Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 6.5 creedmoor / 147, 140 / Reloder 26

I've seen some amazing velocities posted with Reloder 26 powder in the 6.5 creedmoor. Speed is great but without accuracy I'm not interested. How's accuracy compared to other powders like H4350? What should I expect to see for seed with 140 gr & 147 gr bullets with a 28" barrel? Thanks.

I get fantastic accuracy with all bullets tried in my 24-inch Criterion barrel. I run the 147 at 2747 fps with super accuracy. I just tested a 140 Interlock over 26 and got 2889 and great accuracy. You should get real good velocity from 26.

Yesterday I shot 48.5 grains of rl26 with a 140 Berger at 90 thou off the lands in a Barrett FC, 21" barrel. 2853 fps and 1 1/2-1 3/4" group at 300 yards. I have another good load with the 147 Hornady with 47.9 of rl26, getting right at 2800 fps. It is at or below moa out to 1k. I don't know at this point how temperature sensitive it is however. Another load you need to try is around 43.0 of rl16. I tried it yesterday with the 140 Berger's and I had a 3 shot group at 300 less than one inch. This load was 2734 fps. with an ES of 5 and SD of 2. I realize three shots is not enough to say it is repeatable but it shows damn good promise.

Are you using standard,match or magnum primers.

I'm curious, how is everyone arriving at their RL26 - 6.5 Creedmoor data?

Extrapolating from RL16 data?

http://www.bergerbullets.com/pdf/6.5-Creedmoor-135gr.pdf

It got me ball park. Rarely do I use exact same brass, bullet, and primer as the book listing anyways let alone have the exact same chamber specs so book loads are a rough guideline anyways.

I just started at 44 grains with both the 143 and 147 and worked up slowly from there.

I am getting 147s at 2700+ fps out of an 18" barrel. With an extra 10" of barrel I look forward to hearing what you can get them going. Certainly keep us posted.

I used 215's with 26 and 210's with 16.

Berger doesn’t pressure test loads, they use QuickLoad... since no pressure tested RL26/6.5 Creedmoor data is available, I wonder how they are arriving at theirs?

Correct they don't. But its just a starting point anyways. I always go until I get pressure signs when working up loads anyways so I know how far to back down. I just need a rough idea where to start and go from there.

Right or wrong, but if I waited for companies to give exact pressure data loading with certain powders in the 338-06 or 358 win then I'd still be waiting on the starting blocks.

I've been shooting 47.5 grains of RL26 with the 147's for about 2,815 ...24" barrel...

Starline brass/small primer and Rem Bench Rest Primers.

Great accuracy with the load, and so far have loaded brass 6 times.

I just don't see ANY signs of pressure.

I ordered some Reloder 26 , 147 gr ELDM, and 140 gr Nosler RDF bullets yesterday. I've also got 140 ELDM and 140 VLD bullets on hand. Hopefully I can develop a load with one of those bullets that shoots lights out.

I’ve NEVER fired a centerfire cartridge and NOT seen signs of pressure...

I got my first 358 in 1990, my first 338-06 in 1999. I could find data for both, and with similar powders it was easy to extrapolate acceptable loads. Hence my question about RL26. I’m genuinely curious how some have arrived at their loads.

Brad, I'm with SU. I cannot see any visible signs and the load with 48.5 has powder to the bottom of the neck. Rl22 and MRP also didn't show any visible signs, to me anyway. I went up to 47.6 with rl22 and it shot a .3" group at 100 but I'm trying to stay away from 22 as it's been a little sensitive as far as velocity loss in cold weather, in my 300 anyway. I went up to 43.5 rl16 , which is supposed to be a book max load and didn't notice any traditional signs, but the group opened up to about 3" @300.

It’s ancient news you can be way over SAAMI max and “see no pressure signs.”

Some Recipes to get you in the ball park.

https://www.speer-ammo.com/reloading/rifle/recipe/?setId=c98b6c78-bd09-4a6f-9d9a-b8dcecf0b12a


I suspect and it appears that the 147 has a low bearing surface to help reduce pressures.

I also suspect that you could not put enough RL26 in a CM case and seat a bullet to red line it.

The above load 46.8 grains is a compressed load for the Speer 140. I am seating my 147 bullets out a fair bit.

Brad, I understand that but if I see no signs of any pressure, personally, I don't have one bit of worry, ymmv. I will monitor brass life and if I get 5 firings on a case I will consider it fine. A person on here mentioned using 48.0 of rl26 and getting over 5 firings on his brass with no issues, that is why I felt comfortable starting at 46.5 and moving up to where I am.

Nice, the first RL26 data I've seen for the 6.5 Creedmoor.

Nice indeed. Speer also shows RL-26 data for the 6.5x55. It's nice to see Speer join the 21st century too by putting their load data on-line. I didn't know they had done that.