New 6.5 SLR Build

[lancetkenyon]

Dead on guess.

 

Average for the load is right at 2910fps, +/- 8 fps (2902 to 2919) across a total of 20 shots, with 5 seating depths. 43.8gr H4350. COAL was 2.831", or 2.178" to ogive. Tolerances with the competition seating die had less than .001 runout on the bullet seating depth across all loaded rounds. I was really happy with the consistency of the bullets.

 

Environmentals were 65° @ 28.11" barometric pressure.

[Big Browns]

WOW!

[MULEPACKHUNTER]

When the stuff hits the fan your welcome on my roof.

[STOMP442]

Looks like it falls right in there with just about every .260 Ackley I have built. I have done five or so now and the sweet spot for all of them has been between 42-44.5gr of H4350 with 140 Bergers and 2910-2960 fps. It all boils down to the particulars of the barrel tolerances I think. I have found the 6.5mm bores among the easiest to tune, they seem to want to shoot no matter what.

[lancetkenyon]

I finalized my load development this morning. To say I am happy would be an understatement. I will probably never be able to duplicate the results again. Now I just need to get out and stretch its legs a bunch to verify drops over the next couple months.

 

Final load is as follows:

Rem Brass

Federal 210M primer

43.2gr. H4350

140 Berger HVLD

2.188" to ogive

.0400" jump

2904-2912 fps

.224" 3 shot group at 200 yards

68°, 28.72 baro, dead calm 0 wind

 

Top hole is 2 shots out of 3

 

 

 

I also had this .554" group at 200 with a 43.0 powder charge @ 2890. But I think I will stick with 43.2gr. Weird how you can feel disappointment at a 1/2" group at 200 yards after the top group.

[Kingzero]

Excellent groups! I sold my 260 and Brad and Keith will be doing my next build (6mm Creedmoor) when I get the rest of my parts.

[Zeke-BE]

That's crazy that a 0.2 grain of powder will cause it to move it that much

[rcdinaz]

Nice work!

 

I still haven't dialed in the sweet spot on the 6.5-284 but the 2900FPS area was most promising for the 140 gr Bergers. Funny I stopped messing around with the 7mm RM just shy of the 3000fps as well. That gun has yet to miss a critter out to 550 yds and was drawing iron out to 1K yds on the 168gr VLD's.

 

Makes we wonder why we try to get past 3K fps.

[lancetkenyon]

I recently swapped scopes on my 6.5SLR to a Kahles K624i with the SKMR reticle. Well, today, I dropped some SERIOUS coin and installed an 18-72x56 Kahles tripler on the rig! Talk about a precision setup now!

 

So the new setup cost me ¢1800 to get that kind of power, I think it is money well spent. Amazing glass for the price.

 

6-24x56 (plus 3X Zoomies glasses)= 18-72x56!!! Available at most local Walgreens stores for those who are interested in true precision long range shooting.

 

 

 

I sent this last one to my brother.....not aimed at you guys here.

 

[azpredator@work]

That made me laugh😁

 

Keep up the good shootin....

[Hoss50]

Once and Undertaker always an Undertaker... ..l..

[HuntHarder]

Were you not impressed with the Steiner scope?

[firstcoueswas80]

How many hairs on that gnats asss?

[lancetkenyon]

So, here is the deal with the Steiner.

 

During my build, I knew I wanted a top tier glass to put on it. I really wanted the Vortex Razor Gen II 4.5-27x56 w. the EBR-2C MIL reticle. Well, they seem to be like unobtainium for the last 6+ months. So I put on e on order (which I am still waiting on), but I was seriously considering the Steiner T5Xi 5-25x56 w. the SCR reticle also. But they had not been released yet, and had been delayed 3 month with their release at the time, with no definite release date set.

