6.5x47 Brass Life

[vman]

Hi guys.

I have a question for the seasoned 6.5x47 shooters out there. What sort of brass life are you getting and what powder loads are you running with this brass?

Yesterday a friend and myself went out with our 6.5x47s for a little load development. We had a Super-Chrono with us which is an acoustic chrony. We were shooting 130 VLD Bergers with Varget and Winchester primers. Both of our barrels produced some high speed results with what I feel was very little effort.

Until I get a modified 6.5x47 case for the Hornady tool, the exact OAL is just a guess but we are seating slightly into the lands somewhere between a kiss and a light jam.

It was a warmish day (26 degrees C) so we may have been getting higher speeds due to that.

At around the 36.8gr to 37.0gr of Varget I'm getting 2950 FPS, so I'm going to fiddle around some more in that area with changes in seating depth and so forth.

My friend was getting superb chrony results with 38.0gr Varget @ 3060 FPS with an ES of 3 and SD 1.5.

My questions are, what sort of brass life could one expect if they are running 37.0 grains of varget, or even 38.0 grains varget with speeds in excess of 2950 FPS?

No primer flattening occuring, with some ejector marks happening however we are not sure of these marks are due to the rifle itself (we are getting the same 'polished' ejector marks even on mild loads). Time will tell (rifles are DTA's).

Thanks in advance

 

[avidflyer]

Ditch the varget and find some h4350 if you can....I use 40.9 .10 off and it hammers in the .1's and 2's all day long. Brass life thas not been an issue but I do anneal every 3 firings.

 

[steve123]

6.5x47L brass is very deceptive at showing pressure. The chances are that you are running up there towards 70,000 psi but can't tell by how well the brass and primers look, even moreso if your bolt is bushed. So really all you have to go by is velocity as a reliable indicator. Another way I've found is good way of telling is to do a ladder test. The rifle usually has nodes at reasonable pressures.

How long are your barrels?

 

[AtOne]

We've been running at 2980 fps with adjusted velocities coming closer to 3015 fps.
I'm on 9th fire right now and haven't lost any cases due to pressures, everything's still tight and heading up to almost 3000 rounds on this barrel.
Everyone's rifles are different so be sure to load only to your rifles maximums.

 

[vman]

Cheers fellas.

I might look for a low end node and use that until i can get more brass... huge shortage of 6.5x47 brass in Australia. Massive back orders too!

The barrel is a 26" 1:8.5 twist probably a lothar walther barrel.

Thanks Steve, looking at running more ladders when we get a chance.

 

[Trevor300wsm]

I've been shooting 6.5x47 for a little over 2 yes now. I have 3 rifles chambered in it and had a 4th, but sold it. Stick with Varget as long as it will produce the accuracy you want. All of my rifles have shot great between 37.0-38.0 grains of Varget with 130 VLDs. I use CCI450 primers......always have. I have some cases with 10 firings on them and they are still going. I've never been able to achieve the velocity numbers you are getting though. Usually 2,890fps-2,910fps is about all I've ever been able to get out of any of my rifles. Your charge weights are within the normal range based on all the rifles I've had and those that fellow shooters have owned. I would not worry too much about brass life at those charge weights. However, I would verify those speeds on steel at distance. They seem high to me, but I do not know the altitude that you shoot at either.

It takes a significant amount of pressure to show up on Lapua brass. It was designed to handle higher pressures. I've ran loads hot on purpose for testing. I've reached the point of blowing primers out and even stretching/expanding the web on a few cases. I do not recommend trying this.

 

[vman]

Good point Trevor re verification of velocity at longer distances.

We were ringing steel at 450 yards and all of the shots were coming up around 6" below the point of aim. So where the ballistic calc said to use 2.2 mil for elevation, it was in fact a little higher. This could be due to incorrect setup of the calculator and not having precise environmental conditions, or as you say it could be the Chrony.

I'm going to back down with loads and try again until something obvious shows up for me.

 

[TRAAV]

I have ran some 6.5x47 brass to 25+ firings aneal every three firings or so

 

[Mod Adahy]

I run 4350 at 40.6 grains to yield 2920.

 

[Mod Adahy]

Bolt lift told me more than the brass

 

[vman]

Thanks for the responses fellas