For quite a while my 6.5 Creedmoor has not given me the performance I was sure I should be getting from it. I decided stop comparing it to other calibers I own, things were not going like I expected.
I have a rifle in a wildcat round called the 270 AR, it's a slightly shortened 6.5X47 Lapua case, necked up to .277 caliber. That gun will spit 130 gr. bullets out the 20" barrel at 2850 fps, with 38 gr. of powder in the case. The same bullet, same powder charge, is supposed to produce around 3100 fps from a 24" to 26" barrel.
So the Creedmoor with quite a bit larger case, and that gun having a 24" barrel. I have expected a bit higher velocities out of that gun. When I first started shooting the gun, I could not get 2800 fps, from the gun, with 140 gr. bullets, and 130 gr. bullets. Turns out some Nosler Accubonds I bought were supposed to be 140 gr. but turned out to be 130 gr., I was sure I ordered the 140 gr. bullets, don't really know what happened. I could not get those to 2800 fps, either. Until I tried Superformance, then the velocities took off. I was able to get 2850 to 2885 fps, from the 140 gr. Bergers. I was a lot happier at that point. Still not where I figured the gun should be. I ran out of the Berger bullets. Then spent over a year hunting for new bullets. Finally found some 129 gr. Nosler Accubond Long Range bullets. I decided those would probably be close to perfect for my rifle, since it has a 1 in 8 rifling twist. But then I found some Cutting Edge Laser 140 gr. bullets. That have a very high BC number for a 6.5 mm 140 gr. bullet. The BC number for those bullets is .670, so I bought some.
Well this weekend I finally got to try both of the new bullets. I had been loading 46.5 gr. of Superformance with the 140 gr. Berger Elite Hunters. Since the Cutting Edge bullets are solid copper and much longer than the Bergers, I backed off the charge to 41.5 gr. and started from there, then went up .5 gr. at a time. At times, it almost seemed like it was starting to group, but then would send the next bullet off some direction, that I did not expect. Then the next one would be somewhere else. But I was able to go all the way up to 46.5 gr. of powder, with no signs of high pressure. So I went 47 gr. and 47.5 gr., I still did not see any high pressure signs. The velocities got much more consistent, that was a good sign. So I loaded up 10 at 47.5 gr., and shot them. Got basically the same results I did from when I was slowly increasing the powder charge. There was no consistency on where the bullets would hit. It was making about a 4" group with most of the shots, some where farther out than that. I concluded that those bullets do need at least a 1 in 7 twist, like listed in Cutting Edge's info, 1 in 8 does not work for crap with those bullets.
But the good thing is I had those bullets up to 2945 fps., most shots were in the 2931 fps range. I called it done on those bullets. I am sure in the right gun those are some bad A bullets, but not my gun.
So next I started loading the 129 gr. Nosler Accubond Long Range bullets. I started off with 45 gr. of powder and went up from there. All of my shots as I was working up the powder charge, were inside of 1". I went all the way to 48 gr. When I got it up to 48 gr. the velocities got very interesting. I fired four shots, at 48 gr. all of them were either 3093 or 3094 fps. With the other bullets the velocity variation was more like 28 fps, which is not bad, but with the combo I came up with for the Accubonds, it's pretty dang good.
Hopefully next weekend I will load up about 50 of those Accubonds and spend some time shooting the gun with those. I think, I finally have a load for that gun, that I am going to like. From what I saw, I would expect less than 10 fps, variation from that load for all shots. If I could get it down to less than 5 fps variation, that would be great. I have not seen that small of a variation in years. Because I don't put as much effort into picking a preparing my brass, as I used to. Now days I normally consider 20 to 30 fps, variation good. If I really want the accuracy, I will spend more time on the brass. But with the Creedmoor, all of my brass, is Lapua brass, from the same lot. So it does not take much to get my Creedmoor brass, perfect.
I am betting, the gun should produce some nice groups once I get a batch of this new combo loaded. I have tried quiet a few different powders, and bullets in this gun, so far the best groups I have gotten from it have been around 1/2" groups from the 140 gr. Berger Elite Hunters. I have some 140 gr. Berger VLD Hunters, but had hell with them. I would bet the best I have gotten from those bullets has been maybe a 1" group, I would say most of my groups, with the VLDs have been around 1.5". My cheap barreled 458 SOCOM, with Hornady 350 gr. interlocks was doing better than the Creedmoor with the VLDs. I tried quite a few different seating depths. Most seating depths gave me around 1.7" groups. I really think both of those Berger bullets need a faster twist than the 1 in 8 twist, I have in my barrel, or a lot more velocity, than my Creedmoor is capable of.
I really wanted to shoot 140 gr. bullets in this gun, because of the higher BC numbers of some of the 140 gr. bullets. I have concluded, this gun does not like 140 gr. bullets/this gun does not properly stabilize the 140 gr. bullets I have tried, because they are too long. I am sure if I used more of a common hunting bullet, like a Sierra Game King in 140 gr, I could probably get that bullet to stabilize and shoot quite accurately. But then I would not have the BC numbers I wanted with this little gun.
