# New Lightweight Rifle - 6.5 CM



## gdog (Sep 13, 2007)

New rifle. Kimber Mountain Ascent in 6.5 Creedmoor. Had a Vortex Viper 4-16x44 scope laying around, so thats what I put on it for load development. Thinking of saving up and putting a Swaro Z5 with the Ballistic Turrets. The Swaro would probably bring the rifle total weight to under 6lb's or really close to that. Have never owned such a light setup, so it will be interesting how well I'll be able to get it to shoot. First loads will be with 130gr Berger Hunting VLD's and H3450.


----------



## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

Looks awesome!


----------



## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

A guy at Sportsman's Warehouse tried to sell me one of those. I couldn't believe how light it was. I would have seriously considered it if I were at a point in life where I could justify the expense.

It looks great! I hope it performs well for you.


----------



## Jmgardner (Sep 17, 2014)

Gdog i think you did great! i just picked up the mountain ascent in 280 ackley improved. i have a vortex razor LH 3-15 on order for it. should be just under 7 pounds with scope and 4 rds in it. its incredible how light it is! 

im also about to work up a load for mine. 175gr hornady ELD-x. good stuff!


----------



## gdog (Sep 13, 2007)

Jmgardner said:


> Gdog i think you did great! i just picked up the mountain ascent in 280 ackley improved. i have a vortex razor LH 3-15 on order for it. should be just under 7 pounds with scope and 4 rds in it. its incredible how light it is!
> 
> im also about to work up a load for mine. 175gr hornady ELD-x. good stuff!


Thats the other scope I'd be interested in..so let us know how you like it. Now having mounted the scope up, I'm not sure I want to go any lighter then what it is now.

Keep hearing good things about those Hornady ELD-x bullets. I haven't been able to find any of the 6.5 143 gr ELD's.

I had to load the Berger 130's COL with a bit of a jump to the lands due to mag. length and not being able to seat the bullets our far enough.


----------



## waspocrew (Nov 26, 2011)

Very nice looking setup! The Kimbers are great looking rifles - I'm interested to hear how it performs.


----------



## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Yes let's see how she shoots

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


----------



## Jmgardner (Sep 17, 2014)

gdog said:


> Thats the other scope I'd be interested in..so let us know how you like it. Now having mounted the scope up, I'm not sure I want to go any lighter then what it is now.
> 
> Keep hearing good things about those Hornady ELD-x bullets. I haven't been able to find any of the 6.5 143 gr ELD's.
> 
> I had to load the Berger 130's COL with a bit of a jump to the lands due to mag. length and not being able to seat the bullets our far enough.


optics planet has them on sale right now for $799 (normal $999) and they have a code "fall10" that gets you another 10 percent off. ordered mine this morning for $720. cant wait to get it mounted


----------



## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

That is slick!


----------



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

gdog said:


> New rifle. Kimber Mountain Ascent in 6.5 Creedmoor. Had a Vortex Viper 4-16x44 scope laying around, so thats what I put on it for load development. Thinking of saving up and putting a Swaro Z5 with the Ballistic Turrets. The Swaro would probably bring the rifle total weight to under 6lb's or really close to that. Have never owned such a light setup, so it will be interesting how well I'll be able to get it to shoot. First loads will be with 130gr Berger Hunting VLD's and H3450.


I held this firearm and it made me tingle, not like AAA walnut makes me tingle, but a tingle nonetheless.

.


----------



## bugchuker (Dec 3, 2007)

I have a Kimber Hunter in 6.5 Creedmoor. Its light and I finally got it to shoot good, 42.5g H4350 and 129 gr Accubond LR's.


----------



## ssssnake529 (Sep 11, 2016)

I have the same rifle, also in 6.5 Creedmoor. I found that the barrel heats up pretty quickly. First 2 rounds of a group are sub MOA, then 3+ the groups start to spread out a bit. Not a real problem for a hunting rifle, but something to think about when you are working on developing a load and sighting it in.


----------



## bugchuker (Dec 3, 2007)

ssssnake529 said:


> I have the same rifle, also in 6.5 Creedmoor. I found that the barrel heats up pretty quickly. First 2 rounds of a group are sub MOA, then 3+ the groups start to spread out a bit. Not a real problem for a hunting rifle, but something to think about when you are working on developing a load and sighting it in.


