Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Competitive Shooting 6.5x47 Lapua / IMR 8208 / Berger 130 VLD / Test results

Friday, I received my 8lb jug of IMR 8208 XBR. Yahoo! Tried to get out yesterday but family emergency precluded that; too bad as the wind was only about 3-4 mps. Today, I did even though the wind was much worse. Decided to shoot a pressure/ladder.

Surgeon 591 (smithed by Chris Matthews of Longshot rifles)
26" Krieger 1:8.5 MTU contour (600 round count). No one's yet explained to me what MTU stands for.
AICS 1.5 stock
NF 5.5-22x50mm w/ NP-R1
6.5x47 Lapua, original throat .104" now .146". No turn .294" neck.
130 Berger VLD Hunting, .010" into lands
CCI 450 primer
Redding Type-S FL w/ .289" bushing
Redding comp seater, seated to OAL 2.760"
Just completed my load development for 40.24 gr H4350, .010" into lands, CCI450, 2800 fps, ES 24, SD 9, .25 to .6 MOA.

Harris 6-9" swivel bipod
CED M2 chrono with center of screens @ 13.5' from muzzle, sun light from my 9pm. Shot between 11 am and 1 pm today.
65'F @ start, 77'F at finish
47.47 Baro
Wind, 3 to 15 mph, average 9mph from 11 am to 1 pm direction.
Sunny

I started off by shooting 5 sighters into a group @ 385 yds. 33.5 gr = 2597 fps AV - 11 ES - 3 SD. Four shots into 1.5" with 5th out to 3". That's .389 MOA or .78 MOA. Looks promising as far as accuracy and good ES/SD. At least for me. Oh, and I shoot off a portable fold-up picnic table so with the wind, the rifle was not still. One of my favorite spots is a sort of bowl where I can shoot in a near 180 deg direction so I can keep the wind pretty much between 11 and 1; in my face.

31 gr to 36 gr in .5 gr increments. Three shots each shot at 385 yds. Used my VIC 123 elec scale to keep powder charges to with in +/- .02 gr.

31 gr/ 2436 - 2435 - 2454 / ES = 19
31.5/ 2474 - 2462 - 2445 / ES = 29
32 gr/2496 - 2504 - 2498 / ES = 8
32.5 /2522 - 2528 - 2523 / ES = 6
33 gr/2534 - 2548 - 2536 / ES = 12
33.5 /2599 - 2612 - 2616 / ES = 17
34 gr/2632 - 2634 - 2626 / ES = 8
34.5 /2643 - 2648ej-2641shiny/ES = 7
35 gr/2649ej-2657shiny-2650ej/ES = 8
35.5/2728ej-3734ej -2728 / ES = 6
36 gr/2768ej & stiff - 2762ej - 2780/ES = 18

ej = ejector mark on brass
shinny = shinny smear on brass
stiff = stiff bolt lift

ES 335 fps

Really haven't had a chance to eval the target which was a 3" circle. I color coded each 3-shot group of bullets with perm marker; green, red, black, blue, then repeating the same four colors again. Works great because my Zeiss spotter @ 45x had too much vibration from the wind to tell all the impacts. Thanks Jason Baney!

I'll try and post pics later.

For now, I'm impressed with the accuracy potential, ES and SD but not the velocity. I saw a post here on Snipershide where someone witnessed a chrono printout of something around 3000 fps. Must have been a looooong barrel and loooots of pressure.

Alan

I have always thought MTU stood for the USMC's Marksmanship Training Unit. I believe this is the contour of their M40A3 Sniper rifle, but I am happy to be corrected.

I have 0 (zero) experience with the 6.5X47, but I think your velocities are somewhat low, especially for a 26 inch barrel. I am not familar with IMR 8208 XBR, but perhaps a slower burning powder may produce better velocities without the pressure signs you are seeing.

I did a little more poking around. With the 130gr bullets, you should be close to 3000fps with your barrel.

That would be dandy but I think I'll let that one slide. Sticky bolt lift and ejector marks at 2777 fps is too much for me.

Thanks though.

Alan

Alan, I hear (read) what you are saying. My point is that the 6.5x47 was developed as a 3000 fps cartridge that uses less powder and less barrel than the 260 Rem and has less recoil than the .308. It seems to be a wonderful and the folks at 6mmbr use RL-15 in that cartridge. My thinking is that you are using the wrong powder for this cartridge. The Hogdon website shows the 8208 as quite a bit faster than RL-15. Unfortunately, it does not list the 6.5x47 in its load data.

FTR Shooter,

I hear ya loud and clear. Totally agree that IMR 8208 is too fast. I had a free 8lb jug coming my way and wanted to see what it would do with the 130. Might try lighter bullets just to play with just so I can burn up the IMR 8208. OTOH, I believe I have a slow barrel. My max loads of either H4350 and Varget with 120 and 130 gr class bullets is much less than what I see reported and what my best friend is getting with his same identical rifle (actually 1" less barrel and .011" less throat) than what I get. Just the luck of the draw.

Alan

Yeah, I hate those lazy barrels.

Denys

In my 6.5x47 Lapua, I'm getting 3050 with a 123 Sierra MK over top of 40 grains of R15 and a CCI 450 srm. 24" Rock 8 twist.
Just shot a 3.5" 5 shot group at 585 yards in 10-14MPH winds with this load.

Oh great, now they are rubbing it in. I notice though, that Jim is using RL-15.

I used to shoot RL-15 in my 6.5 X 47 with the 123 Sierra MK. But I have switched to VV N550. Getting equal accuracy/velocity and better E.S. with it.

PaPa260

PaPa260, what load, barrel, velocity with the VV N550?

Was able to run back out this morning and check out something that looked promising for accuracy and ES/SD.

Both the 32.5 gr groups (the first was the sighter load and then the next was within the ladder) ran .4 MOA'ish with low ES/SD. So, I loaded up 10 rounds each of 32.4/32.6 and 32.8 gr. I can't verify these exact weights because I "threw" my charges with my Harrell's Premium powder meter to see what sort of accuracy/numbers would present themselves. I was quite pleased.

Groups ran .36 to .69 MOA @ 360 yds SD's ran 5, 9 , 9 respectively. Something else. Velocity was a solid 70 fps slower when I dipped the bearing surface in some Sinclair's powdered graphite; 2530 vs 2600 ish.

So, again, not great velocity but very good accuracy, ES and SD's. Good enough to practice with.

Alan

Sorry I have been so long answering, I forgot I posted to this thread. The barrel is 30" Krieger. The load my rifle likes is as follows.

39.5 gr. VV N550
123 Sierra MatchKing
CCI BR-4 Primer
Velocity 3014 fps Avg.

I have shot this load from my house out to 1000 yards. Seems to work very well. It is showing 3/4 MOA or less vertical stringing. I will take it to a match soon and see how it does.

For whatever it is worth, I put some steel plates out at 600 yards for my daughter to shoot at, and the 123 MK was punching right through 1/4" thick carbon steel at that range. Kind of surprised me. My load for my 308 Win. shooting 175's at 2710 fps won't do that.

PaPa260