Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Reload Help Needed 6.5 Creedmoor

Hello All,

I have been working on this gun for a better part of a year on trying to get good groups with the the Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor 143 grain eld-x bullet to no avail. I've tried at least a half a dozen recommended powders (faster and slower burning), amounts, and at least a handful of different primers (even the elusive Federals 210-Ms). Lupa Brass is being used as well, with a seating depth of 2.809. When I first shot the gun last year, the first 6 rounds were factory ammunition 1/4 MOA with the Hornady 143 grain eldx bullet. I know the gun has the ability to shoot well; but no reloads have ever shot well since. I am planning this coming weekend to measure the speed leaving the barrel as I've been told it should shoot around 2,700 feet per second. I've done cleanings and no cleanings between sessions to see if that helps too with no real visual difference.

Gun Information:
Weatherby 6.5 Creedmoor backcountry TI (1st gen)
1/8 Twist barrel
22 inch barrel
2 inch included factory muzzle brake
4.7 pounds
Swarvoski Z6 5-30x50 P BT


I doubt anyone has this specific round with this manufacture, but any tips on 6.5 Creedmoor reloading would be very helpful.

P.S. I actually have very little reload knowledge as a good friend of mine is the one reloading for me. He is an older gentleman with little to no computer knowledge so I'll pass along your responses to him. He's been doing this for at least 15 years.

Thanks in advance!

When was the last time you’ve shot the factory ammo in the rifle?

If it were me, I’d give it another go just to make sure everything is still good.

Double check your action screws, scope mounts and anything that has screws on it.

If you can post some pictures of your targets for reference that may be helpful as well.

Something sounds mechanical since if it’s any sorta decent load, it’ll usually shoot pretty well.

Have you checked bullet alignment with the case? If they're not seated reasonably straightly, then that can really affect grouping. If you don't have an alignment gauge, one easy way to see if that might be the problem is rolling the rounds across a smooth, flat surface. If you can see any "wobble" in the tips of the bullets, they're pretty far out of alignment.

Have you played with seating depth? Often high-BC bullets will group better when seated farther from the lands.

1. Measure a factory round to the Ogive if possible since they shot well then duplicate seating depth.
2. I never test a new rifle/load without a chronograph, like pizzing into the wind.
3. Are you sure it’s clean?

Otherwise poster above gave good advice.

Great post and suggestion. Sounds like a mechanical issue to me as well, or shooter error. The simple truth about the creedmoor is it's hard to make a load that doesn't shoot well. I have plenty and have never seen it. Sounds to me like the rifle needs to be confirmed it's good mechanically before going a single step further with a handload.

Front scope base screw contact on the barrel tenon?

STOP!

What kind of groups are you getting with the ELDX reloads?

Take this approach with caution. I hesitate to post this because you need to be careful and I don't advocate loading above normal data. I had a similar experience with my Creedmoor a Kimber 84M with a custome Brux barrel. It shot Barnes Vor-Tx with the 127LRX sub MOA by quite a bit. All the different reloads with all the different components were MOA+. This rifle has a very tight chamber and the Vor-TX shot 100fps faster than the Barnes data printed on the box and I was achieving max velocity with my reloads of the 127LRX at about 2.5gr shy of book max. I finally loaded to the same velocity as the factory rounds and got bughole accuracy.
You need a chronograph.

I'll make a couple more comments:

The reason I suggested checking bullet alignment is I've found that starting with the basics is the easiest way to eliminate possible problems. It's like checking if the battery cable connections are clean in a pickup truck that won't start, rather than replacing the battery.

Have found a LOT of handloaders, even "experienced" ones like the guy who's loading for him, often have no clue about bullet alignment. Its one of those basics that eliminates the basic possibilities, rather than getting into more esoteric stuff. And as I described, it's easy to check without an alignment gauge.

The OP Jared DID say the rifle shot six rounds of the factory ammo into 1/4 MOA, with him shooting--which seems to indicate there's no problem with the shooter or the rifle. (Of course, another possibility is the handloaded groups were shot in windier conditions, which is ANOTHER simple and basic possibility.)

Beretz mentioned some other basic stuff like checking screw tightness. Another simple thing to check is whether the guy doing the handloading is seating the bullets the same depth as those in the factory ammo--which is what I often do when a factory load shoots very well.

Wind flags are a no no in load development, as we all know it’s never windy and wind has no effect within 100 yards on group size.

😳😳😳

Agree MD the little things add up

If you are using a proper fitting seating die to the profile of the bullet .Alignment will improve . The EldX almost needs a VLD seating stem . That being said 5 lb rifles are more difficult to get to shoot off a bench accurately than say my 15 lb .260 is. Any flaw in technique is magnified,. If it does not shoot the 143 with the listed max of H4350 work on the above.........

Yep, a VLD seating stem can definitely help with ELD-Xs--or any other high-BC bullet.

But his rifle does NOT weigh 5 pounds scoped. And again, it grouped very well with him shooting the factory ammo.

I’d definitely try a little more of the factory myself after checking over the screws. Just to see if the scope puked or something went bad after shooting the factory and then trying to shoot handloads.

We still don't know what the poster was getting for groups with the ELDX reloads. He may have been getting 3/4 inch groups and considering those "not good" compared to the factory ammo.

He plainly stated: "When I first shot the gun last year, the first 6 rounds were factory ammunition 1/4 MOA with the Hornady 143 grain eldx bullet."

He opened up by saying:

"trying to get good groups with the the Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor 143 grain eld-x bullet to no avail."

Here's what I am thinking, and I suppose I could be off base.

We do not know what kind of groups he is getting reloading the ELDX. Are we talking 1/2 to 3/4 MOA groups out of a lightweight rifle or are we talking 2" groups? If it's the former, that might be as good as it's going to get with reloads. If he's getting the latter with reloads, but 1/4" with factory, then perhaps some troubleshooting is in order. That troubleshooting would begin with seeing if the factory loads can still deliver 1/4 MOA. If it does, then the reloads are the likely problem. If it doesn't then something in the scope/mounting system is the likely problem.

Again, I might be barking up the wrong tree John, but I think we need some information on specifically what the OP means when he says he can't get good groups.

MD is right. I took it as his Hand loads with that bullet we’re not performing as well as factory.

That is exactly the way I took it too. My question is how bad were the handloads?

Well I look at it this way also, the first 6 shots in a .25 was probably a fluke of nature and the rifle is now showing its true self. Popping quads for group consistently is a lot harder than you think.

Well, yeah, maybe.

But it also might be entirely moot, since the OP hasn't even logged in again since he posted....