Bonded 140gr “seconds” from Midway; update

[the444shooter]

@B-LOT Banga @Hespco @Stammster
Since you guys were very engaging in Hespco's thread about the Speer Deep Curl bullets at Midway, I figured I would update on my progress with these. I found 48.7gr of RL-26 to give me ~2800 FPS average (6.5 Creedmoor, Savage Ultralite 22" PROOF barrel) and almost perfect vertical spread, but unfortunately it was about 2" wide. I figured it must've been seating depth, so I played with .020 variations. The sub-zero temps put a damper on my shooting opportunities but this week was warm enough to go try them out. Here was my result at 2.720 COAL, 4 shots (loaded batches of 4s to get 5 batches per 20rds)

Funny enough, I had my Ruger Long Range Hunter 6.5 PRC out there for its maiden voyage with 143 factory ELD-X, and it shot great, but only at ~2750fps, lol. I figure the 22" barrel doesn't help, and the fact that it's new and not smoothed out will keep speeds low until broken in. Thought it was amusing that the 6.5 Creedmoor was outperforming the PRC; but we'll see how the PRC does with some RL26, too.

 

[Hespco]

Shazammm. Looking gooooood. Now if we could just find a adequate supply of Rel 26. An 8 pounder of Rel26 would be a nice touch.... I've got a hefty supply of primers , bullets & brass. Just can't get my self to go back to IMR 4350 or Rel 22 after using " the 26 ". . Have plenty of the other powders...

Forgot to mention. It's been a tad cold here also. Spent the morning cutting fire wood..

 

[badthirtyone]

Thanks for the update. I think a good number of us ended up picking some of these up, so it's great to have feedback on how folks are getting along with them at the range and in the field.

 

[Stammster]

Thanks for the update. I'm going to load up a few of those bullets in the upcoming weeks. You've given me a good area to focus in on.
BTW - 49 gr of RL26 gives me 2900 fps with 143 ELD-X in Starline brass in my 22" Kimber 6.5 CM - but at 80F.