6.5x47 Lapua Load Development and Range Test

[WelshShooter]

**DISCLAIMER**
Just because these loads shoot well in my rifle does not necessarily mean they will shoot well (or safely) in yours. Always reload using published data from reputable sources and always work up your loads. Most of all, have fun!!

As always, thoughts, comments, advice or jealousy are all welcome

I had previously achieved good results with my 6,5x47 Lapua using 123gr Lapua Scenar's with Reload Swiss RS50 powder but I was a bit disappointed with the Extreme Spread (ES) in velocity with this powder. So, I set out to perform some additional load development with the slower burning powder RS60 made by the same manufacturer, to see if I could reduce the Extreme Spread while maintaining good accuracy. The only published load I found for this was a customers load data on Reload Swiss' website, which states a maximum of 40,9gr of RS60 using a 123gr Lapua Scenar bullet in a Lapua case with a KVB-223 primer. I decided to start my load 10% lower (36,9gr) and I worked my way up to 40,9gr in 0,5gr increments, up until 39,9gr in which case I upped by 0,3gr. I'm also using CCI small rifle magnum primers which might cause some differences. The customer load was shot through a 760mm (~30") barrel.

So, how am I going to measure my success? Firstly, I loaded up 5 bullets for each powder mass and 10 incremental powder mass steps, so that's 50 rounds. Each powder mass group was shot at a fresh target and all 5 shots were chrono'd so that I could analyse their velocity. All groups were measured using calipers from the largest outside diameter with the bullet diameter subtracted (which gives "true" group size). I'd like to point out that there were occasions where a "flier" was observed in which case I was to blame. These have been indicated on the targets. Using these results, I will look at Extreme Spread, average velocity and group size, to help indicate which load(s) will require further work. All development work is carried out at my local 100m range, with yesterday being a lovely wet day indeed!

The Setup
My rifle is a blue-printed remington action with a 27" heavy border barrel. It sits in an AICS 2.0 folding stockand has a Tier-one 20MOA rail on top with 30mm Leupold Quick Release rings and a Vortex PST 6-24x50 MRAD FFP scope to finish it off. The picture shows it with a Harris bipod but all my load development sessions are shot from a front and rear sandbag. I used a MagnetoSpeed sporter chronograph to measure the velocity of my shots. It was set with a "HI 1" sensitivity setting.


The Loads
123gr Lapua Scenar bullets
Reload Swiss RS60 Powder
CCI 450 Small Rifle Magnum Primers
Lapua once fired brass (neck size with 0,288" bushing)
2,655" overall length

The Results
Overall I'm very pleased with my results! I set out to reduce my ES which was a success. With RS50 I achieved an average velocity of 2,900fps with an ES of 23fps, while maintaining <0,500" grouping. With RS60, I achieved an average velocity of 2,968fps with an ES of 14fps while achieving an 0,335" group! This is great news and I shall continue to work on 40,3gr of RS60 to see if these results are repeatable and reproducible.

There were only two sets of powder mass where the group size exceeded 1,0", the others were all below ~0,6" which makes me extremely pleased. Not only because this rifle shoots like a champ irrespective of load, but also because I managed to shoot pretty consistently (which is always a great plus)!!

All of these loads were measured using a Lyman Gen6 compact powder system. I am extremely pleased with this device too; I had used an electronic scale in the past but it could never retain a zero and never gave the same mass twice for any given item. I was pleasantly surprised with how well this device worked, simple, quick, and the range results speak for themselves.

I don't use this rifle for F-class; I use this for shooting on Sennybridge F range (so far I've shot out to just 1,000m with this rifle with very good results!) so is all this "work" a bit overkill? Absolutely not, in my eyes! I find this really enjoyable and I always find sub-standard ammunition to be more of a hindrance. Who is it to blame for a miss: the shooter, the rifle, or the ammunition? I like to take most of the variables out and confirm that it is indeed, the shooters fault







This chart shows velocity by powder mass. Each powder mass will have 5 velocities and also shows how much spread is seen by powder mass. Boxplots would be great here but Excel doesn't allow me to do that.


This chart shows average velocity (left x-axis) and extreme spread (right y-axis) by powder mass. I added in 6-polynomial trend lines to fit the data as smoothly as possible. It looks as though there's an inverse relationship between velocity and ES, perhaps this is due to fill capacity of the cases?


In this final chart I wondered if extreme spread had any effect on grouping at 100m. In this instance there was no positive correlation.

