My SSK barrel came in and I have loaded my first 10 rounds: WW .225 brass necked to 6.5, Federal 210 primer, 30.2 gr of RL 15 and a Nosler 140 grain JSP, seated out a bit. Should give me about 2050fps, which equals the Nosler 120 BT and an equivalent charge of IMR4320 as a fireform load. I will shoot them Tuesday when the range opens. This is my 1st attempt at fireforming, so keep your fingers crossed.

Well, everything went as planned. The first 10 rounds worked as expected. The dimensions were the same as published in my manuals after fireforming. Made and shot another 40 rounds, so I will be busy loading them with my hunting recipe. Range report as soon as I can get outside.

Crongrats Mitch, The 6.5 JDJ barrel for my contender is one of my favs. Supper accurate and it seems to kill far better than the paper balistics would indicate.

I'm sure you're going to have lots of good times with it. As you've found fire forming is really easy. I've even hunted using fireforming loads and it worked fine.

Again, Corgrats on an excellent choice. Fritz

One of the best whitetail/'lope rounds going for the Contender platform.

Gary
DRSS
NRA Lifer
SCI
DSC

Well, I loaded some 120 gr Nosler Ballistic Tips over 33.5 grns of RL15. This charge is almost exactly in the middle of the range for RL 15. This should be about 2290fps. SSK recommends almost a max charge for hunting, so I upped the grains to 34.0...should be 2327fps. I am gonna shoot them tomorrow and see. SSK also said that seating them out just a tad may help with accuracy. The cartridge isn't particularly OAL critical, as long as it easily seats flush after forming and loading. I will be in the hunting woods next week, so I am anxious to get this squared away.

Since your barrel is new, be careful with those RL15 loads my friend. With 120 gr NBT, 33.5 gr of powder is beyond the mid-range....and you should be shooting faster than you state....I am.

Gary
DRSS
NRA Lifer
SCI
DSC

I don't have a chronograph to get an exact number, but 1 grain of RL15 should be 68.5 fps. SSK's data shows 31.0 grns at 2122fps to a max of 35.0 at 2396fps. My load of 33.5 is a bit over the midpoint, but should still be safe. SSK said that the max loads for this dude are still pressure-safe, meaning I would have to get really stupid to get dangerous. I'm pretty anal about this so I think stupid is waaay far off.
Now, my barrel is new (got here 09/09) but I broke it in properly. Is the RL15 load gonna damage it somehow? I ran the recipe by the SSK guy this past Wednesday, and he said that it sounds good. Please let me know what I may be missing.

Mitch, I'm getting over 2300 with a 120 gr BT and 33.5 gr of RL15. Seating depth play a role as well as you approach max loading...I'm .03 off of the lands. Plus, RL15 tends to vary a bit lot to lot. Get that chrono and the whole story will be told.

Best of luck....the 6.5 is one of JD's best.

Gary
DRSS
NRA Lifer
SCI
DSC

Looks like a chronograph is next on the list of stuff. I shot 4 yesterday and saw no pressure signs on the cases (flattened primer, cracks, splits, ets) and the case fell out of the chamber almost by itself. Now, 4 shots isn't enough to be considered valid scientifically, but I am encouraged.
Which chronogrsph would you recommend?

I was looking through my Speer Manual for this cartridge and noticed something odd: the max OAL for the cartridge is listed at 2.700, but both the max case length and the trim-to length are both 2.930 and 2.920 respectively. HUH??? How is the max overall cartridge length shorter than the other 2? I know that I can be a bit obtuse sometimes, but this has me scratching my punkin. I randomly picked some other calibers to check, and the numbers are the other way round: the max o.a.l. is longer than the other 2.