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6.5 Grendel Preferred Loads
#81
They will probably jam into the lands, unless you have a custom cut chamber with a long leade. 2.310" will only fit in modified or PRI mags for the 6.8. Careful with XBR, as it will sneak up on you.

What barrel and buffer will you have?
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#82
Allen Wrote:Yes, they are 123 Amax. Yes, they are loaded too long Big Grin (2.310 I think.) I got bored today and loaded some up, but without mags and a barrel I don't know what I want to seat them to. So I set them a little long so I can set them once I figure out what I want.

They are loaded with IMR 8208XBR and CCI 450 primers in Lapua/AA brass. Loaded with 27, 27.5, 28, and 28.5 gr, 5 rounds a piece. Hopefully I'll find one that shoots well Big Grin

28.5 grains is the max I would consider with that bullet and XBR. My rifles seem to like 28.3 the best.

XBR does very well, but the cliffs edge is sharp, a little too much turns into a lot too much REALLY fast!

Great powder and very stable temp wise, though.
”You seek escape from pain. We seek the achievement of happiness. You exist for the sake of avoiding punishment. We exist for the sake of earning rewards. Threats will not make us function; fear is not our incentive. It is not death that we wish to avoid, but life that we wish to live.” - John Galt
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#83
LRRPF52 Wrote:Those look like 123gr AMAX's to me, loaded way long. If they were 129gr SST's, I think we'd be looking at the cannelure at that COAL. Good to see you Bwild97. Was wondering what you've been up to.

Ya your right, I forgot about that cannelure on the SST's.
Thank you! My school schedule got real crazy, 17 credits, 66 hrs of cooperative work experience, and a 10 hr. Police Reserve Academy course every Saturday plus part time work at a local bike shop has chewed up all my free time. Finally the CWE is done, I will have a day or two freed up.

I think Stokesrj has an excellent idea for collecting some common loads that should work well in "all" rifles chambered in 6.5 Grendel. Count me in, I'm intrigued by the notion and I believe that this is a very achievable goal. Since I have all of the components on hand, I will try out LR1955's proposed load of 28.5g XBR under 120g SMK @ 2.22 oal and a CCi BR-4 primer (the gun shop was out of 450) in Hornady brass

I would propose as a candidate - 123g Nosler Custom Competition, 31g LeveRevolution, CCi 450/BR-4, OAL @ 2.230", 2656 Avg Vel. from a 24" bbl, Avg accy for "two" 5 shot groups .875 moa @ 100 yds
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#84
Allen Wrote:Yes, they are 123 Amax. Yes, they are loaded too long Big Grin (2.310 I think.) I got bored today and loaded some up, but without mags and a barrel I don't know what I want to seat them to. So I set them a little long so I can set them once I figure out what I want.

They are loaded with IMR 8208XBR and CCI 450 primers in Lapua/AA brass. Loaded with 27, 27.5, 28, and 28.5 gr, 5 rounds a piece. Hopefully I'll find one that shoots well Big Grin

I think for the purpose of this test we were aiming for 2.250 OAL with the 123 Amax in order to see how different rifles handle the same loads.
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#85
LRRPF52 Wrote:They will probably jam into the lands, unless you have a custom cut chamber with a long leade. 2.310" will only fit in modified or PRI mags for the 6.8. Careful with XBR, as it will sneak up on you.

What barrel and buffer will you have?

Yeah I know, but I just set them a bit long knowing I will have to re-seat them. If I get the barrel and find that they are close to 2.250" at the lands, then I will set them to that. I just didn't want to set them too deep and then regret it.

It will be a 24" lite barrel from AA, with a standard rifle buffer (I assume) from Palmetto state armory (their A2 stock kit) No adjustable gas block of anything. I'm hoping that the gas will be about right.

bwaites Wrote:28.5 grains is the max I would consider with that bullet and XBR. My rifles seem to like 28.3 the best.

XBR does very well, but the cliffs edge is sharp, a little too much turns into a lot too much REALLY fast!

Great powder and very stable temp wise, though.

Yeah, thats about what I've found out. Really I probably would have only gone to 28 gr if it wasn't for this thread.
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#86
Results for LR1955's candidate load: 120g SMK - 28.5g 8208XBR - CCi BR-4 - New Hornady brass - 2.220" - 24" 6.5 Grendel - 2628fps - 70ºF - .833 - 100yds

It's a pretty stiff load but a good one. Produces similar case head extrusions to the factory Hornady 123g A-max loadings.

