My 6.5 Sherman rifle and load development thread

[elkaholic]

A std. 700 box will work just fine for the Sherman. I think "Bigngreen" did a little pressure work some time ago but don't remember the results. I know RL26 came out after that and velocities have picked up even more. Also, the Sherman has a longer throat than the original for those who want it. I can tell you that 3300' can be reached with a 26" barrel, but I would not run it there because it is too hard on brass. It will easily operate at 3200' though.....Rich

 

[Korhil78]

Just got my Whidden seating die back and everything seems to be working with it now. Loaded up 9 rounds 63 gr of RL26 at .020 off the lands and 9 rounds of 62 gr of RL26 at .005 off the lands. Those were my two most accurate loads at 300 yards. I am going to shoot both at 600 yards and the best load will be my final load. Will go out Friday and shoot them.

 

[elkaholic]

Have you chronoed those loads yet?

 

[.284]

A std. 700 box will work just fine for the Sherman. I think "Bigngreen" did a little pressure work some time ago but don't remember the results. I know RL26 came out after that and velocities have picked up even more. Also, the Sherman has a longer throat than the original for those who want it. I can tell you that 3300' can be reached with a 26" barrel, but I would not run it there because it is too hard on brass. It will easily operate at 3200' though.....Rich

Thanks for the reply

 

[Korhil78]

Have you chronoed those loads yet?

No I have not chrono'd them yet. I loaded up 9 rounds of each load and will run one set through the magneto speed and shoot the other two for groups on friday.

 

[tbrice23]

Don't be surprised if you gain a good bit of velocity with the same load in the next couple of hundred rounds.

 

[Korhil78]

Don't be surprised if you gain a good bit of velocity with the same load in the next couple of hundred rounds.

Yessir, I will be keeping an eye on it. Will be doing quite a bit of longrange work with this rifle so it should show up when it does change.

 

[Korhil78]

Went out this morning and did some testing out st 600 yards. I took the two best loads that I had from 300 yards to test them out. I also loaded up some extra rounds of each to get a velocity average out of my magneto speed.

First load at 600 yards:
Bullet: 143 gr ELD-X
Powder: 63 gr of RL26
Seating depth: .020 off the lands
Average velocity: 3211 fps/ES 10
Group: 3.5"


Second load at 600 yards:
Bullet: 143 gr ELD-X
Powder: 62 gr of RL26
Seating depth: .005 off the lands
Average velocity: 3160 fps/ES 10
Group: 4.2"

There was a little bit of vertical in each but the mirage was something fierce! I believe on a day with hardly any mirage that the groups would shrink some more. I am also going to test some out with H1000 and also test the 140 gr bergers out to see which I like better overall.

 

[elkaholic]

Looking Good!

 

[dok7mm]

Well done. I hope you try the 140 Bergers with the RL-26 before you're finished. You are doing a fine service for those of us waiting for builds. Also hope you get to try those loads again, on a day when mirage is not a factor, you might shoot under 1/2 moa or better. Keep after it, thank you.

 

[Korhil78]

Well done. I hope you try the 140 Bergers with the RL-26 before you're finished. You are doing a fine service for those of us waiting for builds. Also hope you get to try those loads again, on a day when mirage is not a factor, you might shoot under 1/2 moa or better. Keep after it, thank you.

The 140 bergers and RL26 is next in line.

 

[BEEMAN]

The 140 Hybrid shot very good in 2 Sherman's. Myself and a friend were both using N570 at the time. It gets good results and I would recommend you give it a try. I ran one hundred of the 140 Berger through my Sherman at 3339 fps (28" HART). Shot awesome but was a bit hard on brass so I dropped the load by 1 grain.

 

[Korhil78]

Got my rifle back! Had a problem with the barrel so another one was supplied for me and will be doing a short break in procedure and then do some load development for it. Also put a smaller break on it. The other one was M1 Abramsish. Still gonna use the 143 ELDX until the 155 Gr Berger comes out. Will keep you posted on the load development results. Weighs in at 11.5 lbs with everything in the pic below.

 

[Korhil78]