Anybody have a favorite Cast Bullet Load they like for 6.5 Creedmoor

[300leonidas]

Well, I finally jumped on the bandwagon and bought a 6.5 Creedmoor.

I like to cast my own bullets so am naturally in search of a cast bullet that will work well in this new rifle.

Anybody have a mold and load they've used with success?

Thanks!

[Nobade]

The big 150gr Lyman bore rider over about 15gr of 5744 worked well in several competition rifles for low cost practice. They would hold 1.5 MOA out to 300m, plenty good enough to shoot a lot and not wear out the barrels.

[Shopdog]

260 Remington here...

Absolutely zero complaints on a new Lyman 266673,150g mould....

My only other current 6.5 mould is the Saeco #264,140g. It's been a little bit of a stinker breaking in but is also a peach.

Out of a 26" heavy brrl Brux,R700 both are tackdriving with 18-1900 fps 4198 loads... which is not the least bit surprising. The 140g Saeco is starting to really perk up though at starting jacketed "book" loads of IMR4831. Still dialing in the nose.... specific to where the taper starts from. I use a more or less straight nose sizing but then taper into where the top drive band starts.

Look at some Saeco moulds... their 6,and 6.5 shows it pretty well(to give a visual). Anyway,where the taper starts effects your OAL when using a light jam.... sort of an obvious. What may not be obvious is when you change OAL,you're changing the internal,loaded column height. Tough to put into words. Trying to say,once you can manage your jam,independent of OAL the internal capacity changes. Heckuva tuning aid. I'd be called a liar if posting group sizes but put it this way,1/2" 5 shot groups @100 is a "bad day",and these 4831 loads are absolutely cookin fast.

Dial in that nose,and don't be afraid of stepping out of your fps comfort zone. Best of luck with your project.

[300leonidas]

The big 150gr Lyman bore rider over about 15gr of 5744 worked well in several competition rifles for low cost practice. They would hold 1.5 MOA out to 300m, plenty good enough to shoot a lot and not wear out the barrels.

Thank you!

Do those size to .264 or .266?

[Nobade]

Thank you!

Do those size to .264 or .266?

Whatever fits the throat of your particular rifle.

[blue32]

Thank you!

Do those size to .264 or .266?

I also shoot a 260 Rem. I recommend starting at .265 with your CM and going from there. I've never heard of .264 working for any traditionally lubed 6.5 bullets. RCBS 6.5-140 silh for a mold but its out of production.

[PhilC]

Bone stock Savage 12FV in a Bobby Hart LRT stock, vintage 24X B&L target scope, Lyman 266469, 16gr I4198, ~1600fps, sized to .266. Have shot several sub-MOA groups @ 100yds with it.

[300leonidas]

Whatever fits the throat of your particular rifle.

I guess what I should have asked is what size are they when they come out of that Lyman Mold. Everything on the Midway-USA site indicates diameter of 0.264 Inches. But it sounds like they are a little larger than that and can be sized to .264, .265, or .266.

[300leonidas]

Bone stock Savage 12FV in a Bobby Hart LRT stock, vintage 24X B&L target scope, Lyman 266469, 16gr I4198, ~1600fps, sized to .266. Have shot several sub-MOA groups @ 100yds with it.

Interesting that you chose the 266469 vs. the 266673. The 266469 looks like it would be suited better in a cartridge with a longer neck. How far do you seat that bullet? Are there several lube grooves exposed when you seat it?

[PhilC]

Interesting that you chose the 266469 vs. the 266673. The 266469 looks like it would be suited better in a cartridge with a longer neck. How far do you seat that bullet? Are there several lube grooves exposed when you seat it?
No, they're all inside the neck. Tried the -673 but same problem with factory barrel, had to seat too deep and my rifle shot terrible with them.

Shot this 10 shot group at our CBA match 6.18.22 with the load mentioned above...

https://i.ibb.co/K084j8K/group.jpg (https://ibb.co/K084j8K)

And this one at the 7.16.22 match...

https://i.ibb.co/L1pBL5n/tgt2.jpg (https://ibb.co/L1pBL5n)

This is how deep I have to seat to chamber...

https://i.ibb.co/fngDXsk/throat.jpg (https://ibb.co/fngDXsk)

[300leonidas]

Shot this 10 shot group at our CBA match 6.18.22 with the load mentioned above...


Wow! That is pretty impressive.

[charlie b]

Don't you hate those fliers? :) Nice job.

[charlie b]

I guess what I should have asked is what size are they when they come out of that Lyman Mold. Everything on the Midway-USA site indicates diameter of 0.264 Inches. But it sounds like they are a little larger than that and can be sized to .264, .265, or .266.

Almost all cast molds run a bit large. That way you can size them to fit your rifle. Most of the time 0.001 over bore is good, sometimes .002 depending on the condition of the throat. Reason being is you really need to fill the bore. If you cast at bore size you may get a small amount of blow by which causes the worst form of leading.

[PhilC]

Don't you hate those fliers? :) Nice job.
The rest of the story...

For 10 shot group we hang 2 targets (saves time and another trip) and about halfway through the first target, a breeze blew the top left push pin out and the target flopped down over the bull. :roll:

Frustrated, I moved to the second target and almost ended up with one hole and that target is pinned to the bulletin board in my man cave. ;-)

[405grain]

PhilC: Good shooting! On a different thread I'm having the opposite problem from yours. I've gotten excellent results from the 266673 in a 6.5x55, but am still working with the 266469 to try and get some good results. I'm not shooting a Swedish Mauser (which have a generous throat). I'm using a M38 Turkish 98 Mauser with a 6.5x55 sporter barrel. I like to use bore riding bullets because of their potential for good accuracy. I have had my best results so far by using a process where I powder coat just the driving bands, and leave the nose bare. Then I swirl lube these bullets in a thin coat of 45-45-10. If I try to do a shake-n-bake powder coat with any of the bore rider designs that I cast, the nose gets too fat for the cartridge to chamber. "Nose sizing" isn't an option because, once sized, the nose is no longer concentric with the driving bands. Like you, I want to try and shoot small groups.

Your rifles throat isn't letting you seat your cast bullets out far enough to keep the gas check at or above the case shoulder. A quick look at the Saeco #264, and the NOE 266-126-FN-AO3 Looks like they may also share that problem. Accurate doesn't make molds with a diameter that small. Unless you design your own custom mold, or have a (competent) gunsmith lengthen the throat on your rifle, it looks like you might be stuck with trying to eek out the accuracy from the #266469. It's likely that the chamber on your rifle was optimized for higher ballistic coefficient jacketed bullets. That just makes it a little more challenging for cast loads.

Almost forgot: Of the powders that I've tried I got the best accuracy using 2400.