Thread: Gordon's Reloading Tool - barrel length question

Originally Posted by Steelisreal

Sounds like you're on the right track then. What results have you got with the 6.5 Lapua so far? It's a sweet wee cartridge.

Some of the stuff you see on the US forums seems optimistic at best, outright dangerous at worst!

Yep the more I read about it the keener I got. True Flite put a new barrel on my Sako 75 a few weeks ago, very happy, they did a great job and fantastic to deal with. Started OCW on 143 ELDX a couple of weeks ago but only done powder weight testing so far. 11 x charges between 32.4gr - 35.4gr AR2208 in 0.3gr increments @ 0.020" off the lands and there's a really clear node between 34.2, 34.5, 34.8, those 3 groups were at near identical vertical distance from POI. Even at a nominal 0.020" those powder weights put 3 shots each inside 0.55 inch, 0.42 inch and 0.71 inch at 100m so I'm looking forward to seeing if I can bring that down to a ragged hole with seating depth adjustment. So only early days but this cartridge seems to be living up to its reputation for being easy to tune a load for! Velocity for 34.5gr is only around 2600fps so a bit slower than I'd prefer but I'd rather nail accuracy and it'll still put down anything I aim at out to 400-500m max, which is about as far as i can see anyway.

Definitely agree about some loads you see on US forums, seen plenty talking about loads well above max pressure. The 6.5 Lapua seems to give you a false sense of security with its ability to handle pressure and lack of pressure signs, I'd rather be conservative and sacrifice a hundred or so fps and be sure the bolt isn't about to drill me a new nostril!

Having said that - anyone have any experience or advice on pressure signs and max powder loads working up loads in this cartridge?