6.5x55 & 95gr Vmax

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ciphery

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I'm trying to squeeze out some accuracy from the 95gr .264"Vmax bullets.
I'm using FC cases (which have a .374" base), BL-C(2)powder, CCI #200 primers, OAL 2.900"
I did a ladder load ranged from 39.5 - 43.5Gr of powder. By .5gr incremental increases and found that 39.5 to 41.5gr was my tightest group. (All in the tack) @100yds
I then cleaned the gun, and continued with my ladder load increasing each round by .2gr within my 39.5-41.5gr limit

The results were not as good as my first ladder loads!? :(

I none the less took the best grouping and loaded up 9 rounds with 41gr powder, cleaned the gun thoroughly and shot about a 1 1/2 MOA group.
I reapeated the process and shot a further 9 with the near identical grouping and shot placement.

And again taking my sweet time to do so......same thing

1 1/2MOA is all I seem to be able to get.
And my initial ladder test grouping seems to be better than my final product.

Is this all I can expect from this bullet,powder,gun combo?

Where do I go from here?

Gun: Winchester M70 classic featherweight compact
 
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Are you stuck with just the 95 gr bullets? If your Model 70 Featherweight is the same as mine it has a 1 in 7.87" twist and may just not like the 95 gr bullet.

My rifle shoots under 1" with 100 gr Hornady Spire points and 49 grs H380. CCI 200 primers in Privi Partizan cases.

Also 140 gr Speer Spitzers with 50.5 grs H1000. CCI 400 primers and Privi Partizan cases.

I can't get 120 gr bullets to shoot under 1".
 
I am actually working on loads for the exact same bullet in an M96 Swedish Mauser. My first tests also resulted in 1-1/2 to 2 MOA at best but using H4895. I'm wondering if the twist rate (designed for 140gr FMJ's in my case) is too fast for the lighter bullets and it's not stabilizing as well. With 140gr HPBT match bullets I can usually shoot 3/4 MOA but have shot a 1/2 MOA group before.

The BL-C(2) is in between 4895 and 4831 that I am testing with. My usual 6.5x55mm loads are with H4831 which is slower than BL-C(2) and I'm wondering if the H4895 was too fast for my rifle. I am going to try IMR4895 since it proved more accurate in my Norc M14S but my highest hopes are for the H4831 loads. I also have some IMR4831 sitting around but haven't looked up any data for it yet.
 
I have a 1 in 8 twist in my swede and cannot get 95 grain bullets to shoot better then 2 MOA. After spending far too much on powder and bullets I just stick to my 120g Ballistic tips. Good luck and I'll be following to see how it goes.
 
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I'm using the BL-C(2) due to my short barrel. I have some more thinking to do as I now realize that my gun has a large lead to accommodate the 160RN bullets....It also has a .476" bolt face negating the use of european .480" based cases.
 
I've been shooting 95 gr VMAX out of my M96 with 4064 and H-380.

I've been getting about 2" @ 200 yards, which is fine with me.

One thing that I do is seat my VMAX's out as far as I can, as many 6.5x55 rifles have a long throat.
 
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Things to do next:

Ensure all cases are at max length tolerance.

Continue seating bullets out as far as possible while trying to eliminate runout

Crimp bullets into cases to increase short start pressure

Exparement with factory crimping

Aneal necks of cases

Switch primers



Anything else?
 
I shoot the 85gr. bullets just fine with IMR-4064, (40-45gr. range) Nosler BT's are not 49$ per 50. More like 25-30$

Seems your gun was shooting better when the barrel was dirty...maybe you just need to keep shooting to get results that you got during your first ladder.
 
Pathfinder said:
I shoot the 85gr. bullets just fine with IMR-4064, (40-45gr. range) Nosler BT's are not 49$ per 50. More like 25-30$

Seems your gun was shooting better when the barrel was dirty...maybe you just need to keep shooting to get results that you got during your first ladder.
Click to expand...

Really? Please inform my local gun store of these prices then so I can buy cheap ammo...factory 6.5x55 is also $45 a box so maybe you could tell them to sell it for $17 for me too. Perhaps $25-30 is what they SHOULD be, but that's not what they charge
 
ciphery said:
Might try Varget if satisfactory resaults are not met with BL-C(2).
Will not try Nosler anything. I'm not into paying $49 for a box of 50.
Click to expand...

ciphery said:
Really? Please inform my local gun store of these prices then so I can buy cheap ammo...factory 6.5x55 is also $45 a box so maybe you could tell them to sell it for $17 for me too. Perhaps $25-30 is what they SHOULD be, but that's not what they charge
Click to expand...

Why not order them online? Trade-ex is selling 120gr and 100gr BT's for $27/50.
 
ciphery said:
Really? Please inform my local gun store of these prices then so I can buy cheap ammo...factory 6.5x55 is also $45 a box so maybe you could tell them to sell it for $17 for me too. Perhaps $25-30 is what they SHOULD be, but that's not what they charge
Click to expand...

As others mentioned, maybe its time to shop around.
 
I understand that shopping around may get me a better deal on nosler products. Thank you for the advice on them, however the object of the game here is trying to squeeze every ounce of accuracy I can out of the 95gr Vmax.
I'll post my targets once I figure out how from the mobile site....
 
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