Excited to post this. Had my first rifle built by a local smith, Mike Pigney, to get into some prs type competitions in my area.
Rifle is a Rem 700 action trued up, spiral PTG bolt, 24” Bartlein 5R chambered in 6.5 creedmoor, 8 twist barrel, marksman contour. Barreled action sits in Grayboe ridgeback stock, Geissele trigger, Bushnell DMR-ii, ARC rings.
So far I only put 20 factory Hornady 140 ELDM’s through it. But I finally got out to the range again to test out my very first hand loads I whipped up. Just watched videos on YouTube and got data from this site and such and dove in to this rabbit hole.
I’m still reloading like a pilgrim with my Lee challenger press and Lee beam scale. I have a small Lyman digital scale but it tends to walk so I don’t trust it. I actually trust the beam scale more. So I ballpark it on the digital scale then move to the beam scale and trickle it until it looks spot on. So it’s a slow process but I have a digital powder measure coming soon to speed things up.
Regardless I’m happy with my first results. Loaded up two different 10 round pressure tests, one using Hornady 123gr amaxs and the other using Berger 130gr hybrids, to see what my rifle could handle. Shot at 100 yards. Temp was 52 degrees. DA -482 .
Used H4350 powder for both tests. I used once fired hornady brass for the amaxs and used some virgin Lapua brass for the Berger’s to see if there was any differences I could see in the results. Neck tension was set at .0015-.002”. All loaded .020” off the lands. Measured doing the wheeler method.
Started with the Hornady 123s. Loaded 40.5 to 44.5 going up in.5 increments. First shot didn’t read right on my magnetospeed v3 but it was good to go after I mounted it up better.
Don’t know why I didn’t aim at same spot for entire 10 round but I didn’t. I did for the last 6 and they made one big bug hole. Velocities ranged from 2681 at 41gr to 2895 at 44.5gr.
Even on the 44.5gr load, there as no ejector swipe or heavy bolt lift. Very minimal primer cratering so I could probably go up bit.
Next up was the Berger 130’s. Started at 40gr and went up to 44.5, again on .5 increments. Velocities ranged from 2552 at 40gr to 2855 at 44.5gr.
Once again no pressure signs that scared me on the high end. Very very minor primer cratering on the last few but still zero swipes or sticky bolt. The 10 shots here seemed to group in two separate groups. What surprised me was the lower group in the picture, are the higher powder charges. I was holding the same point aim on the corner of that square but they shot lower despite the high velocities.
For my very first hand loads, I’ll take it. Rifle is shooting great and I’m happy with it so far. Can’t wait for the next round of shooting. I’m doing a seating depth test like Satterlee talks about in the modern day sniper podcast. I’ll try going in .030-.040” jumps like Berger suggests doing.
Rifle is a Rem 700 action trued up, spiral PTG bolt, 24” Bartlein 5R chambered in 6.5 creedmoor, 8 twist barrel, marksman contour. Barreled action sits in Grayboe ridgeback stock, Geissele trigger, Bushnell DMR-ii, ARC rings.
So far I only put 20 factory Hornady 140 ELDM’s through it. But I finally got out to the range again to test out my very first hand loads I whipped up. Just watched videos on YouTube and got data from this site and such and dove in to this rabbit hole.
I’m still reloading like a pilgrim with my Lee challenger press and Lee beam scale. I have a small Lyman digital scale but it tends to walk so I don’t trust it. I actually trust the beam scale more. So I ballpark it on the digital scale then move to the beam scale and trickle it until it looks spot on. So it’s a slow process but I have a digital powder measure coming soon to speed things up.
Regardless I’m happy with my first results. Loaded up two different 10 round pressure tests, one using Hornady 123gr amaxs and the other using Berger 130gr hybrids, to see what my rifle could handle. Shot at 100 yards. Temp was 52 degrees. DA -482 .
Used H4350 powder for both tests. I used once fired hornady brass for the amaxs and used some virgin Lapua brass for the Berger’s to see if there was any differences I could see in the results. Neck tension was set at .0015-.002”. All loaded .020” off the lands. Measured doing the wheeler method.
Started with the Hornady 123s. Loaded 40.5 to 44.5 going up in.5 increments. First shot didn’t read right on my magnetospeed v3 but it was good to go after I mounted it up better.
Don’t know why I didn’t aim at same spot for entire 10 round but I didn’t. I did for the last 6 and they made one big bug hole. Velocities ranged from 2681 at 41gr to 2895 at 44.5gr.
Even on the 44.5gr load, there as no ejector swipe or heavy bolt lift. Very minimal primer cratering so I could probably go up bit.
Next up was the Berger 130’s. Started at 40gr and went up to 44.5, again on .5 increments. Velocities ranged from 2552 at 40gr to 2855 at 44.5gr.
Once again no pressure signs that scared me on the high end. Very very minor primer cratering on the last few but still zero swipes or sticky bolt. The 10 shots here seemed to group in two separate groups. What surprised me was the lower group in the picture, are the higher powder charges. I was holding the same point aim on the corner of that square but they shot lower despite the high velocities.
For my very first hand loads, I’ll take it. Rifle is shooting great and I’m happy with it so far. Can’t wait for the next round of shooting. I’m doing a seating depth test like Satterlee talks about in the modern day sniper podcast. I’ll try going in .030-.040” jumps like Berger suggests doing.
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