Load workup with new brass

[turbo_bird]

I just bought a target rifle in 6.5x55, and will be reloading for it. I've got 100 Lapua brass that I'll be using and will be neck sizing only. I was thinking it might be best to just load up some cheap bullets and middle of the road loads to form the case to my rifle's chamber before starting to work up a good load. Is this a good idea or am I wasting bullets and brass life with this line of thinking? I've got a few pounds of Reloder 22 and several different match type bullets around the 140 grain weight, but none of them will reach the lands in my rifle, so I guess I'll just load them as long as I can.
Kristian

 

[6MT]

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[todbartell]

across the board, many rifles, many types of brass - I've seen loads change significantly from virgin to fire formed cases. If you work up a good load in virgin brass, expect to have to reduce powder charge up to 3% down to stay in the happy place. In fire formed brass you'll almost always see a jump in velocity / pressure.

 

[Hitzy]

6.5x55 is pretty mild if you stick to book loadings, I'd just load er up with match pills and go shoot. I haven't seen much difference in lower pressure cartridges like this from new to neck sized loads. High pressure stuff when you are working with max loads is a different ball game.
H4831 is my go to for the 140's, pretty close in burn speed to the RL22.

 

[turbo_bird]

I hadn't thought about pressure changes with once fired brass vs. new. Odd that it's higher in once fired though, I would think that with the slightly larger case volume it would drop if anything. I was more concerned about potentially having to redo finding an accurate load once the cases were formed to my chamber. I also wonder if I should glass bed the action before trying to work up an accurate load in it. Maybe fire some of my generic reloads to dial in the scope, then bed it and see how things change with that load, then try ladder testing with various bullets and powders to figure out my go to load.
Kristian

 

[bearhunter]

tb, you don't give enough information.

What is your idea of a "target rifle?"

Are you talking an off the shelf, modern rifle such as a Sako, Remington, Tikka T3, purpose built for match/target/varmint shooting or one of the M96 actions with diopter sights???

If it's the latter, many of those rifles still shoot well but some of them have severely worn throats and rifling. If it is one of the latter, stick with the loads in the manuals.

If on the other hand, it's built on a modern commercial action, you can get much better velocities with IMR 7828ssc over CCI 250 magnum primers. You can increase the recommended powder charge significantly and exceed the 260 Rem velocities in any given barrel length, usually with sub 1/2 moa groups, all the way out to and beyond the ranges you will be shooting.

If you want a load that I use in my Tikka T3, PM me.

It's way to hot for the M94/96/38 and later models built on the same action, so I won't post it here.

My load will generate 2800 fps out of a 22 inch Tikka T3 and deliver sub 1/2 moa groups with 140 grain spitzer boat tail bullets. There is another member here that uses this load in his rifle, which is also a T3 and he's getting similar results.

Again, if you have one of the older rifles this recipe isn't for you.

 

[Alpheus]

You can do some rough load development, the sweet spot with fire formed brass will be a little lower powder charge then the virgin. You will have to fine tune of course, but by then you already have a broken-in barrel and fireformed brass to do it with.

I had a 284 Shehane, and I worked up a load with new brass and even shot a match with it. When I went back with the formed brass, the node was 0.8gr lower. Velocities were roughly the same in both loads, around 2920fps. The Shehane has reduced body taper compared to the 284win, but you get the idea, kinda like fireforming to a really sloppy chamber.

And I agree with neck sizing new brass, always a good idea to iron out any dents and the same neck tension as ypur reloads.

 

[*MALICE*]

In my .308, virgin lapua brass always shoots the best and I load to 44gr of varget.
After the first firing, I have to drop it to 43.7gr to achieve the same velocity and accuracy.

 

[turbo_bird]

The rifle I have is built on a Sauer 80 action, with a 26" heavy barrel, bore looks pretty much new to the naked eye. I don't really have any good pictures of it yet, but here's a quick one. Apparently they built similar police and military sniper rifles in 308 with the same action, and this action was used for lots of hunting rifles in more powerful cartridges than the 6.5.

Thanks for the advice so far.
Kristian

 

[prarie_boy]

I’ve only used Lapua brass in my .223 but I expanded all the necks out of the box and then resized with a lee collet die for proper tension. I’m not convinced I needed to do this as the brass was pretty consistent right out of the box.