FB Bullets for whitetails?

[Constitutionalist]

Does anyone know of some good 6.5mm flat base bullets that would be suitable for whitetails? I have a BCA upper with a 20" 1-8 barrel. It shoots the 85gr Sierra and 90gr Varm pretty well (1 MOA). Anything heavier I'm doing well to get 2 1/2" groups at 100 yds. I have a Remington 760 .30-06 that shoots anything with a flat base well (150 and 165 PSPCL, Hor. 150SP, 180SP, 180RN), but nothing with a boattail. The only "sort of" flat base 6.5mm hunting bullet (vs. varmint) I can find is the 100gr and 125gr Partition.

Is anyone aware of other options I can try?

Thanks!

John

[Lemonaid]

The 120 Speer Gold dot, although not strictly a flat base would be a good choice (good luck finding some). https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.c...r+120+gold+dot

[tdbru]

ummm.. in my humble opinion, either of the nosler partitions you mentioned would work very well. also the Sierra 120gr. pro hunter is a flat base bullet that should do well. it groups well. also try the plain jane hornady 129gr. interlock. and if you can find them and get them to group the Remington 120gr. Corelokt are fb bullets that perform well on game.
-tdbru

[Happy2Shoot]

You didn't ask, but I'll say it anyways.

I think you have a bad muzzle crown. A flat base bullet is easier to shoot well. The boat tail is just for drag.

You can fix a muzzle crown with a large domed, slotted, brass screw. Chuck it up in a drill, smear fine valve grinding compound on it and lap away. Jam a rag in the bore to keep it clean. Look on youtube, several gunsmiths agree to this method.


Partitions are great for hunting, but be aware they are usually a 1.5 moa bullet at best.

[tdbru]

ummmmm......... that's not been my experience with Nosler Partitions. For me they group as well as match bullets do, but of course do not have the ultra high BC. i kept a target that i shot with a FWT Win M70 in 6.5x55 with 140gr. Nosler Partitions. 0.36". only 3 shot though. but for a skinny light barrel hunting rifle, i thought 3 shots was good enough. Like any bullet/load combo, you do have to play with powders and amounts and seating depths to tune it well. that can be both fun and frustrating all at the same time too. H2S did have a great comment on checking the crown, which we should all do for sure anyway. after you make sure the crown is in good shape, try tuning the loads you want to work with, bullet wise. it's rare indeed to just cobble a load together and have it go 3/8 MOA out of the starting gate, though some folks do get lucky. None of the loads that i started with on the NPs grouped as well as what i ended up with when the dust cleared on the load development. i had to try a few powders in various amounts, and tweak the seating depth. it did eventually pay off with shooting small groups consistently with the nosler partitions and accounted for 2 deer, though the deer were shot under 150 yards each, so extreme small grouping load wasn't necessary other than for the confidence it gave me. and of course the NPs performed as expected. i assume they expanded well because they tore up the vitals and penetration was through and through. DRT. i'm sure most of the hunting bullets mentioned above would have done just as nicely however. so find what works well for your rifle and hunt with confidence.
-tdbru

[grayfox]

120 pro hunter, the 120 gold dot, and the 129 hornady flat base. All of these have threads on here and a few guys each who use them well.
I've shot the 125 partitions and got, well 1.25"/100 out of them (again 3-shot) but for the price they didn't wow me.
The 125-129 typically use CFE or lever. The 2-120's I've done with AR comp.
Your BCA barrel is showing it's finicky side so you'll need to experiment.

[Oso Polaris]

For what it is worth the Boat Tail on most of the 6.5mm bullets in the 100gr - 130gr weight class are not that significant. The bullets are relatively short in order to fit in an AR15. There will be plenty of bearing surface (waist line) to make solid contact with the barrel's bore. I don't think the Boat Tail feature becoming really meaningful until you get into the +140gr weight bullets, which have a higher BC (Longer bullet : elongated ogee and more BT rear-end).

I think you biggest issue is finding enough bullets... you're going to burn a box on load development, which in my book means you need 2-3 boxes of same bullet.

[gldprimr]

I have used both the 100 and 125 grain Nosler Partition bullets in my 6.5 Grendel for white tail. Both worked, dead deer with none requiring tracking.
I think I like the 125 grain a bit better because the chances of encountering hogs where I deer hunt is pretty good so prefer the heavier bullet.

[LRRPF52]

[Constitutionalist]

Thanks, Guys!

I have some 100gr Partitions as well as a few 129gr Hornady SPs, but I wanted to see what else was out there. BTW nothing against Nosler Partitions- just a little pricey and they can be hard to find. I'll look (probably for a long time) for the Speers and Sierras. My other Grendel (a Grendel I) shoots sweetly with 123gr. SSTs and Custom Comps. For that matter it does well with Barnes 100gr TTSXs, 100gr. Nosler BTs, 126gr Cast FNGC's, etc.

Your BCA barrel is showing it's finicky side so you'll need to experiment.

It sure is! I've put more different loads than I can count down it and it's mighty particular about what I feed it. I'll look into the other options and take a look at the crown. I may just end up with a "varmint" Grendel and a "deer hunting" Grendel. I guess that's not a bad place to be....

Thanks again, Guys!

John

[SDguy]

In a bolt action mind you, I consider my factory CZ 527 to be a bit finicky. The worst groups approaching 5". Though the Hornady 129 gr Sp. I was pleased with. If you haven't tried yet Id look into the 129 gr SP over Lever evolution. H4895 did well on accuracy as well though LVR offered considerably more in velocity. Search the forums here & you should find a number of folks here swear by that 129 gr over a stout load of LVR in their AR-Grendel.

Both LVR & H4895 did well for me under 125 grain Partitions as well.

[ritepath]

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

My 18" AR likes these, the SKU 1710 100G HP.