorder and reviewed onsite with a display monitor. (Awesome setup btw)

The setup hardly matters, as I have seen this repeated several times. 140 eldm factory rounds shoot 1/4 moa consistently out to 3/4mile. Savage, Browning, Ruger, Jim bobs bubba works, doesn't seem to matter because H4350 and 140 eld in front of a gold medal match primer just works.

Same with the 143 eldx = 1/2 moa groups

In our video, we get clear 1/4 moa groups. Mostly much smaller...... the problem is they fall into three separate groups. (the same aim point) If we didn't have it on video, it would seam crazy.

Each group is small. The problem is not parallax or cheekweld. The total group size is approximately 2.5 moa aggregate if you were to look at all the impacts.

When I got home, I used a spreadsheet to look at Case weight. No surprise. I found three nodes across four grains of Case weight. This is more than normal in my experience for Hornaday brass, but clearly the powder needed to drive the 147 gr bullets was not as good as the H4350 in the 147 eldm Load. (I suspect superformance)

My guess, it's probably not your rifle. Try hornady 140 eldm. If it won't shoot with that load, you need to grow tomatoes instead.


Edited to add

I've burned more powder correcting cheek weld than any other issue combined....by far.

I always have to laugh at the absurdity of people who claim that with a decent scope the cheek weld doesn't matter because they don't "see" the crosshairs moving when they move their head/cheek position.

Great point, it needs to be said much more often.

 

[adam]

I always have to laugh at the absurdity of people who claim that with a decent scope the cheek weld doesn't matter because they don't "see" the crosshairs moving when they move their head/cheek position.

Great point, it needs to be said much more often.

Yeah, it's "cheek weld" not "cheek snuggle gently on the sofa".

 

[Clem Bronkoski]

Before you go changing ammo why not try this. Next time you go to the range and you get the same result go home and don't clean the rifle. Take it out and shoot a 3 or 5 shot group and see how it does. I know all my rifles shoot best on a slightly fouled barrel.
If that isn't to your satisfaction I's try lapping the bore with J-B compound or bore polish to remove any micro burrs that are catching fouling.

 

[lancetkenyon]

Before you go changing ammo why not try this. Next time you go to the range and you get the same result go home and don't clean the rifle. Take it out and shoot a 3 or 5 shot group and see how it does. I know all my rifles shoot best on a slightly fouled barrel.
If that isn't to your satisfaction I's try lapping the bore with J-B compound or bore polish to remove any micro burrs that are catching fouling.

This was 4.5 years ago. I would hope the OP figured it out by now.

 

[Clem Bronkoski]

This was 4.5 years ago. I would hope the OP figured it out by now.

I would hope so also!!