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Equipment & Gear => Guns and Ammo => Topic started by: gutsnthegrass on March 01, 2024, 01:26:06 PM


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Title: 6.5 PRC reloading
Post by: gutsnthegrass on March 01, 2024, 01:26:06 PM
Hey all,
Wondering if anyone has any decent loads for their 6.5 PRC? I’m looking to load up some 143 ELDX, so mostly wondering about different powders and what seems to work best. Thanks for any info!
Title: Re: 6.5 PRC reloading
Post by: Buckjunkie on March 01, 2024, 02:17:34 PM
Hey all,
Wondering if anyone has any decent loads for their 6.5 PRC? I’m looking to load up some 143 ELDX, so mostly wondering about different powders and what seems to work best. Thanks for any info!

I have limited experience with the 6.5PRC, and none with the 143 ELDX. I have loaded 125 Nosler Partitions with IMR 4831 and 140 grain Accubonds and Partitions with H1000. I have shot the factory 143 ELDX in the PRC for barrel break in. They shot well and the velocity was close to what the box said.

RL 26 looks like the best powder for speed, but I won’t work up loads for the PRC with that powder because it’s impossible to find and I use it in my 6.5-06 with 130 grain bullets. I am down to 1.5 lbs of RL 26, so if you find some, I like many others would pay top dollar.
Title: Re: 6.5 PRC reloading
Post by: Karl Blanchard on March 01, 2024, 02:27:11 PM
What powders are you looking to use or are you starting from scratch?

Me personally, I'd flush those 143's down the toilet and pick up some 147 eld-m. 

Insert all the 143 shooters telling me I'm wrong here..... :chuckle:
Title: Re: 6.5 PRC reloading
Post by: Mtnwalker on March 01, 2024, 03:03:33 PM
What powders are you looking to use or are you starting from scratch?

Me personally, I'd flush those 143's down the toilet and pick up some 147 eld-m. 

Insert all the 143 shooters telling me I'm wrong here..... :chuckle:

 :yeah:
Title: Re: 6.5 PRC reloading
Post by: gutsnthegrass on March 01, 2024, 03:16:58 PM
What powders are you looking to use or are you starting from scratch?

Me personally, I'd flush those 143's down the toilet and pick up some 147 eld-m. 

Insert all the 143 shooters telling me I'm wrong here..... :chuckle:

I’m starting from scratch. I have some IMR4350, H4350, H1000, IMR4831 and some IMR7828ssc. I’m mostly using it for hunting, why the ELDM’s? Aren’t those match bullets?
Title: Re: 6.5 PRC reloading
Post by: b23 on March 01, 2024, 03:28:15 PM
What powders are you looking to use or are you starting from scratch?

Me personally, I'd flush those 143's down the toilet and pick up some 147 eld-m. 

Insert all the 143 shooters telling me I'm wrong here..... :chuckle:

Hey, just as long as you don't recommend using any of those POS Berger bullets cause those things suck, especially, the 140 Hybrids they're really bad!  I suckered this crazy dude into buying a bunch of them from me a couple years ago.  ;) ;)
Title: Re: 6.5 PRC reloading
Post by: b23 on March 01, 2024, 03:36:07 PM
I’m starting from scratch. I have some IMR4350, H4350, H1000, IMR4831 and some IMR7828ssc. I’m mostly using it for hunting, why the ELDM’s? Aren’t those match bullets?

Of the powders you have on hand H1000 would be my first pick.

Match bullets or not the 147 ELD-M along with the 140 Bergers, particularly the Hybrid Target 140 Berger, have shown to kill she shiznit outta stuff really well.  :tup:
Title: Re: 6.5 PRC reloading
Post by: Mulie87 on March 01, 2024, 03:36:15 PM
I load 143gr eldx on top of 58.5grns of Retumbo. 2,930fps avg.
Title: Re: 6.5 PRC reloading
Post by: Karl Blanchard on March 01, 2024, 03:38:53 PM
What powders are you looking to use or are you starting from scratch?

Me personally, I'd flush those 143's down the toilet and pick up some 147 eld-m. 

Insert all the 143 shooters telling me I'm wrong here..... :chuckle:

I’m starting from scratch. I have some IMR4350, H4350, H1000, IMR4831 and some IMR7828ssc. I’m mostly using it for hunting, why the ELDM’s? Aren’t those match bullets?
They are a "match" bullet, that's why they kill so well.

