6.5 Creedmoor help

[Rainier]

Hello fellow Casters -

I'm new to the forum though I've been "lurking" for some time enjoying the great info shared here. I have cast and loaded several thousand (tens of thousands actually) pistol boolits but never attempted to cast rifle boolits. I recently had a 6.5 Creedmoor built on an old Mauser action and would love some advise about moulds, gas checks, (how best to seat them) what velocities to attempt, and any load data to be shared. Consider me a clean slate open to all suggestions.

Thanks in advance for any help,

Rainier

[Rainier]

Well, folks I didn't get a lot of help or direction so I launched off and hope I didn't screw up too badly. I ordered a Lyman 2660469 140gr .264 mold and some Hornady gas checks. I have a family member that runs a machine shop who is turning a couple (.265 & .266) Lee type sizing dies for me.
I would love to know if anybody has done any 6.5cm load work up with cast boolits and what their results were.
Thanks for any input,
Rainier

[GabbyM]

What barrel twist rate is your 6.5mm?
In general 6.5mm have a fast twist rate. Which limits cast boolit velocity potential.
That's more of a limitation for hunting purposes than paper punching out to a couple hundred yards.
I shoot 6mm in 243 AI and 270 Win so span the 6.5mm. 6.5 Creedmoor isn't grossly overbred so you should do well with 2400 powder. SR-4759 or whatever you have in that burn rate. Not sure about velocity but think you should expect under 1,800 fps to be your accuracy load. My 243 AI loads over a little Unique powder are good enough to take the head off a squirrel at 100 yards.
Fun factor is very high. Just don't try to compete at 200 yards in a match with 30 calibers. CBA matches have ben won with 243's but that's doing it the hard way. What I love about my 243 AI loads over Unique is. I can run about fifteen rapid fires down the bore with little heat build up. To the point aim gets thrown off from mirage. Wear on barrel must be slight. Your Creedmoor case is a nice capacity for cast in 6.5mm. Not much data if any out there. If I were you I'd just use the 260 Rem data with a Lyman #266673. About 18 grains of 2400. Then if that doesn't shoot back charge off. If it shoots up the charge until it doesn't. Then back off one or two grains. I'm not a big fan of fiddling wit charges in the .1 range. It's goanna work or not and I don't want to fiddle with it will work when temperatures are between 50 and 80 degrees F. My favorite 270 Win boolit is an old Lyman 122 gain Loverine at about 1825 fps over a charge of Unique. May not sound to impressive but I can blast the devil out of most things out to 200 yards. My 270 Win rifle pretty much sat around unused until I found cast boolits. Light recoil with reduced heat on it's noodle thin barrel make boolits a good match for this rifle.

[Rainier]

Hi Gabby -
Thanks for the input! My barrel is a 26" 3 grove 8 twist. I have zero experience with CBs and rifles so, I was thinking of using Win 760 or IMR 4064 both slower powders then 2400. I never considered using a faster burning powder for less velocity - guess I should have. Good news is I have a pound of VV N-110 on hand which sits next to 2400 on the burn rate charts I checked. I'll scout about for 2400 and a couple of different test powders in that range - though it's getting tough to find much of anything out there.
The 266469 already shipped from the seller so I'll play with that for now and if I don't have any positive results I'll invest in the 266673.
I should have all the parts and pieces assembled by mid month to cast, load and start testing.
Is there a seating depth off the lands I should be concerned with or just push it tight and back off a bit if needed? Also, some say with the Creedmoor to stick with magnum primers, any thoughts there?
Thanks for the help,
Rainier