Handloading the 6.5x47 Lapua: Accuracy & Load Data Guide
Date: Dec 15 2016
seating of a Berger 140-grain Hybrid bullet. The cartridge at
right is loaded with a Hornady 140-grain ELD Match bullet.
In 2006 Nammo Lapua presented the new 6.5x47 Lapua cartridge for long-range target shooting.
Origins of the 6.5 x47 lapua
It was developed in close cooperation with rifle manufacturers Swiss Grunig and Elmigar AG. The cartridge found its way into the hands of American shooters both as a target round and a fine medium big game cartridge. The 6.5x47 Lapua is a flat-shooting cartridge, for its size, and outperforms the .308 Winchester and many other target cartridges currently used in long range shooting. The selection of premium target and hunting bullets is good too.
Arguably, most any new cartridge in 6.5mm would have been welcomed by American shooters at the time; U.S. manufacturers had dragged their feet long enough. Nearly 60 years ago, Winchester surprised the shooting public with its introduction of the .264 Winchester Magnum. The potent cartridge would drive a 100-grain bullet 3,600 fps, or a 160-grain bullet over 2,900 fps. The cartridge was overshadowed, however by the introduction of the 7mm Remington Magnum in 1962. Still, shooters and handloaders longed for something better in the 6.5mm bore and a much needed selection of improved 6.5mm bullets. The fascination for higher velocity would be eclipsed by both accuracy and bullets with downrange superiority. It was apparent the 6.5mm bore could offer this; and barrel burning velocity obviously wasn’t the answer.
a Model 40X Remington with Krieger barrel and Sightron 6.5-20x60 scope,
a Model 40X Remington with Criterion barrel and Sightron
8-32x60 scope and a Winchester Model 70 with E.R. Shaw
barrel and Sightron 6.5x20 scope.
Gradually the door opened for a few, much better cartridge choices of both American and foreign manufacture in this long-awaited caliber. As more of these 6.5mm cartridges and bullets came on the scene, I worked with several of them. Among these cartridges were the 6.5-284 Norma, .260 Remington, 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser, 6.5mm-06, a new cartridge of my own creation named the 6.5x42 NEJ Super Grouper (born of the modified Winchester Super Short Magnum series) and more recently the 6.5x47 Lapua. This broader comparison perspective becomes even more relevant when studying 6mm Creedmoor trajectory data, especially when evaluating modern long-range efficiency across similar high-BC cartridge families.
As the 6.5x47 Lapua cartridge is a very well proportioned, medium-size case with a short powder column, it closely aligns with performance principles found in Nosler cartridge data. The case has annealed necks and a very hard base construction that fits a standard .30-06 size bolt face. Though smaller in capacity than the .260 Remington and the 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser, the cartridge can be loaded to velocities that parallel these close counterparts. Small rifle primers are used in this case, either standard or magnum. A wide range of today’s medium burn rate powders are adaptable to the 6.5x47 Lapua, which is largely dependent on bullet weight and shape and bore dimensions. It’s not a fussy cartridge, and accuracy appears easy to come by.
as shown in the 6.5x47 Lapua load data chart.
There are currently precious few reloading manuals that cover the 6.5x47 Lapua. Berger Bullets 1st Edition Reloading Manual (2012), the Vihtavuori Reloading Guide for Centerfire Cartridges and Western Powders Reloading & Load Data Guide, are among the three I have. Perhaps Sierra, Hornady, Alliant, Barnes, Hodgdon, et al, will join in later. There is some Internet loading information that may also be helpful to some. I did, however, manage to compile sufficient load data largely from these three manuals, and 57 years of handloading experience came in quite handy too.
Testing The 6.5 x47 lapua
For testing the 6.5x47 Lapua, match-grade rifles were used, one a Model 70 Winchester and two others on Remington Model 40X actions. All three were equipped with match-grade triggers and target/varmint scopes with rigid, Picatinny mounting systems. I chose to go with barrels by Krieger, Criterion and E.R. Shaw. The 26-inch Krieger barrel is a four-groove with single point cut rifling. Bore diameter is .256 inch with a .264-inch groove diameter. The 27-inch Criterion barrel has six grooves with button rifling; bore diameter is .2555 inch with .2638-inch groove diameter. The 26-inch E.R. Shaw varmint weight barrel has button rifling with six lands and grooves. I didn’t get the specs on the bore and groove. Each barrel has a 1-8 rifling twist, which is required for use of longer, heavier 140-grain and higher BC bullets.
and case neck wall thickness. The Johnson case neck gauge
(above) has been sold and used around the world since 1965.
One of Dave Manson’s precision reamers was used to cut the chambers to within SAAMI specifications. This resulted in a .2915-inch chamber neck diameter and sufficient leade length to accommodate 142-grain, standard ogive bullets while not seating the base of the bullet too deeply into the case. A loaded bullet with a .0125-inch neck wall would result in a .289-inch case neck diameter. Though each rifle had 100 prepped cases, I made headspacing such that each chamber would handle fired cases from another rifle. All cases were trimmed to 1.840 inches and neck walls lathe-turned to .0125 inch within near zero runout. Cases would be closely monitored on repeated reloading to avoid neck wall thickening.