6mm CM Hornady Factory ELDX Velocities...

[RAM190Hog]

I recently bought a Bergara WIlderness Sierra in 6CM for my 11yo son. 20" barrel with a SiCo Scythe Ti on the end.

The gun is very accurate, my 11yo and shot roughly .75" groups while zeroing the gun with 108 ELDMs.

The second time we shot it at the range, we were shooting both Hornady 108ELDM and 103ELDX. I was trying to get my old school Caldwell chrono set up, when a nice neightbor let me borrow his Garmin. We clocked the ELDXs at 2945 fps off the bench. Box velocity is 3000fps, I assume this is through a 22" barrel.

My son did some training with an instructor and was hitting steel to 600y prone. They did not chrono the rounds on that event.

I subsequently purchased a Garmin and went out to double check the zero before taking him to shoot once more before his first deer hunt. I shot 20 rounds of ELDM and 20 rounds of ELDX. Shots were prone off a Spartan bipod. Garmin was positioned per insutctions. 108 ELDM velicities averaged 2863 fps, and the 103 ELDs were 2802 fps (~140 fps different from the first session recorded with a Garmin).

I ran into an issue last year where the factory Hornady 7PRC were much slower than advertised on the box, and inconsistent between lot #s. Many discussions here and on YouTube highlighted they may not be using desired powders based on availability. Can we assume the same might be true of other cartridges? I love the accuracy of the Hornady rounds, but its hard to stomach a 150fps inconsistency netween lots. I guess we will have to chrono from the same box we plan to hunt with to really trust the ballistic solutions.

Anyone else seen this with Hornady 6CM factory loads? In the long run, I really need to start reloading...

 

[khuber84]

I'd say your doing really well at that 2950 speed. My 22in barrel is running that ammo at 2950-2970. Shoots well. I assume the box velocity(believe it's 3050mv) is from a 24in barrel.

I've shot 2 different lots of the 103eldX and they were within 25fps of each other from the same barrel.

 

[bojangles808]

Both my friend and I had 100fps differences between lots with factory 108 eldm ammo. First lot was slow. Im about 2970 now (24in barrel). We both had new barrels with less than 50 rounds but to speed up that quick with that low a round count made me think it was the powder

 

[5811]

I lost nearly 100fps in a different lot of factory 108eldm. No change in 100 yard zero or precision. If I wasn't chronographing them, I'd have no idea.

Between that and my 7prc, it's enough to make me throw my hands up and say, "Fine, I'll fricken handload if you're going to be like that."

 

[wind gypsy]

I love the accuracy of the Hornady rounds, but its hard to stomach a 150fps inconsistency netween lots. I guess we will have to chrono from the same box we plan to hunt with to really trust the ballistic solutions.

Anyone else seen this with Hornady 6CM factory loads? In the long run, I really need to start reloading...

yes, factory ammo can have large lot to lot swings. From most brands.

 

[pacoalcracker]

100fps is nothing and a difference in ambient air temperature between range sessions can easily make that difference. So can allowing a round to sit in a warm or hot barrel, even for just 15 seconds, or sitting in hot sunlight before shooting it. Some powders are more temp sensitive than others. Not to mention when the powder charge is near max even the smallest difference in charge weight can be a difference of 100fps so I can see that kind of difference between ammo lots for certain types of ammo. When shooting performance cartridges like the 7prc they are getting loaded pretty hot.

 

[RAM190Hog]

100fps is nothing and a difference in ambient air temperature between range sessions can easily make that difference. So can allowing a round to sit in a warm or hot barrel, even for just 15 seconds, or sitting in hot sunlight before shooting it. Some powders are more temp sensitive than others. Not to mention when the powder charge is near max even the smallest difference in charge weight can be a difference of 100fps so I can see that kind of difference between ammo lots for certain types of ammo. When shooting performance cartridges like the 7prc they are getting loaded pretty hot.

I did not realize air temp or bullet temp could have that much impact on bullet velocity. Good to know.

 

[khuber84]

I did not realize air temp or bullet temp could have that much impact on bullet velocity. Good to know.

It does to a degree if ammo is loaded with highly temp sensitive powders.

 

[Live_weighT34]

I tried 3 different lots with my 6 creed and 108 ELDms over the last year after hearing about the 7PRC issues & slowest was 2889 and fastest lot was 2940 with ES of 10-12 fps in each lot. They’ve been super consistent for me. Not quite box speeds but there’s too many variables in each rifle to always hit those speeds IMO

 

[Timjohnson11]

That's not much slower than I was running those out of my 24" barrel. I'd say buy up the as many boxes from lot as you can as they are cooking for saying that is a 20" barrel you are using!