I am late to this thread but I have been shooting the RDF 6.5 140's for a couple of years now. I have had no issues banging steel with them out to 1,100 yds. I am currently using them in F-Class. It was initially thought that they would not be sensitive to seating depth but that has not been my experience. I am seating at -0.060 with good results. Will try to post some pics tonight.
Nosler RDF Bullets
- Thread starter Delfuego
- Start date
Have 2 6mm rifles, 6xc and 6-250. 6xc has a 7.5 twist and loves the 105rdf. 6-250 has an 8 twist and just so so results with rdf's. Completely agree with post above.
nastynatesfish
A day which we will live in infamy
I really like the rdf bullets in my 65 grendel. I run the 130s over arcomp and am getting about 2460fps. I run the to 1000 in my 20”. I use them for 400-800m on clay pigeons. They’re are more consistent than the 123gr eld
I have the 70gr for my 22-250 and the 105gr for my 6br, 140gr for my 6.5 Creedmoor and the 175gr for my 308. I have had mixed results with them and I bet its mostly finding the seating depth they like. For me they are a really nice bullet for the money and always on the shelf locally, that's a plus for me. I really need to pick a caliber and stick with it till I make them work.
I have used the 140 RDF bullets quite a bit in .260 rem and 6.5 creed. They have performed pretty good although I can say that in my experience the BC listed is not accurate. Stated BC for the 140 is a bit high at least in the velocity range I am shooting in. Nosler claims .658 g1 .330 g7. Brian litz lists them at .611 g1 and .313 g7. I run them at 2780 and the trued bc comes in around .625 g1. Very similar to the 140 ELDM. Both of these are great bullets and for me it would simply come down to which one was more readily available, or if one bullet shot better out of a particular barrel. Note: a lot of the accuracy issues claimed with the RDF bullets is do to jump distance. I set them .05 off the lands and they shoot great. ELD's seem to be a bit more forgiving in that dept. But like everything in LR shooting "your mileage may vary" so test everything for yourself in your rifle.
I have tried the 105 6mm and 175 308 and I wasted my time and money. Junk!
*Update*
After picking up some 210gr RDFs to test in my new FTR barrel, I got to get out and do some testing. First thing to not is that they have a pretty long bearing surface, almost as long as the 208gr ELD. I loaded them up over 42.2gr of Varget which is what I used with 208 elds. I shot 5 shot groups at .010 into the lands, .010 off, .040 off, .080 off, and .120 off. All groups shot under 0.6” except the 0.120 off group. 2 groups were in the 0.4” range. 0.010 off shot the best so I shot another group at 0.005 off and 0.015 off. 0.005 off shot in the .4” range again, 0.015 was a bit bigger, but I had shot 75 rounds by then and was starting to get a bit inconsistent with gun handling. I’m going to retest 0.005-0.015 off and see how they do, then do a charge weight test to see if I can get a bit more velocity out of them. They were shooting around 2500 even today.
After picking up some 210gr RDFs to test in my new FTR barrel, I got to get out and do some testing. First thing to not is that they have a pretty long bearing surface, almost as long as the 208gr ELD. I loaded them up over 42.2gr of Varget which is what I used with 208 elds. I shot 5 shot groups at .010 into the lands, .010 off, .040 off, .080 off, and .120 off. All groups shot under 0.6” except the 0.120 off group. 2 groups were in the 0.4” range. 0.010 off shot the best so I shot another group at 0.005 off and 0.015 off. 0.005 off shot in the .4” range again, 0.015 was a bit bigger, but I had shot 75 rounds by then and was starting to get a bit inconsistent with gun handling. I’m going to retest 0.005-0.015 off and see how they do, then do a charge weight test to see if I can get a bit more velocity out of them. They were shooting around 2500 even today.
Ned Ludd
Silver $$ Contributor
I'm curious as to your reasoning for trying these out in F-TR. I've played around with the 85 gr .224 bullet and Nosler has done such a fantastic job with the meplats, there is absolutely no further gain in BC to be had from pointing them. If the 210s are similar, the box G7 BC value of 0.348 is what you'll be working with (i.e. - no further increase by pointing them). This is very close to the G7 BC obtained using pointed 200.20Xs, which can be easily be driven 100+ fps faster with the same or lesser recoil. I shoot the JLK 210s out of an F-TR rifle myself, but solely for practice as the performance is not equal to the 200.20X bullet.
