rnbra-shooter
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Brunswick
A few minor tweaks you might try:
Norma brass is usually on the soft side. If you're willing to try different brass, try Winchester; you'll also gain a little bit more powder space too, new manufacture Winchester are 6-7 grains lighter than most Norma. Lapua is harder, but it's about 10 grains heavier than Norma, so you'll be losing powder capacity, which is probably not what you want.
Are you shooting Sierra 140s or 142s? (the 140 Sierra is not a premium long-range bullet). Lapua 139s are larger in diameter than Sierra 142s, plus I think they might have a thicker jacket too. I seem to recall that Lapua 139s needed to be backed off by half a grain or a full grain, relative to Sierra 142s. Both Lapua 139s and Sierra 142s seemed to shoot equally well for me.
With my 6.5-08 (disclaimer: I never was able to get it to work as a competitive F/Open rifle!), I found H-1000 just slightly too slow. I mostly shot a way-too-hot load of Varget, or a load using RP-5 powder (still have a bunch!), which was about the right speed. IIRC I was in the low 2900s (30" MacLennan, 139 Lapua and 142 Sierra).
Norma brass is usually on the soft side. If you're willing to try different brass, try Winchester; you'll also gain a little bit more powder space too, new manufacture Winchester are 6-7 grains lighter than most Norma. Lapua is harder, but it's about 10 grains heavier than Norma, so you'll be losing powder capacity, which is probably not what you want.
Are you shooting Sierra 140s or 142s? (the 140 Sierra is not a premium long-range bullet). Lapua 139s are larger in diameter than Sierra 142s, plus I think they might have a thicker jacket too. I seem to recall that Lapua 139s needed to be backed off by half a grain or a full grain, relative to Sierra 142s. Both Lapua 139s and Sierra 142s seemed to shoot equally well for me.
With my 6.5-08 (disclaimer: I never was able to get it to work as a competitive F/Open rifle!), I found H-1000 just slightly too slow. I mostly shot a way-too-hot load of Varget, or a load using RP-5 powder (still have a bunch!), which was about the right speed. IIRC I was in the low 2900s (30" MacLennan, 139 Lapua and 142 Sierra).