Best powders for light bullets in 6.5 CM

[jlorenzo]

Wanting to try out some 120s and maybe some 130s, do I want faster or slower powder for this? Still figuring all this out.
I will be shooting 140s as well but am mainly interesting in the 120s. Is H4350 or Varget too slow for 120s? I would like to push as much velocity as I comfortably can. Any experience with the 120s is welcome. Thanks.

 

[rijndael]

I run 123 Scenars w/ Shooters World Precision.

IME, lighter bullets for 6.5 Creedmoor work well with powders commonly used for 308.

 

[jlorenzo]

I run 123 Scenars w/ Shooters World Precision.

IME, lighter bullets for 6.5 Creedmoor work well with powders commonly used for 308.

I have been shooting 308 and 223 with heavies. I have Varget, N140, N150, IMR4895, Tac, CFE223 and recently H4350 and Superformance on the way.
So I do want slower powder for lighter bullets? Is that always the case or just more for 6.5 cm specifically?

 

[Rob01]

Not so much slower as H4350 is slower than Varget but Varget was used with the 120 AMAX for a time when loaded at Hornady. They originally used H4350 with both the 120 and 140 AMAX loadings but switched to Varget for 120 as it gave less recoil and the velocity wasn't needed as they saw the 120 as a shorter range load. Try both.

ETA Pic of the first lot of 120 AMAX to come off the presses and box data.

 

[AckleymanII]

Varget, AR Comp, and IMR 4064 all work well with the light bullets.

 

[Bc'z]

IMR4166, AA2700, RL19, are working great with 123gr bullets.
I've never run H4350 or varget in my rifle.
I'll be looking at 4064 next

 

[jkirk]

I had some success with Reloder 16 with both 120 grain Speer Gold Dots and 129 grain Hornady Interlock. I used Alliant's load data. Fairly impressive velocity too. Unfortunately I ran out of my pound of RL-16 before I could refine the more promising 129 grain load. I also had some success with 44 gr of H4350 using a 120 grain Gold Dot bullet. The problem with the 120 Gold Dot bullets is that I was unable to seat those particular bullets out far enough in my rifle, and had to contend with more jump than I would have liked.

I'm now messing with H4350 using Hornady 130 ELD. Finding encouragement around 42.5 grains give or take a few tenths. I'll try this bullet with RL-16 if I ever get my hands on any.

All in all, I still haven't found anything that will beat H4350 using 140 (+/-) grain bullets in the 6.5 Creedmoor.

 

[PhilC]

I also had good performance with RL16 and Nosler 129ABLRs. I've got a jug of IMR4451 to play with but primer availability being what it is, I'll wait. Besides, I'm playing with cast in mine now anyway.

 

[jlorenzo]

Varget, AR Comp, and IMR 4064 all work well with the light bullets.

I wish I could find some AR Comp. Haven't seen it for a long time.

 

[AckleymanII]

I wish I had 4 Kegs.

 

[SportsmanCDA]

Same on AR Comp… have less than an eighth of a pound sitting on the shelf with no luck finding more.

 

[DDRanch]

Someone point me in the direction of AR Comp reloading data.

 

[bobke]

I’ve used AR Comp in several 6.5CM AR’s with success loading 120/123 Scenars. Very accurate, and faster than Varget, so caution as you near peak loads. Would start near 35gr and work up-I reached max in very low 37’s. You won’t be able to get to the velocity of 4350/RL16, but accuracy was in the .5-.6 range across load workups. Use AR Comp almost exclusively for 75-77gr in 223, and 120-123’s in multiple 6.5 Grendel’s.

 

[358WCF]

So I do want slower powder for lighter bullets? Is that always the case or just more for 6.5 cm specifically?

Rule of thumb is faster powders with lighter projectiles. Nothing is 100%, but it's a good bet.

RL15, Varget & H4895 all worked fairly well with 120s for me, but I've settled on RL16 for 120 & 125s, or RL26 with 140s.

 

[venatic]

ARComp is good along with Varget but I have been using N550 with very good results. 550 has burn rate between ARComp and H4350 gets good velocity with decent temp stability. I really think the new Reloder 15.5 would be a perfect fit if it ever shows up on the shelves.

 

[k80skeet]

Not so much slower as H4350 is slower than Varget but Varget was used with the 120 AMAX for a time when loaded at Hornady. They originally used H4350 with both the 120 and 140 AMAX loadings but switched to Varget for 120 as it gave less recoil and the velocity wasn't needed as they saw the 120 as a shorter range load. Try both.

ETA Pic of the first lot of 120 AMAX to come off the presses and box data.

View attachment 1327886

I couldn't find any better with 120gr Hornady "A" max bullets. Hornady had 100% right on this one and the 41.5 H4350 was the very best load I could find with the 140gr Hornady "A" Max. Those loads work very nice with outer same weight bullets But none as good as the Hornady "A" bullets. Needless to say it is great for Rob01 to share this factory Hornady load data for the original factory box of ammo. Not many of these boxes are around anymore.

 

[Rob01]

LOL that's an old picture. Don't have any of those lot left over. Here is a pic of the 140 AMAX box in an 09' lot. The next pic is a 10' lot and you can see they changed the barrel length from the original 28" to 24" and adjusted the velocity accordingly.

 

[Hohn]

Wanting to try out some 120s and maybe some 130s, do I want faster or slower powder for this? Still figuring all this out.
I will be shooting 140s as well but am mainly interesting in the 120s. Is H4350 or Varget too slow for 120s? I would like to push as much velocity as I comfortably can. Any experience with the 120s is welcome. Thanks.

4350 and Varget are perfectly fine for 120 class bullets. You’ll just have more powder than with130/140s.

If you want max velocity with 120s, you’ll want to run something like Superformance, N550/N555, RL16, h4350. Ball powders like 760 and pp4000mr can get going too.

 

[jlorenzo]

4350 and Varget are perfectly fine for 120 class bullets. You’ll just have more powder than with130/140s.

If you want max velocity with 120s, you’ll want to run something like Superformance, N550/N555, RL16, h4350. Ball powders like 760 and pp4000mr can get going too.

I have h4350 and some Superformance on the way, hopefully it does ok Ive never used it and don't hear alot of good things. Also will be on the lookout for N550/555.

 

[Hohn]

I have h4350 and some Superformance on the way, hopefully it does ok Ive never used it and don't hear alot of good things. Also will be on the lookout for N550/555.

Superformance isn’t super temp stable but definitely has the fps. N555 was made specifically for the 6.5 case. I assume it’s somewhat hard to light like the other 500 series powders. But with good case fill and a large primer, it’s fine. H4350 is never a bad choice for any bullet weight in 6.5, it’s just not optimized for some combinations.