Nosler 6.5mm 130 gr RDFs

[Sticks]

Has anyone managed to get these damn things to shoot yet?

Against better judgement I just ordered 2 boxes to try out. Have 4 Howas to load up for, and 2 ARs.

[jonny rotton]

i hope these bullets will shoot in an ar. i just ordered 1k of them.

[Crusty]

I just shot my first 100yd OCW spread of 130 RDFs and I'm encouraged. In the best nodes, I shot a .75" ES group at 26.6gr of AR-Comp (MV avg 2359) and .59" ES at 26.8gr (MV avg 2375). The bullets were hBN coated and seated to a depth of .130" off the lands, and the necks on the Hornady cases have been turned. The primers looked fine all the way to 27.2gr where I stopped.

I'm going to load more at 26.7gr with a spread of bullet seating depths because I think there could be more accuracy to be found. I'm pretty happy with this first run because it hints at a good combo in my rifle with long range potential. The wind today was gusting to 20 mph from my right rear quarter so I know they can do better.

Target 130RDF OCW.jpg

[brut28481]

I just shot my first 100yd OCW spread of 130 RDFs and I'm encouraged. In the best nodes, I shot a .75" ES group at 26.6gr of AR-Comp (MV avg 2359) and .59" ES at 26.8gr (MV avg 2375). The bullets were hBN coated and seated to a depth of .130" off the lands, and the necks on the Hornady cases have been turned. The primers looked fine all the way to 27.2gr where I stopped.

I'm going to load more at 26.7gr with a spread of bullet seating depths because I think there could be more accuracy to be found. I'm pretty happy with this first run because it hints at a good combo in my rifle with long range potential. The wind today was gusting to 20 mph from my right rear quarter so I know they can do better.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]11326[/ATTACH]

what was your OAL? Bolt gun?

[Crusty]

It's an AR with an 18" barrel.

As long as the rounds fit in the mag I don't measure COL because it's meaningless. The number I stated is the distance from the ogive to the lands in my rifle and it's within +/-.005" of that dimension on every round. The ogive to base dimension is 1.710".

[Sticks]

I just shot my first 100yd OCW spread of 130 RDFs and I'm encouraged. In the best nodes, I shot a .75" ES group at 26.6gr of AR-Comp (MV avg 2359) and .59" ES at 26.8gr (MV avg 2375). The bullets were hBN coated and seated to a depth of .130" off the lands, and the necks on the Hornady cases have been turned. The primers looked fine all the way to 27.2gr where I stopped....

This is encourageing.

How much of the speed do you attribute to the hBN coating?

[Crusty]

I've found that hBN coating the bullets typically reduces the MV. I usually find accuracy nodes at less than max charge so I only use MVs for ballistics calculations. The MVs for this entire OCW spread ranged from 2322 to 2422.

I increase the powder charge around 2% for a particular load with coated bullets to get back to my uncoated MVs. The reduced bullet friction from the coating results in lower pressures and consequently lower velocities. The major benefits are that fliers are reduced or eliminated because all of the bullets leave the cases the same way, maybe hBN increases the accurate lifetime of a barrel and bore cleaning is a two patch done deal.

If you've ever pulled bullets from a batch you've no doubt noticed that most took about the same amount of force but there's usually a few that take noticeably more force to pull, well those few would have been fliers when shot.

[bj139]

I found this about hBN. Would polishing the inside of the case necks be helpful?

https://sgrbenchtalk.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/boron-nitride-bn-or-more-specifically-hexagonal-boron-nitride-hbn-use-by-shooters/

[Crusty]

That's the aspect that I'm currently working on now. I've recently acquired the ability to turn my case necks and to seat my bullets with a known amount of interference using a bushing die, and I've ordered a particular sized reamer to make my neck interiors all the same. Consistency is the key for tight groups and all these steps help to increase the consistency (including hBN).

BTW, I found that the concentricity of Hornady cases to be really variable and I had to take my cases to a wall thickness of .010" to be mostly concentric.

[brut28481]

Nosler load data updated for 130 RDF, CFE for the win! https://load-data.nosler.com/load-data/65-grendel/

[centerfire]

That's the aspect that I'm currently working on now. I've recently acquired the ability to turn my case necks and to seat my bullets with a known amount of interference using a bushing die, and I've ordered a particular sized reamer to make my neck interiors all the same. Consistency is the key for tight groups and all these steps help to increase the consistency (including hBN).

