6.5 Creedmore with a 10 twist barrel

[turkeyfever]

Helping a friend out. Have a semi custom 6.5 creedmore with 10 twist barrel. Deer hunting rifle only my friend is in his 70's. Will not be shot over 200 yrds. He has chased a lot of rabbits trying to get this rifle to shoot. I have a factory load shooting Winchester 125 XP shooting around 2 inches on average out of a box. He is very stubborn and old school with his thought process. He wants to shoot 143 eldx but groups are 3 inches or more. I would have bought another barrel by know but he has no funds left, and I not sticking anymore $$ except reloading. Anyone have thought on where to maybe get this rifle shooting under 1 1/2 at 100.

 

[codyadams]

Helping a friend out. Have a semi custom 6.5 creedmore with 10 twist barrel. Deer hunting rifle only my friend is in his 70's. Will not be shot over 200 yrds. He has chased a lot of rabbits trying to get this rifle to shoot. I have a factory load shooting Winchester 125 XP shooting around 2 inches on average out of a box. He is very stubborn and old school with his thought process. He wants to shoot 143 eldx but groups are 3 inches or more. I would have bought another barrel by know but he has no funds left, and I not sticking anymore $$ except reloading. Anyone have thought on where to maybe get this rifle shooting under 1 1/2 at 100.

Load up the 100 grain eld-m and tell him it's a 143. Lol.

 

[KyCarl]

I don't know if you can get enough FPS to stabilize a 143 with a 10 twist
in a 6.5 CM?
That same bullet shoots pretty good in my 6.5 X 284 but it's a 28" 8 twist barrel
Running to where you can feel it in the bolt lift just a little?
Something in the 100/120Gr. range should work better.
My 25-06 has a 10 twist and I found it shoots 100 Gr. Partitions Great!
at right at 3300 FPS. The deer around here hate it!

 

[codyadams]

I don't know if you can get enough FPS to stabilize a 143 with a 10 twist
in a 6.5 CM?
That same bullet shoots pretty good in my 6.5 X 284 but it's a 28" 8 twist barrel
Running to where you can feel it in the bolt lift just a little?
Something in the 120 Gr. range should work better.

Nope. Not gonna happen. Not even at 3100 fps.

 

[codyadams]

Hell, deer at 200 yards or less I would prefer the lighter bullets, light and fast at close range tend to have lightning bolt effects on critters. I still say load the 100 or 120 eld's and tell him it's the 143 if he is that stuck on it ha ha. He will whop a critter or two and like what he sees.

 

[turkeyfever]

He is wanting a .5 moa rifle but i don't think it will happen. Kinda got screwed on a trade for the rifle. I think that is why they got rid of it in the first place. Will give the lighter bullets a try.

 

[codyadams]

What do you think the issue is? Not sure what you have checked, but here is what I go through on any new rifle that I want to get shooting good.

First, THOROUGH cleaning, all copper and carbon fowling removed. Possibly check or have a smith check throat for erosion if you can do that easily.

Take action out of stock, check bedding. If it doesn't have any, bed it or have it bedded. If it doesn't look perfect, remove it or have it removed and do it/have it done right. If it looks like good bedding, make sure that the trigger housing/trigger pins and anything accept the receiver itself has no contact with the bedding. If the recoil lug is bedded all the way around, you may want to try relieving any contact around the sides, bottom, and front of the recoil lug.

Check for barrel floating

Check that the front base screws are not contacting the barrel tennon, and check one screw at a time to make sure they are not bottoming out prior to snugging the base up.

Check that rings are properly torqued

Check that action screws are properly torqued (for a pillar bedded or bedding block stock I go for 50-60 in. lbs.) and that the front screw is not contacting the bolt lug

Check the crown for any visible damage. An inspection by a smith or a crown job from a smith may be a worthwhile $50 or so to ensure it's not an issue.

Ensure that the optic is in good conditions and functioning properly.

That is just the basic things I run through, if it still doesn't shoot good, I do what you did and reach out for ideas, if I still can't figure it out......new barrel time. I know that is out of the question though. Hope you can figure it out. But hopefully, run a 100 grain bullet and see if it likes em.

 

[turkeyfever]

My opinion is the chamber is sloppy in the way it was cut. Resizing brass leaves heavy resizing marks
down the brass. Checked brass and being blown 10 thou from resizing. I think that brass is really being over worked. If it were mine I would have bought custom dies by now, just working with what I have. I have already spent more than I wanted. Bought him a new HS precision stock and bottom metal and it has tighten the groups up a little.

 

[Hondo64d]

Helping a friend out. Have a semi custom 6.5 creedmore with 10 twist barrel. Deer hunting rifle only my friend is in his 70's. Will not be shot over 200 yrds. He has chased a lot of rabbits trying to get this rifle to shoot. I have a factory load shooting Winchester 125 XP shooting around 2 inches on average out of a box. He is very stubborn and old school with his thought process. He wants to shoot 143 eldx but groups are 3 inches or more. I would have bought another barrel by know but he has no funds left, and I not sticking anymore $$ except reloading. Anyone have thought on where to maybe get this rifle shooting under 1 1/2 at 100.

He is not going to get a 143gr ELDx to stabilize properly in a 10" twist... Period... He's either got to be happy with 3" groups or go to a shorter bullet. I haven't run it through a stability calculator but I suspect even the 125gr XP is marginal in its stability. Try some shorter bullets, maybe a 120gr Sierra Pro Hunter. At 200 yards, the high BC of the ELDx is going to gain virtually nothing over a lower BC bullet, but the higher velocity of the 120gr will help on a short range point and shoot rig.

John

 

[turkeyfever]

I advised him when he began that the 140's were not going to shoot well. Old age and being stubborn not helping. Trying to help as much as possible to alleviate his problem. I personally would stick a new barrel on it with 8 twist and move on. He could have bought one from what bullets he bought trying to get it to shoot. Thanks for all the advice thus far.

 

[Edd]

You can fix the brass stretching issue by adjusting your sizing die. Some 100 gr Nosler Partitions might fix the accuracy issue.

A Deer shot inside 200 yards with a 100 gr Partition will be as dead as one shot with a 143gr eldx.

 

[turkeyfever]

It is not the length that is the problem, brass is expanding 10 thou in roundness.

 

[Edd]

If the diameter of the case is expanding .010", it's time for a new barrel.

I have one listed in the classifieds that would work well.

 

[turkeyfever]

I would say that there are less than 400 rounds down the tube. My friend traded two rifles for this one to be built from someone he supposedly new that built rifles. He can not afford to buy a rifle much less shoot this one. I am trying to help as much as I can from giving him coponents to be able to reload.