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Oh no! Not another big bore!

PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2020 8:37 pm
by offrink
I have purchased but haven’t received an upper for 50 beowulf and all the trimmings for reloading it. Does anyone reload for this round? Not a whole lot on the web that I can find that is a legitimate source except for the powder manufacturers.

Re: Oh no! Not another big bore!

PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2020 11:19 am
by plant_one
http://www.alexanderarms.com/images/pdf ... oading.pdf

straight from the horses ass itself :)

Re: Oh no! Not another big bore!

PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2020 12:52 pm
by plant_one
you can also find info published in hornady's 10th edition starting on page 776 as well.

Re: Oh no! Not another big bore!

PostPosted: Sat May 30, 2020 6:26 pm
by offrink
Thanks for that link. I was hoping to find some lil gun info other than the 3 from the hornady manual but I guess that just means I need to buy some more reloaded 7. I would love to see how a 420 grain Xtreme penetrator would do to a deer or hog! 450 BM is newer but it has way more info on it. AA doesn’t want to divulge much. Or at least as little as they can. I’m also surprised they run a magnum large pistol primer. Seems as though a large rifle primer would do better.

Re: Oh no! Not another big bore!

PostPosted: Sun May 31, 2020 1:35 pm
by plant_one
bill has always kinda done his own thing and to hell with the rest of the world.

im stunned he actaully SAAMI the grendel tbh, with as tight as he has been with the beowulf. buddy of mine was blown away to find out that it had been reverse engineered to the 12.7x42 and you could get uppers for only a couple hundred $... he's got an AA setup that he paid >$1800 for back around 10 years ago.

Re: Oh no! Not another big bore!

PostPosted: Mon Jun 01, 2020 8:05 pm
by offrink
That’s what I ended up doing. AA uppers are still quite expensive. I picked up the generic stoner 12.7 for about $425. Throw in all the stuff to reload for it and I’m saving quite a bit of money over brand name upper and completed bullets.

And I just got done prepping 300 Grendel rounds. Disappointed with accuracy with varget and read that cfe223 powder is better accuracies and faster as well.

Re: Oh no! Not another big bore!

PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2020 7:20 am
by Hoot
IMR 8208XBR, AR-Comp are good powders for the 6.5g though 8208 will deliver slightly better velocity. I've never tested it with CFE223 since it was not out yet back then. I now have some and its on my to-do list. BTW, Lapua brass lasts a lot longer than Hornady before the primer pockets get loose. A.A brass is actually rebranded Lapua and they used to have it on sale occasionally. (I stocked up)

My 2nd Gen 6.5g is a tack driver with the now discontinued (I stocked up) Hornady 123 Amax.

8208XBR

Image

AR-Comp

Image

Those were shot with 24" E.R. Shaw production overun barrel made for Alexander Arms about 10 years ago. They were sold for a short while on Midway under the AR Stoner product line back then. One of those being in the right place at the right time opportunities. This was and remains my most accurate AR rifle. It likes 120 NBT but not as much as the 123 Amax.

I have no experience with the new generation 6.5g. FYI, the 2nd gen has a deeper bolt face and compound throat as originally spec'd by A.A.

Hoot

Re: Oh no! Not another big bore!

PostPosted: Fri Jun 05, 2020 11:38 am
by plant_one
for what its worth hoot, the 123 eld-m is the SAME bullet as the 123 amax, just with a different - more consistent and less heat sensative - tip material.

otherwise it uses identical cup, core and manufacturing specs (jacket thickness, tip shape, length, etc)

thats why when they released the eld-m and the eld-x lines of bullets simultaneously they only published data for the eld-x ... the eld-m data didnt change from the amax because they are essentially the same bullet, just with a little better long range (>600 yd) BC due to minimizing tip deformation during flight.

you may need to do some mild testing to confirm long range POI, but otherwise your load data shouldnt need to change at all - or no more than would be required when switching powder lot #'s anyway.

HTH

Re: Oh no! Not another big bore!

PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2020 7:48 am
by Hoot
Not to continue dragging this off topic but I finally tried CFE223 in my 6.5 Grendel and ladder groups were certainly not as good as the images I already posted. Best 5-shot group was 1 MOA at 100yds using 31gr at a COL of 2.26 which IIRC is about .050-.060 jump in my barrel. Of course, to be honest, I'm not as good at the trigger as I was 10 years ago, so factor that in as well. I'll retest with known good recipes and see if its me or the powder. FWIW, unlike AR Comp, CFE223 made 2700 fps at the top of the ladder without any pressure signs, from my 24" barrel. If you're chasing every last fps and 1-2 MOA is acceptable, then CFE223 is a good choice.

Hoot

Re: Oh no! Not another big bore!

PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2020 9:32 am
by offrink
I have no problem veering off to another topic I’m interested in!