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6.5 bullet choice

Longranger81

Silver $$ Contributor
Anyone have personal experience with the 142 smk and the 144 Berger both. Several people have told me to go with the smk but to me the Berger has a much higher BC. Just looking for advice, will be shooting out of a 8 twist 6.5x284
 
I can't comment on the Berger yet but in my limited testing in a 260 Rem the 142 SMK seems to shoot very small. Also appears to be jump tolerant, I just loaded to mag length in a Tikka SAAMI chamber and I don't think I'll need to look very hard for a very precise load. I'll also try the 144gr Lapua MaxRange once available, assuming it's priced sensibly.
 
Longranger81 said:
Anyone have personal experience with the 142 smk and the 144 Berger both. Several people have told me to go with the smk but to me the Berger has a much higher BC. Just looking for advice, will be shooting out of a 8 twist 6.5x284
Click to expand...
I've shot a lot of 142 SMK's and like them a lot as they perform really really well for me out of my 6.5 PRC with a 1:8 twist. I've not shot any Berger 144, but have done Berger 153.5's. There not real comparison given the difference in BC. But the 153.5 have also done really really well for me. I like shooting the 142's a lot, mainly due to the price. The two Berger bullets I do a lot with in the 153.5's and the 140 Hybrids.
 
Straightshooter1 said:
I've shot a lot of 142 SMK's and like them a lot as they perform really really well for me out of my 6.5 PRC with a 1:8 twist. I've not shot any Berger 144, but have done Berger 153.5's. There not real comparison given the difference in BC. But the 153.5 have also done really really well for me. I like shooting the 142's a lot, mainly due to the price. The two Berger bullets I do a lot with in the 153.5's and the 140 Hybrids.
Click to expand...
So do you feel the 153.5’s are a lot better than the 142
 
142smk is a great bullet, stupid easy to shoot well. Ok BC that is rather predictable. The 144 is a LRHT which is a great bullet. I've noticed larger variance in OAL between lots of the LRHT bullets than others, but if you check BTO they're usually really close, but require adjusting seating depth.

If you dont normally buy enough bullets in a single lot to wear out a barrel, go with the 142smk. If you buy bullets at 1000-2000 at a time of a single lot, the 144 may be an advantage on target.
 
Longranger81 said:
So do you feel the 153.5’s are a lot better than the 142
Click to expand...
I can only say in the sense that the 153.5's BC is much better for long range and I haven't shot near as many of them as I have the 142's. I shoot mostly short and midrange distances and and really don't see a lot of difference (need to shoot more of them), so I just currently have a preference for shooting the lighter 142's. Sierra does a really good job making them consistent and I like that they're pointed at the factory.
 
Longranger81 said:
Anyone have personal experience with the 142 smk and the 144 Berger both. Several people have told me to go with the smk but to me the Berger has a much higher BC. Just looking for advice, will be shooting out of a 8 twist 6.5x284
Click to expand...
Having loaded both bullets for my 260AI the 142 gr, Sierra was it's favorite. The 140 gr. Berger Long Range Target is a real close second and groups equally well at 100 yds. but when tested @ 700 yds. the 142 gr. Sierra is better. Fairly easy to clean a NRA 600 yd. F-class Target with 10 shots and 5 in the X ring. This was shot from a portable fold-up bench. The load for the group below was my normal 47.5 gr. H-4831 but recently worked up a load with VV-N555. Thinking it may work well at distances too.

Peterson SRP brass
142 GR. SIERRA HPBT MK HBN C 2.200 O M 2.865 COL T/L B S .511 B C .626
POWDER VV-N555 46.7 GR. PRIMER CCI BR-4 .293 BU. .261 EXP.
SEATED @ 2.196 O M 2.861 COL .004 OTL T/S -17.5
2938 FPS 9 E S 4 S D Group was .098 after cal. deduction
 

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