Began working up a new bullet to me in 6.5CM loading the Berger 135g Classic Hunter over H4350 using Hornady Brass & Fed GM210M Primers. Figured I would share my findings. Very pleased with how well these bullets shot. I shot 11 charge weights at 0.2g increments, shooting three rounds per charge weight, and none of the 11 groups were greater than 3/4” at 100yds! I’m liking the SD’s in the 7’s and the groups in the 42.4 to 42.6g range out of my 24” 1:8 RPR, and will explore that area more closely going forward. As always, please do not attempt to duplicate anyone else’s load without first working up to it slowly while checking for signs of pressure as rifles and combinations of reloading components may react differently in varying platforms.
6.5CM H4350 Berger 135g Classic Hunter Load Workup
- Thread starter RldrNewby
- Start date
The 135 factory offering shot extremely well out of my 26" Bartlein, even though it was loaded pretty light. My average was 2710fps.
I bought three boxes to play around with and even loaded to the same CBTO and velocity, my SDs were much higher than the factory stuff.
More tinkering will be needed, but I'm going to try and push them faster and see what happens.
I bought three boxes to play around with and even loaded to the same CBTO and velocity, my SDs were much higher than the factory stuff.
More tinkering will be needed, but I'm going to try and push them faster and see what happens.
What style Chrono are you using? I recently saved up enough to go from a Caldwell shoot thru style to a Magnetospeed V3, and my readings have been much more consistent since. My Caldwell worked great, but it was really sensitive to how I had it positioned in the light, and where the bullet path was traveling through the sensing zone.
I’m not an expert reloader by a long shot, and am still learning something new every day, but even with a Magnetospeed, SDs are still tricky for me. I run a full prep on my brass every time, cleaning/inspection, full length resize with minimal shoulder bump measuring each case, trim to length measuring each case, primer pocket ream, chamfer, deburr, measure each load to the 1/10th grain, seat & measure each round to within 0.002 CBTO, then shoot VERY SLOW 3 round groups with 5min cool down between, AND I STILL can’t explain the random outliers I get which hose my SDs on some of my groups
. It probably doesn’t help that I don’t anneal, and that my brass is definitely work hardened & approaching its end of life, but brass is hard to find for me right now, so I press on. Do you know if they make a powder scale that measures to the hundreds of grain? If so, I may try that to see if it helps
I’m not an expert reloader by a long shot, and am still learning something new every day, but even with a Magnetospeed, SDs are still tricky for me. I run a full prep on my brass every time, cleaning/inspection, full length resize with minimal shoulder bump measuring each case, trim to length measuring each case, primer pocket ream, chamfer, deburr, measure each load to the 1/10th grain, seat & measure each round to within 0.002 CBTO, then shoot VERY SLOW 3 round groups with 5min cool down between, AND I STILL can’t explain the random outliers I get which hose my SDs on some of my groups
. It probably doesn’t help that I don’t anneal, and that my brass is definitely work hardened & approaching its end of life, but brass is hard to find for me right now, so I press on. Do you know if they make a powder scale that measures to the hundreds of grain? If so, I may try that to see if it helps
I'm using a V3 also.
Basically the same process as you, only I'm annealing after every firing, and not cleaning primer pockets.
I'll only trim if I have to.
I think the FXi120 scale will measure that far out.
I'm dumping with a chargemaster and I've had really good luck with it so far.
Basically the same process as you, only I'm annealing after every firing, and not cleaning primer pockets.
I'll only trim if I have to.
I think the FXi120 scale will measure that far out.
I'm dumping with a chargemaster and I've had really good luck with it so far.
Amazon sells jewelers scale for about 20 bucks. Love mineWhat style Chrono are you using? I recently saved up enough to go from a Caldwell shoot thru style to a Magnetospeed V3, and my readings have been much more consistent since. My Caldwell worked great, but it was really sensitive to how I had it positioned in the light, and where the bullet path was traveling through the sensing zone.
I’m not an expert reloader by a long shot, and am still learning something new every day, but even with a Magnetospeed, SDs are still tricky for me. I run a full prep on my brass every time, cleaning/inspection, full length resize with minimal shoulder bump measuring each case, trim to length measuring each case, primer pocket ream, chamfer, deburr, measure each load to the 1/10th grain, seat & measure each round to within 0.002 CBTO, then shoot VERY SLOW 3 round groups with 5min cool down between, AND I STILL can’t explain the random outliers I get which hose my SDs on some of my groups
That’s odd. The factory offering averaged 2,720 out of my 20” Bartlein, suppressed. And that was during the first 100 shots on the barrel. I’ll gladly take a fast barrel!
