Savage 111 LRH 6.5-284 Loading Questions

[bert2368]

Which neck size die?

I have accumulated about 60 pieces of 1X Lapua and 2X Nosler brass at this point. I intend to go forward with Lapua.

Neck of a loaded round using Barnes 120 gr TTSX in new Lapua brass measures .294 OD pretty consistently, and the 1X fired Lapua brass measures .297 OD before resizing.

I used both a Starret 1" micrometer and a Mitutoyo dial caliper on 5 samples of both loaded and 1X to take these measures, they were in good agreement.

So- Do I need to invest in bushing die sets, or can I get by with a single traditional neck size die? I have RCBS or Redding neck size die and full length size die for pretty much all my other bolt gun calibers, but have never used any bushing type neck dies. I find a lot of references here to the bushing dies...

Advice?

 

[Greyfox]

Which neck size die?

I have accumulated about 60 pieces of 1X Lapua and 2X Nosler brass at this point. I intend to go forward with Lapua.

Neck of a loaded round using Barnes 120 gr TTSX in new Lapua brass measures .294 OD pretty consistently, and the 1X fired Lapua brass measures .297 OD before resizing.

I used both a Starret 1" micrometer and a Mitutoyo dial caliper on 5 samples of both loaded and 1X to take these measures, they were in good agreement.

So- Do I need to invest in bushing die sets, or can I get by with a single traditional neck size die? I have RCBS or Redding neck size die and full length size die for pretty much all my other bolt gun calibers, but have never used any bushing type neck dies. I find a lot of references here to the bushing dies...

Advice?

I think it depends on the dimensions of your particular dye in relation to your brass, as well as your shooting requirements. Neck tension can effect your velocity ES, important with long range shooting.
I use a .292 Redding bushing with Lapua brass and Berger/JLK 140gr bullets. Lapua brass averages .0145-015" wall thickness and my lot runs .292" OD. If you take a .264" bullet, add.030(.015x2). This equals .294"; then subtract .002 for neck tension= .292". My fired brass out of my Savage(and Cooper) measures .297" also. This work very well for me with very low ES.with velocity(<10FPS) as well as .25MOA accuracy out of both my rifles.

 

[JoeS1044]

I have been away for quite some time and it good to see people are still goin nuts over the 6.5-284. I don't have much to add but I did shoot a test load with nosler LRAB's. I have a pet load that works for me in every one of these rifles so I just used it and sent 4 rounds to a rock at 540 yards. I guessed at .005 off the lands and it seems promising with very little vertical and grouped about .5 moa. Some time in the near future I need to spend some time tuning.

As we all know there are several good powders that work. I personally like retumbo and h1000. In ladder tests the h1000 grouped all tests loads in a vertical at 3.25" at 400 yards. It is more forgiving then retumbo but just not as fast, if that is important. It does the same in my 243. For me both are so I still use retumbo mostly.

Having said all that in the time I have been away from the forum I shot a competition and put lots of rounds down range. As long as your load is accurate and consistent who cares what your choices are. I think we can make it all work fine.

Here are a few pictures for fun.

Brent what kind of stock is that?

 

[ShootnMathews]

Well I had posted here that I was hoping to try this Nosler BT load out on a deer at 425 yards, so I'll give a little update on that....no luck. The deer have been pressured so hard by the neighbors around me out there that I didn't even see a deer during shooting light. But now that season is out I'm going to find me a place to hopefully shoot farther.

 

[BrentM]

Brent what kind of stock is that?

It's a savage accustock with my own mods.

 

[ShootnMathews]

Did you do the cheek riser mod yourself?

It looks almost sponge painted. Is that how you did it? Did you paint over the rubber or take it off somehow?

Good to see you back around Brent.

 

[BrentM]

I did all the work on this rifle except chamber and crown the barrel. The bolt is from ptg. All I had to was clean up the edges and install it. My stock had no rubber, nor does any of my others.

 

[BrentM]

As far as paint, yes it is sponge. Sea sponge actually. After installing the cheek riser and flush cups I based the stock with a clear texture. Applied different, home blended colors, then clear coated it in cerakote.

I am currently using a cheek riser kit but I have aluminum stock I use for custom stocks or applications where the kit is not feasible. I like the kit so much that I doubt I will use the aluminum stock ever again.

 

[ShootnMathews]

As far as paint, yes it is sponge. Sea sponge actually. After installing the cheek riser and flush cups I based the stock with a clear texture. Applied different, home blended colors, then clear coated it in cerakote.

