Handload Performance at 600 Yards and Beyond?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

jc5420

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Dec 28, 2010
Messages
944
Reaction score
17
Location
Canadian County
I will start off by stating that up until the past few weeks my "NEW" barrel was shooting slower at 2690 fps with an extreme spread averaging 9-10 fps every time I checked. (which is often) This load has proved extremely accurate to 1300 yards and has given me no issues.

Shooting a match last month and I was targets that I should not have missed, so I altered my data to show an increase in velocity of about 10fps which did not help at all. Finally had a chance to chrono the load which showed a velocity increase to 2725 average. My extreme spreads are no longer hovering around the single digits after this increase in velocity. So today I decided to shoot 600 yards at paper to determine what the projectiles might be printing down range and I am happy with the results, but I cannot help feeling that they may fall apart even more when reaching 1000-1400y.

Here is the target from today.
I was not shooting for wind, only for the vertical spread.

i57.photobucket.com_albums_g211_jared87_Mobile_20Uploads_20150906_220725_zpsdvavkrxl.jpg


I may go ahead and work another ladder test at 600 yards just to verify that I am still within my accuracy node.
 

swampratt

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Nov 3, 2010
Messages
12,719
Reaction score
19,274
Location
yukon ok
is this the 6.5x47 or the 223 ackley ?

I would think shooting with that magneto speed on the barrel would hurt accuracy.
Are you leaving it on for the long range shooting?

I had some loads that were really closer in FPS but that did not always result in the most accurate short or long range load.

So I put the chrony away when I am working a load and when I find a dandy load then I measure the speed so I can dial
in the drop I need or come close enough to at least get it on paper.
 
Last edited:

jc5420

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Dec 28, 2010
Messages
944
Reaction score
17
Location
Canadian County
This is shot with the chrony on and I have never had it affect my accuracy. I am sure this vertical spread would have been tighter if it weren't for the extremely heavy mirage. 600y is half the distance that I need to maintain accuracy. Extreme spread matters quite a bit to me when shooting 1000 yards and beyond for score.
 

jc5420

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Dec 28, 2010
Messages
944
Reaction score
17
Location
Canadian County
I think I should have some free time Friday for some more load work. I am hoping to drop my charge weight by .6 to 35.3 and increase by .1 to 35.6 hoping that I can mimic my old load in accuracy and low ES.
 

swampratt

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Nov 3, 2010
Messages
12,719
Reaction score
19,274
Location
yukon ok
Free time is good to have.
Good luck on the work-up's.
I bet your ES results are from using the chrony you use.
My F1 i feel is not super accurate shot to shot sometimes,, close but may not be on the money
 

jc5420

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Dec 28, 2010
Messages
944
Reaction score
17
Location
Canadian County
I have never had issue with the Magneto Speed chrony. I have about 9 months of data from using it and no record of ES over 10 with my normal load until now. I am hoping I just need to drop the charge weight down a bit to get back inside of my accuracy node.
 

distantfoe

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Aug 19, 2008
Messages
148
Reaction score
15
Location
El Reno
You should see an change in velocity as your barrel settles in. Number of rounds to settle in is dependent several factors. My last button rifle barrel didn't change as much as cut rifled barrels I've had. Although Had to work up a load after this happened as the es and groups went to crap.
 

jc5420

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Dec 28, 2010
Messages
944
Reaction score
17
Location
Canadian County
ETA: SOME PICTURES UPLOADED SIDEWAYS

So after my range session today I have gathered a very small sample size of data to further my testing. Today I was able to shoot a ladder test at 600 yards and 4 separate premade loads at 600 yards.

Rifle Tested:
Beanland Custom
Surgeon 591
Benchmark 6.5 MTU 24"
Silencer Tech 3G suppressor
McMillan A3-5 Bedded
Kahles 624i
Hawkins Rings
i57.photobucket.com_albums_g211_jared87_Mobile_20Uploads_IMG_20150619_002103_zpsvrdq8get.jpg





Cartridge tested:
6.5x47 Lapua .002" neck tension (Once fired)
CCI 400 Standard Small Rifle
Varget powder
140gr Berger Hybrid .015" from lands



