6.5 grendel 123 gr amax. Help please

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I'm loading for my precision firearms 6.5 grendel and am going to use XBR 8208, hornady brass, 123 gr amax, with winchester primers. I would like to know:

1.) most accurate load (all info please!)
2.) max load with 123 gr and XBR
3.) how far off the lands you are

I normally run amax at 10 thousands off the lands but I'm not going to be anywhere near that (wont fit mag).

 

[LRRPF52]

The most accurate load is going to be determined by your barrel's unique steel construction, and corresponding barrel harmonics on both the "whip" and longitudinal axes.

How much range do you have to work with as far as load development goes, and how accurate of a load do you want? Namely, what are your vertical dispersion minimums for whatever it is you're going to primarily be using the rifle for? You have a barrel that is capable of very tight vertical dispersion.

With 8208 XBR, looking at my 6.5 Grendel Reloading Handbook in the Hodgdon's section, they list 28.5gr Compressed with the 123gr SMK. I can also tell you that most Grendel shooters stop at 28.5gr of 8208 XBR with any 123gr bullet, to include the A-MAX, SMK, Scenar, and Nosler CC. 8208 XBR will spike on you after that, so I would highly recommend working up to it, rather than starting at or near max of course.

The 123gr A-MAX shoots very well for me in my AA Grendel chamber, but from a 16" barrel. I also have had excellent results with the 123gr Lapua Scenar from Precision Firearms in their factory load with Lapua brass, which is one of the best buys for factory ammo since you end up with the longest-lasting brass after you shoot it.

If I was in your position, and had access to a 600yd range, I would run simultaneous pressure and accuracy ladder tests, starting with 26.5gr of 8208 with a COL of 2.260". 8208 didn't seem to generate what the 24" barrels are capable of for velocity, but it does have a lot of temp stability being a fine extruded powder.

I have been working with CFE a lot, and like it more than the other powders I have played with so far, to include TAC, 8208, & N140. I also have BL-C(2), AA2520, X-Terminator, and LeveRevolution.

I have a spread of projectiles from 85gr Sierra HP's, all the way up to 144gr, but I really like the 123gr A-MAX the best so far in my gun. I have a ton of 123gr NCC's to try as well, along with a thousand 129gr SST's. I was also in on the group-by for the 123gr SST's, and got 500 of them.

I get 2460fps with the Hornady 123gr A-MAX factory ammo, and have literally taken it out to 1200yds with my 16" gun in no wind conditions, and I was still well past supersonic. (4400ft ASL, 81 F temp, very dry air).

 

[[email protected]]

The most accurate load is going to be determined by your barrel's unique steel construction, and corresponding barrel harmonics on both the "whip" and longitudinal axes.

How much range do you have to work with as far as load development goes, and how accurate of a load do you want? Namely, what are your vertical dispersion minimums for whatever it is you're going to primarily be using the rifle for? You have a barrel that is capable of very tight vertical dispersion.

With 8208 XBR, looking at my 6.5 Grendel Reloading Handbook in the Hodgdon's section, they list 28.5gr Compressed with the 123gr SMK. I can also tell you that most Grendel shooters stop at 28.5gr of 8208 XBR with any 123gr bullet, to include the A-MAX, SMK, Scenar, and Nosler CC. 8208 XBR will spike on you after that, so I would highly recommend working up to it, rather than starting at or near max of course.

The 123gr A-MAX shoots very well for me in my AA Grendel chamber, but from a 16" barrel. I also have had excellent results with the 123gr Lapua Scenar from Precision Firearms in their factory load with Lapua brass, which is one of the best buys for factory ammo since you end up with the longest-lasting brass after you shoot it.

If I was in your position, and had access to a 600yd range, I would run simultaneous pressure and accuracy ladder tests, starting with 26.5gr of 8208 with a COL of 2.260". 8208 didn't seem to generate what the 24" barrels are capable of for velocity, but it does have a lot of temp stability being a fine extruded powder.

I have been working with CFE a lot, and like it more than the other powders I have played with so far, to include TAC, 8208, & N140. I also have BL-C(2), AA2520, X-Terminator, and LeveRevolution.

I have a spread of projectiles from 85gr Sierra HP's, all the way up to 144gr, but I really like the 123gr A-MAX the best so far in my gun. I have a ton of 123gr NCC's to try as well, along with a thousand 129gr SST's. I was also in on the group-by for the 123gr SST's, and got 500 of them.

I get 2460fps with the Hornady 123gr A-MAX factory ammo, and have literally taken it out to 1200yds with my 16" gun in no wind conditions, and I was still well past supersonic. (4400ft ASL, 81 F temp, very dry air).

Great post! I have places to shoot over a 1000 but usually do load development at 400, that's where I feel most comfortable. I have steered away from ladder test in my bolt guns because the chance of three fliers landing by each other and creating a false node. I loaded 27.5 gr XBR with a COAL of 3.30", 3.20",3.1", and 3.00". (I measured ogive when seating obviously). I'm going to take all my reloading equitment with me to the range, so if you have any suggestion that would be great. I'm looking for under 3" at 400 yards. Using hornady brass and winchester WSR primer BTW.

 

[Unknown]

LRRPF52 gave you great info. You will be stuck by magazine length regardless of where your ogive ends up. If your magazine only allows you to seat the bullet out to 2.265, then having the lands engage the ogive at 2.290 is not going let you seat less than .025 off the lands. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[LRRPF52]

Great post! I have places to shoot over a 1000 but usually do load development at 400, that's where I feel most comfortable. I have steered away from ladder test in my bolt guns because the chance of three fliers landing by each other and creating a false node. I loaded 27.5 gr XBR with a COAL of 3.30", 3.20",3.1", and 3.00". (I measured ogive when seating obviously). I'm going to take all my reloading equitment with me to the range, so if you have any suggestion that would be great. I'm looking for under 3" at 400 yards. Using hornady brass and winchester WSR primer BTW.

I don't think one ladder is enough to show a trend, so I do at least 3 batches of the same load sequence. I'd rather shoot 30 rounds (3 batches of 8 charges with initial sighter duplicates of the lowest load) to find a node trend than 50 rounds to find a potential one. I used to load 10 batches of 5-round strings, and burn a lot of components that way. Now I can find a node trend in 3 batches, then play with seating depth ladders if I really wanted to.

I asked a buddy of mine who is a renowned practical long-range shooter with many wins at Steel Safari and matches of that nature, what he does now for load development on a new pipe. He loads several 5-7 15rd strings of different charge weights and shoots them at 600 IIRC. Usually a great load will show up in there. I can't justify burning that many components in development, and the ladders have been working for me. I also like to see my pressure trend based on velocity per charge weight increase to know when I'm getting into max pressure for my system.