Wednesday, April 4, 2018

This Changes Everything for Me

Back in February, I talked about some of my attempts to get started reloading for 6.5 Creedmoor.  I was really down to one, big, nasty problem: Hodgdon’s H4350 propellant.
I can verify that I've been looking for H4350 on every "Powder Sale" to cross my email since July and have yet to see it in stock anywhere.  To date, I've had my best results with 140 gn Hornady ELD-M rounds, and I think it was one that talked about reloading with H4350 (I swear I recall seeing that on one of the first boxes I bought).
Ten days ago, I got an email from Natchez Shooter's Supply telling me it was in stock.   I don't even recall when I signed up for notification when it was in stock, but I grabbed three pounds of it.   


Words I have never seen on any web site, circled in red.  Note the 8 pound jugs were not in stock.  I just checked right now and it still shows as being in stock.  The long shortage is finally being overcome.

About the time the powder was delivered, the April sales flyer from Midway USA came.  What to my wondering eyes should appear, but the very bullets used in the ammo I've had the best results with.  Hornaday 140 grn ELD-Match bullets were on sale this month.  300 of those are on the way and should be here Saturday.


So in the space of two weeks, I will have gone from not being able to reload the 6.5 Creedmoor to having everything, and even two different types of match grade bullets: these and the Berger Hybrid Bullets I got a couple of months ago.

I still have things to learn and lots to do, but it's good to be getting to this point.  The only drawback is that our shooting season is winding down.  The weather should be good until May and might even last through May.  Not that I don't go in the summer; I just make a point to be ready to shoot when it opens and be aware of the sun.  We usually just shoot from 8 until 11/11:30.  While today, it might not have made it to 80 degrees until noon, by late July that will be close to the overnight low.


12 comments:

  1. Interested to see how she shoots with the right components. I went through a similar spell when the 300 Blackout thing took off and the AA1680 supply completely dried up.

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  2. I always thought that the snowbirds had the right idea. Winter in Florida, and summer just about anywhere else.

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    1. I could probably do a hundred pages on this. It sure would be nice. Not conducive to living with my ham station and various hobbies, but besides that, yeah.

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  3. I remember summers around Lake Okeechobee and in the Redneck Riviera. 95 and 95 at 5 in the morning. And then the sun came up and it got hot.

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    1. We moved up to Central Florida from Ft.Lauderdale in 1982. The next year we were down visiting family and had the idea to take the kids to one of the attractions down there. We literally couldn't stand the heat/humidity. Had to get into the car and turn on the A/C.

      Down there you have a constant cap of high humidity. The Gulfstream is less than a mile offshore, and the Everglades is to the west. We have less humidity, but still way too much.

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  4. Does that rifle of yours kick much? I don't know too much about the 6.5 Creedmore, but I do seem to remember it was described as "soft shooting".

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    1. I'd call it soft shooting. I took my .308 Scout rifle to the range a few weeks ago and had forgotten how much harder .308 kicks.

      6.5 CM in the RPR feels more like .223.

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  5. Accurate has an analog of H4350 labeled AA4350. At Powder Valley it is currently available in 1 and 8 pound containers, for $23.75 and $177.95 respectively. Just in case you want to experiment. According to the folks at Accurate and this fellow at: http://www.predatormastersforums.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=3035407

    "Here is Accurate's reply to my request for load data when tested with a: 24"barrel in 1-9"twist, using Winchester WLR primers."

    120 gr..start load-40 gr(2525-2625 FPS)-Max load 45 gr(2825-2925 FPS)
    129 gr..start load-40 gr(2500-2600 FPS)-Max load 44.5gr(2850-2950FPS)
    140 gr..start load-39.2gr(2450-2550FPS)-Max load 43.5gr(2750-2850FPS)

    All above Max loads are compressed 103%

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    1. Thanks for that - copy saved to my file on reloads for it.

      Chris Hodgdon recommended using their Enduron IMR4451, and I almost bought some. Of course, I was unsure, and figured as soon as I bought anything else, the H4350 would become available and it did.

      Not that I know beyond a doubt that it will be best in my rifle, just that it was "the new hotness", as the kids say.

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  6. For your Creedmoor: try 41.5 grains of H4350, full-length-sized Starline small primer brass, Federal GMM small rifle primers and Sierra 140 grain Match Kings, seated to 2.812". This load shoots 5 round, one-hole clover-leafs at 100 yards from my Ruger Precision Rifle.

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    1. Thank you very much! I appreciate the work involved in getting to that.

      I have all the 6.5CM brass I've ever shot. Most Hornady (different loads/products), Winchester and Federal. I was going to start with some of that.

      I'm not sure (and in the other room from it), but I think it's all based on large primers.

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  7. If you get a chance, try the Starline small primer brass. Available directly from Starline (I have no affiliation with them at all). Also concur on FL shooting in the summer - gets uncomfortable here in central FL.

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