So I recently had a new custom 6.5 prc built. I don’t like the load development part of reloading so immediately after the gun was built I had it shipped to an outfit for load development. Said entity will remain nameless as I’m trying to work this matter out with him now.
Eventually I get the rifle back, with the load recipe and 160 loaded rounds, loaded by this outfit, per this recipe, so I’d have enough ammo to get me going and brass to reload on my own later. Whole shebang was roughly $1400-1500, including the ammo and components used during load development (most of that was ammo and component cost).
Long story short, the ammo is accurate at short range. It will do 1/2 moa, and 3/4 easy at 100 yards. Everything seemed ok at first and I was satisfied when I first shot the gun and ammo. Then came time to cut dope and I got out the chronograph. Things went south from there.
90-100 es over 10-12 shots. Yes, with ample barrel cooling. And sometimes the fastest shots were after cooling and the slowest were on a warm barrel. Speed was just erratic, with no logical pattern. Mind you, this was with his loaded ammo, not ammo I loaded per his recipe. So my reloading process can’t be blamed. Ok, so I thought my shoot thru chrono was going wonky with light too bright or something and giving sporadic readings. I chocked it up to the chrono after that first range trip.
I was wrong. Next range trip I brought my Magnetospeed. And I brought two other rifles with known good loads. Yep, same thing, 90-100 es. And only 10-15 es on the other two rifles with known good loads. It’s not the chrono. It’s this load. I’m not satisfied. This much ES and SD is just too much for any kind of long range accuracy.
First contact with the guy he was nice but doubted my findings or at least was quite surprised. He said he got a 24 es with his workup, but he did say his shot strings were only 3 or 4. He blamed a carbon ring and copper fouling as a possible culprit. Absolutely not. Gun is clean as a whistle and was completely cleaned and verified with a borescope prior to each shooting session. I wrote down all my velocity numbers from this last session, sent to him again and am now awaiting a response.
So what would you do? I have good money in this and imo, load development involves more than just acceptable 100 yard accuracy. Should I start all over, ship the gun back to the guy and tell him to find a new load or tune this one? Should I ask for a refund for the part of the cost that was for load development (excluding the ammo)? Or should I chock the whole experience up as a loss, untwist my man panties, and do the darn load workup myself (which I am entirely capable of and have done many times, I just don’t like the tedium)? Any other suggestions?
Eventually I get the rifle back, with the load recipe and 160 loaded rounds, loaded by this outfit, per this recipe, so I’d have enough ammo to get me going and brass to reload on my own later. Whole shebang was roughly $1400-1500, including the ammo and components used during load development (most of that was ammo and component cost).
Long story short, the ammo is accurate at short range. It will do 1/2 moa, and 3/4 easy at 100 yards. Everything seemed ok at first and I was satisfied when I first shot the gun and ammo. Then came time to cut dope and I got out the chronograph. Things went south from there.
90-100 es over 10-12 shots. Yes, with ample barrel cooling. And sometimes the fastest shots were after cooling and the slowest were on a warm barrel. Speed was just erratic, with no logical pattern. Mind you, this was with his loaded ammo, not ammo I loaded per his recipe. So my reloading process can’t be blamed. Ok, so I thought my shoot thru chrono was going wonky with light too bright or something and giving sporadic readings. I chocked it up to the chrono after that first range trip.
I was wrong. Next range trip I brought my Magnetospeed. And I brought two other rifles with known good loads. Yep, same thing, 90-100 es. And only 10-15 es on the other two rifles with known good loads. It’s not the chrono. It’s this load. I’m not satisfied. This much ES and SD is just too much for any kind of long range accuracy.
First contact with the guy he was nice but doubted my findings or at least was quite surprised. He said he got a 24 es with his workup, but he did say his shot strings were only 3 or 4. He blamed a carbon ring and copper fouling as a possible culprit. Absolutely not. Gun is clean as a whistle and was completely cleaned and verified with a borescope prior to each shooting session. I wrote down all my velocity numbers from this last session, sent to him again and am now awaiting a response.
So what would you do? I have good money in this and imo, load development involves more than just acceptable 100 yard accuracy. Should I start all over, ship the gun back to the guy and tell him to find a new load or tune this one? Should I ask for a refund for the part of the cost that was for load development (excluding the ammo)? Or should I chock the whole experience up as a loss, untwist my man panties, and do the darn load workup myself (which I am entirely capable of and have done many times, I just don’t like the tedium)? Any other suggestions?
