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I took the 6.5-284 out to zero yesterday.

The load was 123 grain Amax loaded to 79.75mm which is shorter than the recommended OAL however to build to full length would have left me with around 1,0mm to seat the bullet with. It is a long way off the lands at this point regardless. I opted for CCI LR primers as it was only for zeroing as opposed to load development and the brass is Lapua on its third firing.

Powder load was 50 grains of N160 from a sealed tub which should have been way below anything untoward according to my research.

First shot was smack on the vertical and 50,0mm low so I was happy (Apel rings with zero screws) However I noticed the primer was a bit flatter than I had expected but not showing any sign of cratering and bolt lift was fine. Second shot spat a primer out, third shot spat a primer out and bolt lift was heavy, probably to the loss of primer and a I called it a day.

So back home and check everything and I am at a loss to see where I could be going wrong, I even came back and measure the bullet diameters and lengths and everything is as it should be. H2O Case capacity is where it should be and the head space is perfect. This morning I will clean the barrel again and stick a bore scope up it however it has had less than 300 reasonable rounds through it and was OK when I checked it last. Looking at my reloading notes the barrel and rifle has always run fast and according loads have always been kept at sensible levels

Next step was to to shoot some ELD-X over H4895SC.

So what went wrong? I had not even got as far as setting the chronograph up before proper load development so no idea of velocities.

Just having a look at Vit data for Scenar 123 it lists max N160 as 50.8gn powder and start load of 40gn, so 123 AMax I would think would be similar, so think you are pushing it a bit hard.

kevinww wrote:Just having a look at Vit data for Scenar 123 it lists max N160 as 50.8gn powder and start load of 40gn, so 123 AMax I would think would be similar, so think you are pushing it a bit hard.

Yep just looked at the app, 50gns is top end but they are normally conservative.

The only other thing could be the powder, I know it's unlikely but is there a cock up at Vit with mis labelled tubs???
Alan

Maybe the primer pockets are loose. I know Lapua brass is good quality and only on third firing but primers don't usually fall out unless loose.

What about the firing pin and firing pin hole? Are they damaged in any way? Is there a lot of play between firing pin diameter and firing pin hole?

I have pulled the bullets now, and will drop the load by 2.5 grains which is 5% and see how that goes. If all else fails I will have to stick with the limited new brass I have.

The firing pin and bolt face are OK.

WelshShooter wrote:Maybe the primer pockets are loose. I know Lapua brass is good quality and only on third firing but primers don't usually fall out unless loose.

This.

Look at the brass. If it’s chucking the primers out there’s an issue.

And I’d be starting lower powder wise. I’d drop 5 grains from your starting point, not 2.5.

I agree dropping a full 10% would be a wiser move.

I am already at the 'I might as well stuff the spare 6,5x47 barrel on it' stage and realistically I am only trying this because it seemed like a good idea at the time.