6.5x54MS Shooting

[VZerone]

Well I went and borrowed Joe's 6.5x54MS that he built on a Savage 110 action with a LW barrel. I also got from hims the dies, bullets, brass, and load data. Isn't it nice to have a close relation to use the stuff he has that you don't? LOL Well he told me 22 grains of RL22 and shotshell buffer using the 130 gr 6.5 Kurtz that 45 2.1 designed. They went over the chrono at close enough to call them 2300 fps. I got an assortment of brass from him ranging from RP and Win 06 formed to 6.5x54MS along with some military 06 formed too. He had turned the necks as the chamber neck is minimum. He wrote down what to do so I followed the instructions and was also told to got ahead and zero the scope for the load. Well I shot up a few zeroing the scope and then shot the remainder for a group. She's shooting, for me, 3/4-1 inch ten shot groups at 100 yards. What a pleasant rifle and caliber to shoot. That barrel by the way has a 1 in 8 twist. I thought wow they shot pretty dang good for such a fast twist. Too bad that bullet doesn't have a high BC with that flat nose or I may have entertained 500 yards shooting and still may. He told me it did 2 to 3 inches at 312 yards, but he hasn't shot it further then that. This may happen. I got the mould for it too. He may not get this rifle back!!

 

[fiver]

dang Vince, Ronnie just barely told me you borrowed the rifle like 20 minutes ago.
I was wondering if you were going to put up a thread about it at some point and here it is.

 

[VZerone]

We're on a network here! LOL Yeah he called me and told me and I was going to pm you here, but figured the other members might want to read about it.

I think I'll chrono some as close to the muzzle as practical and then chrono at 100 yards to run the BC formula . Maybe it won't be as low as I think with that flat nose, being it's a 6.5 caliber. We'll see.

Hey's it's nice to be able to post this kind of thing here and not get hassled....know what I mean?

 

[waco]

I think I'll chrono some as close to the muzzle as practical

My brother bough a Magnetospeed Chronograph. I'm very impressed with it. I may need to get one.

 

[fiver]

yep.
measure them at 10' and then at 15' take the average of both and find the difference.
double that add it to the 10' speed and it will give you the almost dead on MV.

 

[VZerone]

My brother bough a Magnetospeed Chronograph. I'm very impressed with it. I may need to get one.

Those are excellent, but if you're going to test accuracy they affect the barrel harmonics, especially the thin barrels. You also can't do the BC calculations because you have to have a chrono at a further distance.

 

[waco]

Those are excellent, but if you're going to test accuracy they affect the barrel harmonics,

Our tests have shown no decline in accuracy at all. It just prints the groups about four inches higher than normal.

 

[Will]

All of my groups I’ve been posting from the howa has been with a magnetospeed on the barrel.
Also the group I posted with the tikka.

 

[waco]

Will. Do your loads print high as well?

 

[Will]

Well as bad as I hate to admit it I have never shot a cast bullet out of that rifle with the magnetospeed not on the barrel.

I got the magnetospeed right before I started down the higher velocity route, so I haven’t done much shooting without a chronograph.

Right now I have definitely drifted into a wormhole with trying to get the 308 to shoot good at higher velocity with cast. I love the info I get from the magnetospeed and it’s so easy to use.

 

[waco]

Agree. Yesterday I shot some of the XCB bullets with 41gr Varget for a mv of 2550
They only did about 2" at 100 and opened up to 6" at 200
My next test is going to be with RX15 for around 2430fps.

 

[Will]

I look forward to seeing the results.

 

[waco]

I posted some pics of the Varget loads on Fiver's thread. Might be a bit before I get out again. Stupid weather.....

 

[VZerone]

Our tests have shown no decline in accuracy at all. It just prints the groups about four inches higher than normal.

Waco some rifles it does and some it doesn't. In talking to a muzzle/break/tuner manufacturer engineer friend of mine tuners work differently on different lengths, contours, and weights of barrels. On some it shows a dramatic improvement in groups and on others just a little. Said that they haven't seen but a very few that it showed no improvement what so ever. Your mileage varies and you're lucky it doesn't affect your accuracy.

Here's a couple remarks from the guys at snipers hide that use them:

I was using mine while doing OCW testing for my 280 and it was working fine. Then I noticed that the unit had moved to within about a 1/2in of the muzzle so moved it back and re-tightened it which caused a shift in POI. I didn't have it tight enough (was worried about screwing down too much and breaking it). I called and talked to them and they said no problem just make it tight it won't break. They recommend not using it until you have found your load which is what I'm doing now. From what I've read here there isn't much effect on group size, only POI.



I usually use the Magnetospeed initially to find out what loads get me up to the velocity range I am looking for/expecting. Then from there I fine tune it looking for best groups without the magnetospeed on. After that, I put the magnetospeed back on to determine the final velocity of the load I go with.
Honestly though, the magnetospeed hasn't really affected my groups that much other than on my rifles it usually makes me shoot a little high. POI usually shift up .3 - .4 mils with the Magneto on there.
I love the Magnetospeed, good purchase.

As has been mentioned in a couple other threads, the magnetospeed definitely affects the POI, almost always moving the impacts away from the bayonet (ie, if the bayo is mounted at 6 oclock on the barrel the impacts typically shift to 12 oclock. Regardless, the effect seems very repeatble and for me at least does not affect group size. Therefore, it should have no impact on load development.

 

[waco]

One thing for sure regardless of groups, it gives more accurate results than my POS Chrony. LOL

 

[35 shooter]

I've been considering a magnetospeed since i put a gascheck through the readout screen on my old f1 chrony.
Do you guys that use them feel the readout results are just as accurate as the old style shoot through designs like the f1 chrony, etc.?

Sure looks like a better way to set up at the range without making everyone wait for you to set up a chrony downrange.
Also, in Will's pic i see a piece hanging down in front of the bench? Does that attatch to the bench, or can be used without it?

Wonder how that forward prong you shoot across holds up to muzzle blast long term?
Does that have to be cleaned off for each shot, or at least after each shooting session?

 

[35 shooter]

Lol, i see some of my questions got answered while i was posting!

 

[waco]

That screen plugs into the bayonet that attaches to to barrle. It gives you the read outs. My brother has never cleaned his. Works just fine. I did notice a “little” superficial damage from unburnt powder. Nothing to get into a twist about. My guess is it was from my 4831 .308 loads.

 

[Will]

I haven’t shot across mine a lot but I have watched Johnny’s reloading bench on YouTube for a while and I’m sure he’s put at least 10,000 rounds over his.

I’m pretty sure the bayonet is the cheap part of that system to replace should you ever need too.

 

[35 shooter]

Thanks guys.
The second description in VZerone's post #14 is about how i use a chrony, so it sounds like this may be right down my alley.

One more question...doesn't matter whether there are clouds or not? In other words, no screens regardless of clouds or just blue sky?
Think i just found my next chrono!