New to Handloading: 6.5 Creedmoor Powder Preferences

[Beetys]

Hi all,

For powder, I have H4350 and Reloader-16 as options for 6.5 Creedmoor, but I'm curious what you all use and why.

With the availability of these two options being limited, what are your go-to powders, and how do they compare to H4350 and Reloader-16?

I keep on hearing those powders as the 'gold standard', but since I'm new to this, it's easy to see things as black and white. My goal is repeatability, temperature stability, etc. Thoughts or considerations?

Any resources you can provide is appreciated. Thank you!

 

[RustyInBend]

I get solid results in three different 6.5-CM rifles with Winchester StaBall ... and it has the added advantage of being "obtainable" in this constrained market. Not all the time, but do an Ammoseek notification filter and you'll see availability pop up once or twice a week.

 

[Bc'z]

Curious what bullet weight will you be shooting?
H4350, RL16, RL17 are top choices with most folks.
I use h4831sc with 135-140 gr bullets
IMR 4166, AA2700 with 123gr bullets.

 

[darkangel_r2]

I use reloader 16 in my savage 12 lrp 6.5 creed. 147 eldm bullet seated .015" off lands. Excellent accuracy, velocity, stability in different temps, and long range performance.

I use staball 6.5 for my ar10. 140 eldm at 2.82" mag length. Excellent performance near the top end of pressure. Mediocre SD#s at lower pressures. Lost about 10-15 fps from 75 degrees to 30degrees. Excellent for a ball powder.

I used H4350 for my uncles 6.5 creed when he could not find ammo. 140 eldm .020" off lands. Same as above but 150 fps slower for accuracy load. It was able to get within 50 fps of reloader 16 but accuracy was the best with the lower node. Lowest extreme velocity spread window I have ever seen. 1.2 grain spread 4 separate loads had 5 fps extreme spread for 3 shot groups, repeated. Great temp stability.

My brother uses 4831sc in his 6.5 creed. 147 eldm .007" into the lands. Slightly compressed load, jam helps with this powder as it is slower burning than h4350 and reloader 16. Very accurate but can be hard to get high velocity if you are using thick (lapua/peterson) brass. Great temp stability.

I have not used imr 4451 or vv555 but I have heard good things. You probably have the two premier 6.5 creed powders. Consistently size your brass and store your powder in a cool place without huge swings in humidity and you are golden with the ones you have.

 

[Beetys]

Curious what bullet weight will you be shooting?
H4350, RL16, RL17 are top choices with most folks.
I use h4831sc with 135-140 gr bullets
IMR 4166, AA2700 with 123gr bullets.

Awesome, thank you everyone!

I'll be shooting 140 grain ELDs, and 140 grain Berger match hybrids when they are available.

Any thoughts on the differences between RL16 and RL17?

 

[darkangel_r2]

Awesome, thank you everyone!

I'll be shooting 140 grain ELDs, and 140 grain Berger match hybrids when they are available.

Any thoughts on the differences between RL16 and RL17?

17 will give you better velocities but can produce significant swings in velocity with changes in temperature. I avoided it for this reason. 16 is extremely stable. I did not lose any velocity from 80 degrees to 30 degrees with reloader 16.

 

[Hondo64d]

Hi all,

For powder, I have H4350 and Reloader-16 as options for 6.5 Creedmoor, but I'm curious what you all use and why.

With the availability of these two options being limited, what are your go-to powders, and how do they compare to H4350 and Reloader-16?

I keep on hearing those powders as the 'gold standard', but since I'm new to this, it's easy to see things as black and white. My goal is repeatability, temperature stability, etc. Thoughts or considerations?

Any resources you can provide is appreciated. Thank you!

Varget works very well with bullets weighing up to and including 130gr. H4350 and R16 work very well with bullets weighing 120gr and up. I haven’t tried it but folks are getting impressive results from R26 with bullets 140gr and heavier.

John

 

[Bc'z]

Awesome, thank you everyone!

I'll be shooting 140 grain ELDs, and 140 grain Berger match hybrids when they are available.

Any thoughts on the differences between RL16 and RL17?

16 is the better choice IMHO.
I worked with RL17 over a half dozen range trips in a 2 week period.
Velocity was great, but load didn't seem to hold from 1 day to the next.
Wound up giving the RL17 away

 

[Fuj]

R-16 ended up to be my #1 choice. Did'nt bother with H4350
since it seemed to be never available. IMR 4451 looked promising
then that powder was hard to find.

 

[6.5 forever]

I tested N555 and was pleased with it. Then my backorder of H4350 was filled. 555 was not better than 4350.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Carolina load

 

[Antoviola]

4350 rl16 and staball

 

[Beetys]

16 is the better choice IMHO.
I worked with RL17 over a half dozen range trips in a 2 week period.
Velocity was great, but load didn't seem to hold from 1 day to the next.
Wound up giving the RL17 away

Gotcha. Well thank you everyone for the feedback!

Essentially what I'm hearing is that the top powders have limited availability so order while you can.

Interesting how there aren't more temperature stable powders at the same level as RL16 and 4350 for 140 gr bullets!

 

[mac86951]

Ok, I'm going to focus on the, "new to reloading" statement. There's a LOT to learn and experience as you go; so my recommendation is, H4350 until you become consistent, see your load changes in target results, and then become more picky (probably barrel #2 or #3).

Welcome, we're here to help with so much more, including smokeless powder recommendations.


Edit:. You haven't lived until you're counting kernels of Varget for 223 to break the 10fps es... 3. 3 is the number of kernels per 0.1 grain...

-Mac

 

[rijndael]

IMR 4166, AA2700 with 123gr bullets.

What’s your 4166 load?

 

[JB10]

I use h4350 in one rifle and r16 in another. R16 has more fps and i did that for a reason. I dont care if that barrel burns out faster since it was a cheeper rifle than my browning.

 

[whatsupdoc]

H4350 is the De facto standard for the 6.5 Creedmoor using 130-140 bullets.
There are other powders that work great with the 6.5 Creedmoor, R16 being one of them.

In the last couple of years I have reloaded and fired an excess of 9K 6.5 creedmoor
rounds using both H4350 and R16. My first choice is H4350

 

[ebb]

Try VV160 or VV165

 

[Bc'z]

What’s your 4166 load?

Peterson brass, .286 bushing, CCI200, 123gr scenar, 37.3gr IMR4166, 2.2460 cbto.

 

[Monday shooter40]

RL16 is my preference across several barrels/rifles and just about any 140gr bullet. But now I've run out of RL16 and can't find any.

I'm putting a lot of effort into H4350 and ST6.5 pushing a 147ELD, but my rifles aren't settling down until I'm at the MAX pressure limits. I can't seem to find a "lower node" just yet.

ST6.5 I just can't get a handle on the SD/ES.

Lapua SRP Brass - CCI450 - My current barrel really comes together @ 2760FPS with the 147ELD. 26" Proof . I won't say how much powder it takes to get there, because it's wayyyy to much. But damn it shoots good up there.