Staball 6.5 on 6.5 creed

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FrancoisBuys

FrancoisBuys

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Good day.

I assisted a friend today how is running a 6.5 creed in a Rem 700.

He is struggling with accuracy. The combo he is running is a strange one. 130gr nosler RDFs over Staball 6.5. I have newer used the powder or bullet. After searching on the internet, Ive found a mixed bag of reviews on both the bullet and powder. Some love it and some hate is.

When messuring the RDF's I found them to be somewhat inconsistant. He doesnt have a crono so I dont know speeds. Shooting .020" of the lands. Best group is about 1¼ moa at 100

Any advice/recommendation?

The gun is shooting under 1moa with hornady factory ammo
 
FrancoisBuys said:
Good day.

I assisted a friend today how is running a 6.5 creed in a Rem 700.

He is struggling with accuracy. The combo he is running is a strange one. 130gr nosler RDFs over Staball 6.5. I have newer used the powder or bullet. After searching on the internet, Ive found a mixed bag of reviews on both the bullet and powder. Some love it and some hate is.

When messuring the RDF's I found them to be somewhat inconsistant. He doesnt have a crono so I dont know speeds. Shooting .020" of the lands. Best group is about 1¼ moa at 100

Any advice/recommendation?

The gun is shooting under 1moa with hornady factory ammo
Click to expand...
I've never used RDFs, but I have used stabal 6.5 with Scenars, ElDx, eldm, Hornady 140gr bthp, Sierra Game Kings and SMK. The Scenars like a longer jump, with the RDF being very similar, I would try some seating tests from 0.010 to 0.030 off the lands in no more than 0.005 increments, preferably 0.003 increments.
 
Will give that a try. Some people say that stabal is more suited for heavier class bullets on the creed and might be on the slower side for a 130gr bullet. Any truth around that? If I take a look at burn rate charts it does look to be a bit slower that 4350 type powders that is usually the go to on 6.5 creed
 
Try 120s and 140s.
My 6.5 doesn't like any leaded 120gr to 123gr bullets making 5 to 6 inch groups at 250yd, but then shoots approximately 1.5 inch groups with controlled chaos 122gr.
And most 140gr bullets shoot around 2 inches or less at 250yd.
The magic load for me uses 130gr Sierra game changers, shooting 3/4 to 1 inch groups at 250yd.
 
I have not used anything lighter than the Scenars, which are 139gr, so I can't speak to there being truth about the lighter bullet issue with Stabal. I wouldn't think anything from 120 to 140 would be much different. You said you don't have a chrono, but you should have an idea about your speed based on charge, what charge or velocity are you using?
 
@Hugger-4641 He doesnt have a chrono. So at this stage I dont know the velocity. He is very new to reloading. I do have a chrono and will be going to the range with him on Monday.

He has done OCW tests from 40-44gr in .5g increments. Around 43gr there as a group around 1¼ moa. Im thinking of do some load development around 43gr. Playing with jump and charge weight.

Im thinking of loading 42.8gr; 43gr; and 43.2gr at both .025 and .030 of the lands
 
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FrancoisBuys said:
Is your 130gr load with Stabal? @N555
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W760
I do have a new leaded 120gr loads to try out with leverevolution. I'm expecting 4 to 5 inch groups at 250yd, they'll pretty much be fouling shots and to make sure I'm on paper at 300+ yards with out sending any 75cent controlled chaos bullets or hard to find Sierra game king bullets.
The 122gr controlled chaos load that does 1.5'' at 250yd uses N555.
 
Is this a new gun? If so you may need to check for cu fouling and remove if found.

I have not used that combo. If I recall reading here on this forum that those bullets may want a 0.050"-0.070" jump. So if the group improve as you back up keep going till you find the sweet spot.

I shoot the 130 SGK and 140gr ELD-M using H4350. Both give me sub moa. With my best 5 shot group being 1" at 300 yrds.
 