BTW, I found that the concentricity of Hornady cases to be really variable and I had to take my cases to a wall thickness of .010" to be mostly concentric.

I use hBN with a 243 Win and 105VLD. The rifle has zero cold bore shift and low single digit SD. I think I went up a grain to make up for the hBN. I also use a neck sizing mandrel on the brass.

[Sticks]

Fate is fun.

Ordered a couple boxes from Shooters Pro Shop, delivered on Friday, but not to me.

Started a UPS trace on it, meanwhile ordered another 2 from Mid South (Shooters Pro out of stock, along with every one else). Low and behold my first two were delivered yesterday...again...to the neighbors. So now I'll have 4 boxes. They had better work well in the Howa's.

[Sticks]

So, I have some data to add. My attempts to do a Ladder test with three shots per charge at three targets met with dismal failure. At least I have Chrono readings.

Hornady 1x Howa fired,
.287 Neck bushing sans expander
Sized down to 1.110 to case shoulder datum
CCI BR Primers
CFE powder
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 66 and dropped to ambient.
Sunny, winds 5-15 from 7:00

29	1	Shots:	3
Min	2351	Max	2359
Avg	2353	S-D	4.6
ES	8
Series	Shot	Speed
1	1	2351	ft/s
1	2	2351	ft/s
1	3	2359	ft/s
----
29.3	2	Shots:	3
Min	2299	Max	2341
Avg	2316	S-D	21.7
ES	42	From Last	37
Series	Shot	Speed
2	1	2310	ft/s
2	2	2299	ft/s
2	3	2341	ft/s
----
29.6	3	Shots:	3
Min	2353	Max	2398
Avg	2368	S-D	25.4
ES	45	From Last	-52
Series	Shot	Speed
3	1	2398	ft/s
3	2	2355	ft/s
3	3	2353	ft/s
----
29.9	4	Shots:	3
Min	2369	Max	2394
Avg	2381	S-D	12.4
ES	25	From Last	-13
Series	Shot	Speed
4	1	2381	ft/s
4	2	2394	ft/s
4	3	2369	ft/s
----
30.2	5	Shots:	3
Min	2386	Max	2412
Avg	2400	S-D	13.1
ES	26	From Last	-19
Series	Shot	Speed
5	1	2386	ft/s
5	2	2403	ft/s
5	3	2412	ft/s
----
30.5	6	Shots:	3
Min	2417	Max	2481
Avg	2439	S-D	35.8
ES	64	From Last	-39
Series	Shot	Speed
6	1	2417	ft/s
6	2	2481	ft/s
6	3	2421	ft/s
----
30.8	7	Shots:	3
Min	2443	Max	2452
Avg	2447	S-D	4.5
ES	9	From Last	-8
Series	Shot	Speed
7	1	2446	ft/s
7	2	2452	ft/s
7	3	2443	ft/s
----
31.1	8	Shots:	3
Min	2447	Max	2466
Avg	2456	S-D	9.5
ES	19	From Last	-9
Series	Shot	Speed
8	1	2447	ft/s
8	2	2455	ft/s
8	3	2466	ft/s
----
31.4	9	Shots:	3
Min	2481	Max	2505
Avg	2496	S-D	13.6
ES	24	From Last	-40
Series	Shot	Speed
9	1	2504	ft/s
9	2	2481	ft/s
9	3	2505	ft/s
----
31.7	10	Shots:	2
Min	2513	Max	2531
Avg	2522	S-D	12.7
ES	18	From Last	-26
Series	Shot	Speed
10	1	2531	ft/s
10	2	2513	ft/s
----
32		Shots:	3
Min	2541	Max	2561
Avg	2549	S-D	10.5
ES	20	From Last	-36
Series	Shot	Speed
11	1	2561	ft/s
11	2	2545	ft/s
11	3	2541	ft/s

Primers looked great until I got to 31.7 and 32.0 - started to get flat. There was no hard bolt lift though.

I will post pics of the primers when I can. Going to be a busy couple of weeks.

[hikfromstik]

Sticks, That's great data +1.

[AustinTom]

Sticks, I noticed you only had an 9 average fps increase between your 29.8 to 31.1 loads. Seems kinda low for a 1.3 grain difference. Is there a typo in there or did you skip the 30's in you workup?

Today I loaded up a bunch to do velocity and accuracy testing, at least at 100 yards. Will report back tomorrow.