 

The initial beta testers had good reviews of them (of course, they would not put out any scopes for testing that were not perfect). Well, it was announced the release date would be Jan. 2015, so I went and put one on pre-order. MSRP is $2300, and it was advertised on another site with a discount for $1999. Well, I figured I was waiting on the Vortex, so I might as well save $500 and go with the Steiner which was due to ship in Jan. So I ordered one up, and got an even nicer surprise when I added it to the cart on a special link page and got it for $1799, no tax, free shipping. So I save $700 over the Vortex!

 

When it was released in January as promised, mine was one of the first 20 shipped out. Again, I am STILL waiting on my Vortex, but I could have gotten it from another supplier already, I just don't want to go through the hassle of cancelling one order that has been on the books since Dec. 2014.

 

When it arrived, I was very pleased with a lot about it. Some of the features are the coolest I have seen.

Pros:

The low profile, large diameter turrets that change numbers once you dial past 12mil is awesome.

Great zero stop that is easy to reset zero.

The SCR reticle is really, really good. I love the .2mil holds for windage. The floating X is nice too. Not too busy, but a lot of nice subtensions.

It is about 1# lighter than the Vortex, which is great for a hunting rifle.

Really good elevation travel available. I could shoot to 2K with my 6.5 and not need holdovers.

The 11 position lighted reticle is really nice too. And it has an off position between each brightness setting which is really nice.

 

Here are he items that made me opt for another choice once it came and I had a real chance to mess with it. And I have heard others with similar issues, but not everyone, so I am considering sending it back to have Steiner do a thorough check on it. Maybe I just got a bad one and another would be perfect, I don't know.

Cons:

While the glass is good, it is not $2K good in my scope. Is it $1700 good? Hmmm....probably not. $1500 good, maybe. $1300 good, this is more in the realm.

The edges blur quite a bit, and that is not something I was expecting from a $2K scope.

Parallax.....the numbers on the dial are WAY off, not that it matters, as I dial for parallax anyway. When there is no parallax, I could care less what the dial says.

Eye relief is quite a bit less than most of my other scopes.

Eye box is VERY unforgiving. If you are not exactly behind the scope, sight picture stinks.

Optical adjustment takes forever to get correct. I have never had a more finicky scope.

 

Once I finally got everything dialed in, clarity improved some. It just takes forever to get everything correct.

 

Don't get me wrong, clarity compared to lesser scopes is definitely better. It is clearer than my older Leupold Vari-X III. But my $1200 SWFA is just as clear as this scope, but does not have near the features or reticle as the Steiner. It is just not as good as I was expecting. It now sits atop my .25-06 Ackley, and will do just fine for that rifle. But I wanted better for my new 6.5 SLR which I plan to take out to at least 1500, and will probably do some mile+ shooting with it.

 

The Kahles is simply amazing. The reticle is similar to the SCR, but better in my opinion. I love the tiny floating dot in the center for an aim point. It still has .2mil windage subtensions too. Only 1oz of difference between this and the Steiner. A bit shorter than the Steiner too. Eye relief is better, and eye box is fantastic to get behind. Ocular adjustment for reticle clarity was super easy and fast. The only thing I would prefer is a little lower low end magnification. But the difference between 5x & 6x is barely noticeable in anything but a very slight narrowing in FOV. I can see no difference in magnification or FOV between the 24X on the Kahles vs. the 25X on the Steiner at the top end. But the Kahles is brighter and much clearer on 24X than the Steiner on 25X. It also does not have quite as much elevation travel,, but enough to get me to a mile+, and further if I use holdovers.

 

So, once I receive my Vortex Razor Gen II, I will decide whether I want to send the Steiner in for a tune-up or just keep it on my other rifle.

 

Hope this clears up my choice some. I think Steiner tried to hit a home run with this scope being made in the US< and being under the $3500 mark of their M5Xi military scope, with some awesome features. I just think they missed their mark on the glass quality and some QA processes. It is too bad, because if they would correct a few of these issues, they could rule the sub $2K market. Lifetime no questions asked warranty just like Vortex to boot.

[lancetkenyon]

How many hairs on that gnats asss?

2 and a curly half.