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#87
Bwild97 Wrote:Results for LR1955's candidate load: 120g SMK - 28.5g 8208XBR - CCi BR-4 - New Hornady brass - 2.220" - 24" 6.5 Grendel - 2628fps - 70ºF - .833 - 100yds

It's a pretty stiff load but a good one. Produces similar case head extrusions to the factory Hornady 123g A-max loadings.

Thanks Bill,
Yes, those do look on the edge in your rifle, so I suspect there will be some that find this to be too stiff for their rifle. We may need to adjust down a little.

Do you also have the results from testing the 123 A-Max factory load from this same rifle?

I will ask Greg to put up the spread sheet so we can all begin entering the data we have.

Bob
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#88
Stokesrj
Quote:Do you also have the results from testing the 123 A-Max factory load from this same rifle?

I do, but I have another ongoing project that would benefit from re-testing some factory loads. If you wish, I will post the data that I have from the factory loadings test.

Bill
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#89
Bwild97 Wrote:Stokesrj


I do, but I have another ongoing project that would benefit from re-testing some factory loads. If you wish, I will post the data that I have from the factory loadings test.

Bill

That sounds good
Bob
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#90
Hornady factory load tests.


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#91
Here is a link to Bob's preferred loads spreadsheet: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/34132774/Grende...Loads.xlsx

The objective is to have these loads evaluated by the horde to see if they meet Bob's objective of finding a load that works well in everyones rifle.

We are interested in obtaining range results for how well these loads perform in your rifle. We are NOT interested in what your rifle is capable of (i.e. best group). Rather we want to know how your rifle shoots these loads on average. We suggest 5 targets of 5 shots each and report the average group size. We recommend using On Target (http://ontargetshooting.com, or similar shot analyzing software.

Please fill out the data cells in the linked spreadsheet, including the rifle characteristics.

Contact me if you have trouble with accessing and saving the table in DropBox.
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#92
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Avg. for all groups - 0.517 moa @ 100yds
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#93
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#94
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Avg. for all groups - 0.562 moa @ 100 yds
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#95
Bill:

Wow! I didn't even have to clean my rifle. If anyone thinks they have problems with their barrel, I always recommend they shoot some 120 Sierra's. If the 120 Sierra doesn't shoot well, either they can't shoot or the barrel is lousy.

Bill Waites and I had little problem with the 120 Sierras to around 700 meters in wind a few years ago. However, the targets were IPSC steels so 3 minutes was fine for a hit. Then again, the steels were at unknown distances and the winds were pretty good.

The 120 Sierra is a very reliable bullet because it isn't a VLD or a VLD hybrid. It can take huge amounts of jump or no jump at all, a wide variety of powders and primers, and it will still shoot extremely well.

I have pull / pushed them over the Wolf MPT and they shot consistently under a minute at 200 yards.

Thanks again for doing the dirty work!

LR1955
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#96
Nice work!

LR1955 has a great memory. We were shooting steel at unknown distances using his brand new rifle. We even mounted the scope at the range! I had never even seen the rifle prior to that day, and neither one of us had any problems hitting IPSC's way out there. It was actually pretty boring, other than I was laughing so hard because it was so stupid easy!

I think I'm going to pick up a bunch of 120's the next time I see a sale, and load them for my 20" and call it good.
”You seek escape from pain. We seek the achievement of happiness. You exist for the sake of avoiding punishment. We exist for the sake of earning rewards. Threats will not make us function; fear is not our incentive. It is not death that we wish to avoid, but life that we wish to live.” - John Galt
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#97
So at least maybe we have a preferred projectile!!

I have less than 50 out of 500 left, and I can't remember having a really bad load with any of them. I mainly used them for fire forming x39 brass.
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#98
And that is what I'm looking for here, loads that shoot well out of most rifles. I'm not surprised that the 120 SMK is one of those bullets, it is the same ogive design as the 77 SMK that prompted my thoughts on this subject. However, I want to see how this load performs out of 20 or 30 rifles. That will give us a clearer view.
Bob
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#99
BWild97's results are added to the spreadsheet.
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BWild97 that is some fancy shooting. Two questions, what brass, and what is the program you used to do the targets??

I will try to get mine out in the next week or two before the real cold sets in here.

Greg
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