Hi,

Does anyone know which 6.5mm projectiles (factory not custom) are the toughest as I am having some rams rung with the 260 and 140gr nosler custom comps.

I have some different brands but have yet to test them as I am waiting til I have some brass fire formed. I have some scrap 10mm plate steel which I am thinking about mounting at 500m and measuring the depth they penetrate, any tips on how I should test them?

cheers

Figure this one out along with keeping a woman happy, and your ass will be sitting on a piece of carpet some where with the rest of us bowing to ya.

Jim Beckley wrote:Figure this one out along with keeping a woman happy, and your ass will be sitting on a piece of carpet some where with the rest of us bowing to ya.

I don't know how anyone can follow that.

If you don't know how fast your load is, find out. What do the bullet marks look like on the ram?

Tony Tello is fond of the 144 gr Lapua, but I don't know about its current availability and core. (The hardeness of the core seems to have varied over the years.) A lot of people shoot the 139 gr Scenar and it stands up to 2,800 plus fps, but it's lie the man said the rest of us will be bowing to ya if you figure this one out. Some ranges and animals are just tough.

Shooting them too fast will make them not work properly. 138s - 142 at around 2600 fps seem to work well. Sometimes a wind from the back like at Missoula can make them harder to knock down. But I completly agree with what JB said. Figure it out any the world will come to your door.

That's probably why I'm still only a AA in highpower with my 260.... I must be hitting them all, they just ain't fallin' over.....
Uh-huh, yeah.....right!

killabeez, I speak JB's language. Let me try and explain his thoughts to you.

There are NO purpose built bullets for knocking down hard steel free standing animal targets. All typical cup and core paper punching match bullets turn to dust impacting hard steel at 500 meters. Plenty of photos and videos here prove it. What few lead fragments found are tiny with an occasional jacket base disc here and there. You can get a little more "dwell time", measured in milliseconds, with a heavy constructed hunting bullet like the Hornady SST series bullets. They only have thicker jackets, same soft lead core. You will not have the same accuracy as with match bullets. Average velocities aside, they all vaporize at impact.

I think you are wasting time, components, and barrel life reinventing the wheel by shooting at a soft steel plate in your quest for a good ram bullet. We have all conceded to using the more accurate match bullets and expect to lose one sometimes. Just shrug it off and move to the next target.

This past weekend I watched the three top shooters at Iron Man hit rams when I could. They have the skills to hit the ram in the lightest part, the rear upper leg. Two 6.5's and a 6mm (the winner) was their bullet diameter choice.
.

Barnes ttsx or other mono bullets I think would be good but I'm too tight to try them steel. they hold together and Penatrate on game like no other

Here is a video I was involved with. Most of the hits were 7mm 150 gr. Sierra MK's @ 2575 FPS MV. Several were Hornady 139gr. 7mm Interlocks. Major dust clouds with both.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wU-lGCBJ9c

Cool video! That white sand in the background sure looks nice! it eve looks like..... uh oh.... snow! Never mind.

Cool video! That white sand in the background sure looks nice! it even looks like..... uh oh.... it's snow! Never mind.

You can say that again JB2...oh...you did.

And who can forget this timeless classic video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfDoQwIAaXg

My current ram load is about 2680 fps, would this be too fast? The marks are not large when they hit so unlike my previous 308 loads at 2850 fps. Unfortunately I don't hold well enough to hit a specific part of the ram, letting off when the dot is on the white part is already hard enough.

We sometimes get some wind blowing from behind the rams which I guess doesn't help either.

Yes dwell time is what I am looking at maximising, so thicker jackets are the key here? What about fmj projectiles, could they hold together more than hpbt? I have some sst's so will try those too. Barnes copper projectiles might be worth a shot but they are quite expensive, but if they are the holy grail I could use them only during major comps.

Nice video btw, I wish I had a camera with a high fps rate to be able to do that.

Big marks, small marks. They are not a reliable indicator of bullet performance. I have seen the same load leave barely a trace to a large splash mark on rams over and over.

FMJ's ...forget them for poor accuracy. They will still come unglued hitting hardened steel with no appreciably noticed dwell time. They have thin jackets, too.

Your current velocity sounds about right but will slow to about 2250 at 500m. That will deliver plenty of foot pounds on steel to do the job. Under the right conditions. (see below) Barnes copper solids...for silhouette??? I would stay after the match with a little shovel digging for the misses!

Too many variables work against bullets and shooters at the distant rams. First, they are HEAVY at 50 lbs. plus...they are hardened and cause immediate bullet destruction....wind speed...wind direction...inconsistent weights....uneven foot pads, rail or stand surfaces....hard or soft set foot pads... poor hit location....and trying to knock them over with bare minimum bullet diameters, weight and speed to name a few.

My take on bullet performance. The precision made flying torpedo made it to the target guided by your marksmanship skill. The rest is a crap shoot. Bullet performance ends at steel contact.

My opinion only, probably shared by others, bigger and heavier is better. More metal, more push.

Been wanting to try these Woodleighs out but they are hard to find.

80A 160gr PP SN 50 Coefficient .509 1900-3000 fps 1.381"

They ain't cheap either! But they look like one tough hombre and just may be the answer Pretty long not sure how close you would be to unable to load them from the magazine. Velocity out of a 6.5x47 would be good to get 2450 or so.


If I ever see some I am going to try and test them. Would be worth it for big matches but I'd still stick with 142gr SMK for most of the rest of the time. Unless I get a deal on some Lapua 139 or 144 as well.


Dee

Anyone have a load for imr 4064 and something other than sierra 142s? for the 260?