[mullen7]

Funny that you've posted this today, was just last night doing some reading up on loading for the 6.5x47. I know you said RS60 is a slower burning powder than RS50, but in the terms of other powders, is it a slow or fast powder?

[WelshShooter]

Check this link out, click on the picture to view the pdf. http://reload-swiss.com/en/reload_swiss ... /index.php

RS50 is similar to vihtavuori N140 and RS60 is similar to N550, which is a higher energy propellant.

It's also about availability too, I never looked at vihtavuori powders as no one near me stocks them. I have a readily available source of reload Swiss powders so I stuck with them. Please note that "similar" burn rate doesn't mean you can swap the powder loads, always work up with a chrono.

You should look at Reloader 17 too as it's meant to be a good powder (but again, availability).

[mullen7]

Yeah that's what I was looking at last night. Just different powders, was reading that people were getting good success with Reloader 17, and also that people were getting better results with slower burning powders compared to faster burning powders. I can get vihtavouri powders quite easily as the RFD at my club stocks it. As well as that, VV have loading data on the 6.5x47, where as Alliant don't, was going to drop them an email and see if I got anywhere.

Do you use any books that has 6.5x47 in it? With it being quite a 'new' cartridge, being released in 2005, I wasn't sure if it would be limited to online data only.

[WelshShooter]

I have Sierra's 14th edition manual which does not contain this calibre. I've only got my data from powder manufacturers online. I would definitely recommend N550 as the velocities are much better than N140 which seem to be more anemic. The tradeoff is that the former will degrade your barrel quicker because it's much more energetic. Another point is to work with magnum primers. When I used standard CCI primers I found that with modest loads the primers were getting pierced. This was due to my firing pin hole being chamfered which caused the primers to flow into the crevice and get punctured. Swapping to magnum primers (and working up the load again) alleviated me of these problems.

[mullen7]

I've heard of those problems with Remington actions, but not with Barnard actions and was told I should be fine.

[Pete]

I've had excellent results with RS60 (aka Elcho 17) in my 6.5x47. There wasn't any data available when I put the rifle together, so I started from scratch.
I had my load published on the RS website, which might be the one Welshshooter used as a starter. I have an M595 with a 30" Walther 1:8 barrel.
I'm presently working with RS52. So far, I've achieved 3050fps with an ES of 9 using 123 Scenars and BR4 primers.
This has produced a 5 shot group of 1/2moa at 600yds (on a VERY still morning), which is as far as I need to go. The next step is to find a node around 2900fps if I can.

Pete

[mullen7]

Thanks Pete, unfamiliar with the M595, quick Google and it's a Tikka? Have you had any problems with pierced primers?

[WelshShooter]

Ah, then I'd like to thank you Pete for taking the time to develop a load for RS' website! Originally, I did want my rifle to be built on a Tikka but decided upon remington.

If you're getting a great accuracy load at 3,050fps with a low ES, how come you're looking to download to 2,900fps then? Is this because you don't want to accelerate any barrel wear? Also, have you tried measuring ES with standard, magnum and bench rest primers? Is there any difference? Magnum primers are the same price as standard, and the bench rest have a 50% extra markup price; if the gain is negligible then I wouldn't bother buying these.

[Pete]

OK, here's some more info...........usual caveats apply, ie: what works in my rifle may blow yours up.............pm me if you want the actual loads.
A 123 grain Scenar at 2900fps is doing 1382fps at 1000yds (according to Litz), so no need to go faster.
I've used BR4, Rem 7.5, and KVB-223 primers, and there's no apparent difference between them. The KVB primers are £18-90/1000, BR4's£64/1000, which says it all.
Plan A is to get as close to 2900fps as I can with the same accuracy, using the cheapo primers.

With RS60, I got 3058fps, ES16. (QL predicted 3048fps) but it will allegedly fry a barrel quickly at this speed, and the group spread outside the 5 ring.
RS52 appears to have different burn characteristics, which enable higher MV's at sensible pressures. In fact, I use 52 in 308, 6BR and .223 as well.
In 308, it's amazing...........SMK2156's at 3050fps. No surprise that the 308 F-classers rate it.
I have had a couple of pierced primers (KVB's), but only in 223 with a stiff load of RS52. The 223 is also an M595, and I now carry a small strip of 2mm ally to facilitate stripping the bolt to remove the tiny bit of primer that jams up the firing pin should this happen again.

Pete