Nosler 6.5mm 130 gr RDFs

[Sticks]

Going to do some accuracy runs on the 30.0 of CFE, and another attempt at a ladder with AA2520 and AA2230 Sunday. This will exhaust my CFE supply. Hope to pick up some Leverevolution (who made that name?) today.

Here is the primers from the first run of CFE. Maybe what I think is flat primers is just normal with CCI BR4 and Hornady 1x. 32gr charge weight on the left, dropping .3gr each row going to the right. Top are sighter rounds of the low charge.

20180413_173345_001.jpg

[Crusty]

Take a look at this page about primer indications.

[Sticks]

Take a look at this page about primer indications.

I don't have Quickload, and not paying the coin that they want to try to guesstimate my pressures with my loading combos.

Everything that I have gathered here is that by the time your Grendel brass starts to show what would normally be pressure signs (primers, case head marks) you are already past the safe max load.

Having said that, I have one bolt that flattens every primer it fires (factory or my reloads). All of my reloads have used the BR4 and unless they are really mild, the primers look flattened.

The bolt in question has not been tested in another rifle, nor has it been substituted with another bolt. The chamber is long (fired cases are longer than norm) and the lands are a safe distance - not jamming anything into the lands.

[Crusty]

Whenever I fire Hornady Black (which I assume to be a safe pressure load) my primers are flattened - somewhere between the second and third shell in that picture to which I linked. I stop when I see a primer flattened more than the Hornady ammo.

[Sticks]

Here are my results with AA2520 and AA2230

Hornady 1x Howa fired,
.288 Neck bushing sans expander
Sized down to 1.110 to case shoulder datum
CCI BR Primers
AA2520 Nosler 130 RDF Overruns
COAL 2.320 (Howa mag length).

Test Rifle -
Howa 1500 Mini, 20" bull barrel, factory crown - no threads or brake (MATT!)
Ambient temp was 40
Ammo temp started at 50 and increased to ???. Sitting in the sun.
Sunny, winds 5-15 from 4:00 to 8:00

Loaded my ammo box backwards. Ended up shooting the high end first. Primers actually looked better than any before, no sticky bolt, I am going to do anther run up to 32 grains or bad compression. Also going to do an accuracy test on 30.2gr since that looks like a nice node to play in.

AA2520
30.3	1	Shots:	3
Min	2459	Max	2477
Avg	2465	S-D	10
ES	18
Series	Shot	Speed
1	1	2459	ft/s
1	2	2477	ft/s
1	3	2460	ft/s
30	2	Shots:	3
Min	2448	Max	2472
Avg	2460	S-D	12
ES	24	From Last	-5
Series	Shot	Speed
2	1	2462	ft/s
2	2	2448	ft/s
2	3	2472	ft/s
29.7	3	Shots:	3
Min	2425	Max	2440
Avg	2434	S-D	8.1
ES	15	From Last	-26
Series	Shot	Speed
3	1	2425	ft/s
3	2	2438	ft/s
3	3	2440	ft/s
29.4	4	Shots:	3
Min	2407	Max	2419
Avg	2411	S-D	6.6
ES	12	From Last	-23
Series	Shot	Speed
4	1	2407	ft/s
4	2	2419	ft/s
4	3	2408	ft/s
29.1	5	Shots:	3
Min	2380	Max	2385
Avg	2382	S-D	2.6
ES	5	From Last	-29
Series	Shot	Speed
5	1	2383	ft/s
5	2	2385	ft/s
5	3	2380	ft/s
28.8	6	Shots:	3
Min	2380	Max	2395
Avg	2386	S-D	7.9
ES	15	From Last	4
Series	Shot	Speed
6	1	2383	ft/s
6	2	2380	ft/s
6	3	2395	ft/s
28.5	7	Shots:	3
Min	2362	Max	2372
Avg	2365	S-D	5.5
ES	10	From Last	-21
Series	Shot	Speed
7	1	2362	ft/s
7	2	2372	ft/s
7	3	2363	ft/s
28.2	8	Shots:	3
Min	2299	Max	2331
Avg	2316	S-D	16.2
ES	32	From Last	-49
Series	Shot	Speed
8	1	2331	ft/s
8	2	2299	ft/s
8	3	2320	ft/s
27.9	9	Shots:	3
Min	2284	Max	2321
Avg	2300	S-D	19
ES	37		-16
Series	Shot	Speed
9	1	2321	ft/s
9	2	2295	ft/s
9	3	2284	ft/s
27.6	10	Shots:	3
Min	2253	Max	2275
Avg	2265	S-D	11.1
ES	22		-35
Series	Shot	Speed
10	1	2267	ft/s
10	2	2275	ft/s
10	3	2253	ft/s

Primers - Charge weight left to right, low to high.

[Sticks]

AA2230 results.

Liked the speed, but the high end where a node finally showed was getting unpleasant to shoot, and the bolt was getting sticky at 29.0gr.

I am going to load up 5 at the 28.4 and check for accuracy there.

