Hengehold
Silver $$ Contributor
Maybe Berger 140grHPBT or Scenars would be a safe option/ sure thing for your back-up plan.
-T
150 SMKs and the 6.5 x 284 ***UPDATE***
- Thread starter ShootDots
- Start date
Maybe Berger 140grHPBT or Scenars would be a safe option/ sure thing for your back-up plan.
-T
Well it 'taint the barrel and it 'taint the scope. I took the 6.5 x 284 out this morning with the Berger 140LRBT sitting on top of VV N165. At 52.2 and 52.5 it shot nice little clusters at about 2930f.p.s. This is where I have found that the 140 LRBT seems to shoot best in several rifles. With the .200 freebore, the short bearing surface of the 140 LRBT will not allow me to shoot it 7-8 thousandths IN the lands as there would be very little bearing surface in the case neck. Next I will do a seating depth test from 5 off out to 30 thousandths off. I am quite sure I will find something very good in there. But it does tell me that my barrel literally HATES the 150SMKs, which is really what I wanted to shoot! Oh well. You don't tell a barrel what YOU want IT to shoot! The barrel tells you what it wants!
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Just a quick update: The last few months I decided to pull out the log books and do some comparisons. The four 6.5's that I have mentioned before seem to like something different. I went back and shot a number of groups with each rifle. This was done with optimized seating depth...130 and 140 vld and LRBT likes 10-15 jam...150 smk at .005 jump and everything else just touching. No custom bullets were tested, however I continue to hear good things about Precision Ballistics and JLK, if you can get them. Seems everyone is always waiting on jackets. What you will see listed is what each rifle likes the best. All bullets were tested with each rifle. 130vld, 140 vld, 140 hyb, 140 LRBT, 147 eldm, 150 smk....testing ranged 85F TO 30F...all powders very stable... all at 300 yards...5 sh groups
6.5 x 47 28.25 inch....well over 1,000 rounds on barrel
147 eldm...8 groups 39.5 H4350 1.175 inch agg 2775 fps
140 vld....8 groups 39.6 H4350 1.200 inch agg 2750 fps
140 hyb...7 groups 39.3 H4350 1.310 inch agg 2780 fps
*130 vld 1.400 and 150 smk 1.480
6.5 x 47 26.0 inch barrel...over 700 rounds on barrel
130 vld....8 groups 37.2 varget 1.300 inch agg 2915 fps
140 LRBT 8 groups 38.5 H4350 1.360 inch agg 2772 fps
140 hyb 6 groups 38.4 H4350 1.410 inch agg 2780 fps
147 eldm..7 groups 39.4 H4350 1.510 inch agg 2762 fps
6.5 x 55 26.0 inch ....over 800 rounds on barrel
140 hyb 12 groups 44.3 H4350 1.270 inch agg 2825 fps
147 eldm 7 groups 44.5 H4350 1.380 inch agg 2827 fps
150 smk 7 groups 43.0 H4350 1.350 inch agg 2741 fps
6.5 x 284 26 inch....370 rounds on barrel
150 smk 8 groups 47.5 H4350 1.150 inch agg 2830 fps
150 smk 7 groups 55.3 H1000 1.370 inch agg 2927 fps
147 eldm 8 groups 47.3 H4350 1.350 inch agg 2840 fps
140 hyb 8 groups 48.5 H4350 1.300 inch agg 2928 fps
**All barrels shot slightly better at 100-150 rounds down the tube
**All barrels were cleaned the same...typically after every 25 shots unless in a match
**The past 2 years I won a couple of local matches shooting older 6.5 x 47 with 140vld and 147 eldm
**I placed 2nd a couple of times shooting newer 6.5 x 47 with 130 vld
**I have also finished well a few times with 6.5 x 55 shooting 140 hyb....normally I'll finish in the top 8 with some really stiff competition
This next year I will try my luck with 6.5 x 284...530 yards...5 shot strings
A few matches will be 600 yds and 1,000 yards
I wanted to update everyone on performance of 150 smk....still working fairly well for me.
Many of my competitors and the guys who have responded on this thread shoot better than this and I'm sure can read the wind much better.
My intent was to show how closely these bullets compete with one another. The testing you see here was right out of the box with no bearing, weight or length checks. All of these rifles liked a lower node. Not sure if this info will be useful for anyone, but thought I would post anyway. If anyone has more info on 150smk please let me know. I've been equally impressed with the 147 eldm and 140 hyb.
whatwind?