As B23 stated, the berger 140 or 156 would also be a fantastic choice.  All those powders will work well in the prc. H1000 would be my first try or pick up some Vihtavouri n565 if you really wanna spice things up a bit.
Title: Re: 6.5 PRC reloading
Post by: jrebel on March 01, 2024, 04:03:05 PM
I’ll be the oddball here and say flush all the hornady down the toilet.   :chuckle:  :chuckle:  Seriously though…..there are much better bullets out there. 

If you stick with that bullet, H1000, retumbo or win staBall HD.   A lot of 6.5prc shooters are speaking very well of the staBall HD and it’s cheap in comparison.  Not to mention you can find it just about everywhere. 

I would personally look at a 125 gr hammer Hunter HHT and run with a faster powder (h4350) and push it at 3300-3500 fps and have a deadly flat shooting round. 
Title: Re: 6.5 PRC reloading
Post by: JBar on March 01, 2024, 08:16:46 PM
If you can find it R26 works great and I agree with Jrebel dump Hornady all together! 140 accubond or 143 Bondstrike. If you want an exploder bullet go with Berger 140’s or 156’s. I have a buddy running N565 and 156’s at 2900+\-!  Youre going to end up with 100 different opinions so go with what you have confidence in.
Title: Re: 6.5 PRC reloading
Post by: Lowedog on March 01, 2024, 08:22:41 PM
I've had great results with 56.5 gr H1000 and 150gr Accubond Long Range. 
Title: Re: 6.5 PRC reloading
Post by: jrebel on March 02, 2024, 08:57:02 AM
If you can find it R26 works great and I agree with Jrebel dump Hornady all together! 140 accubond or 143 Bondstrike. If you want an exploder bullet go with Berger 140’s or 156’s. I have a buddy running N565 and 156’s at 2900+\-!  Youre going to end up with 100 different opinions so go with what you have confidence in.

 :yeah: :yeah:

The accubond is a great choice as well.   
Title: Re: 6.5 PRC reloading
Post by: highside74 on March 02, 2024, 09:59:39 AM
Are you guys getting good results with the Accubonds? I heard they were more finicky to load. The 150gr seems intriguing compared to the 140 and 142. Currently I have Berger 156s to work with along with N565 powder.
Title: Re: 6.5 PRC reloading
Post by: jrebel on March 02, 2024, 10:17:55 AM
Are you guys getting good results with the Accubonds? I heard they were more finicky to load. The 150gr seems intriguing compared to the 140 and 142. Currently I have Berger 156s to work with along with N565 powder.

Accubond vs accubond long range???

Accubonds - awesome bullet that performs as well as any cup and core bullet on the market.  Easy to load for and very accurate.  I’ve loaded thousands of these bullets and use them as my primary hunt bullet for years.  Still use them, though I’m slowly switching over to monolithic bullets (hammer hunters) as WA will eventually ban lead.   

Accubond long range - some people love them….a lot of people hate them.   They closely resemble the eldx and Berger’s in the sense they are designed to open at slower velocities.  The trade off is they explode at close range shots.  I played with and they are finicky to load for.  Very well documented by many reloaders.   I admittedly have not killed any game with them. 

A lot of folks want these crazy high bc bullets, when in all reality you won’t get much benefit within most folks hunting ranges….
Title: Re: 6.5 PRC reloading
Post by: Taco280AI on March 02, 2024, 10:45:01 AM
I'd go with a Barnes LRX or Hammer bullet, forget target and "match" bullets on game.

Don't remember the charge, but worked up a load for a buddy with H4831. Took a while to find what it liked, but once I did it was just under half MOA.
Title: Re: 6.5 PRC reloading
Post by: chukar58 on March 02, 2024, 10:52:20 AM
For my 6.5 PRC I have had good results with the accubonds and H4831SC at about 2950fps.   I was told by some that if you push the accubond too fast at close range the will not hold up,  these people were hunting elk.  I have killed a few deer with my loading and the terminal performance has been fabulous.  The one bullet I recovered was a nice mushroom with about 68% weight retention at about 100 yards.   Lots of good bullets and powders for the 6.5 PRC and what you can do with them. 
Title: Re: 6.5 PRC reloading
Post by: Caseknife on March 23, 2024, 08:39:50 PM
127 LRX with a case full of RL25 at 3200, kills great.
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