flytie Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 I have finally managed to find the time to buy some reloading equipment. The final straw was not being able to find Federal Powershoks in the vicinity and i had to buy some RWS at £1.80 each So here I am, waiting for my stuff to arrive and wondering about buying the powder. I have looked at the powder manufacturers web based relading charts and there seems to be a very wide choice for reloading the 6.5x55, what do you recommend? I will look at my reloading books when they come, but I would love to know what you think. I will be reloading 129gn SST's to start with. Probably some 140gn softpoints at a later date as i have been really happy with the Powershoks in that weight and it does seem to be a classic weight for the 6.5. I am using them on fallow, roe, muntjac and foxes and just want an all round performer. Many thanks, ft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunkield Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 I wanted Federal like rounds during my brief flirtation with reloading, and ended up with (must have been recommended somewhere, can't remember) Viht 160 and Sierra Game Kings in 140 I do remember the powder needs to be at the slower end of the scale though. http://www.vihtavuori-lapua.com/pdfs/Burning-Rate-Chart.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flytie Posted October 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 (edited) I wanted Federal like rounds during my brief flirtation with reloading, and ended up with (must have been recommended somewhere, can't remember) Viht 160 and Sierra Game Kings in 140 I do remember the powder needs to be at the slower end of the scale though. http://www.vihtavuori-lapua.com/pdfs/Burning-Rate-Chart.pdf Stuart, I have been told that there are supply problems with Vit, but N160 sems to crop up on a lot of tables. Thanks, ft PS, Neat chart, thank you! Edited October 9, 2009 by flytie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunkield Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 My experience was that one time or another everything to do with reloading dried up FT If it wasn't one thing it was another, one powder was hard to get so their customes bought 'my' powder and so on. I bought a kg of n133 for .223 and a kg of n160 for the 6.5 so I didn't have to worry about it until they ran low. But the first rule of reloading seems to be, use what you can get hold of relatively easily... Reloader 19 is another 6.5 favourite, but I would wait for the reloading crew to see this and see what they have to say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flytie Posted October 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 N160 is an ideal powder for 6.5x55 in either 120 or 140 gr. I used it with great succes. In my experience, Vit is ususally the most available powder and always works out better value too. Fister, thanks for that! Does my having a short barrelled finnlight (20") affect the choice of powder? Do I need a slightly faster burning powder because of it? They are probably such newbie questions, but I honestly have no idea, sorry ft Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyb Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 Varget? It's pretty popular, and I've found it in most reloading places I've been to. Works great in my 223, and I've seen it's results in 22-250, 243 and 7mm08 I've got no knowledge of Varget mixed with the sweed mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry d Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 160 fan here more especially with 140gn heads, 45.6 of to be precise, and this according to "the book" is the top end and vindicates fister below. I was too scared to follow fisters advice when working up 120 heads and it showed at 300+ yds. "Book" data and "Book" velocity figures for the 6.5 are virtually all derived from mauser actions re-barrelled in the us with lower atainable safe working pressures and if there is one calibre where you can work way beond the book it is 6.5. Now im not saying be stupid, certainly not if you are new to reloading but 120's can easily be driven to 3000 fps with N160 and sometimes more with double based powders such as Re22. The Lee books differentiate between the two "actions" and it is an eye opener and when on the range many of the lads will tell you the same. Top marks fister Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flytie Posted October 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 The Lee books differentiate between the two "actions" and it is an eye opener and when on the range many of the lads will tell you the same. HD, I have bought the Lee reloading manual with the kit (and other bits) and the Hornady one too. There seem to be good charts put up on the web by the powder companies too, at least they have been interesting me The Chuck Hawks site keeps telling people that you can up the powder levels in new rifles, and that the powder levels have been reduced in the new manuals to cope with the old modified mauser actions that are common over there. Atb, ft Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flytie Posted October 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2009 I have just found the "Old Deer Hunters" site and it has links and load data to all the big manufacturers. Just in case anyone is interested; http://www.clcweb.net/Loading/safeload/data/data.html ft Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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