22 Creed just keeps gettin faster

[Park ranger]

My buddy noticed he was getting faster in his 6.5 every time he would chrono. Over the course of a month he was 100 fps faster and getting big pressure.

He was leaving his powder in the hopper, and believed the solivent was evaporating causing the burn rate to speed up. He had two jugs of the same lot.

Jug one sat in the hopper for 3 plus weeks and loaded it up and did a chrono test with labradar and my magnetospeed. Very fast results and flat primers.

Jug two was fresh and the speeds matched very very closely what my 6.5 loads of same powder but different lot # did.

The experiment was convincing as the powder that sat out for weeks lowest shot was way faster than the fastest shot from the fresh powder of same lot.

Lesson is load what you need to load and then put back in jug. Do the test yourself but it is real, with H4350 anyways.

 

[Shootin25]

I’m not doubting anything at this point.

Have a local match tomorrow of which the powder I loaded for was fresh from the jug. Curious to see if there is any difference in speeds, or if it finally flattened out.

 

[Shootin25]

Things got sideways today. Heavy bolt lift even after backing the loads down .4 grains. Didn’t have any pressure signs until today. Short round count match so I just pushed thru it. Sort of lost at this point...

 

[aer21]

Still using the powder that you left out in those loads?

 

[Shootin25]

Still using the powder that you left out in those loads?

No, these were fresh from the jug.

 

[Shootin25]

Chased my tail for a couple weeks. Realized I wasn’t setting the shoulders back enough originally when I sized down my 6mm brass that had previously seen 4 firings from a different caliber/chamber. Realized this when shooting a match in windy/dusty conditions which quickly lead to a hard bolt close, and subsequently a heavy lift.

Dropped a full grain from the load as well. Settled on 39g of RL26 which landed the FPS at 3000 with single digit SD’s. Groups are .4’s at 100. Barrel has a bit over 400 rnds now. Feel like I chased issues and burned barrel life just to find something that runs consistent.

Although very fun to shoot, and extremely easy to spot impacts, I’ll likely go back to a 6mm again.

 

[TAJ45]

I have never chrono'd loads with fresh or leftover powder but had the notion that putting a PC of label tape over powder breather hole in the Dillon might keep it from staling out as quickly.
It just made sense.

 

[Shootin25]

560 rounds and finally settled in on a good consistent load.! I learned a lot during the process, and likely spent 50% of the barrel life doing so....

 

[284winner]

View attachment 1145432 View attachment 1145433 560 rounds and finally settled in on a good consistent load.! I learned a lot during the process, and likely spent 50% of the barrel life doing so....

That's an impressive 3 shot group. One that almost can't be beat. How's it do with 5-10 shot groups with that load ? Not to take from your 3 shot accuracy as many times a rifle will produce very very tiny 3 shot groups. At 3000+ fps with the 95s, sure doesn't seem to be pushing it. You probably will get better barrel life than you expect.

 

[Shootin25]

That's an impressive 3 shot group. One that almost can't be beat. How's it do with 5-10 shot groups with that load ? Not to take from your 3 shot accuracy as many times a rifle will produce very very tiny 3 shot groups. At 3000+ fps with the 95s, sure doesn't seem to be pushing it. You probably will get better barrel life than you expect.

Haven’t done anything more than a 3 shot with this load. After that group, I took it to 1070yds to confirm dope and went home!

Prior loads were in the .2-.3’s for 5 shots. It’s likely the stars aligned that day, but I’ll take it.

Nonetheless, good point. I’m loading more of the same and will continue testing. Really hope this barrel makes it to 1200 rounds.

 

[284winner]

Haven’t done anything more than a 3 shot with this load. After that group, I took it to 1070yds to confirm dope and went home!

Prior loads were in the .2-.3’s for 5 shots. It’s likely the stars aligned that day, but I’ll take it.

Nonetheless, good point. I’m loading more of the same and will continue testing. Really hope this barrel makes it to 1200 rounds.

My guess is you'll get 1500 rounds out of that gun running them bullets at 3000 fps. Good luck.

 

[TimS]

You can add descicate packets to the jug.

Just don’t eat them

 

[TAJ45]

Taping the powder breather hole........std procedure for me.

 

[Shootin25]

Update.

Barrel pulled at 800. I don’t have a bore scope, but at the last match it was shooting low at distance. Weekend after the match, it chrono’d 150+\- slower than usual. Couldn’t put a group together. Took the charge up to get back into the node, but still shot like crap and was showing pressure signs at that charge. Was really fun while it lasted, but to me, it was more effort than I wanted to put in.

Just screwed on a Proof shouldered pre-fit in 223 Wylde and that’s what I’ll use for 2020 matches.

 

[urbanrifleman]

Update.

Barrel pulled at 800. I don’t have a bore scope, but at the last match it was shooting low at distance. Weekend after the match, it chrono’d 150+\- slower than usual. Couldn’t put a group together. Took the charge up to get back into the node, but still shot like crap and was showing pressure signs at that charge. Was really fun while it lasted, but to me, it was more effort than I wanted to put in.

Just screwed on a Proof shouldered pre-fit in 223 Wylde and that’s what I’ll use for 2020 matches.

Send it to me I'll take it!!

 

[Shootin25]

Send it to me I'll take it!!

Ok

 

[urbanrifleman]

Ok

No I'm serious

 

[Shootin25]

No I'm serious

Yeah so am I.

 

[Ranger188]

I wish I knew that, I'd sent you mine with 500 rounds on it.