N555 said:
W760
I do have a new leaded 120gr loads to try out with leverevolution. I'm expecting 4 to 5 inch groups at 250yd, they'll pretty much be fouling shots and to make sure I'm on paper at 300+ yards with out sending any 75cent controlled chaos bullets or hard to find Sierra game king bullets.
The 122gr controlled chaos load that does 1.5'' at 250yd uses N555.
Click to expand...


Vitha powders are almost impossible to find here right now.
 
I did a quick search on other forums and everyone seems to agree that the RDF likes a really long jump. Some guys are going out to 0.120 off lands. Assuming Noslers recommend coal of 2.775 is 0.020 off your lands, then you would need to go to a coal of at least 2.675 to be 0.120 off lands.
 
I did load some test loads shorter than what he has already tested. They are all loaded at longer jumps than what he was testing before. Hopefully this brings success together with the velocity data that I will be getting. I really dislike doing load development without knowing what my speeds are
 
If you were anywhere near me you'd be welcome to come use my range and chrono. But 43gr of Staball 6.5 should be getting you 2800fps or so. From what I've read in other forums, those guys are loading for 2800 to 2900 with these RDF.
 
Thanks. I do have a chrono so Ill be shooting the loads over it later today. He has been doing the load development himself up untill this point and he doesnt have a chrono, that is the reason for not knowing the velocities.

Yes what Ive seen is that people say you must ever shoot these RDFs slow at around 2700fps or push the hell out of them and get them up close to 2900fps. They dont seem to shoot around the 2800fps mark where must 130s on the creed wants to shoot. But Ill see if that is true later today
 
So the load development did not go as expected. The powder does seem to burn nicely, some loads had where having ES's of round 10fps. But the bullets just doesnt seem to fly straight. Longer jumps did not really change things. Always end up with 1 flyer in a group. Wil have 3 or 4 rounds touching and the 1 or 2 rouds flying sometimes 2" of center. A group with an ES of 14 shot 3 shots into 1 hole and had 2 major flyers.

To my testing the powder burns great. So can it be the RDFs that is not that consistant, or maybe a neck tension issue?
 
Ive run stabal (the one pound i could find) behind 140s only, and had great results up near the top end of the spectrum. Neither my dads or my 6.5s is picky about loads tho, with all of what ive tried staying at moa or under and many running around .5 consistently.
In my 7-08 stabal was also a top performer in velocity and accuracy.

If i can ever get more ill tinker a bit more...might be fantastic in my .375 ruger also.


As to the RDFs ive got 140s and while not disappointing, i seem to have more misses with them than Elds, Match Burners or Bergers....Were non-critical shooters so ive not investigated it all that much....hell i dont even change my seating die adjustments when i change between the elds, burners and rdfs since none hit the lands.
 
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LoonWulf said:
Ive run stabal (the one pound i could find) behind 140s only, and had great results up near the top end of the spectrum. Neither my dads or my 6.5s is picky about loads tho, with all of what ive tried staying at moa or under and many running around .5 consistently.
In my 7-08 stabal was also a top performer in velocity and accuracy.

If i can ever get more ill tinker a bit more...might be fantastic in my .375 ruger also.


As to the RDFs ive got 140s and while not disappointing, i seem to have more misses with them than Elds, Match Burners or Bergers....Were non-critical shooters so ive not investigated it all that much....hell i dont even change my seating die adjustments when i change between the elds, burners and rdfs since neither hit the lands.
Click to expand...
Always good to hear from you loonwolf.

Well I havent worked with that rifle at all before this. And the 20 shots I fired I can not say Im impressed. Now according to the owner of the rifle it shot fine with other ammo (I havent seen the groups so Im going on his word) the staball looks like a good powder, good velocity, great spreads and clean burning Im actually very impressed since I really dislike ball powders in general.

The quallity controll on the RDFs seems poor and I do suspect them to be the issue.
 
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