I think I still love this stuff.

[drenalinld]

I used to hand load for rifles a lot then got caught up in archery and only hunted with a bow for the better part of ten years. Some of that time I only Spring turkey hunted with a bow. Having an 8 yr old and 5 yr old daughters now I rarely have time to shoot my bow. A few years back I began ML hunting some again and in the past two seasons even shot a couple deer with my  brother's rifles. Two years ago I shot a decent non-typical buck with his 25-06 at 337 yards. It fueled my fire again. This Fall I bought a Bergera B-14 6.5 Creedmoor. I put Talley lightweight ring/base combos on it with a Leupold VX-IIIi 3.5-10x40 CDS scope. I quickly noticed when shooting factory loads and hand loads it left a bulged ring on primers around the firing pin indentation. Being concerned about a head space issue I called Bergara customer service. I did not have a no-go head space gauge nor a head space comparator so I tried to improvise using my OAL comparator and my largest bushing which was a 0.308". This fit over the neck and using this bushing the shoulder appeared to have moved forward 0.013-0.015" upon fire forming virgin Nosler brass. Bergara CS acted quickly e-mailing me an overnight shipping label and I got it shipped that day. The next day I did not hear from them. The following day I called to ask if it had been received. They couldn't give me any info other than it was received. Later that day UPS dropped off my stock with a brand new action and barrel. A little shooting revealed the same bulge ring on the primer and similar brass growth using my bullet comparator. I called Bergara CS again and a different rep quickly told me the primer ring was a signature of the B-14 bolt face design. I was pissed they didn't tell me this to begin with. Now I had to break in a new barrel. Shoot one shot, clean...repeat.....UGH! They could not tell me what they found on the first rifle other than a chamber issue. I suspect they never checked it just replaced action and barrel in attempt to satisfy me. To eliminate all doubt in my mind I ordered a no-go head space gauge and also bought a head space comparator. The no-go would not close in my chamber meaning it is in SAUMI specs and using the SAUMI datum line of 0.400" bushing the head space comparator showed shoulder only moving forward 0.003-0.004" with fire forming. Now I was comfortable with it. Still a little disappointed at lack of info from customer service but I cannot blame their timing. Paid shipping both ways to replace action and barrel in less than 48 hours.

Now for the good stuff. 6.5 Creedmoor is throated for long, high BC bullets. Many shoot 140 class bullet with great accuracy at 1,000 yards and beyond. My interest is 500 yards and in for whitetails. I chose the Nosler 120 Ballistic Tip which is still a long bullet. With RL-17 I got 3,000 fps with great accuracy. Three shot groups are 3/8" c-t-c or smaller. Some ragged holes! I cannot wait for RL-16 to hit the shelves!! I ordered my custom dial for this combo and will have it by deer season. Now I just need to shoot it at longer distances over the next few weeks. Loving this rifle. Here are some pics. The case is a Midway cotton/canvas that my brother and I waxed ourselves. The sling is made by Levy's Leathers in Canada, a distressed model that seamed to match the rifle well. In natural light there is some really cool tiger striping in this Walnut and that is why they only replaced the action and barrel and not the whole gun. I had hand selected this stock from several when I bought the rifle. Enjoy. Made in Spain. I call her El Nino!

[davisd9]

She is a beauty! I love to rifle hunt! I have a 270 Winchester that has been so good to me. Personally there is nothing better than holding that rifle, feeling it recoil, and smelling the powder burn, especially early morning and late evening. I load Barnes and Sierr@  GameKing 130s.


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[SteelerFan]

Very, VERY nice!!! 

[Greg Massey]

I have 3 model 70 Winchester's , 270, 7mag and 300 mag...great old guns///

[wvmntnhick]

I'm not overly familiar with the 6.5's but guns are definitely my game. I've got two rifles that fall into the long range category but one is still very much a work in progress. It's a Remington 700 7mm STW with a Hart barrel. It was wearing a vortex viper until it had a seal go bad. While it was gone I decided to buy a gun that had much better barrel life (Remington 700 AAC-SD in 308) with intentions of putting a new stock and barrel on it. After shooting it in the "crappy" hogue stock, I've found that the stock will probably wait until I decide to rebarrel it. It was hovering at the 3/8" group until I switched to 8208XBR powder. Now, it pretty consistently shoots .224" so long as I do my part. I'm pushing a 155 grain hornady a-max at 2820 fps (chronographed) and couldn't be happier. Shot several deer this summer on crop damage with that gun and couldn't be more pleased. One was at 416 yards. Last fall I shot one at 636 yards with the old load. I'm not a long range guy in the eyes of many but this gun is plenty capable. I'm just waiting for all the stars to align on a good deal on an HS precision stock for the STW. That Bergara is a fine looking piece. The 25-06 you mentioned earlier is one of my favorite deer cartridges but I've not used one in years. If Happy reads this, I'm sure he'll dig on me about the 25 caliber. For general deer hunting I find myself reaching either for a 270 or different 308. Found my dream gun earlier this year and have full intentions of using it this fall. This weekend if all goes well actually. Found a savage 99 chambered in 308 that was priced fair and didn't look as if it was run over by a truck numerous times. Can't wait. Anyway, lots of words to simply say, congrats on your purchase and it's a great looking gun.

[Tail Feathers]

Nice rifle!
Sounds like you jumped in with both feet.

[Happy]

Reload and rifle hunt myself. Still would rather archery hunt as far as big game is concerned. As far as reloading goes, I do it cause it's cheaper. I love premium bullets, have shot deer with barnes tsx, Hornady interbonds, and accubonds. Right now my favorite .270 load is the accubond. I don't like destroying a lot of meat and these bullets do the trick. Have had a few interbonds hits that looked more like what you would expect from a ballistic tip. My theory is that an Sst bullet gets thrown in the mix every once in a while during packaging. Anyways congrats on the rifle. It is a good looking gun. Have fun and shoot straight.

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[silvestris]

Ought to work well on some blue helmets.

[mgm1955]

Sweet!!