I have a rifle in a wildcat round called the 270 AR, it's a slightly shortened 6.5X47 Lapua case, necked up to .277 caliber. That gun will spit 130 gr. bullets out the 20" barrel at 2850 fps, with 38 gr. of powder in the case. The same bullet, same powder charge, is supposed to produce around 3100 fps from a 24" to 26" barrel.
So the Creedmoor with quite a bit larger case, and that gun having a 24" barrel. I have expected a bit higher velocities out of that gun. When I first started shooting the gun, I could not get 2800 fps, from the gun, with 140 gr. bullets, and 130 gr. bullets. Turns out some Nosler Accubonds I bought were supposed to be 140 gr. but turned out to be 130 gr., I was sure I ordered the 140 gr. bullets, don't really know what happened. I could not get those to 2800 fps, either. Until I tried Superformance, then the velocities took off. I was able to get 2850 to 2885 fps, from the 140 gr. Bergers. I was a lot happier at that point. Still not where I figured the gun should be. I ran out of the Berger bullets. Then spent over a year hunting for new bullets. Finally found some 129 gr. Nosler Accubond Long Range bullets. I decided those would probably be close to perfect for my rifle, since it has a 1 in 8 rifling twist. But then I found some Cutting Edge Laser 140 gr. bullets. That have a very high BC number for a 6.5 mm 140 gr. bullet. The BC number for those bullets is .670, so I bought some.
Well this weekend I finally got to try both of the new bullets. I had been loading 46.5 gr. of Superformance with the 140 gr. Berger Elite Hunters. Since the Cutting Edge bullets are solid copper and much longer than the Bergers, I backed off the charge to 41.5 gr. and started from there, then went up .5 gr. at a time. At times, it almost seemed like it was starting to group, but then would send the next bullet off some direction, that I did not expect. Then the next one would be somewhere else. But I was able to go all the way up to 46.5 gr. of powder, with no signs of high pressure. So I went 47 gr. and 47.5 gr., I still did not see any high pressure signs. The velocities got much more consistent, that was a good sign. So I loaded up 10 at 47.5 gr., and shot them. Got basically the same results I did from when I was slowly increasing the powder charge. There was no consistency on where the bullets would hit. It was making about a 4" group with most of the shots, some where farther out than that. I concluded that those bullets do need at least a 1 in 7 twist, like listed in Cutting Edge's info, 1 in 8 does not work for crap with those bullets.
But the good thing is I had those bullets up to 2945 fps., most shots were in the 2931 fps range. I called it done on those bullets. I am sure in the right gun those are some bad A bullets, but not my gun.
So next I started loading the 129 gr. Nosler Accubond Long Range bullets. I started off with 45 gr. of powder and went up from there. All of my shots as I was working up the powder charge, were inside of 1". I went all the way to 48 gr. When I got it up to 48 gr. the velocities got very interesting. I fired four shots, at 48 gr. all of them were either 3093 or 3094 fps. With the other bullets the velocity variation was more like 28 fps, which is not bad, but with the combo I came up with for the Accubonds, it's pretty dang good.
Hopefully next weekend I will load up about 50 of those Accubonds and spend some time shooting the gun with those. I think, I finally have a load for that gun, that I am going to like. From what I saw, I would expect less than 10 fps, variation from that load for all shots. If I could get it down to less than 5 fps variation, that would be great. I have not seen that small of a variation in years. Because I don't put as much effort into picking a preparing my brass, as I used to. Now days I normally consider 20 to 30 fps, variation good. If I really want the accuracy, I will spend more time on the brass. But with the Creedmoor, all of my brass, is Lapua brass, from the same lot. So it does not take much to get my Creedmoor brass, perfect.
I am betting, the gun should produce some nice groups once I get a batch of this new combo loaded. I have tried quiet a few different powders, and bullets in this gun, so far the best groups I have gotten from it have been around 1/2" groups from the 140 gr. Berger Elite Hunters. I have some 140 gr. Berger VLD Hunters, but had hell with them. I would bet the best I have gotten from those bullets has been maybe a 1" group, I would say most of my groups, with the VLDs have been around 1.5". My cheap barreled 458 SOCOM, with Hornady 350 gr. interlocks was doing better than the Creedmoor with the VLDs. I tried quite a few different seating depths. Most seating depths gave me around 1.7" groups. I really think both of those Berger bullets need a faster twist than the 1 in 8 twist, I have in my barrel, or a lot more velocity, than my Creedmoor is capable of.
I really wanted to shoot 140 gr. bullets in this gun, because of the higher BC numbers of some of the 140 gr. bullets. I have concluded, this gun does not like 140 gr. bullets/this gun does not properly stabilize the 140 gr. bullets I have tried, because they are too long. I am sure if I used more of a common hunting bullet, like a Sierra Game King in 140 gr, I could probably get that bullet to stabilize and shoot quite accurately. But then I would not have the BC numbers I wanted with this little gun.