AA2230	----	----	----
26.3	11	Shots:	3
Min	2300	Max	2314
Avg	2305	S-D	7.5
ES	14	From Last	40
Series	Shot	Speed
11	1	2302	ft/s
11	2	2300	ft/s
11	3	2314	ft/s
----	----	----	----
26.6	12	Shots:	3
Min	2347	Max	2364
Avg	2357	S-D	9
ES	17	From Last	52
Series	Shot	Speed
12	1	2347	ft/s
12	2	2364	ft/s
12	3	2361	ft/s
----	----	----	----
26.9	13	Shots:	3
Min	2385	Max	2408
Avg	2395	S-D	11.7
ES	23	From Last	38
Series	Shot	Speed
13	1	2385	ft/s
13	2	2392	ft/s
13	3	2408	ft/s
----	----	----	----
27.2	14	Shots:	3
Min	2405	Max	2434
Avg	2423	S-D	15.9
ES	29	From Last	28
Series	Shot	Speed
14	1	2405	ft/s
14	2	2434	ft/s
14	3	2431	ft/s
----	----	----	----
27.5	15	Shots:	3
Min	2437	Max	2469
Avg	2450	S-D	16.5
ES	32	From Last	27
Series	Shot	Speed
15	1	2437	ft/s
15	2	2446	ft/s
15	3	2469	ft/s
----	----	----	----
27.8	16	Shots:	3
Min	2468	Max	2504
Avg	2487	S-D	18.1
ES	36	From Last	37
Series	Shot	Speed
16	1	2468	ft/s
16	2	2490	ft/s
16	3	2504	ft/s
----	----	----	----
28.1	17	Shots:	3
Min	2494	Max	2526
Avg	2506	S-D	17.2
ES	32	From Last	19
Series	Shot	Speed
17	1	2499	ft/s
17	2	2494	ft/s
17	3	2526	ft/s
----	----	----	----
28.4	18	Shots:	3
Min	2530	Max	2541
Avg	2534	S-D	5.7
ES	11	From Last	28
Series	Shot	Speed
18	1	2533	ft/s
18	2	2530	ft/s
18	3	2541	ft/s
----	----	----	----
28.7	19	Shots:	3
Min	2570	Max	2600
Avg	2580	S-D	17
ES	30	From Last	46
Series	Shot	Speed
19	1	2600	ft/s
19	2	2571	ft/s
19	3	2570	ft/s
----	----	----	----
29	20	Shots:	3
Min	2555	Max	2584
Avg	2573	S-D	15.9
ES	29	From Last	-7
Series	Shot	Speed
20	1	2555	ft/s
20	2	2584	ft/s
20	3	2581	ft/s

Primers, left to right, high to low

[rpaape342]

Howdy Fellas,

Reporting back with my 2nd set of OCW tests. Ran 30.1, 30.3, and 30.5 of cfe223 loaded to 1.666 base to ogive. It was a mess, everything shot 1.5 inches but I am noticing that the first 3 shots of 30.1 are consistently half-minute. First test was half minute, first 3 shots on this test were half minute, i put two back to back half minute 3 round groups on targets at 425 all with 30.1 @ 1.666. I'm confused but also excited to get another box of these, I want to get some cci450's and see if I can work on a more compressed load up near 31.3gr.

[ricsmall]

Paape

Try changing that base to ogive by .001” to 1.667 and things may get better! Can’t stand the mark of the beast

[Crusty]

04-19-18.jpg

[centerfire]

Unless your COAL is changing under recoil adding tension won't give you 150fps. Also, if you're using a Sinclair expander you can chuck it in a drill and reduce its OD with emery cloth.

[AustinTom]

Experimented with seating depth today. Explored the node at 30.2 I found last outing. Today was 30.1, 30.2, and 30.3 at 2.270 to 2.300 in .005 increments. 5 rounds groups. All shot poorly. Smallest was just under an inch with most hovering around 1-1/2". Going to try some different powder and primers, but I think I may have too much jump for these bullets.

[Sticks]

I obtained some Leverevolution and more CFE. I can't believe I've used up an entire pound in load development only, never mind the 2 boxes of RDFs.

28.9 through 31.6 of lever ready to go, and 5 rounds of CFE at 31, 32 (retest), AA2520 30.2 plus increase in the test batch from 28.5 to 32.3, and another 5 rounds of AA2230 @ 28.5.

I am going to load up another run with a 2.3 COAL and try in my AR. The 2.32 Howa COAL fits in my ASC mags, but the ends are touching, probably begging to get snagged in a mag during a match.

[AustinTom]

Made it to the range at lunchtime today. Very promising results.

130 RDF
AR Comp powder
Cci BR4 primers
Hornady Brass
2.265" OAL
.130" jump to lands.

AR-15 20" barrel. Shot off bipod with rear bag.

All groups 5 shots. Magnetospeed chronograph.

25.6 1-3/6" group
Ave 2329
Hi 2339
Lo 2316
SD 10
ES 23

25.9 .83 Moa group
Ave 2360
Hi 2370
Low 2347
SD 8
ES 23

26.2 .58 Moa group
Ave 2380
Hi 2389
Lo 2375
SD 5
ES 14

26.5 1-3/8 group
Ave 2404
Hi 2410
Lo 2391
SD 7
ES 19

26.8 .97 Moa group
Ave 2422
Hi 2431
Lo 2415
SD 6
ES 16

27.1 .71 Moa group
Ave 2439
Hi 2459
Lo 2422
SD 10
ES 28

27.4 1-3/4" group
Ave 2463
Hi 2474
Lo 2456
SD 6
ES 18
Slight ejector swipe.

27.7 1-5/8" group
Ave 2493
Hi 2500
Lo 2486
SD 5
ES 14
Noticable ejector Swipe.

Overall a huge step up from the leverevolution/cci450 combo.

[jason miller]

Nice! Right around 27 grains looks like a winner. Or drop down to 26 if you want to be safe?

If it's helpful to you at all, I'd personally call 2550 fps absolute max with 130-class bullets using ARComp in my 20" bolt gun. With 8208, 2550 was definitely too much. Haven't been out to shoot lately, but I'm hoping to get something accurate and close to 2500 with either 130 RDF's or 129 ABLR's.

[AustinTom]

Thanks Jason. In the 20" AR I don't think I'll be able to get near 2550. According to My calculations with these bullets, anything over 2400 will be supersonic to 1100 yards at my elevation so that was the target number. I was surprised to see SD's so low across the whole progression. I'm going to explore bullet seating depth at the 27 gr level at see how that helps.