Just curious why you would go this route.
Good question. For a lot of it is economics. I am a family man, starting out in a new career. Bergers are expensive. Over the long haul I can save hundreds of dollars by selecting smart components. My last barrel I shot hornady 208 elds out of because they are typically $7-10 less than the bergers and they shot well. My plan with the RDFs is to use them for practice and use the 200-20x for matches. That way I get a bit of the best of both worlds. When I did the seating depth test on the RDFs yesterday I did the same thing with the 200-20x and shot the best group of my life. 0.189” for five shots. The RDFs, though, are shaping up to be a good, less expensive practice bullet. Especially when you look at the blem bullets that come out of shooters pro shop.
Ned Ludd
Silver $$ Contributor
Thanks for your response. I kinda figured that might be the case and it's an excellent reason. Money doesn't grow on trees. I'll be interested to hear how they work for you. Although I haven't done a whole lot with them recently, I was very impressed with the design of the .224" 85 gr RDF bullet, especially how nicely the meplats are finished/pointed out of the box. Hopefully, the 210s will work well for your intended purposes.
If you like he 85gr rdf you should try the 88gr eld. Much shorter bearing surface, great BC and they shoot great out of my 1-7 twist barrel on my bighorn tl3. Plus they are very reasonably priced.
Ned Ludd
Silver $$ Contributor
I recently worked up a load with the 88 ELDMs over Varget in a .223 Rem with a 6.8-twist 30" barrel, same rifle in which I have also shot the 85 RDFs. IMO - the bearing surface of the 88s is quite long - much longer than Berger's 90 VLD or the 90 SMK. I estimate a freebore of .250" to .275" would be optimal for the 88s. Regardless, I've unfortunately blown a few of them up, i.e. jacket failures, at only about 2830 fps. I'm waiting to try them again until I have a 7-twist barrel that is throated sufficiently long. In my rifle set up for 90 VLDs, the 88s are sunk too far down in the neck for my liking. I could probably get them to work, but brass life would be even worse than it already is with 90s. I think the 88 ELDM is a good design though, it just seems as though the 6.8-twist is too fast for the velocities I want to run them.
Wow, that has not been my experience at all. I’m shooting them in a 7 twist at 2835 fps and have had no issues whatsoever. While the bearing surface is a bit longer than the 90 Berger and smk (I used to shoot the smk in the same chamber) it still fits perfectly in in my .169 freebore 223 rem chamber. In fact I was thinking that I might go slightly shorter freebore in my next barrel to better suit shooting at AICS mag length. I’ve also had zero issues with blown up bullets.
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The 85 RDF is getting a lot of attention from the "across the course, 200, 300, 600 yard" shooters using them at 600. Since Berger discontinued their 82g bullet, the 85 RDF seems to be a very viable replacement with a better BC and will easily stabilize out of a 7 TW service rifle. Tried em, love em, and from SPS for 18 cents a piece, awesome because as said above, money doesn't grow on trees.
bullseyeshtr
Gold $$ Contributor
I have used the 85 rdf in my 8TW service rifle, RRA NM. They shoot great at 600yds. I also have been having great luck with the 70RDF at mag length for 2 and 300.
GW
GW
Dusty Stevens
Shiner
So what’s yalls current BC for the 105rdf? .295 worked for me on 2 different batches. The bullets look great, sort great but i still get those pesky flyers that i cant put my finger on. So much so that i cant actually use them in any competition
The twist thing was on my mind when I ordered my 6br barrel. I went with 1-7.5" twist to try the 105 RDF. I'll be screwing it on soon and give them a go. I'm going to shoot them anyhow seeing they are for steel. I have a surplus of 105 Amax's to fall back on.
Dusty Stevens
Shiner
Glad to see your info. I didnt try them too long after seeing the random damn flyers and used the rest of the 500box for fireforming. .295 seemed to work for me but i admit i didnt try probably as many as you did. Now i have a new 500box from a buddy to see what they do. He likes to just grab and go with info already gathered elsewhere
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