Ultimate match bullet?

[toolsofthetrade]

OK, Im gonna open a can of worms here...what do you think or have found to be the best 6.5 Grendel long range match quality bullet (for reloading BTW)

[Azprc]

108 scenar.

[kamrr4437]

Whatever YOUR rifle likes to throw. Honestly thats the best answer i can give you.

[mongoosesnipe]

It depends on your definition of long range bench rest bullets are of significantly different design to something like a Palma bullet but for 300 plus you will was a low drag bullet with a boat tail design and you will want to be supper sonic at your intended range as the transition through the trans sonic barrier is very turbulent and will offer have a detrimental effect on accuracy if your trying to get to 1000 I would say scenar, Amax, or matching in the 100-110 range if your staying around 600 I would go with something around 120 the extra mass will help with the wind

[toolsofthetrade]

amax, scenar, or sierra or other?

[toolsofthetrade]

I am leaning tword trying the sierra 107gr HPBT or the scenar 108...my rifle seems to like them in that range. Just was looking for what YOU GUYS found works good for you.
So far I have experimented with the following
120gr Barnes and hornady GMX
123gr amax
95gr Vmax
100gr Barnes
and some custom bullets.
so far the ones I am loading for use are the 95gr Vmax, and the 100gr Barnes TTSX.
both for hunting, now looking for a match bullet, my rifle hasn't liked anything in the 120 range except for the amaxes and they aren't the greatest.
hint: yes we do have a new 1100yd range near me. : )

[ChellieWiles]

scenars for targets/small game, ttsx for everything else

[Bwild97]

Ultimate match bullet?

How long is your barrel? It all comes down to that. Do you want to select a projectile based on Velocity and Energy or by the MOA required to get the projectile to target?

If you are working with a 22"- 24" barrel then the question is mute, just shoot what ever you find to be the most accurate at 100yds or where ever your zero is.

If you are working with an 18"- 20" then the story changes a bit, because of reduced muzzle velocity.


Here is a look at what you could expect at 1000yds from a handful of projectiles (hand loads) pushed from a 20" barrel with optimistic MV's.

DA 1209ft 8mph winds @ full value

Muzzle Velocity / Velocity / Energy / Elev. MoA / Wind. MoA
/ / /
2800fps /

107g SMK /1175fps /328 ft-lbs/ 34.2 / 7.8
108g L scen /1259fps /380 ft-lbs/ 33.4 / 7.4

2600fps

123g Amax /1244fps /423 ft-lbs/ 37.3 / 7.3
123g L scen /1273fps /442 ft-lbs/ 36.4 / 7.0

2550fps

130g Ber /1251fps /452 ft-lbs/ 36.8 / 6.8
130g Norma /1280fps /473 ft-lbs/ 37.1 / 6.8

2450fps

142g SMK /1266fps /505 ft-lbs/ 39.5 /6.7

[stokesrj]

Good question, one we likely won't find a single answer to. I would answer on the basis that the objective is to become a good long range shooter, which would demand a bullet that is good enough to give you meaningful feedback and cheap enough to allow maximum practice, which is how you get good, I'm still working on that.

For me, this year the bullet of choice is the Nosler 123 grain custom competition. The reason I say that is that recently a kind fellow member of this forum posted that Cabelas was running a special on them. I have to think they accidentally priced them in the 250 round boxes at $35 because that equates to $.014 per bullet. I bought their entire inventory which was several thousand. You have to be ready when deals like that come along. And I was ready, I had previously tested them and knew they were not quite as accurate in my test rifle as the 130 Berger and 123 AMax but plenty good enough that the limiting factor in my long range match performance is not the bullet, it is me, my ability to read the conditions, my ability to maintain my concentration for 22 shot strings prone, my ability to refine my position.

Now if your question is which bullet will provide the least wind drift, I would vote for the 123 Lapua Scenar or 130 Berger. However I can tell you that I have shot them all in back to back strings at 600 yards and looking at my log book I shot 199-11X, 199-7X and 199-12X this is at mid range, 600 yards, not really long range. In each plot, it is clear that the one that missed the 10 ring was a wind reading error and not anything to do with the bullet.

I would qualify all of these statements with the assumption that you carefully worked up loads with each bullet for your rifle. For each of these bullets, my rifle likes a slightly different load.

Now if I didn't find a special deal on the Nosler CC then I would be shooting something else. Last year at the nationals, I won a 50% off certificate from Sierra Up to $2,000 so I bought $2,000 worth of Sierra bullets and they were my bullet of choice for 2012, most of that went to 77 and 80 grain .224 SMKs but a few hundred 120 and 123 grain .264 SMKs also, which are now all gone.

Now if I didn't get a special deal on Nosler or Sierra, I would be shooting the 123 grain Hornady A-Max which is the cheapest long range bullet in .264 at regular pricing, and I believe the best all around bullet for the Grendel.

Probably more info than you wanted, but that is how I decide which bullet I will be shooting each year, and it does change from year to year.

Bob

[Dogue]

Excellent info as always Bob.

Oh, and damn you for snatching up all those NBT's before I could grab a couple boxes.

[toolsofthetrade]

20" tube right now, thanks for the info

[noone]

Of all the bullets I have tried the one that works best is the 123 Scenar for me. It travels the greatest distance before going transonic. But, I have never tried the 130 Berger...

[toolsofthetrade]

just ordered some 108 scenars, we'll see how they do....no to find some cfe223