My JHR has decided it likes 140 gr. ELD-M bullets. (2nd Follow Up)

[Srgt. Hulka]

Not surprising from what I've been seeing from other's rifles.
I've tried the 120s, 130, and 140s, and the clear winner is the 140 on initial testing.

Now, the question is, which load would you recommend I try to improve on?

The first set of targets is with the Magnetospeed attached to the barrel.
All shot at 100 yards. 5 shot groups.
(On the 41.1 gr. group, after the first shot, I made a scope adjustment.)

The second set is the same loads, without the chronograph attached to the barrel.
On the 42.1, I yanked the trigger. I knew it was going to be off before the bullet hit the paper.

I'm really liking the 40.9 gr., 41.5 gr. and the 42.1 gr. groups. But I'm really liking the 42.1 gr. numbers.

The numbers: Two colums for each charge weight.
First column are the velocities.
Second column are the
Average Vel.
Max. Vel.
Min. Vel.
SD
ES

Would you recommend I go with a higher load? I'm above the maximum load on some of these loads, according to Hodgdon's website, and Hornady's loading manual, but I'm below what I see some others online loading too.

If there is anything else you are seeing, that a rookie such as my self would miss, I'm all ears.


And of course, the gratuitous range pics, and to say, I'm really liking this John Hancock.
Any of you guys still waiting on your's, to arrive, hang in there, it's worth the wait.

 

[spife7980]

When I have something close and all good like that I will run it back at 500 again for that little zone just to make sure it doesn’t go to shit.

 

[Srgt. Hulka]

When I have something close and all good like that I will run it back at 500 again for that little zone just to make sure it doesn’t go to shit.

Thanks for the feedback Spife, but I'm not quite sure I'm following you. Are you saying rerun the loads to make sure they are repeatable?

 

[spife7980]

Sort of. It’s interesting to me how sometimes stuff looks good up close but then at 500 yards it turns into 8” groups.

Every single group you shot at 100 is at least decent without a whole lot of the ocw shifting impact points to identify. Your rifle seems to shoot it all well. Makes it tough to differentiate for me. Taking it to 500 and letting gravity separate the wheat from the chaff will help me make a decision.

I bet yours will stay good but it’s a nice boost of confidence to actually prove it to yourself.

If you wanted to narrow down I would probably look into the 41.4-41.9 in .1 increments.

 

[Steel head]

Thanks for the feedback Spife, but I'm not quite sure I'm following you. Are you saying rerun the loads to make sure they are repeatable?

No need to run the whole test.
Just pick out some favorites from your test and run those at distance to make sure vertical stays nice.


The best groups I’ve ever shot were with 140 ELD-M’s and they do well at distance and love jump,,,,,,excellent bullets.

 

[Srgt. Hulka]

Sort of. It’s interesting to me how sometimes stuff looks good up close but then at 500 yards it turns into 8” groups.

Every single group you shot at 100 is at least decent without a whole lot of the ocw shifting impact points to identify. Your rifle seems to shoot it all well. Makes it tough to differentiate for me. Taking it to 500 and letting gravity separate the wheat from the chaff will help me make a decision.

I bet yours will stay good but it’s a nice boost of confidence to actually prove it to yourself.

If you wanted to narrow down I would probably look into the 41.4-41.9 in .1 increments.

Ah, gotcha. Sounds like an excellent idea. I was going to start working on the load and the seating depth next, but your idea sound like an easy confirmation that I'm at least have a good starting load.

No need to run the whole test.
Just pick out some favorites from your test and run those at distance to make sure vertical stays nice.


The best groups I’ve ever shot were with 140 ELD-M’s and they do well at distance and love jump,,,,,,excellent bullets.

What kind of jump were you giving your loads? These are set to .020 off the lands.


Thanks for the help guys. Now I need to order more bullets.

 

[Steel head]

What kind of jump were you giving your loads? These are set to .020 off the lands.


Thanks for the help guys. Now I need to order more bullets.

With my last barrel approximately .125 of jump towards the end of its life and it was hammering its last 800-1000 rounds till it died.

New barrel I’m currently jumping.040.
I tested jumping them further and it liked it but The best looking accuracy depth was crunching a lot of powder and I was getting other non acceptable issues.

 

[Ranger188]

How many rounds total thru the barrel? You want close to 100 or it might keep
speeding up and throw your data off some.
You can't have the Magnetospeed on and get any sort of groups from that.
It's good for gathering speed only.
I would do as spife said. Try to go back a little farther and reload the 41.5-42.1 in .2 increments.
Nice flat node there. No vertical. The POI is all the same.
Keep the jump the same. Your trying to narrow down the powder weight that shoots the best for that jump.
You can work on fine tuning it with seating depth when you find the load you like.

