150 SMKs and the 6.5 x 284 ***UPDATE***

[wboggs]

Bill, I shoot a couple of times a year at a private ranch in Texas. They have a fantastic range set up. It is an invite only type of deal. Really lots of fun and allows a person to really sharpen wind reading skills! At those distances we shoot at 48 x 48 steel.

Sounds like you are set. Texas is a shooters paradise in addition to having great people. Used to hunt around Ft Hood and killed a Turkey at 450 on a fence line with a 7mm stw.
Bill, 149 nosler bt.

 

[Longrange57]

Sounds like you are set. Texas is a shooters paradise in addition to having great people. Used to hunt around Ft Hood and killed a Turkey at 450 on a fence line with a 7mm stw.
Bill, 149 nosler bt.

Wow...thats great stuff! You sound just like my great uncle!

 

[wboggs]

Wow...thats great stuff! You sound just like my great uncle!

At 81 I might be old enough.
Bill

 

[Longrange57]

At 81 I might be old enough.
Bill

Don't want to highjack the thread! Bill, thanks for helping us younger guys out! You are a wealth of knowledge. My good old uncle would be over 100 by now. He would shoot the head off a turkey at 100 yards with an old 280 Rem every time he pulled the trigger. I'm glad ShootDots got this thing going but hope that he gets everything ironed out! I know he will! For those of us that shoot 6.5's, the 150SMK is a bullet that I got on to as soon as I could get them. Those of you who contributed to this subject certainly enlightened me on a few things. It's a pleasure to reason with folks who have the experience behind them and are logical in their assessments!

 

[wboggs]

Don't want to highjack the thread! Bill, thanks for helping us younger guys out! You are a wealth of knowledge. My good old uncle would be over 100 by now. He would shoot the head off a turkey at 100 yards with an old 280 Rem every time he pulled the trigger. I'm glad ShootDots got this thing going but hope that he gets everything ironed out! I know he will! For those of us that shoot 6.5's, the 150SMK is a bullet that I got on to as soon as I could get them. Those of you who contributed to this subject certainly enlightened me on a few things. It's a pleasure to reason with folks who have the experience behind them and are logical in their assessments!

 

[jr600yd]

Good 6.5 stuff here. I’ve got a 260 and it shoots really good using 142 SMK’s and 140 Berger. Just wondering if I could drive the 150’s fast enough to achieve any advantage? 1/8 Brux 30”. What do you guys think?

 

[1shot]

I just had a thought. I know, miracles do happen.
How about we start to compile a list of barrel twist rates, cartridges and accurate velocity windows for this bullet?
Any additional parameters that any of you think of that are relavent, feel free to chime in.
I hope this helps,
Lloyd

 

[wboggs]

Thanks for the kind thoughts. My physical skills have declined but my love for shooting sports is as strong as ever. It is al was always a pleasure to shoot with younger members. I always learn something and they do too.
Berger tells me they are introducing a 164gr
6.5 hunting bullet in the fall but it will.have a thin hunting jacket. They are not sure if it will stand the stress of target shooting.
Progress marches on.
Bill

 

[1shot]

Good 6.5 stuff here. I’ve got a 260 and it shoots really good using 142 SMK’s and 140 Berger. Just wondering if I could drive the 150’s fast enough to achieve any advantage? 1/8 Brux 30”. What do you guys think?

My shooting partner is giving that exact question a good wringing out right now. I’ll report back as soon as I have data.
Thanks,

Lloyd

 

[Longrange57]

Good 6.5 stuff here. I’ve got a 260 and it shoots really good using 142 SMK’s and 140 Berger. Just wondering if I could drive the 150’s fast enough to achieve any advantage? 1/8 Brux 30”. What do you guys think?

jr600yd, I shoot the 150's with 2 different 6.5 x 47's, 6.5 x 55, and now a 6.5 x 284....all 8 twist barrels. the swede is a brux. I'm stabilizing them at velocities as low as 2740. It sounds crazy for a bullet that long but it works. I dont shoot as well as others on here but have no problem with sub half moa with this bullet in all of these rifles. I have to admit I've shot smaller groups 1/4--1/3 moa with 6.5 x 47 consistently with 140 hyb at 3-500 yds. I still have confidence that I can get there with the 150! I use H4350 on 47's and 55...H1000 with 6.5 x 284. Just now starting load with H1000 in the swede. We will see! Hope this helps!

 

[Longrange57]

I just had a thought. I know, miracles do happen.
How about we start to compile a list of barrel twist rates, cartridges and accurate velocity windows for this bullet?
Any additional parameters that any of you think of that are relavent, feel free to chime in.
I hope this helps,
Lloyd

1shot, good idea, give me a bit and I'll toss in some info on my part!

 

[wboggs]

1shot, good idea, give me a bit and I'll toss in some info on my part!

