Cooper 6.5-284 low velocities

[Hankster76]

I have a Cooper Pheonix 6.5-284 and I am shooting the 140 Berger VLD hunters. I am getting groups in the .17 range but that is at 2660-2670 fps. When i bump the load up to get 2850-2900 fps my groups jump to the .4-.5 ranges. I REALLY like the those little groups but it the FPS more important in the hunting world at distance than the group size. Hoping someone shooting the Bergers at distance has some input on this. I mainly hunt Whitetail, Antelope and Ground hogs. For bigger game I use my 300 RUM or hopefully my new 338 Lapua that I haven't starting shooting yet. With the 6.5-284 I would likely keep the shots under 1000 yards. Farther than that I would go with the bigger rifles.

 

[liltank]

.4 and .5 is perfect for those size critters. Ground needs to be as small as possible, but for Whitetail and the like that is spot on. .5" at 100 equals 5 or 6 inches at 1000. Plenty of accuracy as far as I am concerned. What are the groups like at farther distances?

As far as speed, for groundhogs.... not so important. For the bigger animals you want to make sure the bullet is performing as designed for the application. Make sure there is enough velocity to carry the energy to stop the animal.

Tank

 

[screech]

I had the same thing. It was printing .1-.25 with I believe 47 grains of H4831sc and a 142smk. While it worked fine it dropped like a rock. I kept playing with loads and finally found one with a 140gr. amax with 52.5 grains of h4831sc moving along at 2930. Still is in the .25-.3 range fairly consistently. Ive had great luck on those amaxes at long range. killed a deer at 502 with a one shot kill and a bull at 758 also one shot. you might want to at least see how they will shoot.

 

[Willys46]

If possible, try pushing them up to the 2950 range. Most people find a nice node right at 2950. Mine shot better up around the 3050 range.

Are you running into pressure at 2900?

 

[Hankster76]

I haven't had any pressure signs on the higher loads . Just seems like the farther I get from the slower load the more it opens up.

I haven't shot it a whole lot farther but I did print a pretty nice 3-1/2" 3 shot group at 650 on steel plate.

I talked to Berger they said that the bullet it good to 1800 fps or 1000 fpe whatever comes first. If that's the case with my 2660fps load my bullet is rendered ineffective at between 650 - 700 yards. That's not to impressive. In my opinion.