I noticed that as well.


----------



## gdog (Sep 13, 2007)

bugchuker said:


> I have a Kimber Hunter in 6.5 Creedmoor. Its light and I finally got it to shoot good, 42.5g H4350 and 129 gr Accubond LR's.


Did you run this load through a chrono...speed? I finally got out to "break" mine in and it seems a little slow from published loads using H4350 and Berger VLD Hunting 130's. I'm going to try RL17 as well.

I was clean-load...clean-load...for a bunch of rounds, so the barrel really didn't warm up much, but will definitely keep this in mind.


----------



## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Doesn't it have a 22" barrel? My guess is this is why your getting lower speeds the published data. 

22 inch barrel for 120 amax should be arround 2872

22 inch barrel for 142 seria hpbt should be arround 2649. 

What speeds are you getting?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


----------



## gdog (Sep 13, 2007)

Your correct...22" barrel. I knew I'd be lower then the published data, since most loadings are with 24" barrels, but offhand from what I've researched online, that I was off a little bit (I don't have my numbers in front of me). If I remember correctly, I was just a hair over 2700 with 43 grs of H4350 and the 130 VLD's.

Berger shows max load for the 130's as 41.6 grs (pretty low compared to most 130gr loadings) of H4350 @ 2727 with 24" barrel. Nosler shows max load for their Accubond 130gr as 43 grs of H4350 @ 2865, again with 24" barrel. Max I've shot so far was 43grs and had no pressure signs at all. I need to go pop out a primer and see if the pockets expanded much, as I've read guys complaining that the Hornady brass doesn't hold up well(?)

RL17 is the other powder I want to try. Manuals show RL17 comes out a bit quicker then H4350, with about the same powder loads, but obviously I'll have to see how accuracy plays out...


----------



## Jmgardner (Sep 17, 2014)

finally got mine set up and ran 2 different ladder tests. mine is also about 100 fps slower than published data i find. but considering i shot this in gusting 25-30mph winds coming from my back left today, a little horizontal stringing i feel is expected. but a true 5shot group at .77moa is hard to be mad at, especially out of a rig that is under 7lbs total. shooting 175 gr ELD-x at about 2570fps.


----------



## Utmuddguy (Aug 25, 2013)

Nice rifle! I had a kimber Montana once and really liked the action removed the Douglas barrel and installed a krieger. Wish would have kept it.


----------



## mlob1one (Aug 29, 2014)

Jmgardner. That is a beautiful setup and solid shooting with a strong wind. Will you tell me why you went with the 6.5 CM instead of another 6.5 cartridge or 7mm mag? 
Thanks

Sent from my SPH-L710T using Tapatalk


----------



## Jmgardner (Sep 17, 2014)

mlob1one said:


> Jmgardner. That is a beautiful setup and solid shooting with a strong wind. Will you tell me why you went with the 6.5 CM instead of another 6.5 cartridge or 7mm mag?
> Thanks
> 
> Sent from my SPH-L710T using Tapatalk


was the second part of that for gdog? because mine is a 280ai. i have come to enjoy reloading so it seemed like a cool round to reload, and its supposed to be able to reach very similary velocities to a 7mag with the exact same bullet and much less recoil. its a good bigger game compliment to my custom 308. i dont own anything in 6.5 and dont know that i will anytime soon. i enjoy my current setups too much lol


----------



## gdog (Sep 13, 2007)

mlob1one said:


> Will you tell me why you went with the 6.5 CM instead of another 6.5 cartridge or 7mm mag?


I'm normally an archery guy, so I don't have a big inventory of hunting rifles for big game. I had a 7 rem mag which is a great all around cal, but I just wasn't a fan of that setup. My go to big critter rifle is a 300 rum mag, so I wanted to move the 7 rem mag down the road and get a low recoil, lightweight short action deer/antelope rifle that would be good to about 500 yards. There's a ton of choices in the 6.5 realm that I considered, which were so close to the 6.5 cm...there wasn't much difference ballistically and it was just a personal preference deal. Plus my son has a 7mm-08 and thats a great round for my requirements and would have been a bit better with heavier bullets for short range elk. That was my 2nd choice.