Silver $$ Contributor
crude info into spreadsheet format attached
my 10,000 ft view is that you are getting near or better 7mm performace at 2900+ with similar powders and charges and cost for slightly less recoil? depending on the cartridge....the wssm looks to be most "efficient"
the 147gr eld m at $.35 might be the ticket and less recoil...and same G1 of .69 as 184 Berger, with 150 SMKs g1 at .713
there is gentelman on Snipershide with a 6.5rsaum/gap 4s getting 3150fps in a 26" bbl, but with 62+ gr H1000 with 150gr SMK
my 10,000 ft view is that you are getting near or better 7mm performace at 2900+ with similar powders and charges and cost for slightly less recoil? depending on the cartridge....the wssm looks to be most "efficient"
the 147gr eld m at $.35 might be the ticket and less recoil...and same G1 of .69 as 184 Berger, with 150 SMKs g1 at .713
there is gentelman on Snipershide with a 6.5rsaum/gap 4s getting 3150fps in a 26" bbl, but with 62+ gr H1000 with 150gr SMK
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That is what drew me to the 150SMK. But, the occasional unexplained low or high outer '9' ring shots screwed the pooch for me using them in competition. My 600 and 1000yd results in competition suffered compared to the 142gr I was and currently am using; the improvement in BC did not make up for the points lost due to inconsistency of the 150's performance. YMMV
Forgive me if I missed it in an earlier post. Did you do any type of sorting with the SMK's before hand?
Much appreciated!
Josh
Josh, I weight sorted everything before the results you see above. Over the course of 2 months I shot the above groups right out of the box for a comparison and saw very little difference. I experienced the same as Rardoin (150smk) with occasional flyer with 6.5 x 47's but been fairly consistent with 6.5 x 284. I think he sorted by bearing surface. On moa basis my groups at 500 have been just as good at 300. 1,000 makes a big difference...I also have had consistency with 142smk. I also think 140 LRBT is a good bullet...all but one rifle was throated too long.
No, Josh...I did no sorting on my match loads so there is that to be considered. I was also shooting a 8tw barrel. I have not tried them in my 7.5 barrel since the 142 Precision ballistics are outperforming the 150 SMK and I have been able to acquire a couple of years worth of PB's. On another note the 7.5tw Brux seems to be better with the 142 PB's than the 8tw barrels so maybe, even though they were stabilized in the 8tw, the 150 SMK's may 'clean up' a bit in the 7.5tw. I don't think I will do that test though as I have a .284 in the que
.Robin
Sorry about that...1Shot a page or two back mentioned sorting bearing surface.No, Josh...I did no sorting on my match loads so there is that to be considered. I was also shooting a 8tw barrel. I have not tried them in my 7.5 barrel since the 142 Precision ballistics are outperforming the 150 SMK and I have been able to acquire a couple of years worth of PB's. On another note the 7.5tw Brux seems to be better with the 142 PB's than the 8tw barrels so maybe, even though they were stabilized in the 8tw, the 150 SMK's may 'clean up' a bit in the 7.5tw. I don't think I will do that test though as I have a .284 in the que
Robin
A couple of edits on my system if I may. 6.5 GWI; 32 bbl. 7.5 twist. 5 groove.
Thanks,
Lloyd
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much appreciated everyone
1Shot are you still shooting 150's??
Just wondering! When I first started shooting them....was very excited! Shooting what I would consider pretty good groups but as round count went up the groups opened a bit. I'm only shooting them in the Swede and the 6.5 x 284 currently except for the test above. The 6.5 x 284 seems to be pretty consistent with them but only at the lower node. I'm hoping that 2830 fps will work out ok for 530 yds. I can see where that would be a little slow for 1,000.
LR57...if you can get them to shoot under 1"/5-8 shots at 300yds then I think they would be very competitive at 1000yds (BC of .713 IIRC). I never tried running them slower than lower 2900's as I wanted something that would shoot with a .284/180-184gr/2850 fps. I may have been able to solve the concerns I had with running at the lower node.
whatwind?
Silver $$ Contributor
Currently I have them grouping as you see above...1.150 av and feel pretty good about that. I have shot a couple of 2.4-2.5 groups at 530. I shoot against 7-8 great shooters who shoot the 284, a couple who shoot other 7mm's, and a couple of 308's and normally when we see a wind switch the 150 moves a little further than the 180's. At that time I was shooting them really slow with a 6.5 x 47. I can't move up in recoil due to neck and shoulder issues so I'm pretty much restricted to a maximum 6.5 x 284. Thanks....hoping to get a little closer to the big bullet guys!
Yes, great bullet. One of my 6.5 x 47's shoot them great! 6.5 x 284 not as well as 150! Crazy stuff! Just depends on what the barrel wants!
Yeah, my 7.5 twist CM loved them, except they had a tendency to blow up mid flight
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