The ladder test gave me some information, but I believe for whatever reason shot 6 landed out of place. I feel that every shot taken today was well executed and that I was "On my game"
In this picture the shots are marked X,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. These numbers correspond with the charge weights tested, the 1 = 35.1, 2 = 35.2, 3 = 35.3 and so on. (X = Sighter for all targets)
i57.photobucket.com_albums_g211_jared87_Mobile_20Uploads_20150911_172323_zpseldbcvez.jpg


I was disappointed in this group because I felt it should have performed better than it did being inside of an accuracy node.
i57.photobucket.com_albums_g211_jared87_Mobile_20Uploads_20150911_172438_zpsgdgqygid.jpg


Same with this load of 35.4, but note the node recorded over the chronograph between this charge and 35.3.
i57.photobucket.com_albums_g211_jared87_Mobile_20Uploads_20150911_172446_zpsc03l4fxq.jpg


This is where I began to see the most promise in consistency. It may have been a fluke or it may be an accurate representation of the accuracy from this load. I hope to test this one more within the next week.
i57.photobucket.com_albums_g211_jared87_Mobile_20Uploads_20150911_172501_zpstywljwnj.jpg


This load also shows signs of consistency and will be further explored, but I hope to try 35.7 next week as well. I believe 35.7 will land me exactly where I want to be.
i57.photobucket.com_albums_g211_jared87_Mobile_20Uploads_20150911_172507_zpsuygpv7rf.jpg



The sample size from todays trip was very minimal and needs to be taken for what it is. I may send 100 rounds down range of 35.7 or 35.6 and see how they perform at extended ranges. Even though I did not test a group of 35.7 I believe it will fall within the accuracy node I am looking for.
i57.photobucket.com_albums_g211_jared87_Mobile_20Uploads_20150911_181922_zpsvh6cwh0y.jpg


I may also need to play with seating depth to see if I can reduce my ES and SD even further. Before I take that step I will run a primer test which I feel could make a huge difference in these numbers.
 

distantfoe

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Aug 19, 2008
Messages
148
Reaction score
15
Location
El Reno
I've never ran 140s and Varget in the 6.5x47 but understand folks have good luck with it. Any chance you have some h4350 laying around? If not, the primer experiment might be the ticket.

The x47 seems to run best at high pressure, might be worth creeping up the charge weight. My es has always gone down when on the verge of sticky bolt lift although not ideal when shooting a match.

It's hard to tell but your vertical doesn't look bad and seems to get better with each .1 increase in charge. Wouldn't pay much attention to the horizontal unless conditions were perfect.
 

jc5420

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Dec 28, 2010
Messages
944
Reaction score
17
Location
Canadian County
Had some time today and made it out to a very scary place... A PUBLIC RANGE!!! Anyways, I knew I would be the only one there and I only had about an hour of time available and this needed to be completed today. I began by shooting a control group using the large lot of 36.0gr Varget ammunition I already had loaded from months back. This ammunition has ran fine to roughly 1300 yards before the barrel speed up. So I shot 5 of these over the chronograph to get a base line and they performed as expected with a velocity average of 2725. I now have 10 rounds loaded for each charge weight, 35.6 and 35.7, which gave extremely interesting results. As I started with 35.6gr everything started off good, but then the velocities began to increase with each shot to an average of 2718. WTH... I could not believe what happened, there was no reason for this I could find when brainstorming my load process. After this I let the barrel cool before shooting the 10 charges of 35.7gr, but once these registered over the chrono they averaged 2726... Luckily I brought along about 50 or so charged at 36.0gr so I was able to run yet another test which showed an average increase to 2735 over 15 rounds. So I learned today my barrel speed up once I hit 400 rounds from 2690 to 2725. The barrel was stable for yet another 150 rounds until today where it speed up from 2725 to 2735 where I believe It has settled...

I will be shooting my next match with a charge of 36.0gr of Varget hoping that everything runs smoothly... I will do no more load development until I purchase several thousand of the new 130 hybrids...

Sorry, no pictures from the range. I put 40 rounds into 1 group about the size of a quarter, just sending bullets over the chrono was the goal today...

A pic just cause.
i57.photobucket.com_albums_g211_jared87_Mobile_20Uploads_20150915_201641_zpsxlwsxmcu.jpg
 
Last edited:

Latest posts

Top Bottom