Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles RL26 in 6.5CM

Anyone have some good loads they'd care to share? Would appreciate anything you have. Thanks! Mac

I just keep cutting and pasting this..........

Re 26 is a fantastic powder in the .260 and cm. I have tested it in my .260, with the 147 ELDM with great results. In my cm, I tried 46 grains and got stellar accuracy @ 2747 fps. I got 2825 from my .260 at 47 grains, and a little higher worked OK, too. I have not tested any of the 140-143 class bullets in my cm with it yet, but I have no doubt that it will be great. It sends 129 Interlocks down range from my .260 at nearly 3000 fps.

I am trying a few different powders in my cm, but I think this powder is going to be my go-to powder in both of my 6.5s, for the heavy bullets for sure.

Dadgum threads like this costing me money..... Natchez has jugs of 26 in stock.

Understood, keep waiting for Alliant to offer "any" info on CM. I was surprised to hear of folks using 26 and guessed that 22 would have been the slow burn limit for CM. Using 17 and 142's myself and getting 2750ish out of 24"bbl.

What bbl was the 2747 out of?

Alpine,

When RL 17 first came out it said on the container........"Designed for Short Magnum Case Capacity"

Now reloading manuals everywhere have load data for 130s in the 6.5 creedmoor and a lot of other smaller case cartridges and in fact proved to be one of the top powders for the 6.5 Creedmoor. There's a reason slow powders don't work in small cases and its mostly because you can't fit enough in to begin to reach pressure or velocity. RL 26 doesn't have this problem

I've used a large variety of different powders and loads in my 6.5X55 Swede and so far RL 26 has proved to be one of the top performers as far as accuracy, SD, ES, and temp resistant with 140 grain bullets. The Swede and Creed are similar case capacity and if I had a Creedmoor it would be at the top of my list to try with the heavier bullets



Trystan

Well, there you have it.

Trystan,

There is no pressure data for RL26 and the cartridges mentioned in this thread. And when RL17 came out folks were stuffing LOTS of it in various cartridges without any pressure data as a guide, only to find out as pressure data became available their pet load that "didn't show any pressure signs" was well over max charges.

My handloading mentor told me similar stories about MRP back in the day......some things don't change.

2930 FPS out of my 27" barrel creedmoor.

What bullet?

24-inch Criterion.

2747 from a 24" barrel? With IMR4451, using published data, my 22" Ruger American gets 2731 with the 142 MatchKing, and a 24" Fierce Edge gets 2773 with the 143 ELD-X.

Thanks for bbl length and other info Sb and MD!

It could be pushed a bit more, I am sure, but there was no reason to do so. That 147 shot 1/2 moa at 300 yards at that velocity and I did not play with it much. A few more fps will not make much difference in performance. It was just a test, as my bullet for deer season was the 129. The 147 will get some more work now that the season is over and will kill at least one deer during late season. I killed five deer with the cm and 129s @ 2800. I easily got 2900 fps with Re 16, but the 2800 fps with Re 15 is incredibly accurate and I have lots of Re 15.. It provided stellar performance on the deer and I never caught a single bullet at the moderate ranges that I shot them at. .

143 grain ELD-X

That might equate to 2800ish in a 22. Nothing wrong with that.

2910 fps in my 24" with 143s
2700 fps in my 18" with 147s.

What was your powder weight with the 24 inch barrel? I've been thinking about cutting mine down.

I stocked up on it, when it was on sale somewhere, $20 a pound...

I'm not all fired up as to it being the latest greatest addition to handloading..

it doesn't do anything H 1000 hasn't been doing for a long time...
which happens to be less finicky for accuracy IMHO...

its just another screw driver in the tool box....