I liked that the 6.5 cm had a shorter COL, which hopefully would avoid any issues loading the longer VLD type bullets. Didn't need a barrel burner and figured 140 gr bullets and lower would work nicely. The 6.5 cm brass & bullet availability is growing, so that was a plus as well.


----------



## mlob1one (Aug 29, 2014)

gdog said:


> I'm normally an archery guy, so I don't have a big inventory of hunting rifles for big game. I had a 7 rem mag which is a great all around cal, but I just wasn't a fan of that setup. My go to big critter rifle is a 300 rum mag, so I wanted to move the 7 rem mag down the road and get a low recoil, lightweight short action deer/antelope rifle that would be good to about 500 yards. There's a ton of choices in the 6.5 realm that I considered, which were so close to the 6.5 cm...there wasn't much difference ballistically and it was just a personal preference deal. Plus my son has a 7mm-08 and thats a great round for my requirements and would have been a bit better with heavier bullets for short range elk. That was my 2nd choice.
> 
> I liked that the 6.5 cm had a shorter COL, which hopefully would avoid any issues loading the longer VLD type bullets. Didn't need a barrel burner and figured 140 gr bullets and lower would work nicely. The 6.5 cm brass & bullet availability is growing, so that was a plus as well.


I love archery as well but I grew up shooting behing a scope. I got a 7mm-08 for my boys and I love to shoot it and am now in pursuit of a good large critter caliber that can reach out 7-800 yards. Having shot out to about 6-650 & very comfortable I'd like to have a rifle that can extend further while still retaining energy to hit big game. Saw the Weatherby 6.5-300 mag and liked it's ballistics but don't want to be stuck going with a Weatherby. 7mm mag and .300 win mag are the other two I'm really considering. I've heard and read that the. 300 rum is really hard on barrels and that they don't last too long. 
Thoughts?

Sent from my SPH-L710T using Tapatalk


----------



## gdog (Sep 13, 2007)

mlob1one said:


> I've heard and read that the. 300 rum is really hard on barrels and that they don't last too long.
> Thoughts?


The 300 rum is not something that I take to the range too often. I have other options that are more "fun" to shoot (to me) and don't cost as much for punching paper. My 300 rum is a hunting rifle, so after initial load development, I put a few rounds down range before hunts to confirm its "on". If I have a big hunt where I may need to shoot at longer ranges, I'll definately spend more time behind the trigger practicing at various ranges to make sure I can do my part, but still not putting boxes of shells through it. At that rate...I'll be long gone before I shoot the barrel out.


----------



## mlob1one (Aug 29, 2014)

gdog said:


> The 300 rum is not something that I take to the range too often. I have other options that are more "fun" to shoot (to me) and don't cost as much for punching paper. My 300 rum is a hunting rifle, so after initial load development, I put a few rounds down range before hunts to confirm its "on". If I have a big hunt, I'll spend more time behind the trigger practicing at various ranges to make sure I can do my part, but still not putting boxes of shells through it. At that rate...I'll be long gone before I shoot the barrel out.


Makes sense.

Sent from my SPH-L710T using Tapatalk


----------



## bugchuker (Dec 3, 2007)

gdog said:


> Did you run this load through a chrono...speed? I finally got out to "break" mine in and it seems a little slow from published loads using H4350 and Berger VLD Hunting 130's. I'm going to try RL17 as well.
> 
> I was clean-load...clean-load...for a bunch of rounds, so the barrel really didn't warm up much, but will definitely keep this in mind.


2770 fps, I just shot it through the chrono today. I shot some jugs at 750.


----------



## gdog (Sep 13, 2007)

bugchuker....2770 fps was with the 42.5g H4350 and 129 gr Accubond LR's load you mentioned earlier?


----------



## bugchuker (Dec 3, 2007)

Yes,thats the one


----------



## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

bugchuker said:


> 2770 fps, I just shot it through the chrono today. I shot some jugs at 750.


 That was a great video. It was really cool to see the path of the bullet mid flight from that angle 8)


----------

