07-18-2019, 03:32 PM
Hello everyone. New to this site. Fifty + years a reloader. Recently bought a CZ 527 "Rustic" in 6.5 Grendel. With a little tuning this rifle shoots very well. Have tried many of the standard loadings...up to 120gr bullets. Most loads have been sub MOA. I have most of an 8# keg of A2015. However, no loading data is available from Western Powders. Contacted them about this. Got a rather annoying e-mail back essentially lecturing me about all of the powder name transformations that have occurred since the early days of Accurate Arms powders. The last sentence of the e-mail was an "oh by the way" saying that A2015 is too bulky to use in the Grendel. Hmmmmm.....I thought about this. I consulted a burn rate chart and found that H322 and A2015 have a very similar burn rate. So, I did some ladder tests of H322 (from the Hodgdon's reloading website). Max charge for the Grendel was 29.0 of H322 with a 100gr bullet. I was able to achieve this top load with no problems at all. My chronoed average velocity, at this max load, was right at 2800fps from my 24" barrel. Very nice...about 85-90fps above the Hodgdon's listed velocity. Next, I did a ladder test with A2015 starting at 26.0gr (in .5 gr increments) with the 100gr ELD match bullet. I went all the way up to 29.0 grains with no problems. Extraction was effortless, primers looked good etc. My average velocity at the 29.0gr charge was 2810fps. So, I am in business with A2015. This powder fills the case (Starline) to the same level as H322. The load is slightly compressed. This is a great powder. Have used it in 222 and 223 for many years. Not nearly as temperature sensitive as as the ball powders. (I live in Montana and winter temps can be sub-zero and summer temps shooting prairie dogs can be near 100 degrees). SOME WORDS OF CAUTION. I have some Grendel cases formed from Winchester and IMI 7.62x39. The internal capacity of these formed cases is significantly less than the Starline cases. These top 29.0gr loads using H322 and A2015 are much too hot in the formed cases. So, if you have cases other than Starline, please start very conservatively with your reloading. I don't have any cases by Lapua or Hornady at this time, so I can't speak to these. William Smith, Montana Territory