Lapua 6.5 Creedmoor small rifle primer brass - new
CCI-450 (small rifle magnum) primers
130 grain 6.5mm Norma Golden Target bullets
all seated @ 2.835" - .010" shy of touching the rifling in my particular rifle. Each group represents five (5) rounds fired on target.
All loads used H4350 powder.
39.5 grains of H4350 - Hi 2566 fps - Lo 2542 fps - Average 2553 fps - ES 24 - SD 08 - Group size (four shots*) just under 1.5".
40.0 grains of H4350 - Hi 2611 fps - Lo 2575 fps - Average 2592 fps - ES 36 - SD 15 - Group size 7/8"
40.5 grains of H4350 - Hi 2633 fps - Lo 2598 fps - Average 2614 fps - ES 35 - SD 14 - Group size 3/4"
41.0 grains of H4350 - Hi 2672 fps - Lo 2641 fps - Average 2650 fps - ES 31 - SD 12 - Group size 5/8"
41.5 grains of H4350 - Hi 2677 fps - Lo 2654 fps - Average 2665 fps - ES 23 - SD 11 - Groups size 1"
42.0 grains of H4350 - Hi 2714 fps - Lo 2688 fps - Average 2704 fps - ES 26 - SD 10 - Group size just over 1.5 "**
42.5 grains of H4350 - Hi 2754 fps - Lo 2714 fps - Average 2737 fps - ES 40 - SD 17 - Groups size just under 1.5"**
Scope used is a 1980's Leupold fixed 24X adjustable parallax target model. Uncle Bud's Bull Bag used in front and a Protektor rabbit eared bag in the rear. The stock did not mate well with this bag.
I intend to test 40.7 and 41.2 next time out. I will also try the 42.0 grain load again as it's SD of 10 was acceptable and conditions simply didn't allow me to give it a fair hearing. I will also go a little hotter. 43.0 and 43.5 grains, but no further. My maximum velocity of 2754 from a 22" barrel equals approximately 2850 fps from a 26" barrel, 2950 fps from a 30". I may be close to maximum @ 42.5 grains.
* The first round was fired after looking through the bore and adjusting the scope to get on paper at 100 yards. The scope was adjusted to approximate zero and left unchanged for the rest of the test (4 rounds fired into the first group). The first round fired surprised me because of how light the trigger was, it took a little getting used to. The sun played hell with my vision on the first 5 rounds fired. I had to hold a notebook over my head with my left hand to block the rear of the scope from the sun. By the time I fired the first group, cleaned the firearm and walked downrange to check targets the sun moved enough to not matter from that point forward.
** Temperature was in the low 70's with bright sunshine with low humidity, a beautiful day for shooting. However, I didn't have enough time to allow the barrel to cool between shots and by the time I fired the last two loads (42.0 g and 42.5g) the heat waves off my barrel through the 24X scope were horrible. I cleaned the rifle between every group of five, using three wet patches of Shooter's Choice. I allowed the bore to soak between trips downrange. I ran two or three dry patches through the bore when I returned to the bench. No bore brushes, just patches. Men were waiting to use the range for a pre-scheduled "fun match" and my bench shooting wasn't part of their plan.