[loonybin]

I'll be ordering a Ko-tonics upper in the near future (probably 20") for hunting and am wondering if you have plans on loading some of the heavier bullets?

 

[Southern Devil Dog]

I load 130 gr bullets, that is all i can get my hands on right now . They do have a great nock down power compaired to the 110 and 115. I belive it might be in the length of the bullet. Plus i do have a 24" barrel.

 

[loonybin]

I load 130 gr bullets, that is all i can get my hands on right now . They do have a great nock down power compaired to the 110 and 115. I belive it might be in the length of the bullet. Plus i do have a 24" barrel.

Well, I bought the 18" barrel upper from Tim, so I'm not sure if the 130s will get the velocity and trajectory I want for hunting. The 110 TSX will be quite sufficient, though, when I handload them.

 

[Test_User]

With an 18" you can get them to 2500. If you look at the Speer 130 SP they have BC over .4 and they are 1.03 and 1.08 With that BC they will have the same trajectory as the 110 Pro Hunter out to 300+ but with more energy. 130s are really at the very top end of what can be used in the 6.8 ans there are only a few that are practical. The issue I think with SSA loading them is the powder they use now may not have the right burn rate for the heavier bullet. But it may. In all honesty there is nothing that a 130 can take at what we can drive them at, even up to 2600 fps, that a 110 Barnes TSX won't drop. I like the 130s and that is all some people can get without special order. If you want to try loading them I suggest IMR3031, H335, Hodgdon BL-C2, Accurate No.2520, Rel 10x One of those should give you a good load at 2500+ Again this only applies to the shorter 130s. You need to stay below 1.1 in OAL of bullet otherwise there is not enough powder room.

 

[loonybin]

With an 18" you can get them to 2500. If you look at the Speer 130 SP they have BC over .4 and they are 1.03 and 1.08 With that BC they will have the same trajectory as the 110 Pro Hunter out to 300+ but with more energy. 130s are really at the very top end of what can be used in the 6.8 ans there are only a few that are practical. The issue I think with SSA loading them is the powder they use now may not have the right burn rate for the heavier bullet. But it may. In all honesty there is nothing that a 130 can take at what we can drive them at, even up to 2600 fps, that a 110 Barnes TSX won't drop. I like the 130s and that is all some people can get without special order. If you want to try loading them I suggest IMR3031, H335, Hodgdon BL-C2, Accurate No.2520, Rel 10x One of those should give you a good load at 2500+ Again this only applies to the shorter 130s. You need to stay below 1.1 in OAL of bullet otherwise there is not enough powder room.

so the Speer Hot-Cors in 130gr. will get me the same trajectory as the 110 Pro-Hunters? I can handle that. If I'm putting the right info into the JBM calculator (Speer 130gr Spitzer SP @ 2500 and Sierra 110 SPT at 2600 ), then there is only a .5" difference at 350yds (sight height for ARs is 2.6", correct?). However, I like the idea of having an extra 230ft-lbs of energy at that range.

The TSX do look really tempting (and I have some to try out), but I'm not sure how they'll perform at closer ranges (100yds or less). I've heard reports of them just passing through and not delivering the knock-down punch at closer ranges unless they hit bone. How much of that was just bad shooting... who knows. I'll probably load up some of all three and see which one kills water jugs and watermelons better at 50yds and 200yds. With the price of meat what it is, I won't be blasting any pot roasts.:shock:

eta: I just noticed that my Lee 6.8 dies aren't supposed to be used with Speer bullets. Has anyone had a problem loading Speer Hot-Cors with the Lee dies?

 

[Test_User]

Take a look at the Barnes page on how they work and you will see why people think they don't expand. But you will notice they usually say the insides were jelly. The site explains why. Personally I really like the 130s but becasue of the bands on the TSX you can drive them 100 fps faster then the other 110s. They will both get the job done. On the 130s be careful and check but I was able to load them all the way to 2.30 without them touching the ,lands. I went to 2.306 jsut to be sure I wasn't right up on it. If anyone else wouldn't mind if they have some of the 130 speers trying this I would appreciate it so I know I am not missing it. But that helps a lot as we had alway thought we could only load to 2.26 as they looked so blunt. I ruined my Hrdy OAL case or I could have found out very quick. I think either the bullet will work very well and the speers are 1/2 the cost of the TSX but they tsx are very nice and very accurate.

