WVB4 Wrote:My wife just bought me the Hornady Lock-N-Load Classic kit and it qualifies for the 500 free bullets. The only 6.5 option is the 129gr SP. Does anyone have any experience using this bullet in 6.5 Grendel for deer and hogs or is it better suited for plinking? Also, I see many here like CFE 223. I?ve seen videos with people saying it is very temperature sensitive. Here in the South, I?ll be sighting in and hunting in temp ranges from 90 to 30 degrees. Has anyone experienced negative results with this powder in similar situations? Thanks for your input.

Valjean Wrote:I believe the Hornady voucher for free bullets is only good for the 129g interbond in the 6.5 offering. I'm going through mine now. Poor results with CFE223

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Same gun, same range (100m) same powder, but Vmax 95g

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FLshooter Wrote:Some barrels,regardless of the twist shoot lighter bullets better. It seems to like 95 grain VMAX pretty well. .65 moa is good.If you fine tune your load,you might be able to get it to shoot sub half-inch groups.

Valjean Wrote:I may be cheating...I would say this is a sub 1/2 inch group (.683 - .264) Do people normally subtract the diameter of the projectile when calculating group size?

Harpoon1 Wrote:Of course every gun is different but, I have NOT had much success with the 100 gr Custon Comps. 4 different gas guns, 2 different bolt guns, different barrel lengths, multiple powders & primes, 2 different types of brass................it’s been a struggle, trying to get that projectile to fly.

So, what I’m saying is, don’t get discouraged using that bullet.

WVB4 Wrote:I finally got everything set up and loaded my first 25 rounds today. To recap, I?m using Hornady virgin brass, WSR primer, and CFE 223. I started with 29.7gr up to 31.7gr in .5gr increments. 5 rounds per weight.
Nosler doesn?t have load data for that bullet so I used the Hornady manual. I don?t have a headspace gage or an O.A.L. gage so I was unsure about COL.
What I did was measure a factory round that shoots pretty good in my gun. The 123gr ELD-M Hornady Black measures the ogive at 1.657 in my comparator. So I set my seating die to replicate this.
So, my OAL is 2.186. Was this a rational starting point until I get the additional tools I need?

Valjean Wrote:Not sure if this is a wives tale or not, but I've been told that the limits of the magazine are pretty much guaranteed to keep you off the chamber's lands (as long as the round fits in the magazine....)

Valjean Wrote:Not sure if this is a wives tale or not, but I've been told that the limits of the magazine are pretty much guaranteed to keep you off the chamber's lands (as long as the round fits in the magazine....)

A5BLASTER Wrote:Yea it doesn't work like that at all.

Really you should measure each bullets contact length in your chamber before ever trying to work up a load with it.

Lemonaid Wrote:I have at least three examples of bullets seated to less than the magazine limit that touch the lands. And it varies a lot for each individual firearm. Please check where bullets touch lands before loading for safety!

-------------------------------------BCA 24"----------------------RAP--------------Monster 20"-------------
Sierra 120 Pro Hunter-------------2.280------------------------2.261-------------2.242
Hornady 95 V-Max-----------------2.267------------------------2.286-------------2.235 neck 2.165
Sierra 120 MK----------------------2.330------------------------2.292-------------2.265

Valjean Wrote:Must be coincidence, whenever going .01 from the lands, in any of my rifles; I have to single feed. The rounds are too long to fit in the magazines.

Valjean Wrote:wow some of those really limit your cartridge length and powder charge. Isnt the normal length for a Grendel about 2.26?

A5BLASTER Wrote:That coal of 2.186 is short. And it's not really safe to work up 5 tenth increments in the grendel case.

Better to do 3 or 2 tenth increase when working up.

WVB4 Wrote:Thanks for your response, I am new to reloading so your experience is very helpful. I have been doing a lot of research and I have some questions. Isn’t the COTB more important than COAL? I replicated the COTB measurement of a 123gr load that shoots good in my gun.
Also, I will adjust my load development increments to what you suggest. Hornady lists 33.5gr as the max of CFE 223 for 100gr bullets. Shouldn’t the highest load I loaded of 31.7gr be safe? If need be, I’ll pull the bullets and start over. Thanks for your thoughts.