Thread: 6.5 Creedmoor load development

Another quick loading and range session today with two new projectiles. I picked up a box of Hornady 147gr ELD Match bullets and decided to give the 139gr Lapua Scenars a go too as I have quite a lot of them.
I also decided to give the Hornady 143gr ELDX another go as I pulled one in the last trial ruining a sub 1/2 moa group.





I loaded a few of the 147gr ELDMs and 139gr lapuas with various charges of RL16 to find a max load then backed then off until the pressure only showed itself with a light primer crater like all the others tested.

The chosen loads for the paper tests were:

139gr Lapua Scenar 42.5gr of RL16, COAL of 72.8mm
These shot an average of 2884fps and brass looks good.



The 147gr ELD Match got 41gr of RL16 with a COAL of 74mm and gave 2731fps AV.
I tested right up to 42gr at 2785fps which just started to show a faint ejector print(just a shiny spot not raised brass) but it sounded louder and had heavier recoil. As soon as I shot the 41gr over the chrono it was noticably
quieter and obviously getting a more complete burn within the barrel. The sound changes quite dramatically when you reach that point. I decide 41gr is a good start to test on paper.

So armed with 5 of each I made my way to the 100m range and preceded with the paper work.
I started with the 139gr Lapuas which shot about the same 1/2moa as all the others tested as did the second test of 143gr ELDXs which was a little worse than my last test with them (excluding my pulled flyer) but still very good.
The 147gr ELD Match really set themselves apart though!
While not as fast as some of the 130s they made up for it in this tiny one holer and a ridiculous high BC figure of .697!







While the 100 meter group was perfect it will be interesting to test it for retained stability at 500-600 meters as it slows up. Can anyone else comment on the stability of this long ass bullet in a 1-8" twist Creedmoor or Creedmoor velocities?

I think the 143gr ELDX has more potential if I do some more group tests dropping the charge off 0.2gr at a time and I know from real world tests its still stable out past 1000 meters.