Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 6.5 Creedmoor reloading question for Mule Deer and others

In Gun Gack 1 & 2 Mule Deer lists a 6.5 Creedmoor load of 45.0 grains of Ramshot Hunter with a 140 grain Berger Hunting VLD. I'm working up a 140 grain Accubond load with Hunter in my Ruger Hawkeye Predator and wonder if I can reasonably use 45 grains with that bullet. I would assume I could do that unless there is a significant difference in the pressure generated by a Berger VLD versus an Accubond. I haven't been able to find any information about the pressure generated by the two bullets. Nosler Reloading Guide 8 lists a max of 44 grains for 140 grain bullets but that includes a 142 grain LRAB and a 140 Partition which may generate more pressure.

So far I've gotten good accuracy (.7 MOA 4 shot groups) with 44 grains of Hunter at about 2700 FPS but it would be nice to get a little more velocity and maybe my accuracy could even get a little better. I realize one grain isn't much of an increase but I'm somewhat conservative when I exceed book maximums. What say the 'Fire experts?

45.0 grains should be entirely safe. though of course other factors can come into play, including seating depth, the specific primer, etc. etc.

One thing that may not be a factor for your shooting is that my tests with Hunter have shown it to be the least temperature-resistant of the four original Ramshot rifle powders made in Belgium (the other three are TAC, Big Game and Magnum; a recent addition is LRT, slower than Magnum, which I haven't tried yet). In my tests at 70 and zero degrees, Hunter has lost around 100 fps in more than one cartridge. That doesn't make any significant difference in trajectory, but my experiments over the years have shown that 100 fps or more can significantly affect point of impact at 100 yards in ANY direction, and of course any 100-yard change will become greater at longer ranges.

Of course, your shooting may not take place in wide temperature ranges.

Thanks John!

Almost all of my shooting takes place in temps of 20 to 85 degrees and I expect to use the 6.5 CM as a deer, antelope and pig round so more like 30-85 degrees for it. Hopefully I wouldn't see too much temperature sensitivity in that range, although I imagine pressures might go up some at 85. I'm using CCI 200 primers in Hornady cases and am currently at .03" off the lands although I started my load work up at .01" off.

One other thing I noticed in the Nosler 8 manual is that they also list 44 grains of Hunter as the max with 130 grain Accubonds. It seems odd to me that their max is the same for 130 and 140 grain bullets. I would expect I might be able to safely get up to around 46 grains with a 130 grain Accubond as you list 46 grains with a Scirocco II in Gun Gack.

Dunno why Nosler lists the same maximum for 130 and 140 AB's. Ramshot's data lists 45+ grains as max even for bullets in the 140-grain range.

You won't have any temperature problems at 30-85 degrees. In fact almost all modern smokeless powders don't show much variation in that range, even those not known for being temp-resistant.

Thanks again, the comment on the 30-85 temperature range is really helpful!

Bearing surface or 'shank' length of various bullet designs has much to do with pressures generated. VLD design has a shorter bearing surface than tangent profile bullets and in my experience have less pressure generated!

Don't forget bearing surface material and the hardness of the lead interior can increase pressure.

Along with jacket thickness. Oh, and seating depth, and....

Id be more inclined to try big game then, based on your post. Recently, thats exactly what i did. Got some pretty good preliminary results with the 140 ELDM. If it works out, i may decide to sway away from H4350, as my primary powder choice for the 6.5 CM.