120 Gold Dot and Varmint

[Lostintexas]

Anyone running a 120 GD over Varmint? Cant find AA2000-MR in the area, so went with the Varmint.
All opinions would be helpful. I've never loaded Grendel.
What's on hand.
120 Gold Dot
Hornady Brass (may order some Starline unless cautioned against it here)
CCI450 Primers
2.225 OAL is set right now

16 inch Wolf upper. Very accurate with Hornady SST and ELD-M

I' like to get 2500 FPS, but believe that to be very optimistic. 2400 would be great. This is my grocery getter right now.

[Kswhitetails]

@Mel has been working with PPV now for a few weeks, he'd be the one I'd hit up for insight. He's got several threads on PPV with some various projos going on.

[A5BLASTER]

Hornady brass
Ar-comp 28.2 grains
16 inch AA barrel= 2457 average

Can't say how the varmint would do, I haven't used it with that bullet. In fact I stopped useing it at all.

[Kswhitetails]

A5, add some context to the last sentence. Why? And congrats on 5k lol...

[1Shot]

Just a heads up with the Speer 120 Gold Dot. Do not try to use as much powder no matter which one with the Gold Dot as you would with other cup and core 120 gr bullets. In my experience with two different rifles you will reach too much pressure with lower powder charges but you can achieve about the same velocity with the lower powder charge. Another something that I discovered is that Speers load data is quite a bit conservative most powders except PPV. I found IMR 8208 to my liking with the 120 Gold Dot. In my 20" BCA barrel average 2550 fps in my 18" Oden Works barrel 2500 fps. Sub MOA accuracy consistently with 5 shot groups at 100 yards. Killed one deer with the 20" at 111 yards and it did AWESOMELY.

[Lemonaid]

https://www.speer-ammo.com/reloading/rifle/recipe/?setId=837385b2-86f3-49b3-80fb-086f1eabf439

PPV Max 27.2 for 2475 fps from 24 inch barrel per Speer.
They may have backed down the max charge from earlier postings. If so, they must of had a safety reason for it.
Sierra's site goes up to 29.6 for 2600 fps on their 120's

https://sierrabulletsblog.com/2017/11/16/sierra-bullets-6-5-grendel-load-data/

[okiecat]

I too tried ppv with 120gr bullets. Just couldn't get any consistency. Like 8208 and Ar-comp much better. Quit using the ppv.

[Lostintexas]

No idea who @Mel is, so not a lot of help there and the search seems a bit suspect around here.
It seems I picked the wrong powder. Well the only powder in 75+ miles of me. One little shop with a limited supply. They may sell the IMR, but it is the slowest thing on the chart, and with limited barrel length, I was trying to speed things up a bit.
Oh well, we'll see how things go. It is this or road trip every time I want powder. Hopefully it will work out. Every other load has so far without a lot of fooling with components.

[VASCAR2]

The thread Kswhitetails was refering to was by forum member mel and the thread where he used Power Pro Varmint powder.

http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthread.php?21316-working-up-a-load-with-speer-tnt-90g-and-ppv

Speer has online load data for Power Pro Varmint and a 120 grain gold dot bullet. Sierra also has posted reloading data using PPV and 120 grain Sierra Pro Hunter.

Here is a link to the Speer loading data for the 120 grain Gold Dot.

https://www.speer-ammo.com/reloading/rifle/recipe/?setId=837385b2-86f3-49b3-80fb-086f1eabf439

Here is a link to Sierra 6.5 Grendel online loading data.

https://sierrabulletsblog.com/2017/11/16/sierra-bullets-6-5-grendel-load-data/

[Lostintexas]

The thread Kswhitetails was refering to was by forum member mel and the thread where he used Power Pro Varmint powder.

http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthread.php?21316-working-up-a-load-with-speer-tnt-90g-and-ppv

Speer has online load data for Power Pro Varmint and a 120 grain gold dot bullet. Sierra also has posted reloading data using PPV and 120 grain Sierra Pro Hunter.

Here is a link to the Speer loading data for the 120 grain Gold Dot.

https://www.speer-ammo.com/reloading/rifle/recipe/?setId=837385b2-86f3-49b3-80fb-086f1eabf439

Here is a link to Sierra 6.5 Grendel online loading data.

https://sierrabulletsblog.com/2017/11/16/sierra-bullets-6-5-grendel-load-data/

Thanks, I have the Speer data, and that is what I meant by the chart speeds. I didn't realize PPV was temperature sensitive , or overly so. No matter, I got what I could.
If it doesn't work out, I'll be road tripping for some 2000 MR. I might be anyway if I happen to be somewhere close to pick some up.
You said what you get, but not how you get there. If I end up needing to rethink the powder, I would like to have some real world use.
Cheers

[Harpoon1]

Thanks, I have the Speer data, and that is what I meant by the chart speeds. I didn't realize PPV was temperature sensitive , or overly so. No matter, I got what I could.
If it doesn't work out, I'll be road tripping for some 2000 MR. I might be anyway if I happen to be somewhere close to pick some up.
You said what you get, but not how you get there. If I end up needing to rethink the powder, I would like to have some real world use.
Cheers

[mel]

gold dots are on my list of to try bullets soon with ppv , ive got a ton of deer and antelope tags to fill this year and im either going to be using the 120g gd or the 123g sst on them . ive been so busy on the farm with work i havent been able to do much latley , hopefully in the next week or so i can get back to playing with various bullets again

only reason i hesitate to use the 90g tnts on the antelope is in the wide open out here ur lucky to get within 400 yards for a shot that 90g im thinking is going to be a lil light at that range for them

[Harpoon1]

gold dots are on my list of to try bullets soon with ppv , ive got a ton of deer and antelope tags to fill this year and im either going to be using the 120g gd or the 123g sst on them . ive been so busy on the farm with work i havent been able to do much latley , hopefully in the next week or so i can get back to playing with various bullets again

only reason i hesitate to use the 90g tnts on the antelope is in the wide open out here ur lucky to get within 400 yards for a shot that 90g im thinking is going to be a lil light at that range for them

Mel

Have you tried Varget or H4895 with the Gold Dots? Varget is typically too slow for a lot of people but Ive heard with the Gold Dots unique construction, they tend to be faster than typical cup and core bullets with similar charges.

I plan on testing that theory soon.

[mel]

Mel

Have you tried Varget or H4895 with the Gold Dots? Varget is typically too slow for a lot of people but Ive heard with the Gold Dots unique construction, they tend to be faster than typical cup and core bullets with similar charges.

I plan on testing that theory soon.

i tried out some 4895 with 123g eld-m and 123g monster match bullets my gun didnt like that powder havent tried it with anything else since

[Harpoon1]

i tried out some 4895 with 123g eld-m and 123g monster match bullets my gun didnt like that powder havent tried it with anything else since

Roger that!