Sauer 100 6.5 Creedmoor: evaluating bullet stability

[1000yards]

These rifles come with a 220mm twist barrel which is equal to 8.66". This is one of the standard 6.5 twist rates in Europe, the other being 200mm. I've seen issues before with a 6.5x55 in 220mm twist that would shoot the 127 LRX great at 100 yards but completely sideways at 200 yards.

So I decided to see for myself which bullets would work. My goal was to evaluate stability, nothing else. Using factory ammunition, five shots at 100 yards, 5 shots at 200 yards. Muzzle velocity is the average of ten shots.

The rifle:
Sauer 100 6.5 creedmoor
220mm twist
20.5" barrel
SWFA 3-9
Omega 300 direct thread

Shooting conditions:
45° fahrenheit
Elevation: sea level (give or take a couple feet but the property is on the ocean)


Hornady EldM 120 (control)
2771 FPS


100 yards:


200 yards (Forgot to dial):



Barnes LRX 127
2796 FPS


100 yards:


200 yards (forgot to dial again):


Hornady 143 EldX
2575


100 yards:


200 yards:


continued...

 

[1000yards]

Hornady 147 Eldm
2586


100 yards:


200 yards:

 

[Hnthrdr]

This is great, I helped my buddy get his 6.5 sauer set up, I’ll show this to him! Thanks for doing this

 

[1000yards]

None of the bullets were sideways. The 147 may be having issues or it may just be the wrong bullet for this barrel. It rarely gets much colder than this where I hunt. It's possible some people may start to see issues at sea level if it is colder. But if you're above 3000 feet then you should be good to go.

I probably won't be doing any more tests on these bullets. My plan is to handload the 130 tmk, check for accuracy and verify the bc, then shoot the hell out of it. The 130 tmk is shorter than the 127 lrx and 143 eldx.

Two things to note:

-Three of the 143 cases got stuck in the chamber after firing. One of them took several minutes before I could get it out. Maybe I need to clean the chamber? Here's the offender:


-After all that shooting. I let my barrel cool off, then put all my effort into a ten shot group with the 120 eldm:


So does anybody have experience with that 120 on big hogs or elk?

 

[vonb]

The 127 Barnes looked decent. There’s your elk bullet.

 

[Fabel.52]

Mine seems to really like the 140 grain AAC Sabre black tips (sst) . Which is great because its so cheap l. I do plan to reload and setup 130 tmks for it.

 

[ETtikka]

Thank you for testing and posting

 

[Hnthrdr]

Mine seems to really like the 140 grain AAC Sabre black tips (sst) . Which is great because its so cheap l. I do plan to reload and setup 130 tmks for it.

Good to know as well, I really need to buy some black tips and run them they are sooo dang cheap! Just need to shoot up a bunch of 140 eld m and 143 eld x

 

[1000yards]

The 127 Barnes looked decent. There’s your elk bullet.

No interest. The only reason I tested that one was because I've seen it do this in another 220mm twist barrel: