I had picked up a box of 125 grain Badlands Bulldozer bullets to load in my 6.5 WSM. It is a machined copper bullet with aluminum tips and has a high BC of 0.510. This sleek looking bullet is longer than the 130 Berger VLD. https://badlandsprecision.com/category/2/bulldozer
When I first got my 6.5 WSM several years ago, there was not a lot of reload data to be found, so I had to work up based on other data. The closest 6.5 cartridge with the closest capacity I could find was the 264 WM, which had a published case water capacity about 8% greater than the 270 WSM. My own measurements with water in the 264WM was 7% greater than in my 6.5 WSM cases. For a 130 gr bullet in my 6.5, I had also looked at 140gr data in the 270 WSM.
But now the rifle has a new barrel (1in8 Shilen 4R, previous was a 1in8.5 polygonal Pacnor), so I am back to the beginning with load development for this Badlands Bulldozer copper bullet. Since I had good results using Ramshot Magnum before, i started with it again. My target velocity was 3200-3300 with this 125 bullet. Using 264 WM, 270 WSM, 6.5 RSAUM data and Barnes 127LRX data, I figured I could do some charge vs speed testing and watch for pressure signs. I did not know how this bullet would create pressure: faster like the Barnes or e-tip, or like a regular lead core bullet as Badlands makes this statement "and the best part is that our bullets can be loaded just like any conventional bullet." So i put together a set of rounds starting with 61.0 gr Magnum and went up in 1 gr increments to 68gr (my old 130 gr load for the previous barrel used 66.5 gr Magnum). The bullets were seated 0.02" off the lands. Federal 215M primers. This morning, I took the rifle to the pit, set up the ProChrono, and shot the string. 61 gr yielded 2926fps, and 68gr yielded 3234fps on the other end of the string. Velocity increases were not uniform, but were about an average of 44fps increase per grain of powder. No warnings from pressure signs via bolt lift, extremely flat primers, or shiny spots on the base.
Next step is to do an OCW from 65-68 grains in 0.5gr increments. Cases are loaded and ready for the next range session (tomorrow morning?).
I hope this helps someone developing loads with a 6.5 WSM. Or if someone has suggestions, I'm open to hearing them too.