 

[Srgt. Hulka]

With my last barrel approximately .125 of jump towards the end of its life and it was hammering its last 800-1000 rounds till it died.

New barrel I’m currently jumping.040.
I tested jumping them further and it liked it but The best looking accuracy depth was crunching a lot of powder and I was getting other non acceptable issues.

When I saw your 0.040 jump, I thought to myself that’s an awful lot. Then I did some googling, and found a lot of people have a long jump for that bullet, some way longer than yours. So, that will be something to play with.

How many rounds total thru the barrel? You want close to 100 or it might keep
speeding up and throw your data off some.
You can't have the Magnetospeed on and get any sort of groups from that.
It's good for gathering speed only.
I would do as spife said. Try to go back a little farther and reload the 41.5-42.1 in .2 increments.
Nice flat node there. No vertical. The POI is all the same.
Keep the jump the same. Your trying to narrow down the powder weight that shoots the best for that jump.
You can work on fine tuning it with seating depth when you find the load you like.

At the end of that test, I had about 140 rounds down the barrel, probably a few more (8-10) that were fouling shots that I didn’t record.

Yeah, that’s why I shot two groups of each load, one with the magnetospeed on, and one with it off. But I was surprised at how well it grouped with the Magnetospeed on. I was really expecting worse. I still had to see what they looked like without it on though. Maybe one day, I’ll be able to pick up a Labradar at an good price.

I think as far as my next loads, depending on how they look long range, I may start at the 42.1 and work backwards from there, and maybe just a little bit forward. My brass wasn’t showing any pressure signs at 42.1, so I think I’m ok there.

Now that said, I’ve never shot at 500 yards or above. So I’ll have a learning curve there also. We have to qualify before our range will let us on the 1000 yard range, which that should be a piece of cake. I think I have to put 5 shots in a 4” circle at 200 yards. But I think if I can get qualified and get to the range early, before the wind starts kicking up, I can work on the fundamentals.

Thanks guys. ??



Now, do you guys have a go-to vendor for the best price on the ELD-M? I found some this morning for about $142 for 500, with $5 shipping, at Powder Valley. I’ve been holding off buying any significant number until I found out what my barrel likes. I think I’m going to stay with the 140s for the time being.

 

["HeysKSFirefighter]

What powder, H4350?

41.5gr H4350 with a 140 is the 6.5 Creedmoor "easy button"...a nice, mild, consistent load that *should* shoot fairly well in practically any rifle.

I'd personally load up 42.1-42.3-42.5-42.7 as I suspect you'll find another node with better velocity in that range...and IN MY EXPERIENCE with H4350, Hornady brass, CCI-200s and 140gr bulllets in multiple 6.5s (admittedly not a PVA barrel) those are moderate loads that won't give you pressure issues.

 

[Srgt. Hulka]

What powder, H4350?

41.5gr H4350 with a 140 is the 6.5 Creedmoor "easy button"...a nice, mild, consistent load that *should* shoot fairly well in practically any rifle.

I'd personally load up 42.1-42.3-42.5-42.7 as I suspect you'll find another node with better velocity in that range...and IN MY EXPERIENCE with H4350, Hornady brass, CCI-200s and 140gr bulllets in multiple 6.5s (admittedly not a PVA barrel) those are moderate loads that won't give you pressure issues.

I guess that is good info for me to give. Sorry about that.
Yes, H4350, BR-2 primers, once fired Hornady brass.

Looks like I stopped just short.
That's about how far I was thinking of going, no further than a half a grain or so.

Thanks BoilerUP.

 

[Srgt. Hulka]

Fine tuned my loads this week. Loaded up from 41.8 gr. to 42.7, in .1 grain increments.
Made it out to the range to give them a go.

Weather was nice today. It started out about 78 degrees and ended up about 85. Wind blowing from the north about 6 mph.

After today, I have 245 rounds down the barrel. I didn't make it to the 400 and 500 yard steel today. That will definitely be next trip.

Here are the results. Like before, each group is a 5-shot group.
The numbers: Two columns for each charge weight.
First column are the velocities.
Second column are the
Average Vel.
Max. Vel.
Min. Vel.
SD
ES

Groups with the Magnetospeed attached:

Groups without the Magnetospeed:

And as last time, the gratuitous range pics:

Like I said in my OP, if you're still waiting on your JHR, hang in there, it's worth the wait. This rifle is just getting better and better.