Search the Community

I want to take my new rifle build to Mexico for a Coues deer hunt. I finally recieved my 6.5 WSM stamped brass. I ran the brass throug my press. I loaded my first round, tried on my rifle and encountered a problem.. the bolt did not close . I tried the empty brass on my rifle and it worked perfectly however, the loaded round did not work. I loaded another one...a empty one, (bullet only no primer, no powder) and did not work either. The brass neck was at .295 and empty they did work; but once I put or set the bullet in they were not working or feeding into my rifle. It looks like I have a tight rifle chamber?. I had to turn or trim the necks down to .292 and BINGO! they did work! my rifle was feeding / ejecting them no problem. Once I got that issue solved I headed to the shooting range to test my loads. I'm using Hornadys ELD Match 140 gr bullet with 64 1/2 grs of H1000 and I'm at 3093 fps. I really liked the results..see picture with 4 shots at 100 yards. There were no feeding/ejecting problems and fired brass looks good. On a side note... I also tried the Nosler Long Range Accubonds in 142 gr. I tried them with 66 1/2 grains of Retumbo Powder at 3095 fps but for some reason I couldn't get them to group; they were at .750 or 1 inch groups. My questions for you guys and/or Doug (Redrabbit) are: 1) Should I leave the Hornadys right there where they are or should I try to load hotter/faster? 2) What can I do to tight the groups on the accubonds or I should not botter and stick to the Hornadys? Thanks everyone. Ernesto C.