Agree, 1shot does have a good idea. Despite different equipment, we might start to see some common findings. My 260 with a 8t Krieger stabilizes the 150's at 2840 but not nearly as accurate as the smk 142 at 2920.
Bill

 

[1shot]

If someone can make a spreadsheet with the following columns we can start to build this thing. Here are mine thus far.
Barrel mfg. Bartlein
Barrel 32”
Twist 7.5
Twist profile 5R
Accuracy nodes: 2,960-2,990 FPS.
3,110 FPS.

 

[Longrange57]

If someone can make a spreadsheet with the following columns we can start to build this thing. Here are mine thus far.
Barrel mfg. Bartlein
Barrel 32”
Twist 7.5
Twist profile 5R
Accuracy nodes: 2,960-2,990 FPS.
3,110 FPS.

2 different 6.5 x 47's
both Kreiger 4 groove 8tw
26 inch and 28.25 inch
CCI450....jam .010
39.5 H4350....2730-2740 both rifles

6.5 x 55
26 inch Brux 8tw
CCI200...jam .010
2740 43.0 H4350
2840 44.8 H4350

6.5 X 284
26 inch Kreiger 4 groove 8tw
CCI200...JUMP .005-.006
low node during brk-in 2850
fired brass 55.5 H1000 2940-2950

* 150 SMK all rifles

 

[223762]

6.5x47
With very long freebore
Sierra 150 MK
CCI 450
40.6 of h4350
15 thou off the lands
Bartlein 32” 5r gain twist 7.5 to 7
Barrel is still speeding up. I shot some 140s to get on paper. Then started the load test. I still had 3 140s left when I was done with the 150s. They were coming out 35fps faster. Barrel has 115 rounds on it. That 150 load was going 2735, but it maybe a little faster now. Here is a 10 shot string with that load, at 600 with a fclass target. It was very windy 10-15 gusting to 20. Sunny to over cast. I think shot 5 was me or a light change.

 

[wboggs]

6.5x47
With very long freebore
Sierra 150 MK
CCI 450
40.6 of h4350
15 thou off the lands
Bartlein 32” 5r gain twist 7.5 to 7
Barrel is still speeding up. I shot some 140s to get on paper. Then started the load test. I still had 3 140s left when I was done with the 150s. They were coming out 35fps faster. Barrel has 115 rounds on it. That 150 load was going 2735, but it maybe a little faster now. Here is a 10 shot string with that load, at 600 with a fclass target. It was very windy 10-15 gusting to 20. Sunny to over cast. I think shot 5 was me or a light change.

Bartlein 30" 7.5t 5r node at 3107fps 0.015 off using h brass h1000 fed 210m using smk 150's 6.5 prc

 

[TZaun]

6.5 WSSM Ackley
30" Krieger 7.25" twist 4-groove
45.1 gr. H4350
150 Sierra
CCI BR-2
.120" off lands (yup, not a typo)
~2845 fps
~10 ES

Accuracy at 1,000 looks very respectable so far. I took them up to 2960, where I had hard bolt lift. In my setup, they like the 2845 fps area best.

 

[Longrange57]

6.5 WSSM Ackley
30" Krieger 7.25" twist 4-groove
45.1 gr. H4350
150 Sierra
CCI BR-2
.120" off lands (yup, not a typo)
~2845 fps
~10 ES

Accuracy at 1,000 looks very respectable so far. I took them up to 2960, where I had hard bolt lift. In my setup, they like the 2845 fps area best.

Looks like a few nodes are emerging: 2730's, 2840's, low-mid 2900's, 3107-3110....I believe we also saw loads reported earlier in low 3,000's. My experience with the shorter barrels (26-28) has been accuracy nodes roughly 100 fps apart for all bullets tested (130-150 range). Realizing there are ranges in between....I just have not spent much time testing in those ranges. Interesting!

 

[TZaun]

Ben @ShootDots, I tried the 150 Sierras at a Palma match yesterday. They tuned very easily in my 6.5 WSSM Ackley and I was shooting 4” groups at 1,000 during load development. I thought that was respectable with only 2 days of testing. I ended up pushing them around 2845 fps out of a 30” Krieger 4-groove in a 7.25” twist. Fast forward to my 60th shot of the day... that did not make it to the target....... All my confidence in those bullets went out the window in one shot. I am curious to see how your 5R barrel will handle them. Please keep us up to speed with what you find.

 

[ShootDots]

Ben @ShootDots, I tried the 150 Sierras at a Palma match yesterday. They tuned very easily in my 6.5 WSSM Ackley and I was shooting 4” groups at 1,000 during load development. I thought that was respectable with only 2 days of testing. I ended up pushing them around 2845 fps out of a 30” Krieger 4-groove in a 7.25” twist. Fast forward to my 60th shot of the day... that did not make it to the target....... All my confidence in those bullets went out the window in one shot. I am curious to see how your 5R barrel will handle them. Please keep us up to speed with what you find.

Now that is good news and very bad news at the same time! The good news is, is that it is apparent that the bullets WILL shoot well. The bad news, obviously, is that under the stress of long shot strings, even at modest velocities, they don't seem to hold together! Sooner or later, Sierra will either have to fix that problem or go to a different design altogether. I will keep you posted once I get my barrel, hopefully in a a couple of weeks.