 

[mogunr]

eta: I just noticed that my Lee 6.8 dies aren't supposed to be used with Speer bullets. Has anyone had a problem loading Speer Hot-Cors with the Lee dies?

I'd like to know this too. I've given some thought to loading some of these and Lee dies are what I use too.

 

[Test_User]

That is funny. Even though I am not a fan of much of lees stuff and that includes there dies other then the FCD and Collet neck die I will not feed te fire on tis one.

That warning is in referance to the use of the FCD use with the Speer Hot-Cor Bullets. The supposed reason is the way the Hor-Cors work at such low velocities is they use a softer lead alloy then other makers. This is why they offer the Grand Slam. Anyways this it not an issue at all unless you are putting a full power crimp on them. FYI using anything more then a 1/2 turn (light crimp) will hurt accuracy and those bullets aren't moving regardless so you are only hurting accuracy and gaining nothing positive by going more. The warning was actually put out by Speer first and then later on it was add by Lee. Now I am sure it has nothing to do with that Speer is owned by Blount, the parent company of RCBS!?! :wink:

Anyways you are jsut fine using your lee dies all of them. Don't put a heavy crimp on them which is not good anyways.

Man I so wanted to to of on a anti Lee die post Oh well. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

This actually brings up a very good point about the Speer 130 Hot-Cors though. They do use softer lead. The way they do the hot pour instead of a cold swage and then swagged them after the fact supposedly makes the core adhere better to the jacket. What it also does by use of the softer alloy is allows the bullet to expand at much lower velocities and fully expand sooner. For whatever reason they do seem to hold together at least as well at the other makers hunting loads that don't expand as low or quickly so there must be something to it. If you get anywhere 2400 or over they are a excellent hunting bullet. The fact Hrdy states its 130s used in the 6.8 are well with there terminal performance range and we know the factories are a bit conservative with there numbers is a good indicator that the 6.8 wil do fine with the normal 130 bullets.

The main reason for the 130s Speers is they offer the highest BC for 130s that are anywhere near that short and as a matter of fact they are one of the shortest 130s out. All of this is ideal for the 6.8. We need a short one and we need higher BC as it will loss less velocity. I can push these to right at 2600 fps where I just start to get faint swipes but no primer issues. At 2500-2600 I would fee very confident to taking any game from Mule deer, Hog, Black Bear out to 350 yards and I would take Elk to 200. At 2400-2500 I would be fine with regualr deer and hogs to 300. You get the idea.

Also if you look at the post I put up early this morning you will see the COAL you it takes to reach the lands. Make sure you check but as you can see most likely you can take the 130 SP all the way to max mag length and still be well off the lands. I really suggest you take a look at the IMR3031 powder. Take your time with measuring the powder charge and it will give you some of the best vel. It is a great powder for 115-130. As well another hint AA2580 for 115-130 but what do I know. :wink:

With 3031 it will look very full in the case but look at how much air space is between those huge logs. I have gone where it was so full it took tapping so it would not fall out of the case but there was no crunching or tension when seating the bullets. Give it a try if they carry it locally.

I wil say this.

I will shoot at anything out to 300 tat you would go after with a 270 Win both with 130 bullets

Same goes for the .243 both using 80-90 gr bullets. (ours will be going just as fast if not faster :wink: )

Maybe its jsut me but tat sure seems to make the 6.8 one hell of a versatile round. It can match the 243 for vel with 80-90 gr bullets. It can shoot inside the 308 out to 500. It can handle anything the 270 can out to 300 yard hunting. Forget the extra vel of the .270 as people need to remember there aren't different levels of dead. Dead is dead no matter how fast or slow a bullet is going when it does it. :mrgreen: :mrgreen: I have seen to many DTR of all kinds of game from to many different calibers and velocities to think you need 50+ grains of powder to kill most things well especially when it comes to a cartidge as versatile and efficient as the 6.8 SPC cartidge has been developed into.