I am currently using a cheek riser kit but I have aluminum stock I use for custom stocks or applications where the kit is not feasible. I like the kit so much that I doubt I will use the aluminum stock ever again.

Do you care to share what kit it is? I desperately need a cheek riser because I have high cheek bones and can get no positive weld without a riser. I hate the Karsten piece that comes on the LRH. It's so wide that by the time I raise it up so I can get a cheek weld my head is tilted over sideways. So a built in riser is really just what I need. Is it hard to install?

My rubber coating is starting to peel so I'm going to be painting mine somehow soon and I really like that sponged look. I hate black guns anyways. You can see them a mile always in the woods. I paint all my stocks and rifles because I love to predator hunt and their eye are so keen you have to blend in as much as possible.

Thanks

 

[BrentM]

Loogerhead by kmw. They are involved for sure. Check out the website.

 

[Wachsmann]

Man it took me the longest time to ever get out and do some testing. I started off with what I remember from my hunting load of 49.5 grains of hybrid 100V seated at 3.110 COAL (berger 140's). Also I had cleaned this gun very very well. I think previous I had got some copper fouling that was not fully coming out or something since after the good cleaning I got my groups back. Hitting right at the .6MOA a 100 for 5 shot group. This is just putting the calibers on the outside to outside. These were berger 140VLD's. Next load was 57grn retumbo finding a seating depth on the LRAB's. I think I may have sorted these bullets by weight and ogive length to the best that I could sort. Bergers are just pulled from the box. Anyways I know the 57 grns retumbo was getting right around 2950fps prior during some testing. Started right at the lands like .oo5 off. Jumped .010 at a time cleaning(bore snake) after every 4 shot group. After shooting 24 rounds. I had one group that produced a good .65moa at 100yrds like the bergers. Funny thing is they are about .010 or .020 longer at the ogive then my berger load. Their almost are about the same COAL difference in length. I'm going to do the same test with the bergers next and the retumbo to see if I can get the same results. If possible I'll have 2 good loads well really 3 for hunting considering the 2 different powders used. I'll just have to live without the extra 100 fps if need to. I plan to try and do another test with the 100V and some 142 match kings for an all around shooting load.

 

[ShootnMathews]

I need to correct some posts of mine from way back regarding the speed and load I was using. I had reported that my 140 VLD Berbers chronoed 3150 average over 7 or 8 shots. Maybe 10. Can't remember with a 52.7 grain charge of H4831 sc. Well I just recently found out that the scale I was using, although it is pretty consistent, it is not accurate. It weighs each load consistently and I get good accurate loads on paper ( groups on target I'm talking), but recently I bought a new scale and found while cross reference weighing charges that the old scale consistently shows less than the new scale. I trust the new scale more as it is a lot nicer scale. I have not cross weighed a 52.7 grain charge (from old scale) to see what the actual weight is but I'm guessing it it was more like 53.2 -53.4 grains. Which is a pretty darn hot load. Maybe that had something to do with the speed difference we noticed.


On a second note here. Has anyone tried the 143 ELD X in there LRH yet??? I bought some. Loaded the first test shots today. May get to shoot them later.

 

[ShootnMathews]

Well I loaded my first group of 143 ELD X for my LRH. A 3 shot group. Without even worrying about how much jump it was I want to see if they will shoot well without me moving my seating die. Right now it's set up to shoot the 140 Nosler BT. It's shooting a 1/4 - 1/2 moa all day long so I just wanted to try it first.

I loaded 3 at 56 grains of Retumbo because I know it should be safe up to about 57 grains. Probably more. The first two shots were about 1/2" apart. Then the 3rd made it about 7/8" in a horizontal line. I had time to do 3 more so I jumped up to 56.5 grains hoping that it would pull in, but it went the other way. Shot a nice 1-3/8" triangle. So I guess tomorrow I'll load 3 at 55.5 grains and see what they do. Although I can't imagine I'll be smoking them out there at 55.5 grains of Retumbo. Maybe 2850 or something. Just at a wild guess. I'll post more after I burn some more powder. If I need to I'll move the seater but I just thought it would be nice if I could work up a load at the same spot. Then I'd have the option of loading both without a whole bunch of measuring and adjusting to get it back to the right length.

 

[grbb]

Guys,
I'm new to this, what are ES and SD? I read them on page 23.