May 27, 2020
By Joel J. Hutchcroft
HSM Ammunition has just released another new 6.5 Creedmoor loading. It’s called “Low Recoil,” and the company says it produces from 47 percent to 53 percent less felt recoil. My friend and longtime gun-industry associate Tom Conrad had a hand in coming up with this one. It turned out to be extremely accurate in my tests.
The new load is topped with HSM’s proprietary 140-grain tipped bullet made by Sierra (ballistic coefficient is listed at .546) that has proven to provide optimal accuracy and tremendous exterior ballistics. This loading is built for precision shooting and for hunting.
I fired five, five-shot groups at 100 yards with a 24-inch-barreled Ruger Precision Rifle and my 22-inch-barreled Thompson/Center Dimension rifle. The load averaged 2,264 fps in the Ruger rifle and 2,227 fps in the T/C rifle. The company lists 2,340 fps as the velocity, and my figures are right in line with that, considering I placed my chronograph 12 feet from the guns’ muzzles.
In terms of accuracy, the load averaged 0.54 inch out of my Ruger rifle (my single smallest five-shot group measured 0.48 inch) and 0.79 inch out of my T/C rifle. I’m certainly not the greatest shooter of all time, but even I can achieve great groups with this new load. HSM provided me with a sample target showing a five-shot, 100-yard group that measured an amazing 0.267 inch.
As for the felt recoil, it was negligible. Typical 6.5 Creedmoor 140-grain hunting ammunition generally produces around 14 ft-lbs of recoil. Using HSM’s reduction figure of 47 percent, the new load churns up about 7.5 ft-lbs of recoil. That is just a bit more than twice the recoil of standard .223 Remington ammo.
MSRP: $28.99
hsmammunition.com
NOTES: Accuracy is the average of five, five-shot groups fired from a sandbag benchrest. Velocity is the average of five rounds measured 12 feet from the guns’ muzzles.
