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6.5mm 135gr Berger which load would you go with

Yes, and they are closing all facilities at the state parks. You will be able to enter a state park but no visitor centers or bathrooms or camping
Wow, I get making the logical precautions, staying away from groups over 10, 6' apart and a lot of the guidelines set, but closing a range?
It appears Big Brother is going crazy, OK, whatever
 
My son and I both shoot PRS/NRL, your on the right path. 135 is a great bullet and so is the 142SMK for that cartridge. So some help, I'll give you a quick load work up on said combination for guidance. As always you still have to work up your load making sure your not showing signs of pressure. Also when shooting groups on those targets at 100 yards, dial up .2 and set your crosshairs on the aiming spot, the cross, so your bullets will print in the square above. This will give you a clean spot to aim every time and reflect a better representation of your groups. What I look for is a flat spot with respect on SD and ES as well as groups that print consistently in the box. For your daughter if I were going to buy one bag to shoot PRS/NRL type matches I would get a gamechanger by Armageddon gear! With that bag you can use on 80-90% of the props you will shoot off!

As far as your load is concerned I would say 2750 - 2810 FPS, with accuracy and Percision would be a good sweet spot. 4-5 loads out of Hornady brass is all I would expect before the pockets get loose and really are no longer useable. Lapua with with CCI small magumn primers if you choose to go that route will go at least 15 firings. Note the quick load Data will not interchange because there is less internal case capacity with Lapua brass! If you want that info as well shoot me a PM.

hope this helps? Be safe and have fun!
 

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That is where I am second guessing it as well. The velocity of 42.2 is ok, but I feel I am leaving a bunch on the table.

For a pre event they are timed stages in various positions from 400 to +1000 yards. You are shooting steel.

I am not concerned about terminal performance as much as accuracy. Target sizes I have been told are 1 to 4 moa
If your going to seat them deeper to fit the mag, I would load another batch @ 42.2 and shoot them at mag length to see if the seating depth change effects the load. But those groups from before are no doubt, where I would be leaving it given it still shoots at mag length with the same results. Speed is great but accuracy is final....
 
Thank you for the continued input. I do have a game changer bag that I have been using for the past couple of years for hunting so that is good to know. For now I am hoping we can share some gear until we see where this goes.

I have had good luck with ADG and Lapua brass in the past. I was hoping to continue with ADG, and I was surprised that there was such a short supply. My local reloading shop only had Hornady brass. It is fairly cheap and I figured this would get me started. If I start doing more of these matches I will have to look towards something more durable.

If you don't mind me asking why did you select the small rifle primer over the large?

If all goes well this may give me a good excuse to build a new rifle for me. The current barrel profiles we have are not ideally suited for long strings of fire and the overall rifle weight is fairly light. Sounds like most folks are running something like a M24 contour and rifles in the 15+ lb range. I have lots to learn and I am looking forward to it.
 
Thank you for the continued input. I do have a game changer bag that I have been using for the past couple of years for hunting so that is good to know. For now I am hoping we can share some gear until we see where this goes.

I have had good luck with ADG and Lapua brass in the past. I was hoping to continue with ADG, and I was surprised that there was such a short supply. My local reloading shop only had Hornady brass. It is fairly cheap and I figured this would get me started. If I start doing more of these matches I will have to look towards something more durable.

If you don't mind me asking why did you select the small rifle primer over the large?

If all goes well this may give me a good excuse to build a new rifle for me. The current barrel profiles we have are not ideally suited for long strings of fire and the overall rifle weight is fairly light. Sounds like most folks are running something like a M24 contour and rifles in the 15+ lb range. I have lots to learn and I am looking forward to it.
Small rifle primers, Lapua feels they translate to better accuracy, this may or may not be true. One thing that is true is the primer pockets hold up better to repeated firings. The majority of shooters use CCI 450 magnum primers for the 6cm and 6.5cm lapua SRP brass. They seem to perform the best, harder cup.
 
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I will have to see if I can get a box or two. I use Lapua in my 308 and I am quite happy there.

Right now my daughter is shooting 6mm creed factory Hornady ammo. It shoots .2-.3 moa so I haven't even reloaded for that yet. Given the shortage and lock downs I may have start reloading for that and start with a better brass.
 
I shoot the 6CM and use the 115DTAC. Right around 2970 fps is a really nice node. I jump 50 thou off. Great performance and decent barrel life.
 
I went out yesterday and tried both the 42.2 and 43.0 out to 600 yards.

Distance Drop for 42.2 Drop for 43.0 Drop in MOA
200 1.75 1.75
250 3.0 2.5 closer to 2.6
300 4.5 3.75
350 5.75 5.25
400 7.25 6.5
450 9.0 8.5
600 14 13


Both showed promise, I had some swirling winds so that made it a bit of a challenge for me. With the temps in the mid 50 it does not take long for the barrel to warm up. I like shooting in the winter much better.
 
I was out shooting all weekend, no time for the interwebs. :)
I settled on 43.0 grains of H4350 this is running at 2735 fps consistently. for the Chrono I was using a magneto speed.
I shot about 800 rounds of this last year out to 1000 yards with great results. I also use the Hornady app and I found I just need to put in the distance and wind, dial away and send it.

Drop me a note if you want any more info, I should be around this week.
 
I was out shooting all weekend, no time for the interwebs. :)
I'm so jealous! 😁 I was out of town.....burning up the road all weekend. I'm trying to work on this combo right now and ran across your thread doing a search. I just might give ya shout! Thank you, Sir.......appreciate the 'update'. 👍
 
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