Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting RL26 with 6.5-06 and 7mm Remington data from today

The 6.5-06 was shooting Berger 140 vlds with CCI primers. Started with 52.5 grains of RL26 and ended up at 55.5 grains, going up .5 grain at a time. Final velocity was 3030 fps which is about 90 fps faster than I have had this rifle going with 56 grains of H1000.
All 7 rounds went into a group well under an inch. Good start.

Took a guess on the RL26 with a 180 Hornady ELD-M in the 7mm. My rifle has a long throat and I hit the lands at 3.505. So loaded up at 3.49 oal and started at 68 grains. That proved aggressive as first round was 3003 fps. No pressure though so shot the 69 grain load. It went 3070 fps. At that point, I stopped and loaded up 5 rounds at 67.5 grains.

Those 5 rounds went .66 center to center and clocked at 2970 fps. So with a 25" barreled 7mm remington, that bullet is doing 2970 with a claimed bc of .797. Anxious to load up a number more and see if the bc holds up.

Two questions re 6.5-06.
What is length of barrel?
What range of vels with 125-130's?

My 6.5-06 with a 23" barrel and 56gr RL-26 with a 140 Berger VLD does 3050fps , 100fps faster than my previous load of 49gr. RL-17.

24.5" barrel, and never shot any lighter bullets in it.

Liking it for this load a lot. Shot up all the 147 ELDs in some short action stuff. Want to try it with that bullet next.

Need to get some RL26.

I put 30lbs worth of 1000 in the larder last summer, kinda went buy crazy after it finally hit the market again..Wish i would have waited.

Nice to see someone posting something about shooting.

That 180 ELD load is a beast.

My 26" Krieger 6.5-284 will consistently shoot 140 VLD's at 3K with RL-17, around 48 gr. IIRC. Great accuracy.

Guess I need to try some 26.

DF

I've been playing with the 140rdf and 26 in my 260ai. I'm running about 2930fps.

DF- Norma or Winchester throating on your 6.5-284?

Norma.

It's on a pre-64 with Borden's Bumps. Bet you haven't seen one like that...

Plenty of COAL room with LA.

DF

What am I seeing with the extractor collar on the M70? Looks like the .308/.243 set up but longer?

It was a .243.

I bought '06 bolt stop, ejector, box mag follower and spring, opened the box mag to 3.4".

The follower was milled to accommodate the fat .284 case.

DF

Makes sense now... was the bolt handle ground at all for scope clearance?

No.

Scope is high enough that it works well.

DF

I'm going to try some

DF- You are right!!

Nice rifle to say the least....

Thanks, Mike.

You see Borden's Bumps on 700's and their clones. Putting them on a pre-64 was a bit different.

For those not familiar with this concept, the smith cut recesses at the front and rear of the bolt, took SS rifle pieces, halved them, milled them to fit in the recesses. He JB glued them in place, milled them oblong such that the bulges run up and down the action raceways, but when the bold is closed, there is minimal up and down clearance, the bolt perfectly square with the case head, minimal bolt movement with firing. It's a bench rest trick, not seen so much on hunting rifles.

This gun is a solid half MOA shooter out to 400 yds., 4" at 600 with 140 gr. Hunting VLD's and SST's. I want to try 139 gr. Scenars. I don't do enough LR shooting, don't have a convenient set up.

DF

Neat stuff guys. I have a Tikka (long box) with a 23" Bartlein in 6.5 Shehane that loves 4831SC and 139 Scenars. Running 3025fps. R26 in the Q for that one too.

Wrapped up the 6.5-06 load yesterday. 55 grains of RL26, cci primer, 3.32 oal, 3000 fps with 140 vld. Shooting half moa and loading up a bunch to confirm drops and blast things this summer.

Still messing around with the 7mm for some reason and may also try RL26 with some 105 hornady in the 243.