So i recently purchases my first bolt gun. I wanted something that could deliver good accuracy for the money. I ended up with a Ruger American Hunter with Magpul stock chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor. I topped the rifle with Vortex rings and an Athlon Ares BTR Gen 2 4.5-27x50.
From doing some reading i settled on a very basic and short break in as follows:
1 shot and clean (5x)
2 shots and clean (5x)
5 shots and clean (5x)
The only ammo i could find locally was one box of Hornady Match 140gr ELD-M. So i used that for the first 20 rounds of my break in. On the last 5 in the box i was able to shoot this group, with the flyer being the clean bore shot. Things looked promising.
I just got some components in this week and was able to start handloading. The only powder i could snag locally was W760, which doesnt seem popular for the 6.5, mostly due to temp volatility. But here is where i started.
Hornady lists 41.3gr as max for 140gr BTHP over W760. So i started at 38.6gr and moved up 0.3gr at a time watching for pressure signs. I actually ended up loading to 41.6gr (0.3gr over book max) since i didnt seem to be seeing much of any pressure signs.
New Nosler brass trimmed to 1.905"
CCI 250 primers
W760 powder
Hornady Match 140gr BTHP
So i have a few questions after getting some data. First off, Hornady dummy case is backordered, so i use a piece of FL sized brass and seated my 140gr BTHP at mag length (2.860) and started running bolt forward and seeing if i could close the bolt, all the while watching for makes left by the lands on the ogive. I used a piece of 0000 steel wool between seating depth adjustments and kept seating deeper until i could see no trace of marks from the lands. This measurement (cant do CBTO bc .264 comparator is not here yet) was 2.755 COAL, which i found strange since Hornady recommends 2.800 for this projectile. But i figured it was reasonably close and the gun shoots fine, so i ran with it. Is this alarming that this rifle has a lack of free bore or short chamber?
I figured i could do kind of a combination of break in, max load work up, and a Satterlee test across the chrono all at once. So i proceeded with shooting all of these loads and collected the following data.
Second thing that stood out to me with this data was that the velocities seem rather low when compared to other published load data. I understand i only have a 22" barrel, and most data is for 24" barrel. And i would not even worry about 25-50fps, but it seems like i am somewhere around 125-150fps lower than book values. Any thoughts on this?
With velocities this low, should i continue going up over max since i havent seen any alarming signs of pressure? The velocity data appears to be showing a node around 40.5gr give or take a couple tenths (the 40.4 charge was a clean bore shot and im not sure if that was why it was an outlier on the curve).
To summarize:
1) Is the short chamber measurement concerning?
2) Do the velocities in relation to powder charge seem way low?
3) Is it normal to have to go a fair amount over max charge to reach velocities?
Im sure left something out, so i will try to answer any additional questions you all may have.
From doing some reading i settled on a very basic and short break in as follows:
1 shot and clean (5x)
2 shots and clean (5x)
5 shots and clean (5x)
The only ammo i could find locally was one box of Hornady Match 140gr ELD-M. So i used that for the first 20 rounds of my break in. On the last 5 in the box i was able to shoot this group, with the flyer being the clean bore shot. Things looked promising.
I just got some components in this week and was able to start handloading. The only powder i could snag locally was W760, which doesnt seem popular for the 6.5, mostly due to temp volatility. But here is where i started.
Hornady lists 41.3gr as max for 140gr BTHP over W760. So i started at 38.6gr and moved up 0.3gr at a time watching for pressure signs. I actually ended up loading to 41.6gr (0.3gr over book max) since i didnt seem to be seeing much of any pressure signs.
New Nosler brass trimmed to 1.905"
CCI 250 primers
W760 powder
Hornady Match 140gr BTHP
So i have a few questions after getting some data. First off, Hornady dummy case is backordered, so i use a piece of FL sized brass and seated my 140gr BTHP at mag length (2.860) and started running bolt forward and seeing if i could close the bolt, all the while watching for makes left by the lands on the ogive. I used a piece of 0000 steel wool between seating depth adjustments and kept seating deeper until i could see no trace of marks from the lands. This measurement (cant do CBTO bc .264 comparator is not here yet) was 2.755 COAL, which i found strange since Hornady recommends 2.800 for this projectile. But i figured it was reasonably close and the gun shoots fine, so i ran with it. Is this alarming that this rifle has a lack of free bore or short chamber?
I figured i could do kind of a combination of break in, max load work up, and a Satterlee test across the chrono all at once. So i proceeded with shooting all of these loads and collected the following data.
Second thing that stood out to me with this data was that the velocities seem rather low when compared to other published load data. I understand i only have a 22" barrel, and most data is for 24" barrel. And i would not even worry about 25-50fps, but it seems like i am somewhere around 125-150fps lower than book values. Any thoughts on this?
With velocities this low, should i continue going up over max since i havent seen any alarming signs of pressure? The velocity data appears to be showing a node around 40.5gr give or take a couple tenths (the 40.4 charge was a clean bore shot and im not sure if that was why it was an outlier on the curve).
To summarize:
1) Is the short chamber measurement concerning?
2) Do the velocities in relation to powder charge seem way low?
3) Is it normal to have to go a fair amount over max charge to reach velocities?
Im sure left something out, so i will try to answer any additional questions you all may have.